Doctor Who – Extremis

As Steven Moffat’s departure from Doctor Who becomes all the more imminent, he appears to have upped the audacity of his storytelling. This has given us a fantastic first half of this series’ run, and with ‘Extremis’, we might just have been treated to the best episode yet.

The episode sets itself a difficult challenge – explain the return of Missy, reveal the contents of the Vault, explain how the Veritas (an ancient text) causes people to kill themselves after reading it, and introduce the Monks, who are the brand-new antagonists of this episode and the two succeeding it. Oh, and the Doctor is blind. However, the payoff of these mysteries, and how they set us up for the second half of this series, exceeds expectations.

With ‘Extremis’, we might just have been treated to the best episode yet.

The investigation by the Doctor, Bill and Nardole into the mystery of the Veritas is interrupted by flashbacks to ‘A Long Time Ago’, where it is revealed that Missy is incarcerated in the Vault (surprise surprise), having been given a death sentence to be delivered by the Doctor. This storyline ramps up the ‘frenemy’ relationship between our favourite Time Lord and Lady, with the Doctor unwilling to kill his ‘friend’, and later asking her for help in the impending battle against the Monks. She’s billed to return in episode 8, so no doubt we’ve plenty to look forward to in what will most likely be one of Missy’s final outings (so here’s hoping we find out how she managed to escape from the Daleks last series…).

Back in the present, though, and we find ourselves in the depths of the Vatican, with the Doctor separated from Bill and Nardole – he sends them away so that he can try to read the Veritas. However, as is so often the case, it is the companions who discover the machinations of the enemy, rather than the Doctor. Travelling through a portal, Bill and Nardole find themselves in CERN, where a mass suicide is about to take place, as the scientists have all read the Veritas. They invite Bill and Nardole to say a random sequence of numbers, which leads to one of the episode’s most chilling scenes – they utter exactly the same sequence, along with the scientists surrounding them.

The Monks Credit: BBC/BBC Worldwide/Simon Ridgway

Upon their escape, it is Nardole (who continues to be a surprisingly welcome addition to the TARDIS) who realises the truth of their predicament. Bill, Nardole, the Doctor, and pretty much every other character we’ve seen this episode, is in fact a simulant, within a giant simulation which the Monks are using as a ‘practice run’ for their imminent invasion of Earth. But this is no Matrix rip-off. Rather than suggesting we’re all living in a simulation, all the time, ‘Extremis’ suggests that a simulation has been run alongside the real world, as a test, and that once the simulation has been completed, real life resumes, with no memories or trace of the simulation having happened. Thank goodness the Doctor’s Sonic Sunglasses can send emails, then.

This is a masterfully handled, finely sculpted piece of TV. Shifting the focus from who was in the Vault to why they’re there was, in my opinion, inspired. The simulation twist provided the perfect set-up for this trilogy, and will hopefully allow for a diverse run of episodes which shift geographically and thematically. As we enter the latter half of Capaldi and Moffat’s final run, with a blinded Doctor and the impending threats of Monks, Master(s) and Mondasion Cyberman, I can’t wait to see what Doctor Who will treat us to next.