TV Review: Doctor Who Series 10 Episode Eight - "The Lie of the Land"

"You're Version Of Good Is Not Absolute. It's Very Arrogant, Sentimental..."

Whilst both "Extremis" and "The Pyramid at the End of the World" were indeed both bold and exciting tales of science fiction wonder, their role as pre-cursor for this week's episode heeds a huge sense of pressure on the concluding part of the story this week, one which needs to sustain its' predecessors greatness in order to really conclude whether the trilogy has ultimately worked as a whole rather than falling under the weight of the sum of its' parts. Thankfully, taking paranoid, dystopian cues from the likes of Orwell and highlighting notions of a controlled state which has been rife in cinematic entertainment for years, "The Lie of the Land" continues the courageous recent writings by offering a narrative which concludes the past few weeks' story in an effective and well played manner, but one which too falls short of greatness due to some middling false steps. As with most of Capaldi's reign as Doctor, his performance continues to cement my argument that his portrayal is the first real true contemporary incarnation of the "classic" mould of the travelling Time Lord, whilst Pearl Mackie's Bill really has the opportunity to shine this week, proving to the naysayers that her inclusion this year is indeed one of the real stand-out positives of the series.

Whilst the threat of the Monks ultimately does come across as rather limited and anti-climactic, with the trilogy not entirely providing an effective stance of their ultimate show of power, the scene in which we witness soldiers heading into battle against the background of Bill's recorded voice, one which acts as a blocker to the brainwashing power of the Monks. is superbly done. The lack of sustained threat however does ultimately resign the Monks to a limited memorability factor, with them not entirely hitting the standards of classic Who villains by any means and this negative attribute is one of the reasons why this particular trilogy doesn't exactly transcend to any more than something which is brilliantly bold instead of the contemporary masterpiece I believe I think it wants to be. Whilst "Extremis" is still the best of the three episodes, the differing nature of each could arguably allow for future viewings without the need to see the entire trilogy, and whilst this is a good sign for moderate viewers of the show, the overarching success of the trilogy suffers from this, but as an individual episode, "The Lie of the Land" is effective enough to be regarded as a solid win.

Overall Score: 7/10