A wasted opportunity? Or a setup for something better to come?
Well there it is. Extremis, The Pyramid at the End of the World, and now The Lie of the Land, the final episode of the ‘Monks trilogy’. Rather than a satisfying wrapup, it brings a sense of relief that a muddled, overly ambitious plotline is finally over, allowing the show to move on to other things. There’s stuff to like, but far more for us to pick apart in this week’s recap.
Synopsis:
The world is gripped by a mass delusion and only Bill Potts can see the truth. When even the Doctor is fighting on the wrong side, it’s up to Bill to convince the Time Lord that humanity is in deadly danger. And if she can’t do that, she may just have to kill her best friend…
So what does The Lie of the Land get right? Well, the 1984-esque scenario that has engulfed the planet is pretty well realized. The consequences of Bill pledging herself to the Monks has allowed them to craft a psychic perversion of reality. The populace have their memories realigned to accept the Monks’ presence, now and entwined with their past, notably as figures in significant world events. As it’s put in the episode, if something has always been there, you’re more accepting of it. Anyone who manages to shake off the mind control is apprehended by memory police. A mass delusion has lasted 6-months, not the whole of human history as many believe, with labor camps, a populace devoid of opinion or even color in their clothes to create a dystopic Earth similar to that the Master made in the The Sound of Drums/The Last Of The Time Lords episodes. It’s dark and effective, but while dour, it’s also interesting, which makes it a shame we don’t see more of it; this alternate land should have been the core of this 3-episode arc above everything else. Most disturbing of all, the Doctor is seemingly the mouthpiece of the Monks, spewing propaganda over the airwaves on their behalf. The reuniting of Nardole and Bill, both aware of reality, sets off a plan to free the Doctor and enlist his help, if that’s even possible.
This is where the episode starts to stumble. There’s something delicious about the warped version of the Time Lord Capaldi plays here, and it’s a shame it’s revealed to be a ruse so early on, rather than having him remain as an antagonist for longer. While a narrative choice, the options taken instead are somewhat baffling in other ways. Firstly, that Bill would resort to shooting the Doctor so swiftly, especially being unaware of Regeneration, makes little sense. Perhaps it would have if the horrors of this dystopia and the Doctor’s relevance to its perpetuation had been better chronicled. Secondly, the Regeneration fakeout. It’s not earned and utterly undermines the process, and has never before been deployed so frivolously. For the die-hards, this will be dissected for decades. Does this count as one of his 12 regenerations (of this new cycle) being used up? Beyond this scene, as in the episodes leading up to this finale, there is still no real development of the Monks or explanation of their motives. In fact as I recall, they barely even speak in this episode. Granted their pyramid flies off at the end so we may get their return and answers later, but for three episodes to go by without any explanation as to why they want to conquer Earth is just poor plotting.
There is one other villain featured in the episode; yep, our crew have to venture into the vault to ask Missy for information, because she conveniently has encountered the Monks before. Her solution is to break the psychic link; this would involve killing Bill though. It’s an odd use of the character, no matter how well realized by Michelle Gomez, or how brilliant the scenes are between her and the Doctor, serving as therapy sessions of a sort to rehabilitate Missy. But it’s just a waste, no matter how well Michelle Gomez plays it. Its an odd thing deposited in the episode, and like the Monks themselves it feels like it’s not fully fleshed out. Is there more to come, some kind of actual payoff? There must be. And don’t even get me started on that cloying ‘love saves the day’ finale or the use of “Nardy” as a nickname.
This three episode series feel like a wasted opportunity, or a hodgepodge of several ideas rolled into one, or an effort to lay the seeds for something that will unravel over the rest of this season. Hell, it may even be all three. Nothing has felt well developed or well earned. This is despite a number of great ideas, moments, and performances. Sad! Bring on next week, and the return of the Ice Warriors!