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Thoughts About Doctor Who: The Lie Of The Land – 10 Years In Labour Camps For A Box Of Comics

Doctor Who aired tonight on BBC1 and will air on BBC America at 9pm ET…

So that was The Lie Of The Land, the third Monks episode and probably the weakest, though it started pretty strong.

1. A Pint? That's Very Nearly A Lifetime

Monks were there for the first mudskipper – and it's straight from a famous Guinness ad.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eoOw1L1bERc

2. A Silent Order

If the Monks have always been there, wouldn't The Silence have something to say about that? Their roles seem rather identical. And if they defeated the Cybermen, well, I suppose they can't actually be the Cyberman. But at least this is evidence that people of Earth still remember the Daleks and Cybermen – so why did Bill show no sign of such knowledge earlier? And did anyone know about the Weeping Angels, how did that make it into the fake history?

3. Fake Views

Everyone is having fun making fake histories these days. Hydras and Monks. Could it be that reading Secret Empire was what got someone send to labour camps for ten years? Note, both Agents Of SHIELD and Doctor Who dropped the fake news bomb. Note the line about exaggerating numbers as well, very… inaugural. While the use of the pyramids might suggest imagery that;s rather… Illuminatish. A new world order indeed… with history, fascism and fundamentalism all ready to be ignored. With ruthlessness and efficiency… no, wait a fanatical devotion to the Pope was two episodes ago.

4. The Sound Of Drama

The Earth has been invaded. But everyone thinks that's how it's always been, thanks to some seriously dodgy mumbo jumbo and only Missy can help the Doctor work out what's going on. Which is handy, of course, because the last time this was happening, it was Missy who was doing it, with the Toclafane and psychic satellites. At least it only took Bill six months to get things going, it took Martha Jones a lot longer. Comparisons with The Sound Of Drums and Last of The Time Lord were heavy.

5. Stealing Shiny Things From Previous Episodes

Magpie Electricals turns up so many times in Doctor Who since that first appearance in The Idiot's Lantern. River Song's scanner in Day Of The Moon, websites in The Runaway Bride, televisions in The Sound of Drums and Voyage Of The Damned, pretty much everything in The Eleventh Hour, Sarah Jane Smith's computer in The Mark of the Berserker, and it even survived into The Beast Below. Oh and seeing the Doctor through the round window? Donna did similar but with better actions…

6. The Saving Sound Of Nardole

Okay, so this wasn't best episode. And the good bits had mostly been done better in previous episode of Doctor Who. But Nardole is a welcome breath of fresh air, and his arrival was just what we needed. Silly, distracted, a walking non sequitor and utterly essential to plot, to character, to the audience still watching…

7. Pirate Radio DJs As The Baddies Again?

The Doctor always makes for a good bad guy. Or a bad good guy. Or humanity's greatest enemy. But with the Doctor broadcasting to the world from a seaborne vessel. It's basically pirate radio, right? Radio Gallifrey?

8. Fooled You Twice

Oh, so that's what the regeneration teaser was for. Fake regeneration for fake news. But if Bill hasn't seen a regeneration before, why fake one for her benefit?

At least there were no disembodied hands this time…

9. Kill Bill

Missy plays the piano like Sherlock while posing like Moriarty. And are those tears crocodile in origin? No sign of her dabbing yet, that is to come. As to her solution, why not just take Bill away out of psychic range? Or to another time? Wouldn;t that break the connection? Or, like puddles, would it keep going?

10. Fake Ruse

In the last episode of Doctor Who, Bill doomed humanity with the Power Of Love. So naturally, it's there to save the day again. Even if it's a faked love, an imaginary connection, formed from photos and wish fulfilment. Basically, it's Fake News. What better way to fight one fiction with another? Oh and the Doctor till weaponising people into suicide bombers. And into shooting him. And letting them volunteer to be husks. It must be something about that upper class officer air…

11. River's Song

Terrible things always happen around the Thames, right from the first episode, Rose and the Autons. Or the spiders in Thr Runaway Bride. Or that fish in Thin Ice. Or in Eastenders. Dum dum dum de dudududuh….

Next week… A British John Carter Vs Ice Warriors!

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