{"id":7319,"date":"2019-06-12T13:00:02","date_gmt":"2019-06-12T20:00:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/?p=7319"},"modified":"2019-06-04T17:50:34","modified_gmt":"2019-06-05T00:50:34","slug":"mark-watches-doctor-who-s10e07-the-pyramid-at-the-end-of-the-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/2019\/06\/mark-watches-doctor-who-s10e07-the-pyramid-at-the-end-of-the-world\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark Watches ‘Doctor Who’: S10E07 – The Pyramid at the End of the World"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the seventh episode of the tenth series of Doctor Who<\/i>, the Doctor, Bill, and Nardole deal with the Monks, who have arrived on Earth to warn of the coming end. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to watch Doctor Who<\/i>.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Trigger Warning: For extensive discussion of the concept of consent and ableism<\/b><\/p>\n

Holy shit, what is this season, y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all? This whole batch of episodes has been relentlessly intense. The Monks are too much??? The tension here is unbearable at times? what the fuck is HAPPENING.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Let\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s talk, friends.<\/p>\n

The Monks<\/b><\/p>\n

I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m glad that this follows the events of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Extremis,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and while this isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t as surreal or experimental as the previous episode, I still found it creepy and deeply interesting. The Monks are a very<\/i> strange species, and I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m curious if they do this to other civilizations. How many others have they run through their simulations in order to find out their weakest point? Why are they obsessed with consent? If they believe that consent given during fear does not equal real<\/i> consent, why do they do such terrifying things? Seriously, the countdown isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t helping! You are making the people of Earth terrified every time you bring that countdown closer to zero!<\/p>\n

But as a device to create suspense? Oh, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s pretty damn effective. And it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not until the end of the episode that this whole notion of consent and love finally made sense. And what if that was what the Monks were aiming for the entire time? Despite running a simulation of humanity that comprised the entire history of Earth, the Monks still<\/i> underestimated humans and the Doctor. But they also never saw the timeline in which Bill made her choice, did they? They didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t anticipate that at all!<\/p>\n

There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a lot left unsaid here, and assuming that the next episode deals with the ramifications of Bill\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s choice, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m guessing that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s where some of this will be explained. Why do the Monks need to be loved<\/i>? Why must consent be pure? If they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re really here to dominate humanity, why must they be asked<\/i>? It seems like such a bizarre contradiction, you know? They care so deeply about consent, but they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re here to take over the world??? I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t get it! What\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153link\u00e2\u20ac\u009d they spoke of to Bill? WHAT\u00e2\u20ac\u2122S HAPPENING.<\/p>\n

The Decision<\/b><\/p>\n

Hanging over this episode is the choice that the Monks lay before humanity: if humans consent\u00e2\u20ac\u201dand that consent must be \u00e2\u20ac\u0153pure\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and from a place love for the Monks\u00e2\u20ac\u201dthe Monks will \u00e2\u20ac\u0153save\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Earth by manipulating the timeline. The cost of that choice is\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 something? It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s left deliberately vague, which, as we see in the Doctor\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s reaction, is REALLY FUCKING UNCOMFORTABLE. Why won\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t the Monks explain what the cost is? It has to be really, really<\/i> bad, right?\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

What I enjoyed about this episode was its exploration of consent. It seemed simple enough: a person had to have power and consent to allowing the Monks to help out. But as we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re shown, consent is not that cut-and-dry, and a person\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s choice can be affected by any number of factors. The first person to be killed by the Monks, the Secretary-General of the UN, was deemed impure. Why? Because he chose out of fear, not out of love. Which, again: that should have been expected? WHO WOULDN\u00e2\u20ac\u2122T BE AFRAID OF THE MONKS IF THEY SHOWED UP ON THEIR WORLD.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The three world leaders who each represent the US, China, and Russia, are all exterminated by the Monks, too, even though it seemed clear to me that they had finally agreed not<\/i> to give the Doctor time to save the world on his own. They were a unified force. They realized it was too risky to hope the Doctor could stop the spread of the bacteria that would end all life on Earth. I realize now, as I type that, exactly what went wrong. That is<\/i> a strategic reason. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not born of love, and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s certainly not one made where these people want<\/i> the Monks.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Which leads us to Bill. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m writing this week\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s episodes in advance, obviously, so I can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t incorporate any conversation had about the Doctor\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s blindness here. (And to avoid spoilers, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m not Googling conversations about it, either.) There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s an emotional component here that makes his blindness to be both an element of the plot\u00e2\u20ac\u201dBill needs a reason to feel compelled to reach out to the Monks\u00e2\u20ac\u201dand something that is negative. The Doctor\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s willingness to lie to his companions is represented through<\/i> this blindness. We know that he didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t want to be fussed over, but this is the end result of it.<\/p>\n

I will say this: from an emotional<\/i> standpoint, it creates a situation that is believable, in the sense that as Bill stands before the Monks, I believed that she truly wanted to trade Earth for the Doctor\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s eyesight. And the logic of it makes sense: after all her adventures with him, she finally realizes that she would rather give the Earth over to the Monks if<\/i> the Doctor was still alive. A world without the Doctor would always be worse for her and for humanity. So, in a strange roundabout way, I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t really question her choice. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a powerful, devastating moment, and that final scene had to sell this to the audience. Could it have been about something other than blindness? Certainly, and I am looking forward to a discussion of this specific issue.<\/p>\n

But I also gotta say: it is real<\/i> bold of this show to not give us even the tiniest glimpse of what the world of the Monks will look like. Not knowing the cost makes this so much more upsetting.<\/p>\n

The video for \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The Pyramid at the End of the World\u00e2\u20ac\u009d can be downloaded here for $0.99<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Mark Links Stuff<\/b><\/p>\n

– The paperback edition of my debut, ANGER IS A GIFT, is now OUT!<\/a>\u00c2\u00a0<\/strong>If you’d like to stay up-to-date on all announcements regarding my books, sign up for my newsletter<\/a>! DO IT.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"