'Doctor Who' | 'Extremis' S10E06 Review
In ‘Extremis’, the Doctor (Peter Capaldi) is given a job by the Pope (Joseph Long) to investigate a document called “Veritas” (the truth), that apparently causes all who read it to commit suicide.
The Doctor is still blind after the events in ‘Oxygen’, and struggle to hide this fact from Bill (Pearl Mackie). The events in this episode foreshadow those to come, but also provide some welcome answers to questions that the series has been toying with all season. We receive an explanation as to how Nardole (Matt Lucas) came to watch over the Doctor, and also why the Doctor is guarding the vault beneath the university.
The Doctor’s disability gives both Nardole and Bill plenty to keep them busy, and it’s nice to see that Bill has a life outside of her adventures with the Doctor - something that was sorely lacking with many of his previous companions. That Bill is more action-oriented is also a welcome characteristic as it allows the pair’s enthusiasm to bounce off one another, leaving Nardole to be the straight man.
The episode itself is mostly a set-up for future story arcs, or pay-off for character development. Veritas itself isn’t as much a MacGuffin as it is a clue towards the most important plot point in the episode. In many ways, it’s a quintessential Steven Moffat episode, for all the good and bad that entails.
The next two episodes, ‘The Pyramid at the End of the World’ and ‘The Lie of the Land’, will continue and conclude this loose arc titled ‘The Monks Trilogy’.
Watch ‘Doctor Who’ every Saturday night at 7:20pm on BBC One; 9pm on BBC America; and Sundays at 7:30pm on the ABC and iView in Australia.
