WARNING: SPOILERS, sweetie.
So Missy’s in the vault. Yeah, big surprise, right? And if
it feels like I’m revealing this kind of anticlimactically at the beginning of
this review, that’s kind of how it happens in the episode.
The Doctor is still blind after the events of the previous
episode, and only Nardole knows the truth. The Vatican comes for the Doctor’s
aid with a pressing issue. In their library of heresy, there is an ancient book
called the Veritas. Anyone who reads it soon after takes their own lives. And
someone has just released a new translation. The Pope begs the Doctor to read
the Veritas to learn how to stop these mass suicides, but the Time Lord’s
blindness proves to be his biggest adversary in this mystery.
This is one of the darkest Doctor Who episodes I’ve seen in a while. There aren’t a whole lot
of comedic moments here, and there are plenty more suicides presented in this
episode than in any DW episodes in recent memory. The part where Bill and
Nardole encounter the CERN scientists – cheerful and nonchalant about their own
demises as a clock counts down to an explosion – is eerily disturbing, as is
the image of the fictional President of the United States slumped in a chair
after intentionally overdosing on pills. And then his body is just there in the
background for the rest of the scene. Haunting stuff.
The big reveal in the episode both lessens and increases on
the scare factor. On the one hand, the majority of the episode – barring the
framing device and flashbacks – are all in an advanced holographic simulation
created by the Monks in an attempt to practice taking over the Earth before
they go forth with their big plan. First of all, I love this idea, because it
makes sense for an army to practice different tactics before they try for an
invasion. A simulation like this allows for trial and error so they can see
what exactly would be the best way to go about conquering Earth, and it sets up
just how cunning an adversary the Monks are.
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| "It's nothing but bloody fanfiction!" |
But on the other hand, this is technically a cop-out since
none of the tragedies and deaths we witness in the episode amount to anything,
so that decreases the nightmare fuel dished out by them. But the fact that
there are no consequences to the real world means that they can go more all-out
with the brutality. It’s kind of like that episode of Young Justice where everyone’s trapped in a telepathic battle
simulation and everyone winds up dying. None of it really matters in the end,
but that doesn’t mean they can’t still terrify us with death after death.
(Also, spoilers for Young
Justice.)
However, the fact that it is a scarily, near-perfect
recreation of our world makes it even more terrifying on a psychological field.
How would you know if you were in a simulation of the real world? What would
you do if a book told you the world was fake and gave you several tests to
prove it? And with how detailed the simulation is with peoples’ memories,
personalities, and finite details (like the girl Bill has a crush on), it
really begs the question of how much the Monks really know about us. It has a
real “Matrix-meets-Inception” vibe to it, and this reveal really amps up the
paranoia factor of the episode.
As mentioned before, the main villains/monsters of this
episode – as well as the whole three-parter this episode begins – are the
Monks, these red-garbed, corpse-like beings apparently bent on taking over
Earth. This episode doesn’t really give us a whole lot of information on them
apart from their desire to conquer Earth and the fact that they have the
technological capacity to create a highly sophisticated computer program to
practice their tactics. But from what we’ve seen of their design and what
they’ve done so far, they’re suitably creepy.
So far on the Moffat
Monster Scare-o-meter™, the Monks score 3.5 Moffs out of 5.
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| A behind-the-scenes photo gives Game of Thrones fans a glimpse at Melinsandre's new look. |
Alright so let’s go back to the thrilling
conclusion of “What’s in the Vault?” shall we? Like I said before, it’s Missy.
What it boils down to is sometime after “The Husband of River Song”, Missy
found herself in the imprisonment of a planet of executioners. The Doctor was
called in to carry out her execution, and he would have to look after her body
for a thousand years. But the Doctor cheated, kept her alive, but still kept
his promise. And now she’s in a vault.
It’s a bit of an anticlimactic reveal,
especially since Missy was one of the most obvious candidates. I know I was among
those guessing that one of the Masters – either Missy or John Simm – was going
to be in the vault, but there’s a part of me that’s disappointed the show
didn’t pull the rug out from under us. And the way they casually reveal it at
the beginning of the episode is kind of like the show saying, “We know you
already figured this out, so let’s just get this out of the way real quick.”
Then again, this reveal also leaves me intrigued as to how they’ll bring the
John Simm Master into the plot, considering he’s not the one in the vault as
predicted.
But I still smell trickery going on. We never
actually SAW Missy in the vault in the present day. Hell, we didn’t even see
the Doctor physically put her in the vault. We just see him sitting outside the
vault talking to her like he’s going to sing “Do You Want to Build a Snowman?” So
for all we know, there could still be a reveal within the reveal. Until I actually
see Michelle Gomez inside, I’ll be skeptical.
But the episode still doesn’t answer WHAT THE
HELL MISSY’S BEEN DOING SINCE HER LAST APPEARANCE. Seriously, the last we saw
of her was in the second episode of the last season, where she was stranded on
the Daleks’ homeworld and announcing that she had an idea. Naturally, I thought
that this would return for the season finale, but nope. She’s nowhere to be
seen. And then this episode just starts with her incarcerated and awaiting her
execution. It’s like…what happened? What was her plan? Was that the reason she
was about to be executed? If I don’t get answers by the end of the season, the
BBC’s gonna get a lot of angry, illegibly-written letters.
Also, can I just say how much I love the
relationship between Twelve and Missy? I’ve always been fascinated by the
hero-villain dynamic where they kind of compliment each other and are kind of
soul mates, even if it’s mostly one-sided like with Batman and the Joker. Ten
and the John Simm Master had a similar relationship, but it felt more like the
friendship was more on the Doctor’s side as he tried to save the Master from
his own sins. With Twelve and Missy, the friendship absolutely goes both ways.
Missy is evil, yes, and she’s the Doctor’s archenemy, but paradoxically, she’s
also his best friend, and he would do anything to save her despite all the
wrongs she’s done. That is a fascinating dynamic you don’t see much between
heroes and villains. And Capaldi and Gomez just play off of each other so
freaking well. I don’t know if they’ve been friends for years or not, but they
definitely act like it.
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"Pie Jesu Domine"
*THUNK* "Dona eis requiem" *THUNK* |
“Extremis” is a very dark episode with a lot of
disturbing themes and interesting concepts. Doctor
Who doesn’t often delve into religion, but whenever it does, it’s always
super ominous. For the first part of a three-part storyline, “Extremis” manages
to set an intriguing foundation and makes me interested for the episodes to
come.
Final verdict: 8/10.
NEXT WEEK: Part two of three! A five thousand
year old pyramid shows up overnight, and somehow this plays into the Monks’
plan.
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