Another narration from the Doctor (Peter Capaldi) about the Monks.
"The Monks have been with us from the beginning. They shepherded humanity through its formative years, gently guiding and encouraging like a parent clapping their hands at a baby's first steps. They have been instrumental in all the advances of culture and technology. They watched proudly as man invented the lightbulb, the telephone and the Internet. They were even there to welcome the first men on the moon. And they have defended us too. Who can forget the time the Monks defeated the Daleks the Cybermen, the Weeping Angels. Two species sharing a history as happily as they share a planet. Humanity and the Monks are a blissful perfect partnership. How lucky Earth is to have an ally as powerful and tender as the Monks, that asks for nothing in return for their benevolence but obedience." How very political with the election coming up!!
As they take over the world with the lies of being here for years and helping the humans during war etc, as well as brainwashing the gullible humans into believing the lies. As a woman is taken away from her family for claiming the truth: that the Monks only just arrived. Wearing identical overalls like a uniform out of 1984. Which in part this episode was an allusion to. Bill (Pearl Mackie) is a part of this world order and she sits drinking tea and telling her mother how it's not true and that the Monks have only been here a while. She sees the Doctor on TV on the side of the Monks and knows that he's just pretending until he can make his move. Of course she is right and we know that too. What happens next is Nardole (Matt Lucas) returning to the flat and her mother disappears. She's relieved to see him and he says he's been out of action for six weeks since he was struck down by the bacteria. If he was human he would've been dead. She asks him questions to ensure he is really Nardole and not brainwashed. He says it is him and she tells him she's been speaking with her mother as she always talks to her. He tells her of his imaginary friend, who left him eventually.
He knows the location of the Doctor since he's been using some tracking technology device from the TARDIS and is on a hulk boat just off Scotland. They find a way to infiltrate the boat since it gets supplies every six weeks which just happens to be now. A man takes them across since he hates the Monks. Just as their ID is about to be checked and Nardole doesn't have any and hers is just Uni kitchen staff, a light appears and a Monk arrives. He looks at them and then walks off. They break away and find the Doctor, who summons the Monks, but Bill is shocked. He tells her she shouldn't have given her consent and should've listened to him. He didn't ask for his sight back. Bill grabs a gun and she shoots the Doctor and he begins regenerating. Okay some kudos for making us believe he is actually beginning the regeneration process since the Doctor made it look so real. Or maybe just getting us in the right frame of mind for a future regeneration.
He wanted to make sure she wasn't brainwashed either and they weren't in her thoughts. As she asked him about the big fish in the Seine. Course you can't fool the Doctor as he says it was the Thames and he was held prisoner here for six months. The soldiers are also on his side and he and Nardole laugh about it when he asks if the regeneration was a bit too much. They need to get rid of the Monks as they've taken over the world and there's only one person he knows who's as intelligent as him, or almost. That being Missy (Michelle Gomez).
He opens the vault and takes Bill. She plays piano but is bored and is trying to be good. He asks her about the Monks and she has defeated them before. He tells Bill she's one of the last of the Time Lords. She makes him guess how this can be achieved. Then she says the link was implanted for years through a bloodline and the only way to end it is to end the line so that it can't be passed down. Kill one to save many. Something the Doctor won't condone. This being Bill who needs to be killed. She's ready to accept her fate but the Doctor isn't. Also Missy being ruthless, still doesn't show signs of being on her way to being rehabilitated good. However it's clear Missy is there for a far greater purpose than just the Monks and that's probably the appearance of the Master.
They tell Nardole of this too and he says they'll put a "pin in for now." The Doctor thinks the Monk's cathedral might hold the answers and he takes the soldiers with them to raid the pyramid. (Only Cardinal Richelieu would think of the cathedral re The Musketeers! ha). As Nardole points out no Monk is guarding the entrance. Precisely since there aren't that many of them. Bill records a message for the soldiers so that they can't be brainwashed again, telling them that this isn't real. The Monks have only just arrived. Inside they're met by some Monks who managed to destroy some soldiers. As one has his recorder destroyed and holds a gun on them. Nardole knocks him out with his 'neck pinch' an obvious allusion to Spock's Vulcan grip. As well as the second allusion to Star Trek again as Bill asked Nardole about the sound the doors make. His "shuk-shuk" sound. Nardole also explaining how he learned that neck pinch but he can't do it with his left hand, this not being his real hand.
The Doctor tells them "it's fake news." Highly topical as we also get a picture of 'the orange one' on the screen. The Doctor tries to get into the head of the Monk and the Monk's images begin to disappear, but they're too powerful and he's knocked out. When he wakes up Bill tells him she could've done this already but she wanted to say goodbye to him. He tries to undo his ties and she tries to overpower the Monk, but she doesn't get anywhere either, not until she recalls her mother. The Doctor encourages her to keep remembering her mother. A pure image that goes beyond the Monks invasion. As people begin to remember and the Monks face a losing battle. As normality returns, the Doctor and Bill share a cup of tea, at least she does and the Monk's statues are no more. (Must strike a pose akin to the Monks in a photo! Ha.) The Doctor asks a girl about the plinth and she thinks they were making a film here. The Doctor tells Bill he wants her three thousand word essay on free will. Well she shouldn't have reminded him of it, not that he'd have forgotten.
Missy is in tears as she recalls how many people she killed and she's not quite ready to be good. Finally the Monks were defeated!! Cos these episodes went on a bit. The Doctor having a reason for giving Bill photos of her mother (was she really her mother?) which turned out to be a timely piece of foreshadowing. The Doctor stressing how no one learnt from history. Now all memories of the Monks have been erased and there's no way to learn from history now, when it didn't exist in the minds of the billions. However he's always around to protect humanity. Now if only we had a Doctor in real life!!
Yet the Doctor joining the Monks, even for the briefest of minuscule moments for real, the briefest being the operative word, would've been something to watch for more than a few minutes. But it wasn't to be, he was their prisoner for six months. How did they manage to get hold of the Doctor and that prison hulk/ship, whatever, was so reminiscent of Sherlock, where Eurus was being held. As well as Missy being held in a similar glass prison of sorts! At least she has her piano! And not any appearance of the TARDIS this ep which he could've used to get into the pyramid - no?
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