The episode may open with a brother and sister pelting up a Scottish hillside to a circle of standing stones, the younger girl anxious to try and hear the mythical music of the Cairns, but it actually begins with the Doctor, Bill and Nardole arriving in Roman Britain to settle a sportsman's bet. Having written a history report at school about the Lost Roman Legion of the Ninth (for which she got an A* she's still proud of) Bill is convinced she can not only find them, but that they're not, as the Doctor believes, dead or fallen in battle. Both the Doctor and Bill are eventually proven to be right. Much of the Legion has inexplicably been slaughtered, yet a small clutch of soldiers have survived.
Aside from being thrilling and emotive in its own right this episode manages, quite skilfully, to give younger viewers a good idea of both Pictish culture (ie the Iron Age in Scotland) and of the negative aspects of life in Roman Britain. But, above all, it's a celebration of the Doctor and all he stands for.
Just as Clara Oswald once persuaded the Doctor to take her to Sherwood Forest (Robot of Sherwood) in the hope that she might meet her mythical crush, Robin Hood, here it's Bill's turn at wish fulfilment. And, as a lovely metaphor for travel by TARDIS, Bill's wish is granted just after she falls through a hole in the forest floor; just like Alice falling through the centre of the earth. Underground, dressed in military uniforms very different to the ones we saw in the last episode (though, amusingly, still red) we meet Simon (briefly played by Rohan Nedd) whose skittish conversation with Bill helps reveal the TARDIS telepathic translator to both Bill and the audience, reminding us that not everyone in space speaks English after all. This, minor, amusing point of cannon is later beautifully extrapolated out into a major plot point when sworn enemies meet each other, at the point of sword and spear, only to discover they can suddenly understand each other perfectly - for all that the Picts speak no Latin, and the Roman soldiers have long considered the farmers little more than barbarians.
Interestingly although Rona Munro emphasises that all the people clustered around the campfire looking to the Doctor for guidance sound like squabbling children, to his universally linguistic ear, she ignores the fact he can and has spoken dinosaur (Deep Breath). Her ravenous aliens at the gate are simply a monsterous horde to be stopped. Munro gives no thought to the possible consciousness or intelligence of the alien species. But that is not a contradiction a young viewer will spot, nor one that a casual viewer is likely to notice either.
The monster invading this land may, on one level, be a historical one refering to the Romans whose empire stretched across Europe and included the Britons:
- [... "They make a desert and call it peace" - a misquote from a speech by Calgacus, a chief ten of the Caledonian confederacy who fought the Romans, misquoted from a speech he apparently gave before the Battle of Mons Graupius, which may have been fabricated by the Roman historian Tacitus: :They make a solitude and call it peace."
But, here in the Whoniverse, the monster is literal, alien and half-glimpsed by the camera lens. It is seemingly reptilian, rapacious, ravenous and deadly.
With a thematic nod to previous instances in canon when the Doctor has sacrificed himself (or very nearly done so) to save Earth and its inhabitants - the Doctor's plan here too is one of self-sacrifice. He means to hold the gate closed until the end of time, or until he runs out of regeneration energy. Though pointedly reminiscent of his centuries long stay on Trenzalore, it is not his role nor his sacrifice to make. Near the start of the episode (whilst separated from the Doctor and Nardole) Bill comes across a young Pictish woman making a fire-offering to her gods in remembrance of her family. Given Bill's strange clothing (and her red top) Kar may have mistaken her for a Roman, although it's just as likely she would have charged to attack any stranger. Kar is obviously a warrior, but it is only much, much, later that we realise she is the current leader of her people, having inherited the role of the Keeper of the Gate.
It is Kar's role to stand guard against the forces of darkness. It is her emotional growth and new found maturity (after the Doctor berates her, telling her to "Grow up") which gives her the wisdom to see the similarities, not the differences, in those she had recently called enemy and tried to slaughter
- "To protect a muddle little hillside, you doomed your whole world"
- and so stand shoulder to shoulder with that once enemy, fighting off the greater darkness. It is also her penance, in that Kar purposefully opened the gate so as to weaponise the creatures into destroying the invaders who were ravaging her homeland.
Just as in last week's episode the strong supporting cast both save the day and carry the subtextual, moral, lesson. Simply put, their actions show the children watching that people should strive to find - and celebrate - that which they have in commmon, rather than focusing on their differences. And, more so, that fear of 'the other' leads to strife and warfare. Just as in the previous episode, here too the women are the heroines of the hour. Kar saves her people; her sacrifice and bravery honoured not just in song but in the cry of a raven's caw - forevermore. And Bill? She takes command of the remnants of 'her' Ninth Legion (upon realising that the surviving troop members are both younger and less experienced than she is) calling to mind the Doctor's words to Clara (which she then quoted back to him as a child in a barn on Gallifrey in Listen) "Fear is a superpower" when she tells the Legion "Scared isn't a plan". More importantly Bill stands up to the Doctor, literally stopping him in his tracks, felling him with a tool which was devised to hold back the Eaters of Light. In that one action we see how much she has grown on her companion's journey, walking tall in the footsteps of all the others who have gone before.
Rona Munro's screenplay is full of dark undertones (and some historical truths*) and she writes with a deft comedic touch. Yet for all the strong themes in this episode, it was the lighter moments I found most memorable:
Nardole leaving the TARDIS in tartan pyjamas, and a bright orange velour bathrobe, reminding us of Amy Pond running off to see the universe in her pyjamas. The innocuous choice of popcorn as a snack becoming the perfect dieu-ex-machina moment, kernels thrown upon a camp fire, popping as loudly as gunfire. Two children running up a hill towards a ring of stones, the younger girl dressed so as to strongly remind viewers of young Amelia Pond - dressed in a navy-blue duffel coat and red wellies, sitting on her suitcase in her back garden waiting for the Doctor to return and whisk her away on an adventure. Here the coat is blue and yellow tartan (to celebrate Scotland with its national colours) but the allusion remains.
Rona Munro's writing strongly captures character idiosyncracies, this as evident in the long tag scenes which continue the subtextual theme (ie that The enemy of the enemy is my friend. - from the Sanskrit in Arthashastra with the first translated use in English dating to 1884 - from Wikipedia) as in the actual episode. Coming back to the TARDIS Nardole and Bill discover Missy lounging in the Doctor's recliner, on the upper balcony of the control room, apparently reading. It’s soon revealed the Doctor tasked her with maintaining the time machine's engines, inviting her out of her prison and aboard ship in thanks for her recent assistance on Mars. But the epilogue doesn't focus on his companions reactions to Missy, so much as pivot around the moment when the music echoing from the Cairns moves the Time Lady to tears. It's an understated moment which implies Missy may be redeemable, that she may be something other than a sociopath. That she could be a true and genuine friend to the Doctor. Acting wise the scene between Peter Capaldi and Michelle Gomez is a thing of utter beauty. If you're an adult watching it unfold, the ravages of an old relationship (or divorce) underpin all emotional beats. He is the one hoping there can be change. Reconciliation. He is the one hoping they can be something other than 'frenemies'. Missy? The tone of the piece leads us forward to the final two episodes, but casting leaked before then (now widely known) means hope was probably always futile on the Doctor's part.
The Eaters of Light is a solid stand-alone episode, with strong camaraderie between the Doctor and his two companions and fantastic supporting characters. It is poignant, enjoyable, and at times genuinely amusing given the cracking banter. More importantly, Rona Munro brilliantly captures the character of the Doctor himself, which is probably not too surprising given she is the only writer to have written a teleplay for both Classic and New/Renewed Doctor Who. Her previous work on the show being Survival being the final serial of Series 25 of Doctor Who which the BBC cancelled in 1989.