Smile

It's very sad that a series with such potential is being ruined. It's not that this episode is awful. It's just nothing special and boring, But again it is kind of an "introduction to new series and to the new companion" so I won't judge it much.

The Emoji-bots were lame, Using steam on a robot's face to throw it off a cliff is a joke.

again I'm not saying this is awful. Just not great enough.

I'll start of pointing out that I feel this is one of the most beautiful looking episodes in the show's history, exquisite, from the buildings to the spiral staircases, this was a feast on the eyes. A good plot, echos of The Happiness Patrol, a world created where everyone has to be happy, and suffers if they're not. The Vardi were a great creation, that felt wonderfully up to date and relevant.

A particularly character driven episode, with the duo of Capaldi and Mackie again proving to be a fabulous duo. Bill is really proving to be an assistant with it all, humour, emotion, and a definite match for the Doctor. I'm already of the opinion 'why didn't these two get a longer run?' I'm still unsure of Matt Lucas's role, that'll need explaining soon. Mina Anwar is a cracking actress, not given enough screen time.

The casual start to the episode was counterbalanced by a high octane, energetic climax. The ending felt a little at odds with the story.

The reset button was a bit of a lazy way to round the episode off, we have seen this before, too often, but it didn't spoil the episode for me.

Flawed, but fun, I think this episode will improve with time. 7/10

Bill (Mackie) has her first adventure into the TARDIS to the future, and it seems we still can't escape emojis. After hearing that Frank Cottrell- Boyce (the writer who cursed us with Series 8's "In the Forest of the Night"), I was not looking forward to this story. Thankfully, it exceeded my expectations through brilliant character development between The Doctor (Capaldi) and Bill. And the emojibots weren't as bad as I thought they would be, either. An innocent and fun first journey through time and space for Bill leaves me thinking that Series 10 may be one of Doctor Who's best, which truly puts a smile on my face.

Episode 2 "Smile" - 8/10

If you are watching this episode just smile. Same if you are reading this review.

I doubt there has been a writer for Doctor Who that has written as many feature films as Frank Cottrell Boyce. The prolific Mr Boyce's debut story for Doctor Who, 'In the Forest of the Night' disappointed some as the story's reach exceeded its grasp.

In Smile the writer explores the possibility of technology going wrong as it miscommunicated. The Doctor brings Bill into the future, a new planet ready to be colonised but there are no people. It seems the robots have been on a rampage because the exiting crew were not happy. A bug in the robot's system that needs fixing.

Most of the episode was just a two hander with Bill and the Doctor talking and investigating as the mystery unravels. The robots are designed with emojis such as smiley faces however they could not contend with the devastating effects of grief that humans feel.

More impressive was the art design, this was just stunning. I thought the episode contained cool CGI but the basis of it were buildings in Valencia designed by Spanish architect Santiagao Calatrava.

The episode ends leading to next week's adventure which harks back to the early William Hartnell era. Maybe this could be a clue to a theme for this series as we had a glimpse of a picture of Susan in episode one.