The Eaters of Light

"What destroyed the Roman army?"

Writer: Rona Munro
Format: TV
Broadcast: 17th June 2017
Series: 10.10

Featuring: Twelfth Doctor, Bill, Nardole

Synopsis

What happened to the legendary Ninth Legion of the Roman army? Bill and the Doctor both have ideas of what happened, but who is right? What is that strange creature lurking in the dark? And why have people been suddenly disappearing?

Verdict

The Eaters of Light was a great episode and continued the consistent level of quality in the series so far. It has been hugely impressive with not one episode that I would consider weak and that says a lot about it. Whilst there is yet to be a story to receive full marks from myself, I have still been very impressed! I love that a writer from the Classic series now got to take on the modern equivalent of the show and Rona Munro does a very good job here. Her story isn't too dissimilar in threat to her original outing in Survival and I like how she seems set on the theme of gateways and transportation. It wasn't as similar here as we didn't see what was on the other side but we certainly got a good look at what had come through. The Eaters of Light as I guess they must be called were interesting enemies and their threat was sold immediately with the fact that just one of them was responsible for the Ninth Legion of the Roman army going missing. That was quite a feat given that it was over 5,000 strong. Only a handful remained now and they weren't the stereotypical Roman that I would have expected. The arrival of the Doctor, Bill and Nardole was terrific and I loved how their purpose in being in second century Scotland was simply to settle an argument. The former two disagreed on what happened to the Ninth Legion and Bill was convinced she would find them. The Doctor wasn't so convinced and let her set off to find her Roman soldier. She had to fall down a pit to find him, but locate what remained of the Ninth Legion she did. Meanwhile, the Doctor and Nardole got into a bit of a pickle with the Scottish locals which provided both tension and humour. Nardole was actually terrific in this episode with his ridicule taken to a brilliant level. He was just along for the ride. The gateway experiencing time differently was intriguing and always a concept I find fascinating but I would have liked to see on the other side. The Eater itself looked quite weird and somewhat threatening but I think with the tendril-like method of killing, it should have resembled an insect. But that's just my opinion and I'm not saying it's bad. I thought the resolution, at least in dealing with the Eater, was slightly quick and easy with sunlight seeming to come at a very convenient time. However, the outpouring of emotion from Kar, the locals and the Romans, now that they understood each other, was magnificent. They would defend the gateway and it sealed shut with the impact of too many of them going through at once. That really was excellent. The crows keeping the memory of Kar alive was a lovely touch too. I thought the ending with Missy was intriguing and set things up nicely for the finale. But she can't really be good, can she? Overall, another great episode but not quite as fantastic as I remembered.

Rating: 8/10