Written by John Edward BetancourtTHIS IS THE EMERGENCY SPOILER ALERT SYSTEM...YOU ARE ADVISED TO READ AT YOUR OWN RISK...When it comes to science fiction, robots, often fueled by artificial intelligence have served as a solid go to villain for decades and there is a good reason for that. After all, these unfeeling beings see the dark side of mankind for what it is and firmly believe that the world or the universe would be a better place without our pettiness. They have served as an allegory for as to why we need to be better as a species and they have provided us with some incredibly iconic moments in cinema as well. But what if an A.I. based robot, wasn't entirely evil? What if its actions were based on a simple lack of understanding and a drive to serve their masters? Would that make them evil or merely misunderstood? These are all fine questions that have no doubt been explored and possibly overlooked since the evil A.I. bot is far more entertaining. So leave it to Doctor Who to dig into these questions and answer them in last night's fascinating episode, 'Smile'. Because this particular tale picked up immediately where the season/series premiere left off, with Bill and the Doctor standing in the TARDIS before skipping through time and space to the future where they came to one of the first human colonies some 20 light years from Earth, which just so happened to be vacant of humans. But it was filled to the brim with robots known as the Vardy, artificial Intelligence based beings that helped build this colony and unfortunately for the colonists; the Vardy figured out a way to monitor their emotions and remove any human being from the planet, who wasn't quite enjoying life as much as they should. Now while that sounds like a prototypical, 'freak of the week' monster style of storytelling it was anything but. These 'bots truly wished to help. They understood the suffering the colonists went through, and based off of the data available to them, firmly believed that happiness was the key to keeping a human being alive and well. Granted there is some credence to that, but a being without a firm understanding of the complexities of emotion will make whatever call it deems necessary, making the Vardy a misunderstood but sentient creature, and one that hopefully will maintain newfound peace with the human beings that now walk amongst them. But while it seems as though this was a Doctor Who story with less complex storytelling than last week's premiere, there was something more to offer up as well, since it's becoming quite clear that Series 10 is going to have a heavy focus on the Doctor getting his groove back and standing tall as the hero we know him to be, considering that there was a healthy spotlight on how much he's been hiding since losing River and Clara. Bill consistently pushed to get more information out of the man and while it's clear he struggled taking Bill into the future since it broke his vow to remain on Earth...the allure of saving lives and making the galaxy a better place is clearly too much for him to resist and it was nice to see him go from timid professor to kick-ass Time Lord/Savior of All of the Things as the episode progressed. Speaking of Bill, thus far she continues to impress. She's intelligent and strong and I am thoroughly enjoying the fact she knows how to call the Doctor on his bologna, and that she can do it without some giant monologue questioning the Doctor's morality or strategy. She goes along with the plan, and she gets it and if the Doctor is out of line, she lets him know and that makes her quite the refreshing companion to say the least. Either way, this was a simple but fun first adventure for the Doctor and Bill and it's clear the show is making good on its promise to make Doctor Who more accessible to the fans by giving us raw entertainment with a few cerebral moments to chew on. I do hope however the stories begin to get a touch more complex as the season rolls on so Twelve gets a juicy and proper farewell. Until next time.
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