Warning: This post contains spoilers for Doctor Who Series 10 Episode 2 Smile. Please come back after watching the episode.
Continuing straight on from the Pilot the Doctor and Bill (with a brief 30-second interruption from Nardole, who for a main character is hardly getting any screen time) head to the future. They land in a future human colony, where there is just one problem, there don’t seem to be any humans. In their place are these robots that communicate in emojis (Australia’s Foreign Minister Julie Bishop would fit in nicely in this kind of world). The emojibots give the Doctor and Bill badges which then show their emotions via emoji.
Plot wise the story isn’t anything unique. A future human colony, killer robots, humans wanting to kill said robots, the Doctor waving the sonic screwdriver and fixing everything at the last minute. Very standard Doctor Who.
Like the Pilot, Smile isn’t really about the main story. It’s about the growing friendship between the Doctor and Bill. In this regard, writer Frank Cottrell-Boyce does a fantastic job. Bill is probably one of the most believable characters in modern Doctor Who. The way she reacts to the future, to the future colonists is just very believable. Peter Capaldi and Pearl Mackie continue to bounce off each other (it is just them with no other guest cast for about 90% of the episode) and that is really what helps keep the episode together. If anything, the chemistry between the two makes the audience smile.
No review of Smile would be complete without mentioning the absolutely stunning scenery. The production crew did a fantastic job at finding the City of Arts and Sciences in Valencia, Spain. The city itself looks beautiful and incredibly futuristic. The episode was just beautiful to watch. Well done to the cinematographers and editors.
Overall Smile was a good solid episode of Doctor Who. I don’t know if I will revisit it countless of times in the future like I do some episodes, but it was a good character piece for the Doctor and Bill.
Quote of the week:
Doctor: I’m happy, I hope you’re happy too.
This quote, that the Doctor said to an emojibot just happens to be lyrics from David Bowie’s song Ashes to Ashes. That is why I have made it the quote of the week this week.
The Story Arc:
Like the Pilot last week, not much was given away about the main story arc. We find out in the opening scenes that the Doctor made a promise not to go “off world”. We also find out the Doctor made a promise to guard a “thing”. Not much more is said than that. Hopefully we shall find out a bit more next week.
Next week:
It’s like we have gone back to the era of the First Doctor. Smile ends straight where the next episode beings. A giant elephant walking on a frozen Thames, retro underwater suits, 1800s, join me next Sunday for my recap of episode 3, Thin Ice.