Possibly the most divisive troika in sci-fi fiction since the Star Wars prequels, Doctor Who's Monks trilogy rounds off this week with 'The Lie of the Land', an episode by Toby Whithouse that's strong on set-up, weak on pay-off, but pacy and poignant enough to mostly get away with it.
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The episode's title, as you might have guessed, has a double meaning – the 'lie' of the land is another deceit being woven by the Monks, a warped world in which they've always been a part of human history – our leaders, our saviours, our Gods.
Yes, it's another simulation, but that's sort of their thing, and happily this week's tone and setting are different enough to prevent 'The Lie of the Land' from feeling like a rehash of 'Extremis'.
Unlike that episode, the first 20 or so minutes here are moody without being tedious and bleak, with "memory criminals" including a lone Bill (Pearl Mackie) striking back against the "true history" enforced by the Monks.
It's all a bit Fake News, with an apparently enslaved Doctor (Peter Capaldi) serving as his foes' propaganda machine, sending out pro-Monk broadcasts to an oppressed but mostly satisfied public. ("However bad a situation is, if people think that's how it's always been, they put up with it," muses Nardole.)
Soon, though, it starts to look as though the Doctor may be working with Monks of his own free will. Capaldi and Mackie are both terrific at playing, respectively, the betrayer and the betrayed, especially in one particular moment where Bill attempts to communicate in code – a test of loyalty – and her friend immediately exposes the ruse.
One big thing 'The Lie of the Land' gets right is returning the focus of this series to the Doctor and Bill's relationship, and the pair get to play a wealth of scenes across its 45 minutes that range from tense to sweet to sad.
But the question of whether or not the Doctor has turned bad is not really a question. Of course he hasn't. Capaldi's more stern, sober incarnation might be better at selling the possibility than some of his predecessors would've been, but it's still a non-starter.
Bill shooting the Doctor, and his subsequent "regeneration" also feel rather contrived – would she really go so far, so fast, if it didn't make for a tasty scene to cut and paste into a series trailer?
Wisely, Whithouse doesn't drag out the Time Lord's "betrayal", or its fallout, for too long, resolving his first big puzzle briskly before moving the episode down an entirely new route. That's not to say there aren't still some lingering ambiguities.
While the Doctor is always unwaveringly good and honest, Missy's arc is less obvious. Following up seeds sown in 'Extremis', this episode revisits the idea that she might turning "good" – or at least a version of that which she can stomach.
Is it genuine, or is she pulling a fast one? We suspect the latter, but there's a pleasing ambivalence to the writing and Michelle Gomez's performance that makes you wonder. Again reinforcing what we saw two weeks back, Gomez gives us her best Missy to date – more controlled and less cartoonish than in some previous appearances.
She's still very much bringing her own thing to the part, as she should – Missy remains impish and playful. But whereas in the past you might've struggled to believe that, say, Roger Delgado's Master was in there somewhere, here Gomez better captures the icy charm of her forerunners.
'The Lie of the Land' works hard to have its audience – like Bill and her compatriots – second-guess everything we see. Has the Doctor turned? Is Missy really trying to help?
For the most part, its attempts at ambiguity are enjoyable. The Missy scenes are perfectly-pitched and while the Doctor's turncoat moment is unconvincing on a plot level, it's powerfully performed.
The episode's climax, though, is another matter, as Bill's love for her late mother proves to be the pure thought she needs to fight back against the Monks. "She's filling her mind with one pure, uncorrupted, irresistible image!" yells a victorious Doctor. "And it's broadcasting into the world because it can't help it!"
Erm... OK. That love wins out over brute force and terror is a very Doctor Who message, and you've always got to be a bit flexible on logic with this show, but this resolution doesn't make a lick of sense even going by the episode's own rules.
Bill managed to break her psychic link to the Monks, but why did that spare her being turned into a brainless husk, a fate we were promised awaited her? Endings are important, and this sweet but baffling climax is a black mark on an otherwise engaging episode.
With that, the Monks are gone – a decent enough nemesis, creepy with a memorable look, but interesting enough to justify devoting three whole episodes to? Probably not. The trilogy Doctor Who's unfolded over the past few weeks might have made for a fine two-parter (with most of the pointless 'Extremis' excised) but has felt protracted as is.
But even if series 10's trilogy has been a missed opportunity, 'The Lie of the Land' is still a diverting chapter, with strong performances and plenty of momentum compensating for any script stumbles. And that's the truth.
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