London 1814 with the Thames frozen over and leading to the Frost Fair, where the crowds gather and skate plus other stuff, before mysteriously vanishing beneath the ice. Once again the Doctor (Peter Capaldi) explains to Bill (Pearl Mackie) that the TARDIS involves delicate navigation in terms of negotiation, cos come on how difficult is that to understand first time round! Too many chips on the brain me thinks.! She doesn't think they can go out exploring cos of "melanin". A new way of saying too much colour and she won't fit in. Though they changed outfits and no one gave her a second look. Especially considering they came upon Kitty (Asiatu Koroma) and the other urchins. This London not being like the movies.
But before that more time to explore and try out the wares. Pie wares and other such stuff, with the Doctor telling Bill to take a flier and she cautiously steps on the frozen river. Really anyone would think she's never seen ice before! Pretty sure it did snow in ep 1!! Ha. Once on the ice, the Doctor has the Sonic stolen by Spider (Austin Taylor) and as they give chase, they lose them. But then they reappear and end up alone on the ice. Also the Doctor has noticed the green lights under the ice, of course he would so I don't know why she was so surprised. It is after all what he does! Spider ends up encircled with the green lights which is some sort of bioluminesence and he falls through the hole, with the Doctor just grabbing the Sonic in the nick of time.
Cue Bill's outburst and anger at not being able to save the boy. Once again we get the question that was unanswered last time (or should that be the question that should never be asked?!) As she wants to know why he's not angry and didn't try to save him. The Doctor doesn't have the luxury of outburst he tells her. He's two thousand years old and doesn't, isn't able to contemplate such emotions. She then asks if he's ever killed anyone before, cos she's never seen anyone die, the people in the garden last ep, were already dead. He says he has and it's not about being able to make choices. Obviously he can't do that since he has to save people whatever that takes. He tells her more will die unless they find the urchin's hideout. He kits them out in diving gear a la Jules Verne variety and finds the ice opens up when people are alone. So Bill is taken under and he jumps in before it closes up. Here he sees the fish with the green eyes and also the sea creature held in chains. Bill finds Spider's hat. The sea creature with Smaug's eye!
Kitty takes them to their hideout and he gives pies to the others stolen from the pie maker (Peter Singh). They tell him about a man with a 'drawing on his hand' and he's probably by the docks. They get paid to give out the fliers. He reads them a story. They ask the Pieman about the man with the tattoo and he tells them about some men. Easy way to get out when he was fishing for those bug eyed fish. Looked so very rubbery and if they had one eye would've been something out of The Simpson's. The Doctor saying, "laters" to the children in typical Sherlock fashion!! Here the Doctor uses his ID to get in saying he's from Lord Sutcliffe. Asking the man about the mud, which is fuel he tells them and is made from the human bodies waste after they're fed to the creature.
The meet with Sutcliffe (Nicholas Burns) who comments on Bill being here cos of her colour and the Doctor pops him, after giving her a talk on being diplomatic so they can get answers from him, not two seconds before. Sutcliffe's all about the money and doesn't really care about humans and humanity, so the Doctor's speech is wasted on him. "Human progress isn’t measured by industry. It’s measured by the value you place on one life." They're tied up so they can be blown up when the crowd comes to see the elephant again and he'll have all the fuel he needs. The Doctor tells Bill to reach for the sonic and he undoes the ropes whilst the tattooed man is wallowed up by the green lights, cos they respond to sound. He asks Bill what to do cos he needs an order, as it's her world and her people. Should he save the creature. She wants him to. As she tries to get the people off the ice, the Doctor had time to get into his diving gear and make sure Sutcliffe detonates the charges beneath the ice. Falling into the cracked ice too. The creature leaves and the Doctor forges the will so that Perry becomes Sutcliffe's heir, allowing the urchins to live there.
Returning home in time for tea, Nardole (Matt Lucas) realizes he's gone off world, but the Doctor says he's wearing clothes for here to drink his tea. As Bill searches for the creature but he directs her to news of Sutcliffe's heir, who was accepted as such. Nardole hears knocking from the vault. Let's not hope that the Master's knocking!
Yes it was all seen before. Remember the creature in space which was the ship Doctor Eleven (Matt Smith) and Amy (Karen Gillan) found themselves on in 5.2 The Beast Below in the Britain of the future. This time we get the creature in the sea. Also the Doctor and River (also visited a Frost Fair before as he tells Bill he's been here "a few times." This was mentioned in A Good Man Goes to War, River (Alex Kingston) tells Rory (Arthur Darvill) how the Doctor took her ice skating and even got Stevie Wonder to sing for her under London Bridge. Lots of mentions of River, or should I say allusions to River. Some form of foreshadowing perhaps to seeing her again in the future? There was a Frost Fair in 1814 and an elephant did walk across the ice pulling in punters. The Doctor also engaging in some offal eating! As well as some alcoholic beverages no doubt. The Doctor read the children the story of The Little Suck-A-Thumb - Heinrich Hoffman's Strewwelpeter from 1845.
Next week's ep looks more inviting with the mysterious house and none other than Hercule Poirot himself, okay David Suchet!!
No comments:
Post a Comment