C+Q - World Enough and Time (2017)

World Enough and Time was worth the wait. Series 10 has been enjoyable overall but for me it's been the weakest of Capaldi's three series. It started off by recycling a formula from 2005, going from the present to the future to the past and then back to the present over the first four episodes as a way to introduce a new companion. In my book there's nothing inherently wrong with reusing a successful trope or formula as long as it's done well, but in Series 10 the formula is used very mehly, and it eats up a third of a great Doctor's final run. It's especially annoying given that Episode 1, The Pilot, already took Bill to her first alien planet, so the need to recycle the formula was more questionable here than usual. This uninspiring introduction was then followed up by the monk trilogy, a series of three episodes that while not being inherently bad scripts in their own right were hampered by the expectations they'd set themselves and their need to set up or pay-off one other. Throughout all of this, we had the blindness arc and the inclusion of Nardole as a main companion, two story elements that were clearly added in script redrafts and that probably needed at least one more script redraft to be integrated properly. Series 10 was a fun watch, as is all Doctor Who, but it never reached the pure transcendent heights of Series 8 and 9. Until now.

World Enough and Time is the first episode of my favourite Cyberman story, and if it isn't also my favourite Master story it's definitely in the top 5. This episode knew what it wanted to do and it knew how it wanted to do it; it was so incredibly laser-focused on making the Cybermen creepy and it succeeded in every way. Adding to the creepiness is the unspoken acknowledgement that Bill Potts, as fucking incredible as both she and Pearl Mackie are, was only ever going to be on our screens for a single year before Chibnall started, so there are real stakes here about what's going to happen to her. Of course this is Doctor Who, a show fundamentally about optimism, so there wasn't a single moment where I thought Bill was going to stay as a Cyberman. I'd've honestly been disgusted if she had. If her girlfriend didn't save her at the end of The Doctor Falls, it would've been by far the cruellest and most cynical way to kill off a companion since Katarina was blown out of an airlock in 1965. So the knowledge that Bill was probably going to be written out and that Steven Moffat always gives his companions happily ever afters added a lot to this episode on transmission. Without that, the conversion at the end would've been downright horrifying, although we are given a small glimpse of Bill crying behind her Cyberman mask to reassure us that she's still in there.

With that foreknowledge in there to cushion the blow and to prevent Doctor Who from becoming too dark, I was able to really enjoy this episode's more twisted moments, like the "Pain" thing with the volume control. The smartest thing about this episode is that Moffat succeeds in making the cobbled together look of the original Cybermen scary by deliberately drawing attention to the fact that they're cobbled together. Letting the audience see the slow transition of the hospital patients into Cybermen by giving them more and more pieces of the iconic costume was a genius move to not only set up the final reveal but also to keep us focused on the idea that all Cybermen were once normal people. Cybermen aren't just scary, they're also deeply tragic.

It's a real shame we haven't had any proper character development for Missy leading up to this, no matter how much the exposition tells us we have. Luckily, what we get of Missy here is great, and we're finally seeing her in a bit more of a positive light by having her pretend to be Dr Who. I really love how far Moffat has taken the whole 'arch-enemy as dark reflection of the hero' thing with Missy. It's given us a really nuanced portrayal of the character, in both her relationship to the Doctor and her view of morality. Thanks to Michelle Gomez and Steven Moffat, I feel as if I understand all previous Masters a little better now. Speaking of previous Masters, seeing the Simm!Master with not only a goatee but a fake rubber face to be pulled off in the event of a cliffhanger was delightful. The decision to do a crash zoom on Simm's face after he removed the mask cemented Rachel Talalay as my favourite Who director.

Actually, let's give some attention to Talalay's work considering this is the third two-part finale she's directed and she's due to direct Peter Capaldi's final episode. I desperately hope Chibnall has her phone number because if he doesn't at least try to get her involved in Series 11, he's an idiot. Rachel Talalay's direction is perfect. It's meaningful without being over-signified, it's stylish without being pretentious. With the notable exception of Osgood's death scene in Death in Heaven, where it's obvious she could only get a few good angles in that cramped airplane set and as a result completely looses the guards standing behind Missy, all of her staging and blocking is natural and immerses you in the moment while creating some nice imagery for you to notice upon closer analysis later, like how the teardrop coming out of Bill's Cyberman eye at the end makes it form the modern Cyberman eye shape. The most noteworthy thing for me about Talalay's style is that it seems to chameleon into whatever a particular script demands of her. The only thing you're guaranteed in a Rachel Talalay episode is quality.

There isn't a single bad performance in this episode either. What Bill goes through in this two-parter wouldn't be nearly as gut-wrenching as it is if Pearl Mackie wasn't so immediately likeable and charismatic. She completely sells the terror of the situation. My only criticism with the way Bill is handled here is more to do with how she was written. Bill seems a little bit too passive towards the horror unfolding around her. I know she couldn't leave the hospital because of her heart thingy, but would she have really been that content living in a hospital where so many of the patients are in agonising pain? Would she not have tried something? Having her turn the volume back down makes sense as an immediate gut reaction, but what about the next day and the day after that? More could have been done to show that Bill did have some agency but ultimately could do nothing to help the patients. It would've made her character seem stronger and her situation more desperate.

But that's a minor issue that doesn't impede my enjoyment at all. World Enough and Time is one hell of an episode. It knows exactly what it wants to achieve and it achieves it, while leaving plenty of room for fan service, some nice comedic scenes, and some wonderful quiet moments too (although sadly not enough room to give Matt Lucas anything meaningful to do). Doctor Who doesn't get much better than this.