Doctor Who 10x10 "The Eaters of Light" Review

SPOILERS

“The Eaters of Light” was okay. There were times when I was really on board and times when I couldn’t wait for it to end.

We get a mysterious teaser with two kids playing around some cairns in Scotland and the little girl hears music. A crow seems to be saying “doc-tor” and the camera pans down to the carving of a TARDIS on one of the rocks. So he did something there, in the past. When we jump back to the past, Bill is determined to find the lost Ninth Legion of Rome, and the Doctor is determined to prove her wrong. They split up, Bill finds what is left of the Ninth Legion and the Doctor and Nardole find a group of people called the Picts. Both are terrified of some kind of monster. In a clever time jump writing trick, two days pass in a minute. The Doctor finds the gateway to the monster/alien/light eater’s world and works with the leader of the Picts, a young girl named Kar, to figure out how to send it back. Bill becomes friendly with the “extremely modern” Romans and they find their way to where the Picts, the Doctor, and Nardole (plus popcorn) are hiding.

The Doctor and Nardole reason with Kar.

The penultimate act was the most troublesome for me. They had to get the alien back in its dimension, using music to attract it and sunlight and filters to force it away, but they still had to guard it. Kar and the remaining Ninth Legion solders volunteer to fight it. Since so many went through, the cave collapses and it is assumed the light eaters won’t be able to get out anymore. And why did the little girl hear the music in the present? Because music is funny like that. It seemed almost…rushed. I don’t know how I would have done it differently.

What I did like about the episode was how the Doctor was willing to once again put himself in the line of fire for the human race, trapping himself into combat with the light eaters indefinitely since he can regenerate. I also liked the little bookends with the crows speaking, how they used to speak with humans, and now all they do is say “caw” (hear: Kar).

Of course I loved the ending. It was a great setup for the next episode, and I can’t wait to see what Missy gets herself into. It will be satisfying to see whether or not she is actually trying to redeem herself or if it is all a big scheme, and of course how The Master plays into all of this. Does she degenerate? Is there a rift somewhere and a “Day of the Doctor” situation happens (the poster sure looks like that)? As excited as I am for this finale to get going, it is a little bittersweet as we are two episodes and a Christmas special away from the end of Capaldi.

8/10