“Why have you got a woman locked in a vault?” Well, Bill, first off, some of us enjoy having a woman locked up in a vault. Secondly, no officer, I don’t have a blonde woman in a vault. We’ve gotten to Toby Whithouse’s final episode of Doctor Who: The one with slavery, truth, and Peter’s fake regeneration for a joke. I’ve been writing about The Orville this week, and something that came to mind was the cynicism surrounding this time. “The Lie of the Land” is one of those episodes, stuck in grim, dark, and horrible tones that don’t make me feel hopeful when all is said and done.

Arguably the best thing about this series is the arc of Peter’s Doctor trying to teach Missy to be good, a Master (or Mistress) that behaves. This is what made the “Spy-Master” nonsense so trite. Here we have several episodes of the Doctor watching over a vault under a university, attempting for years to turn his best friend into what he is, and never giving up. Then 13 episodes later and three years apart, a pale imitation of John Simm‘s wonderfully energetic and hate-filled Master returns to… We don’t know. Whatever Chibbers has for the hour-and-a-half-long finale in October, I don’t think it will be worth it.

Michelle Gomez brought life, emotion, and something special to the table with Steven Moffat’s wonderful aim to make the best friends understand and be on level pegging with each other. Peter’s Doctor does that portion of this series wonderfully and Michelle is forever fantastic as she hopped into second place. However, it is all messed up with Sacha Dhawan’s version. Which is nothing to say of the actor, but he wasn’t given enough room to be anything other than a cartoonish villain to a Doctor who has thus far been a passenger to her own story.

Whithouse’s “The Lie of the Land” gives Bill the reveal that we got at the start of the Monk’s trilogy. Missy was on trial and sentenced to execution by the hand of another Time Lord. Now at the end of the trilogy, we have another motif to our previous Master as the Monks enslave humanity for what appears to be several months, maybe even millions of years, and the companion alongside a small collection of others wander the planet knowing the truth. It is a crap version of the Martha Jones story.

Anyway, the episode involves authoritarianism masked under muted and desaturated tones with police forces breaking down doors and taking people. It is a tale as old as Germany has been in the bad corner. In a time of people who buy tiki torches in bulk from Costco and politicians who hate human rights so much they want to rewrite them to exclude specific people, the story does have its place, but the way it is done leaves a lot to be desired.

I think what makes “The Lie of the Land” such a (for lack of a better word) dull episode is that it is compacting a good portion of storytelling to fit everything in. The pacing throughout is very quick, pushing past the fundamental ideas put in place to get to servitude for the Monks and their lie as rulers of the planet to quickly move on to solutions. The story of the Monks could have been a whole arc itself across a series. Instead, it is concentrated into three episodes: Simulating the gain of power, manufacturing a way to get it, and the total authoritarian rule. In the 42-ish minute format this lacks enough room to breathe.

The script itself in terms of dialogue left a lot to be desired. Either line delivery or the writing itself made the more melodramatic elements stand out. Matt Lucas once again is someone not exactly comfortable in some scenes that ask for that tricky stone-faced delivery of something otherwise completely full of nonsense. I don’t want to single him out entirely during this run, but he’s the most obvious to point at, though Peter has a line or two and Pearl as well. I think it comes down to the pacing not letting the moment breathe, and having to blast through so much very quickly.

Missy in this time will always be a treasure, as Michelle Gomez puts so much behind what little screentime she’s offered. It is a pure delight to watch her and Peter bounce off of each other. A true highlight in an episode dominated by battleship grey tones and muted color. While Pearl Mackie does take center stage with a performance focused on the emotions of Bill and her mum, I can’t help but feel disinterested in it for some reason. The seeds were there, but something about it didn’t feel as impactful as it is expected to land.

Ultimately, “Lie of the Land” could have been a far more interesting story if it were given room to breathe. A 2-parter would maybe allow for ideas to settle more. The truth is that when the episode is over and done with, I don’t have a sense of hope in humanity, the overall feeling left over is that of cynicism. Dispair that with a quick little lie we’ll be ambivalent to the idea of secret police and labor camps. Yet when it is all corrected and the dictators are gone, we care more about our pretentious mocha frappuccinos and what Cheryl said on the group chat about her ex. it is exhausting.

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Doctor Who "The Lie of the Land"

6

Score

6.0/10

Pros

• Missy's Arc.
• Michelle and Peter's chemistry.

Cons

• Showed in cynicism.
• Melodramatic lines lacking the backup of decent acting to counter it.