The Eaters Of Light (2017) Review

And thus, the Doctor invented the rave party.

The Eaters Of Light is a tiresome runaround with many interesting ideas that deserved more care.

WRITTEN BY

Rona Munro, scribe of Doctor Who's final classic serial, Survival. One that I'm also very fond of.

PLOT

Bill drags the Doctor and Nardole to medieval Scotland to prove her conspiracy theory about the Roman Ninth Legion having disappeared due to other circumstances than death. There, they discover that the conflict between the Romans and the Scots has caused a portal to another dimension to open, releasing an utterly alien creature set to suck out all the light in the world.

ANALYSIS

How was this not good? You have Rona Munro, an historical mystery, a portal to an unknown dimension, Scotland, and some fantastic music! All things that I love and yet, all that this episode amounted to was people sitting in caves and waiting for the Doctor to figure out what's going on(which takes him longer than usual as he appears to not really give a crap).

And when he does, then once again we have to see a bunch of thickos not listen to a word he says. Getting really tired of that trend in the Capaldi era. Basically, the plot was a mess, the eponymous creatures weren't very well defined(if they want light, why do they kill humans? Where do they even come from? What are they? Should they be killed?) and the ending made very little sense.

Even the filler dialogue was mostly groanworthy, comprising of the Doctor making fun of the terrified children to their faces and the usual 21st century puns. Sigh.

CHARACTERS

Whilst the script does him no favours, Capaldi gives off a mysterious and caring vibe when he doesn't have to speak, particularly in the final scene with Missy. Doesn't he just have the most expressive face ever?

Speaking of Missy, whilst her redemption arc has been VERY hackneyed and unexplained, Gomez herself has been incredibly good this year without the forced flippancy. I daresay she might actually be on the road towards being a decent Master. Shame she still has no iconic TV story of her own, though(I don't know about books or comics).

Pearl Mackie's Bill sadly developed some Clara tendencies this episode, like a never-mentioned-before love for a specific part of history(okay, there was Amy and the Romans too, but that technically carried through in later episodes with Rory wearing the outfit), a need to prove the Doctor wrong and her complete inability to keep her mouth shut about certain things in the past(as if anyone would admit they're gay to a legionnaire or blab about lip-sync and telepathic fields).
It doesn't hurt her likability, but... I've got my eye on you, writers.

Nardole is... Nardole. He kind of reminds me of Turlough in the sense that you don't really get how or why he's there, and he appears to have no purpose in the series other than to react to every other line the Doctor says with an out of place comment.

The acting of the guest stars was quite good, conveying a sense of not really knowing what to do, but being willing to face their destiny, particularly Rebecca Benson's Kar(who reminded me of Amy a lot).

NOTES

*How come the survivors on both sides are all children?

*What happens when you go through the portal? From what I gather, one human can hold back the Eaters for about 60-70 years, but doesn't that just mean that eventually, they'll break through again?

*Why do the legionnaires refer to themselves as centurions? That would be like privates calling themselves generals.

*Whether the Doctor is hopeful or not, letting Missy do TARDIS maintenance is just... stupid.

*The Doctor seemed to be surprisingly cheerful about the idea of spending eternity guarding the gate.

*This is my mum's favourite Twelfth Doctor episode. Because Scotland(to be fair, the location filming is the best part).

*What was the stuff with the talking crows about?

CONTINUITY ADVISOR

1) The Doctor excuses Missy's presence in the TARDIS by reminding his companions that she helped them escape Mars in Empress Of Mars? Oh yeah, why was the TARDIS malfunctioning and why did Missy think the Doctor was sick?

2) Bill correctly guesses that the TARDIS telepathic field helps her understand the local languages. This was first revealed in The End of The World. Kind of late to bring that up, no?

3) And as with pretty much every other episode this season, the Vault gets a mention. Because apparently fans have short term memories.

BEST QUOTE

"Does everybody hear that? Do you know what that sound was? That was the sound of my patience shattering into a billion little pieces!"

CONCLUSION

Whatever, John Simm is next