Thankfully, Judy, the young girl intent on listening to it, isntOutlander-ed through.
She says theyre alive, he insists theyre dead.
Nardole is decked out in a bright orange bathrobe that is frankly, quite distracting.
Credit: Simon Ridgway/BBC America
Intent on proving their points, they split up (becausethatsalways a good idea).
Oddly enough, theyrebothright.
The Doctor finds most of the already-dead Roman soldiers, but theyre missing all their bones.
Simon Ridgway/BBC America
Theyre waiting for Kar, their leader, and the Guardian of the Gate.
The Doctor manages to distract them with Nardoles popcorn and beat a hasty getaway.
So he quickly steps back and exits… and discovers thattwodays have gone by since.
Hes also looked for Bill and failed to find her.
Shes just making speeches and waving a TV aerial [British for TV antenna] about.
Only now a creature has gotten through.
Shes confident they can defeat it.
But the Doctor drops a hell of a reality check on her: theres more on the other side.
Now the Doctors plan is to draw the Beast into the cairn from whence it came and seal it.
Something about the morning light opens the portal, so theyll need to do it then.
(Shout out to Idris!)
Their bonding is cut short by the arrival of night (and the Beast).
Dude kind of had it coming.
However, Bill quickly puts a stop to this.
(The Doctor and I wear matching grins of pride when she notes this.)
She also realizes everyone kind of sounds like children.
With dawn approaching, its time to enact the plan.
The Picts and Romans join forces to make noise and attract the creature.
Task completed, the Doctor prepares to step into the portal.
The teenage Pict is ready to fight him on this.
This isherdestiny as the Guardian of the Gate.
The Doctor points out that their human time spans are nothing compared to his Time Lord one.
Bill and Nardole disagree.
Who will guard the other gates?
Who will guard theVault?
The Doctor stands firm in his resolution until Bill bonks him on the head.
Her brother promises hell carve her names on the rocks so people will remember her sacrifice.
WhenDoctor Whodoes brave sacrifices, itreallydoes brave sacrifices.
Also, anyone else get aBuffyseason 5 finale vibe?)
With the cairn now unstable, everyone left exits, the portal now closed forever.
Kars brother tells a crow to always remember his sister.
As they prepare to leave, Nardole warns the Doctor against holding a grudge against either companion.
He knows 10 percent of the Doctors secretsandwhere the teacakes are and hes not afraid to use either.
Bill and the Doctor then apologize to each other.
He admits he was wrong.
The soldiers never went missing.
They were here all along.
Bill then hears some of those bagpipes that were playing earlier to lure the Beast.
But the Doctor simply says, Always the music.
Shes bio-locked out of the controls.
She also doesnt get the significance of the music or what happened.
The Doctor, much like last time, tells her that while she doesnt quite grasp it.
Later, she finds herself crying to that music, but not understanding why.
(If youre confused by that little episode jump, so am I.)
Its impossible to resist.
In any case, Imallabout this newfound friendship.
Especially after seeing her face when he lets go of her hands.
After last weeks Victorian romp, this weeks Roman Not-So-Holiday only highlights how out-of-place that episode was.
The key to all of these was the fact thateveryonewas speaking the same language.
Its a small thing, but Bill is right to make a big deal of it.
Its one of the keys to the Doctors success over the years.
Sure, hes the man withtwohearts and a screwdriver instead of a gun (i.e.
the ultimate pacifist).
Kudos to Munro for making us feel for both sides of the conflict (Roman and Pict).
Its no wonder both Kar and Lucius were both scared.
(With age comes experience and wisdom, etc.)
Hes ready to give himself up to face this one threat for all of humankind.
Im not stopping now.).
But of course, Bill cant let him.
She knows there will be bigger threats and other gates hell need to guard.
This cant be his fight.
And its significant that its not Nardole pointing that out, even though thats the role hes played recently.
It means Bill can be objective when she needs to be.
Just like when she was willing to sacrificeherselfto take on the Monks.
Lastly, theres the case of Missy.
But times have changed, and Id like to think Missy has.
Also, John Simm will be back as the Master.
What a Time (Lady) to be alive!
