Doctor Who 10.8 "The Lie of the Land" Review

                                       
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?

Ghosts of Shepherdstown Season 1 All 6 Episodes Review

                                                        

1.1 Welcome to America's Most Haunted Town.

The haunting at the bakery/sweetshop, was a meeting of the minds: the investigators and getting to grips with what was actually happening and what they were dealing with.

Elizabeth almost fainting from the powerful energy - something dark and Nick picks up on the EMF spiking.

The local town historian, Dana commenting on German Street and Queen Street.  New also was plotting the activity on the map.  The bakery window where they threw out the body parts, where Elizabeth felt the presence, which was a hospital during the Civil War.  The safe omitting EMF energy.  The sound Elizabeth heard by the safe was audible, as if the safe was willing itself to be opened.  I enjoyed how they drove around in their truck: like a Paranormal S.W.A.T team, 'yeah we're on the case.'

There was someone breathing or sighing which Elizabeth heard, at 24.22 minutes.  Finding the shoe in the safe which was used to ward off and protect against witchcraft and evil entities. The voice recorder that Nick used and the questions he and Bill asked and to Bill's question of, "what Unit were you a part of?"  Sounds to me like it says 'First Battalion', rather more than "take the medicine." They wouldn't really have had medicine if any, around then and supplies would've been scarce.   But the EVP is more relevant.  As Lorie found in the basement that the man was a Major Alexander Tinsley and Chief of Surgery and they found the saw there too.  The Major wanting forgiveness for not being able to save the soldiers.  The EVP doesn't say anything about the saw as no ‘s’ sound comes through.  Megan resembled the woman Alexander loved.  It's so helpful to their investigation and cause when they find photographs of people who lived through the period too; further authenticating what someone looked like or their reason for being there still in spirit form.

Nick feels if they had the Civil War re-enactment they could honour him and thereby put him to rest and acknowledge him.  Nick coming up with the ideas to help these spirits find peace.

1.2 Do You Know You're Dead?

Nicole, who lived on the college campus housing heard a girl in the hallway and thinks she took her glasses, with reported poltergeist activity in the home.  As they found a collection of objects in the basement.   As well as salt lines which were keeping something evil in or out.  Then there was the shower turning on.

Next time they need their own handheld cameras, or the Go-Pros on their head, cos we don't want to see their faces every second, it's their surroundings and what they're seeing we need to experience too.  As for the rocking chair moving, there's not much to tell with that, that's not really exciting or connected to anything, which is why no one made a big deal out of it.  That sort of activity has been encountered many times before anyway. There was documented poltergeist activity anyway.

Nick finds they teach a paranormal class at the university and saw students carrying out spirit board sessions.  Which is scary in itself cos they really don't know what they're messing with and shouldn't be able to do this.  They don't need encouragement.  Even the most seasoned investigators shy away from this, including Nick.  As well as finding many suicides and hangings amongst the students, like the nurse and an exorcism in one of the halls.  A girl in a dress was reported to be stealing things at the university.

The EVP girl's voice at 20 minutes sounds like she's saying, "something, getting ready."  Nick does suggest using the spirit board but warns against it cos of the negative energy attaching itself. Elizabeth does this with Lorie and Nicole.

Lorie senses water (see later episodes as this was a key element running through the eps and the connection.)

The spirit board comes through with the name "Anne."  "Water" comes through after asking what happened to her and there was a flood in the house and she perhaps doesn't know that she's dead...

They search the gravestone with Dana and Nicole finds the fallen gravestone with 1879-1889. Elizabeth thinks they should have a ceremony to guide her home and help her move on.  Wonder if that EVP of the girl's voice was significant in the sense she was getting ready to move on and that she would be helped to do this by Nicole finding the gravestone and Elizabeth with the ceremony.

Not forgetting the thunderstorm now when Nicole felt suffocated in her home again and all the cameras when everything died.

At 43.00 sounds to me like it's saying "...trying to kill you."  Since Anne has left the house after the ceremony; there must be something more sinister there, as why would Anne try to suffocate Nicole, with her asking,      "why are you visiting?"

"Still in the room with us?"  

Answer: "yes."  As for the ‘killing’ part, was this a future warning?

Note these are my opinions and comments only gathered from what I watched and observed.

1.3 She Didn't Have A face

West German Street, near German Street where the bakery was in 1.1.  At least the police were more open to such activity in this town instead of just dismissing it.

Elizabeth sniffs the smell in the front room and experiences the ceiling falling down near the stairs, which we missed on camera, that's why they need their own cameras.  They as investigators, will know exactly what to film and what to document.  Cos they need to focus on the location and surroundings and less on their faces.  Elizabeth senses a child in the attic.

Dana finds out about the Snyder’s and Barry Snyder was a newspaper owner.  The horse carriage that his wife, Laura Ida was on, had an accident and her daughter was Ray Ray.  That decapitation was more than an accident - get the feeling Laura was pushed off the carriage.  She hit her head on the ground and died in the house.  The second photo Elizabeth shows the others looks like a woman from a distance.  Lots of the cases, such as the last two, concentrated on and led to the discovery of a child and shoe.  Nick tells them Laura was with her daughter when the 'accident' happened.

That doesn't appear to be a coincidence. [I just thought of the faceless woman I saw!  Yikees!   Briefly as I tweeted Elizabeth: "few summer’s ago someone rang bell 2am twice, told them to stop, looked like woman without face when she stared back. Scary!"]

The great grandson of Laura has Ray Ray's journal and she was 12 at the time, as well as being a psychic.  In the journal where she wrote that, "death was looking over my shoulder...I got it out of the house but not away from my family."  Meaning she managed to keep it away from the house but couldn't keep it away outside. She closed all the doors and windows and felt "death following me all summer."  Like Harry and Susan in 1.4.

Could that "killing" EVP from 1.2 be relevant here in reference to "death following" and got its hands on her mother.  Such an eerie feeling though and I only said that since all of the cases were related in some form or another.

Nick again feels they need to guide Ray Ray to her mother so they can move on.  Why the activity was increasing now was just one in a series of questions.

There was that orb behind Elizabeth in the window reflection that came from her head causing her anxiety, trouble forming sentences too and pressure on her chest.  Upstairs in the attic, there are also two orbs seen either side of Nick and Elizabeth, almost as if one was chasing the other. Or as Ray Ray wrote, "following her..."

This episode affected Elizabeth a lot emotionally and also cos of Ray Ray and her heartbreak over losing her mother after having to pitch a battle against death but couldn't keep her mother safe.

     

They also find the shutters were moved in the downstairs window, which was opened and now halfway closed and catch it on video. There also appears to be a shadow on the wall and it doesn't appear to be light from the outside, just before the shutter closes and isn't a car light.  

Lorie senses a negative entity over the entire town also in reference to Ray Ray's mother and the voice in the attic telling them to "get out."  As well as the rain contributing to heightened activity and as I said, one orb seemed to be chasing the other around the attic...

Dana discovers that Laura fractured her skull, broke her neck and ruptured a blood vessel.  See I don't think it was an accident.  Elizabeth also picked up on Ray Ray's eyes, like we did.  They looked so haunted.

1.4 Grave Stalker

A gunshot is heard near the clock tower.  Nick with his investigative notebook and Elizabeth had one too, making them look very investigative!  Ha. Cari hears a woman cry and a gunshot and has a feeling of being followed.  Cari being the only one who heard it.  Elizabeth uses her pendulum to sense energy.  If the answers are a 'no' then there's circular movement, 'yes' is a straight line and if the answer is ‘unclear’ then it won't move.  Once again they find themselves near the river and Elizabeth commenting it's a spiritual conductor.  The bridge overlooks the town run; she senses energy from the wall.  Nick's compass spins on the wall instead of finding a direction and stopping movement.   The EMF also spikes up to 19.

Dana tells them Thomas Shepherd built the fort and the wall is a remnant of the fort.  Love the board stringing, relevant for solving clues. Paranormal CSI.  [Sorry.]   The wall seems to have an energy vortex which Nick feels is kicking up activity across the town.

There was Prospect Street and the student housing.  Then the train tracks where they followed the activity to, the EMF leading them here. That figure by the rock was creepy almost as if it was dragging something.   They are led to a house which was built in the 1890's and is haunted.  Dabney Chapman, the owner, tells them of a young woman Susie Farrell, was who walking with a friend and saw a man she knew, Harry Smoots.  (Dabney sadly passed away later after filming. RIP.)  Elizabeth and her notebook too!  She has a sinking feeling inside the house, falling off her feet as Susie was brought into the house as well.  She would've had that feeling when she was shot, though it was outside. Nick hears a female cry on the EVP, which wasn't played back for the audience!!

Cari is being stalked and they think it's Harry.  Elizabeth gets cold spots at Cari's house where she saw a man in the window.  Also they get an EVP reply, "don't ask the question."  Elizabeth outraged and warning the spirit to not touch her without her permission.  

Dana says Harry had mental problems and he OD-ed on morphine.  The library used to be a jail and Elizabeth said Cari was by the library.  The photo Elizabeth took with her camera (again on my Twitter and below) and is also explained there: where you can see a bearded man and a woman.  Susie was shot by Harry, explaining the gun shot heard and Susie died in what was now, Dabney's house.

                                       

Dana also mentions the figure at the train tracks and about being thrown in front of the train, which is what Harry tried to do?  Nick feels it was residual energy leading them there and then to the town. To Dabney's house.  Dana mentions circling the tracks and back to town in the same route over and over. Nick refers to it as, "his hell - his dark energy is still out there."   There's a man in the photo Elizabeth took over Lorie's shoulder with a beard and she uses a sage ritual to get rid of Cari's attachment. Elizabeth's photo (which I mentioned earlier) she thinks might have a light shutter speed issue, but you can definitely see faces there!  Nick talks of tracers, tracing the light sources and can cause blurriness.

Elizabeth questions why she saw a figure in the house and her dog barked, when Cari saw the man inside her house in the window when she was outside.  There must be another dark presence affecting the town as Lorie said in the previous episode.  Elizabeth accompanies Cari and her daughters to the river for a picnic, where the dog barks near the river.  Again more water activity.

1.5 It's Behind You

(September 2015)

A DB floating in the water is spotted, a woman with dark hair.  One of the Vic's was named Elizabeth.  

Nick saying, "Shepherdstown is a weird Twilight Zone of paranormal experiences."  The town run leading to the river and Nick was in hot pursuit of what he saw, something in the river, which vanished from the thermal camera and could be debris.

Lorie says the energy drew her to the river and there was an angry man in the water.  There's a splash and he was dumping a DB.  She sees a woman in the water, named 'Izzy or Lizzy'.  As well as another woman and the angry man has a scar on his face, shouting, "you little bitch."  He killed them. Elizabeth, yeah creepy with the same name.  (See next ep about the EVP saying 'Elizabeth' which I'm sure I heard; but don't know if it was in reference to this Elizabeth (Lizzie) who was murdered or in reference to our Elizabeth?)

The murdered girl's name was Mary Elizabeth and she was 18.  Shelby was the other one who was 16. Dana researches they were from Maryland, just as she is, from Dana's hometown of Beltsville. Clippings from 19 June 1956 and 1st June 1956, show they were picked up by a man in a car and Lorie had the sense it affected their throat.

Elizabeth has an IR case over her phone becoming a thermal camera when they go investigating in the woods.  Lorie says Shelby was killed first and Lizzie tried to get away.  They hear lightning and then what sounded like a tree falling or could be a body being dumped or falling too. Lizzie ran to the water.  

Nick heads off to check out the sounds in the woods at night.  They find an upside down cross on the rock which is a sign of evil witchcraft.   So they had rituals here.  Nick feels his body is in a whirlwind near the cross.  Nick has two figures surrounding him on the thermal (my Twitter pics again) in a dress, they definitely look female.  Nick runs off after a red light he sees and there's a figure behind him, as said.  As well as a woman touching Bill's shoulder causing him nausea and dizziness. Lorie adds they need to lay their spirits to rest and release them to the light.  It was so brave of Nick to go running off like that into the woods, as he always does and to be surrounded by the two figures, creepy still, even if they may have been Shelby and Lizzy.  Or could just as easily have been a witch or two.

             

Dana finds an article from 16 June 1956, mentioning a scar faced man and he was never arrested.  SO he got away with it and even in death he still appears to haunt this place.  That was sad that they didn't get justice for what happened to them and he just went free, perhaps to murder some more.  He doesn't even appear to have gotten his comeuppance in death either still lingering here.  But with the ceremony releasing Lizzy and Shelby hopefully he can't harm them anymore and make them re-live their pain over and over.

The upside down crosses perhaps something to do with the witch, see next ep and Nick was spot on with that connection.

Tweets to Elizabeth re ep 1.5:

Me: "you mentioned shutter speed, it may be matrixing.  I see man's face in your pic."

Elizabeth in reply: "I do see that.  It is interesting it happened at that moment because none of my pictures did that before or after. 25 July 2016

Me: Hope you get a S2 & if u do, get your own handheld cams!  Miss 2 much action and makes head spin with some filming! ha"

Elizabeth: "Haha yeah I hear yah!" 4 July 2016

1.6 Redemption

Princess Street near woods

Claire heard a baby crying in the basement.  The taps turned on, re the shower at the student housing in 1.2, what I said as well.  Elizabeth heard a woman and a baby crying, she was trying to be a mother.  The presence of the well remnants in the basement and she felt the woman had done something wrong.  Nick commented on how Elizabeth is the strongest in the whole group to experience or sense spirits.

The stringing on the map almost looked to be forming a pentagram: star shape and I emphasis almost. Who knows if that would've happened if they needed to, or had to continue with their investigation; if they hadn't found the connection and gone on for longer.

Elizabeth got a sense of remorse and Nick comes up with the witch reference again.  Elizabeth explaining the use of the Ghostbox and how it scans through frequencies.  She finds another shoe in the wall, the shoe find of the century! - But seriously another shoe: reaffirming the witch theory.

The female voice definitely says, "poison."  At 32.41 sounds like the voice says, "Elizabeth"?? and the high pitched screaming can also be heard at around 32.44 minutes.

They find the town run at the back of the house. It was alleged the woman poisoned the town children.  Lorie mentioned how in colonial times they accused a woman of witchcraft and poisoning the town's water supply.  However she wasn't a witch.  Claire reminded the woman of her own baby as she was pregnant.  Dana found there was an outbreak of dysentery and this caused the deaths of the children.  The water was contaminated from an unnatural source.

Elizabeth suggests a ceremony and Lorie feels a potency charm will release the woman and lift the curse.  Which they do.

Nine days later there's no reported activity.

Nick commented on how he's been investigating all his life and Shepherdstown isn't like anything he's seen before.

At the end of the ep, and as Elizabeth and I said in a tweet, why did they float the shoe on the river?

Doctor Who 10.7 "The Pyramid At the End of the World" Review

                                              
This episode alternates between Previously and Now as Bill (Pearl Mackie) goes on another date with Penny (Ronke Adekoleujo) talking about her lecturer and his dreams.  How he's an alien, a space alien and also tells her about the Pope in her flat.  Which they find hilarious, until this time she gets a visit from the UN Secretary General (Togo Igawa) who wants to see the President of the World.  Who just happens to be the Doctor (Peter Capaldi).  He plays guitar, as we get another narration from him about the end of the world.  He's double locked the TARDIS so she can't get in but tells him the UN is here.  He's told about Turmezistan and how there's a giant pyramid there that wasn't there before.  The region being bordered by the three biggest armies of the world.  The Doctor flies there in the plane, with the TARDIS within the plane.

When they they arrive he goes towards the pyramid and it opens with a Monk coming out.  Telling them the earth is doomed and humanity will destroy itself.  As the clocks on their phones reset to 11.57 all around the world.  The Doctor mentioning it's the Doomsday clock and somewhere a disaster will lead to the earth being destroyed.  Yes, but not on his watch.  Oh sorry did that sound like an unintentional pun there?!  They come up with a strategy and the Doctor agrees with the Chinese that they need to demonstrate a show of strength and unity, to avoid World War Three.  Yeah it's the Doctor he doesn't approve such action, but says this time they must since the Monks are not here peacefully.  Each time he tries to tell her about what's wrong with him, they're interrupted.  As Bill asks Nardole (Matt Lucas)but Nardole tells her to speak with him which the Doctor surmizes as much.  As the plane flies in and they're ready to bomb the pyramid, there's a beam of light that shines into the sky and the Monks take over the plane.  Landing it safely and releasing the pilot and crew. As with the other crew.  The Russian saying they tried that action before when they sent in a submarine.

Whilst all this is happening, in the UK, a woman, Erica (Rachel Denning) has her glasses broken after she leaves her bag in the door to pry it open and a man shuts it.  She's a scientist and heads to work with a fellow scientist, Douglas (Tony Gardener) who is too tired to do much work.  She tells him to go home but he can't leave here.  They're developing some sort of a bio-organic enzyme.  As she suits up and tells him to do the readings cos her reading glasses are broken.  Well that was a mistake as we'll see later.  As well as human error.

As they enter the pyramid to find out the Monk's intentions the Doctor knows that they've been watching them for an eternity practically and are also watching that particular lab.  The Monks show them a strand of time a year into the future, where they see destruction of the earth and all of humanity has been wiped out.  They tell them humanity ended itself in this way.  Which comes as a shock to everyone, but the Doctor is still holding onto the strand.  As he would!

They want them to consent, to power consent and invite them in.  So that they can help them avoid this catastrophe as they've been doing so for years.  With power comes consent and with consent comes love.  They must show the Monks their love.  The Secretary General is afraid and he gives them his consent.  However the Monk notices it's not consent or love but he's consenting out of fear and destroys him.  The Doctor takes them back out and tells them there must be some event somewhere they've got to find and stop it from taking place.  Putting secret documents onto the Net and tells them to Google.  However not everyone's willing to do this and the American, Col BRabbit (Eben Young) says he's ready to surrender to them, as is the Chinese, Xiaolian (Daphne Cheung.) Including the Russian, Ilya (Andrew Bryon).  Even after the Doctor tells them it's a bad thing.  In the lab, after they spray the plants, they all die.  Douglas grabs a sample as they exit the chamber. Analysis shows an increase in bacteria which has destroyed the plants.  It will be released into the air when the cycle for venting (as I call it) comes round.  Douglas falls to the floor and is disintegrated.

They go to the pyramid again and the Doctor tells Bill to go with them to watch them.  A bit of a bad idea cos what's she really going to do, when you know she's going to eb the only one left.  As he tells Nardole to hack the feed and stop the Monks from watching the labs, which he narrowed down to 48.  Adding that when the camera in one of the labs comes back online, that's the lab they've been watching.  As they arrive in the TARDIS, he tells Nardole to leave since he won't be able to take the release of the bacteria.  The TARDIS isn't able to leave and Nardole is affected by the vapour.

As the others surrender, they are all destroyed and Bill is left.  But she refuses to consent since she's a nobody.  The Doctor calling himself handsome, intelligent and clever finds the way to destroy bacteria is to burn it and so sets about doing this.  Adding Erica may even ask him out after this.  He's going to blow up the lab before the bacteria can be released into the air.  However he finds he can't get out of the airlock chamber (Crystal Maze anyone?? ha) and needs to override it with a code. Which is a combination and he can't see to enter it.  Nardole is out cold and Bill can't help him.  He tells her to leave the pyramid and in the process has to tell her he's blind since Chasm Forge and she goes back to save the Doctor from dying.  She asks if the Monks can restore his sight and he says yes, so she gives her consent after making an executive decision.  Of course she was going to do this and she also has love for the Doctor in her heart, so the Monk makes him see again, as she saves him.

Next week's episode looks more exciting than this one.  Couldn't help thinking it's been done before.  As Missy finally gets in on some action and the Doctor turns evil-ish.  The Monks demanding love, but why, saying how "fear is inefficient, we must be loved."  Also what is the link they told Bill about when she agreed to giving her consent.  Consent they require before they can conquer the human race.  Obviously she wasn't going to be destroyed.  But it wasn't really love for the Monks, it was more for the Doctor, in my opinion.

This ep also has the title of the 2005 episode The End of the World contained within it.  The Doctor's role as President goes back to 2014 and UNIT needed a President of the Earth for such emergencies and the Doctor was the only one who could do this.  Having also saved Earth on some many occasions.  The Doctor also telling Bill that he's meditating, which past Doctors have done on numerous occasions too.  Pyramids also feature heavily in Doctor Who, ranging from the episode with River, The Wedding of River Song which contained Area 52 within it.  In The Dalek's Master Plan, the Doctor went up against the Monk at the Pyramid in Giza.  Funny part was Bill saying they probably need to be invited in like vampires.  But the Doctor dismisses that idea since he's already dealt with vampires before, in State of Decay.

Once Upon A Time 6.21/22 "The Final Battle" Parts 1&2 Review

                                             
The beginning opens with a father running to save his daughter and telling her to take the book and run...

The Black Fairy's curse struck and Once turned back the clock to the beginning, all the way to season 1 for the most part and did a doubletake on the Evil Queen's curse!!  People were in Storybrooke (some of them) and could recall nothing of their past except that Fiona/The Black Fairy (Jaime Murray) was now Madam Mayor taking over from Regina.  Also as Regina (Lana Parilla) did she locked people up in the hospital.  This time, Emma (Jennifer Morrison) cos she believed in fairytales and fantasies and was loony!  But hey last time I looked, what you believe in didn't make you a crackpot.  To the point where Henry (Jared S Gilmore) remembers everything and visits Emma there. Only once again she doesn't want to believe in the book or fairytales and is having trouble remembering anything too.  Especially since all she can do now is paint a swan!!  Much the same as the early episodes and Henry trying to convince her about the real stories in the book and who she really is, i.e the Saviour, he had much the same bad luck in trying his best again this time round.

Fiona now taking over Regina's role as said and even telling everyone she's his mother, as Regina is/was.  Henry tells Emma not to do anything Fiona tells her to do but that's easier said that done. Emma was nothing more than a shell of her former self and once again just gives up one everything too easily.  I mean later she said she doesn't want to return to the hospital after Henry breaks her out, but she wasn't even trying to get out, even swallowing the pill Fiona convinces her to take.  As well as Henry trying to show her the new page with the runes.  You wouldn't blame Henry if he just gave up!

It appears she has even got Rumples (Robert Carlyle) round her little finger with everyone calling her Madam Mayor including Rumples and Gideon (Giles Matthey).  Who's bitter cos Belle (Emilie de Ravin) is meant to have just left them, you know the story, went to the store one day and never came back.  Though Rumples tries to convince him that she loves him and wouldn't just do that by showing him the book, 'Her Handsome Hero' and reading the inscription.  But Gideon doesn't want to believe either, content in fixing watches, as Fiona gives him one to fix as well.  But you know there's always something more going on with Rumples, as last time he was one of the people who recalled everything and still had his memories intact.  SO if we're going on the basis of the first curse, then Rumples still remembers everything.

The others, Snow (Ginnifer Goodwin) Charming (Josh Dallas) Hook (Colin O'Donoghue) and Regina all find themselves in the Enchanted Forest.  Reggie dressed as the Evil Queen in her 'rock' outfit from the musical ep.  Hook wants to find Emma and Henry's not here either.  Regina saying they've got to owe it to the Black Fairy as she took them back to he Charming's wedding day and where they got married.  There's no way to get out and Zelena (Rebecca Mader) turns up with the Mad Hatter's hat.  Regina commenting it was 'destroyed'.  Well at least she got to use her favourite word again in the season finale.  Zelena tells her he was a hatter, he'd have more than one.  However they can't create a portal to Storybrooke and as she pulls away the curtain, she find there's nothing behind the curtain, Oz is all gone.  All of the worlds are being destroyed as Jasmine (Karen David) and Aladdin (Deniz Akdeniz) also find they got out before Agrabah vanished too.

Regina thinks she can find a way back with a spell but finds most of her ingredients are missing and someone's been stealing them.  Only it's her other half, the Evil Queen who's here with Robin.  She had to turn up here cos everyone thought she was really her and so she and Robin turned to a life of good and stole from the rich to give to the poor.  Together they think they can muster something. After Regina refuses to listen to Hook and his idea.  Charming follows him as he climbs the beanstalk cos he's his son-in-law now and can't let him go alone.  He recalls Hook, the pirate tried to kill Emma and Snow and that was back then.  He's changed now and he didn't even realize he and Emma would have any sort of a story together, or were even destined to be together with a happy ending.  He retrieves the magic bean but as they descend the beanstalk, the stalk shakes since the giant was awakened.

Back at the castle, they find that everything is being engulfed and Regina says it's cos Emma's losing hope and the Black Fairy is making her forget everything.   Back in Storybrooke, she convinces Emma to return to Boston where she was happy and takes the book from Henry.  After Henry rescues Emma, he takes her to the rooftop where they were married and tells her to meet him back here as he'll help her escape.  Unfortunately Henry goes back for the book, where the Black Fairy is waiting for him and she pushes him down the stairs with her magic.  Henry in hospital with a broken arm, she again convinces Emma to burn the book since it's the right thing to do.  As she does, the book opens on a picture of Hook.  Emma packs to leave and Henry can't make her stay.

Hook falls off the beanstalk, as does Charming and as he gets back to the castle, he finds the bean is no longer magical but shrivelled up, again cos of Emma's actions.  Snow returns to find Charming and does so, cos they always s find each other and uses true love's kiss to revive him with flashes to when he did the same for her.  The Evil Queen tries to help them and Regina doesn't want her to be left behind cos she'll be killed.

The Black Fairy returns to the store for her wand telling Gideon that Rumples doesn't know but she still has Gideon's heart.  He has to do everything she tells him and he finds the wand, which will help her in translating the runes Henry drew.  Rumples is shown photos of Belle travelling around the world cos that's what she always wanted to do.  Also proving he was right about his mother all along. As he returns to the shop, she realizes he does remember after all and after finding Belle who was hiding out in a house where the Black Fairy was keeping her.  Using a spell to follow her favourite book there.  The Black Fairy thinks he will choose her over Belle and she tells him she's sent Gideon to kill Emma since it's not a battle over light vs darkness, but light versus light.  Also saying she can reverse everything and help him get Bae back, bringing him back from the dead.  But Rumples isn't falling for it, as he kills her.  Belle walking in to see what he's done.  They must find his heart so that he doesn't kill Emma, he's going to save his son once again.  Emma having returned from Boston after seeing the book Henry left for her.  Henry also knowing Rumples remembers everything as he's been whipping up spells and he asks for two things from him, cos he's also his grandpa, walking away with the sword.

Rumples finds his heart but is met by the Crocodile Rumples and says that he can go travelling the world and have power and then destroy the world later on as well, but he's not convinced.  He  has Gideon's heart and he wants to do the right thing.  As Gideon and Emma fight, and the others return and Regina convinces Emma that she has a third choice.  That when they fought over Henry when she first arrived here, they came up with a compromise, they could both be his mother.  She also says that in the final battle she loses either way, since either way light will end. Emma throws the sword down and Gideon kills her.  With lots of light around, Rumples finds his heart is shrivelled and tells Belle he made the right choice but it didn't help.  Henry kisses Emma and wakes her up again with true love's kiss no doubt.  As Rumples and Belle hear a baby crying.  It's Gideon so they can spend their time with him all over again as they should have done.  As Belle tells him it's not the end but a very happy beginning.

                                    

With all the lands replaced including Agrabah, Wonderland.  Everyone gets their new beginning and Snow says it was always about hope and now they'll get to find what happens next.  Meeting at Granny's (Beverley Elliott) for dinner.  Grumpy (Lee Arenberg) Sneezy (Gabe Khouth) and Sleepy (Faustino Di Bauda)  give Regina a new sign on the door reading 'Regina Mills Queen.'
The girl from the beginning rides on the train in Boston and ends up at her 'father's house since Tiger Lily (Sara Tomko) told her she'll reunite with him one day and she doesn't know what will happen then. The door is opened but he doesn't know her.  Only he does really, she tells him he's Henry (Andrew J West) her father.  She's Lucy Mills (Alison Fernandez). As we return to the beginning again when Henry tried to convince Emma of her destiny and who she actually was! Coming round full circle in what was to be the series finale in season 6, but fear not, Once returns for a season 7 as we all know by now, but without at least half of the cast.  As we're probably now going to get 'Henry's Story.'  I thought the girl was Baby Robin for some reason!  But then that wouldn't have been her father, who was Robin.

Doctor Who 10.6 "Extremis" Review

                                      
A fitting picture as Peter gave an interview not too long ago about how the Doctor could defeat the current President!!

This ep opens again with a narration, this time about death.  Timely obviously since the blindness and the regeneration foreshadowing, mentioned here again.  As the man, Rafando (Ivanno Jerimiah) who was also kind of priest-like (okay more from an ep of Stargate SG-1) on another planet asks the Doctor (Peter Capaldi) to kill another Time Lord, as only a Time Lord can do this.  At first glance it appears the Doctor is the one being sentenced to be executed.  This being Missy (Michelle Gomez) as we know.  Before proceedings begin, the Doctor returns back to the present day where he gets a visit from the Cardinal (Joseph Long) telling him about the Veritas book, which when read, leads the reader to commit suicide.  As well as a visit from the Pope.  With Nardole (Matt Lucas) having to act as his eyes.  The Cardinal reminds the Doctor about Pope Benedict IX in 1045 and the Doctor adding he couldn't help it, he was lured by her castanets!  [Ohh Doctor Who and an innuendo.]

Bill (Pearl Mackie) goes on a date with Penny (Ronke Adekoluejo) and brings her round to her flat, saying she moved out but it didn't work out.  Her mother thinks she's got a man in the bathroom but is fine when she finds out it's a woman.  Penny is nervous and Bill reassures her this isn't really anything yet.  Until she hears the TARDIS in her bedroom, saying it's the pipes.  However the Pope pops out and there are other priests in her room.  Bill tells the Doctor he can't do this and Penny runs away.  Nardole programmes the TARDIS to the Vatican library and the Pope wants him to help with the Veritas and to read it.  However that's a problem cos he's blind.

The Cardinal telling them to follow him since they'll get lost in the vastness of it all.  Then they see a blue light and the Cardinal says there's no door there, just a wall.  The Doctor having to 'see' through his shades but can only see rudimentary read outs of what's ahead and also the read outs of the people.  With Nardole having to guide him and tell him what's happening since the Doctor doesn't want anyone to know and especially not Bill, since she'll worry about him and he doesn't want anyone to worry about him, only about themselves.  Nardole adding, if she finds out then it'll make his blindness real.  Funny he should refer to real as they're in a world of games which aren't real, as we'll find out.

The Cardinal vanishes into the wall removed by some shadowy creature.  As the others find a priest in the cage.  One of the lost translators who has a gun and has shot the lock off.  He says he 'sent it' and runs away with the gun.  Inside is a laptop and it has wifi, of course it does, the Doctor adds this is a library.  The chair also ash restraints and the Doctor tells them to check on the priest as a gunshot is heard.  Nardole saying he's dead anyway, as the Doctor's glasses read he's terminated.  He reassures them he won't read the book without them here.  The Doctor plugs a device onto his head which he hopes will help him see for a little while and the strange creature approaches him.  As the Doctor tries to readjust his sight and gather his bearings.  He asks the creature, thinking it's the Cardinal to strap him into the chair.  But the creature is revealed as being some sort of mummified zombie-ish alien and takes the book.  However the Doctor has his trusty Sonic and runs away with the laptop, which has a copy of the Veritas.  He opens it and the text reads ;"The Shadow Test."

Nardole and Bill find themselves in the Pentagon and leave when asked if they have clearance. They're in a place with light portals and Nardole sticks his head into another one, walking through it. This leads them to 'CERN' where the scientists who received the email are in the canteen, having their last booze up before they explode.  Nardole tells Bill to look under the table and finds explosives under all of them.  The scientist asks them to think of  a number and they both end up thinking of the same random numbers.  Finally running away before the explosion.  Nardole says the portals are projections and they're in some sort of a computer game and aren't real.  Like Grand Theft Auto.  He puts his hand behind the projector and vanishes.  Mentioning he's some sort of a hologram as in Star Trek.  (That reference gain.)

The Doctor is meant to kill Missy and at the last minute is approached by a hooded figure who tells him about hope and being a witness.  It's Nardole who has River's journal and has been instructed to kick his arse if need be.  Missy begs for her life as she's his friend and she will change.  She will give up all hope and not bear witness.  The Doctor electrocutes her.  However she's revealed not to be dead, merely sleeping.  The Doctor asks Rafando to look up how many fatalities he's had and the computer keeps searching.  They all run away and the Doctor tells them he didn't kill her as she's his friend.  In the present day, the Doctor tells Missy he needs her now.

Bill finds the Doctor in the oval office with the President dead after taking pills.  Now that was a deft allusion if ever there was one to the current one, okay tongue-in-cheek.  But gosh darn it, if it's all a game, then that President wasn't real!  He tells her this isn't real and explains how the numbers are generated on the computer with everyone coming up with the same numbers, only a computer can't do that.  She says this is real and she's real, she's really here and she can feel it.  The Doctor explaining by reference to SuperMario just giving up playing the game by deleting himself.  Bill disappears in the same way Nardole did.  The Doctor being approached by the alien.  The Doctor being told he's not real, but he says he is.  Recalling Missy's words of 'no hope and no witness...'  The Doctor tells the alien they're all shadows and practising their end game which is to take over the world (isn't it always.) But he has everything on his glasses including the book, which he sends via e-mail to his glasses and his future self so he can warn himself of what's happening.  He finds himself back at the vault and needing Missy.

The Doctor borrowing his eyesight from the future even if he doesn't know the consequences of doing so, like dying within the next 20 minutes, being blind still or anything, was to move us and as said especially since the episode was mentioning death quite a bit, including that of Missy.  As well as the Doctor urging Bill to call Penny now and she says he's out of her league.  However he replies she's not and to do it.  Knowing what will occur.  It was almost like the end of time.  The Doctor also not having to read the book as he could listen to the audio on the computer.  Does this mean it doesn't and won't have the same effect of the Doctor wanting, needing, well having to kill himself as he hasn't actually 'read' it.  Also as he tells Bill those people didn't kill themselves but needed to escape.

Then there was Bill's reference to Harry Potter when she sees the size of the library and the Doctor mentioning religion. As well as getting to see that he made his promise to guard the vault for a thousand years.  Though who exactly wanted Missy dead isn't revealed at this stage.

With Nardole also telling him River had him followed from Mendorax Dellora, where the 2015 Christmas Special was set, The Husbands of River Song.

Most importantly perhaps was how the Doctor explains he may have also messed up his future regenerations, leaving us thinking...since "something is coming, something big and very bad."  Said creatures known as 'Monks'.  What else really considering we've had the Pope and the Vatican.  Well speaking of shadows, had pangs of Silence In the Library here and with River's journal floating around, which the Doctor now kept with him.  So if he wasn't real that journal wouldn't have been real either.  Silly Monks!  Didn't realize that.  More to come as this is meant to be a three-part story, taking us up to episode 8.

Doctor Who 10.5 "Oxygen" Review

                                       
Another ep about being stranded in space and poignant opening words from the Doctor (Peter Capaldi) about "Space: the final frontier, final because it wants to kill us, sometimes we forget that, start taking it all for granted, the suits, the ships, the little bubbles of safety as they protect us from the void but the void is always waiting..."  Not at all like Star Trek, I say sarcastically, ha, but he lectures on the dos and don'ts of what you should do in space, as he draws a nice neat-ish skull on the blackboard!  As if anyone but him is ever going to find themselves in space.  But also cos he misses travelling.  Perhaps one distress call he shouldn't have answered but of course as he said it's the distress call that shows how you react to it that shows your humanity.  Well I paraphrased it quite a bit.  This time Nardole (Matt Lucas) tags along cos he hasn't been doing much of anything lately, but also to remind the Doctor that he has to look after the vault since no one else can do it and he promised.  Telling him he took out the fluid link from the TARDIS, however he's got the real one, so they can still travel. Reminding us too that the Doctor lies.  Just incase you'd forgotten.

Another episode of course where they have to do a lot of running around on the space station outpost after everyone has been killed due to lack of oxygen in their suits and become walking zombies. Known as Chasm Forge, a copper mining community and as is explained by ?? they have a helluva lot of mining to do before they make any profit.  Which should've sent warning bells sounding since they wouldn't be making much money and having 40 people there too.  Thus a new commodity, oxygen.  The life force of most every living creature on the planet and most definitely in space.  Out of 40 people only 4 survived and he must find them since Bill (Pearl Mackie) and Nardole wanted to leave.  Don't know why they feared being there, Bill and Nardole that is, not like they haven't been through anything worse than this.  Though as a consequence of saving Bill, the Doctor suffers again. This time going blind, which he says is temporary.  As her suit malfunctions quite a lot.  Funny it should be hers and no one else's.

Some more references to discrimination and racism since the blue person, Dahh-Ren (Peter Caulfield) calls Bill a racist.  Her replying she's the one who goes through it.  Nardole adding "some of my best friends are blue-ish" in that typical 'I'm not a racist fashion, but I am really' people do!  As well as Abby (Mimi Ndiwini) being rather uppity and not letting the Doctor do what he has to without questioning him. He was there to rescue them after all.  Finding that the station is based on capitalism and money. Having to pay for the oxygen they use up.  Then having their suits depleted of oxygen.  As they run about from section to section, the Doctor demands to know what happened and needs a map of the station.  Obviously they would be chased by the suits, again for money.  Nardole saying he recognizes the voice of the Bill's suit as Emma, who is now Velma.

As the zombie chase ensues with the zombies after them to kill them, the Doctor realizes it wasn't about a hack or malfunction, the suits deliberately deprived the wearer of oxygen and the depleted oxygen was put back so that it could be sold off again.  And as each section they escape to is by the zombies, they enter the air hatch but they need proper helmets to withstand the pressure outside, as they'll be exposed to the vaccuum of space. Obviously Bill's helmet can't be placed on her head (why was Bill a target?  Just cos she got pot luck with that suit, the luck of the draw.  But she also flashes back to her mother's photo from last ep.)  As she can't move her arms.  The Doctor and Nardole tell her not to breathe deep as she'll explode her lungs and as she begins to pass out, she comes too and is okay.  Nardole telling her that the Doctor gave her his helmet, as he would and has suffered blindness as a consequence.

He has to struggle on as he always does and finally gets an idea, he plugs all five of them into the station supply, thus he explains they will die but it is better to die like this.  As he tells Bill he has to leave her stranded with the zombies since her suit won't let her move and cos of the gravity she can't be carried.  He tells them there's no rescue ship and the ship was dispatched before their distress call, which Ivan (Kieran Bew) confirms.  Thus effectively it's their replacements that are being sent out now.  More commodities for payment.  Actually they were seen as organic and their suits telling them to "please remain calm whilst your central nervous system is disabled."

The Doctor tells the zombies they can't kill them otherwise the whole station will explode and it will cost them more to lose the station than it will to keep them alive.  So the zombies give them their own oxygen and Bill didn't die really.  He soldiered on with "no TARDIS, Sonic screwdriver, ten minutes of oxygen left and now I'm blind."  The Sonic being bent out of shape when the zombie got hold of it and it clung to him.  And the TARDIS being on the other side of the airlock, as it would be.  He drops Abby and Ivan off at head office since they're going to complain.

He tells Nardole he can't see and the TARDIS couldn't fix his eyesight.  But what of his guarding the vault now.  (Yes sneak peak of Missy at the end!!)  As Nardole is worried whatever's in there will pick up on his disability.  Probably seeing (sorry) he's not strong enough to control it.  Does this signal the start of his regeneration since his eyes are damaged.  Or is it more a reflection on his inability to regenerate with his eyes not being restored.

Written by Jamie Mathieson, who also wrote the excellent eps, Mummy On The Orient Express, Flatline and The Girl Who Died.  But my fave one was the mummy ep and this was similar in many ways as the Mummy on the train.  As for the Star Trek references, there's also another cool part where the Doctor and Nardole speak of how the doors should sound when they open and Nardole refers to the "shuck, shuck" just like Enterprise!  But the Doctor prefers the 'whoosing'.   Nardole also admitting he does have a criminal past as he was on the run with his girlfriend, Emma and he got his 'new face' too.

Impressive speeches by the Doctor about "the end point of capitalism" and how this is it.  "A bottom line where a human life has no value at all.  We're fighting an algorithm, a spreadsheet...we're fighting the suits"  Since that was a not so subtle reference, well metaphor,  to corporations rather than the spacesuits.  He said similar last ep about humanity and seems to be quite a theme this series.

Next ep reminds me Silence In the lIbaray what with River's journal, Missy too and the vast amount of books in the Vatican.  How will the Doctor fare without his sight?