Doctor Who Recap -- 10/04

Tonight's episode "Kill the Moon" begins with Clara in an undisclosed predicament. She says there is a terrible choice to be made: "An innocent life versus the future of all mankind." The episode then goes back in time to earlier when the Doctor and Clara are discussing Courtney, the girl from last week's episode who's a student at the school. The Doctor told her she wasn't special, and now she's upset at that. Rather than apologizing, he decides to make her special by having her become the first woman on the moon. So the three of them take a ride in the Tardis, but instead wind up on a space shuttle on its way to the moon in the year 2049. They are confronted by the shuttle's crew: Lundvick, Duke and Henry who have inexplicably brought nukes with them. The shuttle crashes, and although everyone is OK, they discover normal gravity on the moon caused by an additional 1.3 billion tons of mass. Lundvick explains the increased gravity is wreaking havoc on Earth, and they've been sent to put a stop to it by nuking the moon.

The group makes their way to the Minera San Pedro, a Mexican vessel that Earth lost contact with ten years ago. Inside they find the dead crew cocooned, and Lundvick sends Henry to arm the bombs. Unfortunately, he gets killed by something rather nasty. Back in the San Pedro, the group hears screeching and is attacked by a spider-like alien which gets Duke. It then goes after Courtney, but she manages to kill it with disinfectant, causing the Doctor to conclude the life form is actually a germ. Suddenly, earthquakes begin rocking the lunar surface, and they rush outside to see the shuttle fall into a fissure. The Doctor discovers amniotic fluid leaking from the surface, along with a crapload more spiders which he realizes are actually bacteria living on a massive organism growing inside the moon. Except it's not a moon; it's an egg! Clara wants to leave, but he declares the fate of the moon must be decided here and now, only not by him. Clara, Courtney and Lundvick must choose between killing the massive creature, and letting it hatch and possibly destroying all life on Earth. Refusing to be a part of the decision because he's not an Earthling, he gets back in the Tardis and leaves them to figure it out. 

Clara contacts the people of Earth and explains the situation. She implores them to vote on whether or not to kill the moon creature: Turn off all the lights for yes, or leave them on for no. They turn off all the lights, and Lundvick goes to press the button to set off the nukes. However, Clara stops her. Just then, the Doctor returns and brings them into the Tardis. Setting down on a beach, they witness the moon-egg hatch and disintegrate. The creature immediately lays a new egg, essentially replacing the moon, and the Doctor explains that this incident reignites mankind's interest in space travel, and is instrumental in getting us out into the stars. 

Back in the Tardis, Clara confronts him about his abandoning them. He tells her he had faith they would make the wrong decision. Nevertheless, she feels betrayed and storms off. When she gets back to the school, she meets up with Danny who recognizes her anger; he feels the same way about the army. Clara says she's done with the Doctor. However, he tells her that as long as you still feel anger, you're never done. She thanks him for his advice.

This was another solid episode. I felt the "moon as an egg" idea was pretty cool, and the execution was well-done, even if it does seem a little too convenient that a newly-hatched life form would immediately lay another egg and replace the moon. Since there were more deaths in this episode, I thought there would be another appearance by Missy, but that was not to be. Oh, well. 

Until next time.