World of Who: The Eaters of Light

The Doctor and company arrive in 2nd Century Scotland to find out what happened the Ninth Legion of the Imperial Roman Army, with the Doctor claiming they died and Bill saying they disappeared. When Bill finds a group of Roman soldiers underground and the Doctor finds a Pict tribe guarding a Carin and both groups talk about a light destroying monster. Will the Doctor and Bill find out what happened to the Ninth Legion and stop the monster or will they join the legion and be lost in history?

The Good

Bill I felt was a little flat in the last episode, her performance really feeling like a step back from Lie of the Land. Here we see her bond with the Roman Legion and kind of getting schooled about how close minded she is for dating only women. Later on, her knocking the Doctor out to keep him from sacrificing himself and her understanding more about the Doctor as a person is also good. The Doctor is really showing himself more here as sort of a parent to time and space then his previous incarnations who sort of acted like it. It seems that sadly this season has found a rhythm for Capaldi just as he is set to leave. The highlight of the episode I think is when the soldiers here from the townspeople about how they feel about them. The monster I felt was an interesting idea as I don't think we've ever had a monster like this that eats light and lives in another dimension. The story is in itself what people will do to keep people safe, Kar ignoring her duty and using the monster for war instead of keeping it locked away for peace.

The Bad

There isn't a lot to dislike about this episode though I feel it is burdened by time constraints of forty-five minutes. The problem is that the monster feels kind of not fully thought out but the real problem is that where the Romans feel a bit more fleshed out, I don't think Kar and the other Picts were that fleshed out. Kar comes off as someone with more of a story but she and the rest of them feel like placeholders for the story. 

Overall I felt this story was decent but really needed more time to really flesh out the story. On the issue of Missy I have to wonder how these attempts to redeem her will work though I think her meeting John Simm will either reveal she was lying or that it will kill her later.