Peter Capaldi returns home, and the Romans soldiers return in a brand new Doctor Who episode, no matter that the Doctor and his companions arrive to Scotland after the ninth legion was massacred. The disappearance of the trained 5,000 soldiers from Roman surviving archives is still debated, but there are possible explanations and books about that period.
Bill Pots (Pearl Mackie) had read some time ago a book about that period (probably The eagle of the ninth written in 1954 by the writer Rosemary Sutcliff), so she has a theory about what happened there, and the Doctor owner of a time machine try to show her she was wrong.
The trio (The Doctor, Bill and Nardole) got to highlands of Scotland and they started walking in different directions: Bill was searching the Romans, the Doctor and Nardole found the Picts (the well-armed natives, ancestors of scots). The disappearance of ninth legion could not have an entirely human explanation (a fight between invaders and natives and the massacre of the Romans by the Picts), so the new Doctor Who monster appears and kills again. And the few Roman survivors, young enough to consider them almost children, have to unite their forces with the native survivors of the same age to trap the creature and make it leave.
The help from the time travelers is welcomed, but, eventually, it’s not their fight to finish.
The fans of Outlander, the series of books and the show based on them will be glad watching this Doctor Who episode and the common elements of the two stories. It’s one of the Peter Capaldi’s last adventures as the Doctor Who: there are only 2 episodes until the end of series 10, a story in 2 parts, and after that Peter will leave the show. We may wait until the Christmas special episode for the conclusion, but the result is already known.
Directed by Charlie Palmer, written by Rona Munro. Cast: Peter Capaldi (The Doctor), Pearl Mackie (Bill), Matt Lucas (Nardole), Michelle Gomez (Missy), Rebecca Benson (Kar), Daniel Kerr (Ban), Brian Vernel (Lucius), Rohan Nedd (Simon), Ben Hunter (Thracius), Sam Adewunmi (Vitus), Billy Matthews (Cornelius), Aaron Phagura (Marc), Jocelyn Brassington (Judy), Lewis McGowan (Brother).
Next episode, the eleventh of series 10, and the first part of the finale is World Enough and Time: friendship drives the Doctor into the rashest decision of his life. Trapped on a giant spaceship, caught in the event horizon of a black hole, he witnesses the death of someone he is pledged to protect. Is there any way he can redeem his mistake? Are events already out of control? For once, time is the Time Lord’s enemy…