The Doctor goes to the undiscovered country in this curate's egg of an opening instalment. Pitch black in its humour with very little to recommend for younger viewers, it heralds the start of possibly the most challenging and downright odd finales in the show's history.
Opening with the shock of Danny Pink's death before hotting up quite literally by the side of a volcano (candidate for most impressive scene in the run), it then takes us into the heart of Missy's world - what it represents and indeed who she is.
Having trumpeted the Cybermen as the villains of the piece it comes as no surprise to discover the identity of those skeletons immersed in the nefarious liquid of the title. It would have worked better if they'd been kept a secret (in fairness the production team
did have them stomping about St.Paul's). While I was disappointed not to see some Jason & The Argonauts-style action, this is at
least a novel way of introducing the monsters on a Halloween weekend. Whether "dark water" is going to form a solid part of the plot or if it's just one of Moffat's patented attention-grabbing gimmicks remains to be seen.
The setting and the script's attitude toward the afterlife could be seen as contentious. As someone who's experienced a bereavement I have to say I wasn't offended. The question for me is its suitability as a subject for family viewing, Danny's storyline being a wider case in point. I'll make a final judgment after the conclusion but I'd say, despite enjoying the episode, Steven Moffat has misjudged things here.
Michelle Gomez is a positive boon to the action. Showrunner Moffat has described her as treading a fine line between funny and scary. I agree. She's certainly dangerous and makes a strong counterpoint to Peter Capaldi. Chris Addison is also a clever piece of casting, his ingratiating yet cheeky presence adding dimension to the role of Seb. As for the revelation that Missy is the Master, well it's hardly a surprise if you've done any degree of fannish speculating over the past weeks. As someone who thinks the Master is a bland character I find it a shame they didn't create a more original enemy for Gomez. Why not just make her the Rani? She's going to be an improvement on John Simm's overgrown megalomaniac at any rate. A rather shoddy cliffhanger paves the way for an intriguing denouement.
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