The Pilot (2017) Review

I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love...

The Pilot is an enthusiastic introduction to the exuberant new companion, but with one of the most throwaway alien threats the series has ever introduced. 

WRITTEN BY

Steven Moffat. Oh, Steven-Steven-Steven...

PLOT

Whilst on a secret mission on Earth, the Doctor and Nardole make friends with a school cook named Bill Potts, whose friend disappears into a strange puddle of water. Soon, the trio find themselves being chased by the shapeshifting liquid throughout the entire universe. But what does the shapeshifter truly want from Bill and can the Doctor shed his past once again...?

ANALYSIS

The start of this episode really impressed me. Moffat clearly has a lot of love for his new character, and her presence and the mystery behind the Doctor's latest ventures definitely gave the episode a fresh feel. His claim of being able to start watching the show from this episode is fairly true. I say fairly, because... well, there are still flaws.

The big letdown in this episode is the storyline. We're presented with a number of mysteries like... what is the Doctor doing in the school? Why is Nardole there? What is inside the Doctor's vault? Who is Bill's crush? What does the puddle mean? And practically none of them are answered, leaving the rest of the season with quite a load to carry. There is no satisfying conclusion to the episode, and the realisation that the puddle merely wants a passenger is nothing short of a letdown.

I mean... all that TARDIS travel and running about for that? Couldn't the Doctor have just figured it right there and then? The ending of this story really scuppered what was so far quite a lovely episode. 

CHARACTERS

Peter Capaldi rocks(literally) as the Twelfth Doctor. All the awkward humor from The Return Of Doctor Mysterio is gone, and he is once again in that sweet spot between the grumpiness of Series 8 and the midlife crisis of Series 9. That being said, I'd still have preferred if he didn't a hoodie, but that's just my thing.

Bill Potts is a bit too loud for my liking, but that's completely personal. Pearl Mackie is clearly very excited about the role and I have no actual problems with either her performance or character. And I very much appreciate that the episode didn't draw any attention to the fact that she's a lesbian. Very well done, Steven.

Nardole... sort of works? He has a few funny lines and his role as the Doctor's butler is a very unique and interesting take for a companion, but I really, really, REALLY do not like his more naughty side. And his constant nitpicking of the Doctor's flaws got on my nerves. Please don't let him become another Clara. 

NOTES

*So, apparently Nardole is a cyborg, which is pretty cool! I can picture the Doctor putting him back together Frankenstein-style. IT'S ALIIIIIVE!!

*I love the meta commentary on giving the TARDIS an out of order sign.

*Bill's story about fattening up a girl she liked with chips was quite clever and witty.

*We should've spent way more time on Twelve's lecturing. It was the only thing I liked about Listen. They keep building up his skills and then what do we get? A few moments in a montage.

*So, why exactly does the university let the Doctor get away with everything? Is the university going to be the Coal Hill of this season, because we definitely need to revisit it to answer some questions.

*Small nitpick, but what happened to that nice fade effect for the names of the actors we had in Series 8 and 9 in the title sequence? The current one looks kind of cheap. Not to mention the repositioning of Capaldi's eyes.

*How can a security door have a "friendly" lock that lets in potential companions willy-nilly?

*Christ, I'm tired of Moffat's habit of giving people extrasensory perception when it comes to the Doctor. "You can smell the wind in their coats." Rubbish.

*Twelve is apparently a horrible liar, which really gets on my nerves, because he's smarter than that.

*When Bill discovers the water running, why doesn't she tell her aunt, just in case someone is intruding and she might have to call the police?

*Let's be honest, the puddle is a Flood knock-off. Same fear factor.

*The music cue from Series 5 as the TARDIS was revealed really got me. I'm honestly nostalgic for some of Murray Gold's stuff. PLEASE use the Master theme for John Simm's comeback(he has a Master beard now!!).

*The toilet and kitchen jokes were dumb. 

*Nardole's "Human alert!" did get a chuckle out of me, though.

*Is anyone else tired of the bigger on the inside puns?

*Why doesn't the Doctor explain that the TARDIS translates things into English, so the acronym makes sense in the far more complex Gallifreyan language?

*I know Bill has a crush on Heather, but it's really thick of her not to shout when her head emerges from the puddle on that faraway planet(is that the planet of the Ood?) and even more so to hold hands with her when the Doctor is frantically yelling at her to stop.

*The Dalek cameo wasn't bad, per se, but their fear factor has sunk really low, hasn't it? I mean, the Doctor's now using them to fix his own problems.

*When did the Doctor promise not to travel with a companion again? And who to?

*Did some time pass before the Doctor materialised outside to invite Bill? I mean, he did say time made him change his mind... 

CONTINUITY ADVISOR

1) The River and Susan pictures were pointless, sorry. We're done with River Song and the show has never bothered to introduce Susan Foreman.

2) The Doctor holds his classic-era sonic screwdrivers in a jar and later throws one to Nardole. Utterly pointless fan service. He could've just given Nardole his actual sonic or at a strech, an Eleventh Doctor one. Or maybe Nardole could've used River's sonic, that would actually make sense.

3) The Doctor plays "Pretty Woman" on his electric guitar, just like he did in The Magician's Apprentice. I don't even get the point of this reference.

4) And for Mark Gatiss' amusement(or so I heard), the TARDIS briefly travels to the Movellan War depicted in Destiny Of The Daleks. WTF?

5) Bill talks the Doctor out of memory-wiping her by asking how it would feel if someone did that to him... which of course happened in Hell Bent. With Clara Oswald. Groaaaan.

BEST QUOTE

"Imagine if time all happened at once! Every moment of your life laid out around you like a city. Streets full of buildings made of days, the day you were born, the day you die, the day you fall in love, the day that love ends, the whole city built from triumph and heartbreak and boredom and laughter and cutting your toenails, it's the best place you will ever be! 

Time is a structure relative to ourselves. Time is the space made by our lives, where we stand together forever. Time And Relative Dimension In Space... it means life." - The Twelfth Doctor's university lecture.

CONCLUSION

A charming, but flawed opening that pumps you up for Series 10, but also raises one too many questions.