Last updated on 29 August 2017

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the doctor who review season 10 episode 2 smile — Image from BBC

WARNING! SPOILER ALERT! Welcome back to the Doctor Who Review, where I recap the week’s episode and give some thoughts and opinions on it. Please do not read if you have not seen this week’s episode. There are major spoilers ahead. You have been warned. Check out the rest of the Doctor Who Reviews here

Title: Smile

Written by: Frank Cottrell-Boyce

Bill Potts is about to head out on her first real adventure in the TARDIS. The question is: past or future? Before they can get on their way, Nardole interrupts and reminds the Doctor that he has made an oath, and he’s not meant to leave earth, or leave the vault unattended. The Doctor tells Nardole to go and put the kettle on, and while Bill questions it, he reminds her that they have a time machine and can get back before the kettle boils.

Off into the future they go, at Bill’s request. They land in a wheat field, with a huge futuristic (appropriately) building rife with ‘robots’ who speak Emoji. Twelve and Bill soon realise that the robots react to human’s emotions by using a badge on their backs that connects to a human’s system, and displays appropriate emojis. The big question is: where are all the humans?

One of the last colonys of earth should be landing, Twelve decides, and this is the future home, being prepared and sorted for their arrival. The badges on their backs are designed to ensure that they are happy, that they are smiling. But something’s not right, as usual, and the Doctor and Bill have to stop lunatic emoji robots from killing them and the entire human race.

My thoughts on Smile

The story line is a tad a random. Aiming it at this generation – a generation of smart phones, social media, and of course the emoji – was probably a good move, going back to gentler, somewhat more simplistic plot lines, however it wasn’t a favourite of mine. What made it for me, though, was Bill. Again.

Bill is rocking the companion position. I love her and everything she does and says. One of my favourite things about her is that she questions all the things that a lot of us have probably thought while watching Doctor Who, but which none or few of the previous companions have ever thought. Like bring the chairs close to the TARDIS console.

When she gets put back in the TARDIS in the typical fashion of ‘you’ll be safe here while I go and figure out what’s happening’, the reasons she heads back to the shiny-white building is because she reads the front paneling on the door and goes to tell him that the reason he doesn’t call for help is the he is the help. Little things like this are what, I think, make Bill a brilliant new companion.

While there are only a brief scene with Nardole in it this week, I do hope we get more of Matt Lucus in future episodes. It’s a lot more fun, I think, having more than one companion.

Overall thoughts on Doctor Who Smile

As a one off episode, Smile was pretty good. It was a light episode, literally with the white building and emotionally (despite human massacre being a theme), and I feel like Twelve has calm down a little bit from last season. He seems a little more relaxed and less tense. And that fake smile he gives in the corridor? Oh my word. Priceless.

Can I just note, also, that at the beginning of Season 9 we were hit with a series of double episodes. Nearly all the episodes were doubles, meaning we had to wait a whole week to find out what happened. While this is fine for the beginning or the end of a series, I did not enjoy that at all. I’m much preferring the one-off episodes at the moment. Long may it continue.