Who Reviews Thin Ice by Jeffrey Zyra

Written by Sarah Dollard

“I don’t have the luxury of outrage.”

The third episode of Series 10 of Doctor is the story written by Sarah Dollard titled “Thin Ice”.  It takes place during 1814 during the last Frost Fair on the river Thames.  But there is something not right with this Frost Fair as people seem to have been disappearing and there are also green lights under the ice.  Not to mention a giant creature chained down in the Thames whose excrement seems to burn a lot stronger and longer than coal.  I do believe that scene where Bill goes “No Sh…..” is one of the funniest in the new series in quite some time. 

So far we have had three stories in the new series and for the first time in a long time the show has had a classic feel to it.  The show seems to have a new vigor and the stories so far have been a lot more enjoyable.  I do believe that Pearl Mackie is part of the reason as the past couple of series it has been bogged down as the Clara show seemed to take center stage most noticeably in Series 9.  What we have now is a proper Doctor and companion relationship where The Doctor is showing his new companion new things and teaching her along the way about what can happen during time travel and their adventures and what he does.  There really hasn’t been anything close to this since the 7^th Doctor and Ace back in the late 80’s.  This dynamic is what makes Doctor Who fun to watch as the companion is the eyes and ears for the viewer if the companion doesn’t ask the questions then the casual view, at least, will be lost.  Plus it also doesn’t hurt that the chemistry between Pearl Mackie and Peter Capaldi is really good and it is a shame we will only get one series of this pairing.

Even though we have seen this type of story before, Beast Below comes to mind, it is still a good platform to get your message out with.  This time it was slavery and racism at least with Lord Sutcliffe, loved the Doctors response to it, and how they approached the way it was during that time.   I also liked the way The Doctor handled the kids in this story. We see him become softer and more of a fatherly figure. Well until he reads them that story that seemed a bit strange and odd.   I liked how Bill confronted The Doctor about caring about all the people he saw die and how he deals with it.  Telling her he just moves on doesn’t click at first but when you think about it at 2000 The Doctor has seen his fair share and for him to save people moving on for him is the only way to deal with it.  It was a pretty powerful moment between the two especially when she asked if he’s killed anyone as we see a different side of The Doctor and I was surprised that this Doctor didn’t side step answering the questions.

The scenes under the water were pretty cool.  I loved seeing The Doctor and Pearl using the old Victorian style diving equipment.  It was pretty funny seeing The Doctor trying to run in it as I think in reality it would have slowed him down a bit more than what we saw.  But seeing the two of them next to the creature under water in the Thames was pretty amazing especially when they saw that big eye. 

We also got more of a glimpse of Nardole and the vault.  Not sure if I’m really warming up to Nardole yet but I’m really curious of what could be in the vault and what could be knocking.  Since the vault has Gallifrayan writing on it it just might be bigger on the inside and anything could be in there.  Like the Mondasian Cybermen or my guess the John Simm Master. I’m sure we will see in time as now they have advanced that part of the story a bit.

I really enjoyed Thin Ice even though Thin Ice wasn’t anything earthshattering or exceptionally amazing it was a pretty decent story that wasn’t too complicated and it did a pretty decent job getting its message out.  For the most part it was a pretty fun and entertaining story to enjoy watching.

Grade B+