Thin Ice (2017) Review

"You see that, Bill? That's a Recyclian from Recyclia IV. They always use the same invasion plan.
Surprsingly enough, they've conquered half of the galaxy because nobody expects it."

Thin Ice is an entertaining, but superficial adventure that touches on a lot of subjects, but can't seem to deliver any kind of message about them.

WRITTEN BY

Sarah Dollard, writer of 2015's Face The Raven. She's fast becoming the next Mark Gatiss, with a pattern of making good ideas uninteresting. 

PLOT

The TARDIS takes the Doctor and Bill to 1814's London Frost Fair, organised by a mysterious Lord Sutcliffe. There, they discover a massive creature living underneath the ice of the Thames with a penchant for snacking on the unsuspecting partygoers above. Now the question that is on everyone's mind... what to do with it? 

ANALYSIS

The first scenes on the Fair have a lot of atmosphere and as per usual, the production team have outdone themselves in recreating the past era. And the story itself isn't all that bad, it's just that... there's not really much tension to it. Maybe I'm just wary of comedy in Doctor Who these days, but I feel like this episode was far too lighthearted for its own good. 
That, and much of the material was recycled(shades of The Shakespeare Code and City Of Death). 

I liked the tension between the Doctor and Bill, which came about very naturally, but the theme of racism was left unexplored. It would've been nice if there was, for example, some conflict between Bill(who's clearly led a comfortable life) and Kitty(who's been on the streets). They could've even drawn a parallel between the Doctor, a Time Lord who is from a higher class of existence, but has devoted his life to "moving on" as the episode put it, and helping everyone as best he can. 

Thematically speaking, the episode felt undercooked. Since Lord Sutcliffe was irredeemably evil, he should've at least been a fun villain, but he has scarcely any good lines and so comes across as nothing more, than an irritating racist. He's not a villain you love to hate, he's just a git. And as a result, not really interesting at all. 

CHARACTERS

Peter Capaldi begins to slip towards comedy again in this episode, which is once again a mixed bag. The running gag about poor old Pete was hilarious, but his obsession with the coin trick was just tiresome. It's not his Doctor at all. And the less said about the return of "Doctor Disco", the better. 

Pearl Mackie is the strongest aspect of the episode, as Bill learns about the Doctor's darker side and begins to cope with having to do seemingly ruthless things in order to save people. She walked a tightrope this episode, above Clara-like irritating naivete, but fortunately managed to remain just likable and realistic enough, even as the Doctor inexplicably began asking her for orders and calling her his boss(he must be on a rebound or something). 

As I predicted, Matt Lucas has next to nothing to do in this episode as well, and from the next time trailer for Knock Knock, seems to be largely absent from that one as well! I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say that Nardole will never really travel in the TARDIS in the traditional sense(unless Chibnall keeps him) and his whole arc will be dedicated to the protection of the Vault. Which is why he'll suddenly become important around the time of the three-parter. 
I will say that I rather liked the ending of this episode, where he was left alone to deal with whatever menace is inside the Vault. 

Nicholas Burns is basically a Scarlioni-wannabe as Lord Sutcliffe, just a cliche "charming bad guy" without any of the quirky characteristics that really makes one. 

I'd also like to mention Simon Ludders as the Overseer, simply because I found his excitement over being congratulated for his intelligence by the Doctor adorable. 

NOTES

*When was the last time we had a nice, atmospheric establishing shot? Seems like nowadays, the episode just... starts(although I guess this time I can forgive it, since they're continuing from the Hartnell-esque ending of the last one). 

*The Doctor makes a big deal over how the TARDIS diverted their course to the Frost Fair, but it doesn't really seem to go anywhere. Was she just feeling bad for the Thames creature?

*What is it with Peter Capaldi and obvious greenscreens? 

*What exactly is wrong with the meat that Bill has to cringe? Looks like fine meat to me. Except for whatever fish the Doctor snagged. But she cringed before that.

*I was really upset when that kid nicked the sonic screwdriver. That's a big no-no. 

*Where did those weird fish come from, anyway? I mean, I can sort of buy there being a giant Thames creature, but fish that can suck people under the ice and then instantly re-freeze it? 

*And of course, the one time they try and claim someone who has the Doctor's property, they freeze the ice too quickly, leaving said property right in the Doctor's reach. How convenient.

*The Doctor's new sonic looks more like a toy replica in this episode than an actual device.

*Whilst Bill's reaction to death is very well written and natural, I am more than tired of companions being upset with the Doctor when things happen that they don't expect. How is he supposed to warn them that "whoops, time travel can be harsh"? It's kind of a no-brainer!

*And why does she keep saying "that's not what I asked" when he begins to explain that yes, he HAS killed people. I mean, giving reasons is pretty much the same as giving an affirmative, isn't it?

*How exactly do the kids "lure" people to the Fair? All they really did was make up some story about a lost dog. Do they expect people to go and look for their dog?

*Someone needs to tell Peter Capaldi to tone it down when the Doctor is meant to be lying, because I swear, every time that happens, he starts hamming it up, making it far too obvious. 

*Apparently, the Twelfth Doctor loves being "down with the kids" now. Sounds way more like Matt Smith to me, but whatever. 

*Why borrow some random diving suits(that were just sitting in a cart??) instead of getting some advanced ones from the TARDIS? Don't tell me the Doctor doesn't have some.

*Why can't the Doctor hear Bill's shouting through his mask? They were talking earlier, meaning that they could clearly hear one another. 

*Setup for the joke: the Doctor approaches a con man to find information on the Thames creature, only to be distracted by his coin-tossing skills and begs the man to teach him. Bill looks at him disapprovingly. After a small pause, the Doctor turns back to the man and tells him to never mind. 
Execution of the joke: without any hint of enthusiasm, Capaldi randomly asks the man to teach him the afore-mentioned coin toss, then quickly turns to Pearl Mackie(who is completely ignorant of her part in the joke and just sort of stares at him) and then immediately turns back and tells him to never mind and changes the topic. 
Sorry, but that's just an embarrassingly misjudged moment, not just from the actors, but also the director, and the people who allowed it to air. 

*So, no explanation of the psychic paper to those younger viewers Moffat wanted to reel in?

*Shouldn't Bill be saying "no kidding" instead of "no sh-"? I feel like the latter is reserved for sarcasm.

*I like that the Doctor explains to Bill that one has to be tactful sometimes with villains. It's a cute, self-aware moment.

*The Doctor's speech to Lord Sutcliffe was very Pertwee. Shame that Capaldi didn't get angry like he would have, though. The speech was delivered as a quiet, uplifting moment instead of a red-hot one, like it could have been. 

*Nardole puts coffee in tea? Who does that??? 

*The Doctor feels the need to censor Nardole for saying... naughty?

*How many times has New Who used the "Humans forget everything" get out of jail for free card now? 

*Bill sure found that Lord Sutcliffe article pretty fast, didn't he? You'd think it'd be in some kind of an archive instead of available online within minutes. 

CONTINUITY ADVISOR

Nardole makes the tea(/coffee) that the Doctor asked him for in Smile. And as before, he sternly reminds the Doctor to uphold his oath and stay on Earth to look after the Vault. I hope he doesn't do this next episode as well, because it will get very repetitive. 

BEST QUOTE

"Do you want to help me or do you want to stand here stamping your foot because let me tell you something: I'm 2000 years old. And I have never had the time for the luxury of outrage." - Finally, he tells the companion to quit whining and get on with it! It's a different morality, get used to it or go home!

CONCLUSION

It's enjoyable and there's some good character development, but overall, it's just too lightweight.