The Pyramid at the End of the World

"The end of your life has already begun."

Writers: Peter Harness & Steven Moffat
Format: TV
Broadcast: 27th May 2017
Series: 10.07

Featuring: Twelfth Doctor, Bill, Nardole

Synopsis

When a 5000-year-old pyramid appears, literally, overnight, Earth's military leaders are baffled. But there are far more serious implications for the planet, which soon become apparent...

Verdict

The Pyramid at the End of the World was an excellent episode of Doctor Who! It picked up where Extremis left off in great style and it was good to see the Monks in full action after their introduction in the previous episode. Despite this story following on from the previous episode, I am in firm favour of arguing that this is a separate story and is not any sort of two or three-parter. The different writers would be an indication of that and I would instead argue it as being a trilogy, similar to what we saw in the 1980s with The Keeper of Traken, Logopolis and Castrovalva. Placing a trilogy midway through a series is an excellent idea and I really like the contemporary feel that has come with it. Obviously events here were triggered in Oxygen with the Doctor getting blind, something that was referenced as you'd expect, and then we saw the simulation of the Monks invading Earth last time out. That was described to us very nicely in the opening scene through Bill telling Penny what the Doctor had told her. Then we kicked into action and the Doctor's status as President of Earth was put into action once again, following on from Dark Water/Death in Heaven and The Zygon Invasion/The Zygon Inversion. I really liked the continuation of the Turmezistan setting and the position that was in was really intriguing with the involvement of the world's three most powerful superpowers. I liked how this episode really carried modern day feelings with the inclusion of Russia, America and China and the possibility of international conflict. World War Three getting mentioned really brought home how powerful these countries are and with modern technology, who knows what is possible. The arrival of the pyramid was brilliant and I just loved the whole premise that surrounded it. It was impossible and impossible is something that I like in Doctor Who. Peter Capaldi has been doing a stellar job as the Twelfth Doctor in this series thus far and tackling his problem of blindness has been superb. Bill was once again wonderful and I really am loving her as the companion. She's such a breath of fresh air and now she's really acquainted with the Doctor and her actions and at the end of the episode demonstrate that. Nardole is also terrific and despite my initial scepticism when I discovered he'd be returning permanently, I have been very impressed. I do look forward to finding out what caused him to be knocked out inside the TARDIS though when the Doctor needed him. The way the Doctor and co worked out what it was that was about to destroy the world was fantastic and I really liked the use of the camera hacking to work out the location. Erica and the Doctor got on splendidly and once the Doctor had basically saved the world, his blindness came back to haunt him as he couldn't calibrate a simple keycode. He simply couldn't see and if he didn't get out he would be blown to smithereens. That was where Bill came in. After an episode of the Monks wanting genuine consent out of love, she was able to provide it in return for the Monks giving the Doctor his sight back. With his sight he could survive, but Bill signed away the world as the price. She must have serious confidence in the Doctor's abilities to put things right, especially when it wasn't even known what consent entailed, but it looks like we have quite an episode on our hands next week to tie up all the loose ends! Overall though, an excellent episode!

Rating: 9/10