'Doctor Who' Recap: 'Extremis'

Written by John Edward Betancourt

THIS IS THE EMERGENCY SPOILER ALERT SYSTEM...YOU ARE ADVISED TO READ AT YOUR OWN RISK...

Perhaps the true beauty of a final season when it comes to a television show is that the powers that be can throw caution to the wind and try anything and everything they ever wanted to storytelling wise because hey...there's no tomorrow. We've seen it happen on shows before as they come to a close and while this is not the final season of Doctor Who, it is certainly the curtain call for Steven Moffat and Peter Capaldi and clearly, Steven seized the opportunity to try something incredibly new as the end draws near with last night's episode, 'Extremis'.

I say that simply because...this was a Who story unlike any other. It was dark, brooding and unique as it allowed for a troubling scenario to play out before our eyes wherein the Doctor and Bill and Nardole were summoned by the Pope himself to help with the translation of an ancient document known as the 'Veritas', a document which also managed to drive anyone mad who read it and as it turns out, this little quest led to quite the stunning set of revelations. In that, the Veritas was a manifesto revealing a digital simulation of our world, one controlled by a mysterious group of mummy-like creatures that were looking to figure out how to conquer Earth in the simplest way possible, including adding the Doctor to this simulation to properly learn how to defeat him as well.

Now, seeing an alien species interested in taking over the earth is nothing new to the Who-niverse, but how the Doctor discovered their existence and their plan, is what made this story so incredibly special. Because we've never seen a species study us in grand detail on the show before launching their invasion plans and the fact that they were able to do this in silence and secrecy was quite the stroke of genius and equally as amazing is the whole simulation aspect of the story. Up until Nardole stuck his hand in the darkness and 'derezzed' for lack of a better term (thanks to ​Tron for the assist, though) we hadn't a clue as to what was going on outside of the usual fare. It made for quite the pleasant twist to the story and it's good to know that any iteration of the Doctor, be it digital or real, is still a good man any way you slice it since he alerted his real world self to the threat, and speaking of the Doctor...the focus on the good in his heart was central to this story as well, because this episode finally revealed exactly who is residing in the Vault.

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As it turns out long after the Doctor and River parted ways, the Doctor decided it was high time to get a few loose ends in order around the universe and one such lingering issue just so happened to be Missy. So, in order to put an end to the chaos she has caused over the past few years he had Missy placed into custody and brought to a special world where its citizens specialized in executing aliens of the universe and the time had come for Missy to meet her maker. It was a dark moment to say the least, seeing as to how the Doctor is not known to put people down in this kind of cold and calculated fashion and despite the pleas from Missy and Nardole, it seemed the Doctor was going to go through with it. 

Thankfully however, he merely stunned Missy, because he never intended to outright murder her, he just wants to keep her out of the universe's way and after getting a healthy shock to the system she was placed in a quantum flow chamber which just so happens...to be the vault he's guarding and well, this part of the story was just so wonderful and so beautiful. Because it once again spoke to the strange relationship between the Doctor and Missy and the fact that Twelve seemingly cannot give up on her just yet. He firmly believes that there is good within her, that his childhood friend can be rescued from the darkness in her soul and that perhaps, by placing her in this vault for a thousand years, she will eventually see the error in her ways. But the real twist to this storyline, is the fact the the Doctor is starting to think about letting her out early and he may do just that, because with this new threat on the horizon, he is going to need all the help that he can get...

Now, was this the finest that Series Ten has to offer? No, because at times it did feel like familiar territory, and it was nowhere near as cerebral as the stories that came before it, but this episode gets a pass for two key reasons, the first being it's unique way in introducing us to a bold new threat, because truly, I've never seen a bad guy make their entrance quite like this on the show and because of the wonderful side story involving the Doctor and Missy. It's a sub plot that's been ignored for far too long and rather than just lay out their complicated relationship and intentions in 'paint-by-numbers' fashion, I truly appreciated the fact that both actors let their prowess on screen and their actions do the talking and if anything the dynamic between these two resembles that of the Joker and Batman, where they just so happen to need one another because one compliments the other in perfect fashion. Either way, the stage is set for a showdown with these mummified monsters and it looks like next week, the battle for Earth gets underway. Until then.

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