- Title: Doctor Who – The Pilot
- wiki: link
After hiding out as an university professor on Earth for five decades, while also protecting a mysterious vault from an unknown threat, The Doctor (Peter Capaldi) is thrown back into action by a cafeteria worker at the school who has been attending his lectures and has encountered something she can’t explain. Along with Nardole (Matt Lucas), The Doctor and Bill (Pearl Mackie) investigate this odd puddle which has swallowed up another student (Stephanie Hyam) Bill had a crush on and has now taken her watery form while chasing her across campus, the universe, and through time.
“The Pilot” works as a reintroduction to The Doctor, the TARDIS, and adventuring through time and space as seen through the naive eyes of a new companion. I’ll have to see if she grows on me, but one episode in I’m not a big fan of Bill who I’d rate the most bland companion the relaunched Who has produced. Her marginal connection to the other young woman swallowed up by the water spaceship (an intriguing idea that I’m not sure works all that well if you think on it too much) attempts to heighten the stakes a bit, but not knowing Bill doesn’t infer any extra meaning to her friend’s untimely demise. In the end “The Pilot” works enough to keep your interest, but it opens the new season with more of a whimper than a roar.
