Doctor Who Season 10: 7 Big Questions After 'Extremis'
2. When Were The Missy Scenes Set?
Nardole’s intervention at Missy’s execution surprisingly
implies that the Doctor might otherwise have pulled the trigger that killed his
friend and nemesis. That raises a whole load of other questions, linked to the
Doctor’s need for forgiveness. We can expect that fatal attraction between the
two to be a major part of the series ten finale. But at least for now we have
an unambiguous answer as to who was in the vault. Missy is trapped inside for
1,000 years in a fate possibly worse than death, explaining the Doctor’s
guilt-ridden conversations through the door.
A more pressing question is when did the Doctor save Missy? It’s all tied to the complicated River Song timeline and raises questions as to what happened to Nardole between The Husbands of River Song and The Return of Doctor Mysterio. It looks like Nardole is River Song’s parting gift to the Doctor, suggesting that this takes place before the two have teamed up in New York.
Nardole's arrival seems to contradict his claim in Mysterio to have been rebuilt by the Doctor because the Time Lord had been missing River. But perhaps we’ve yet to see Nardole die again and be put back together again. If Nardole begins his travels with the Doctor as a surrogate for River, it’s reasonable to assume that the Doctor decides the cyborg is worth saving.
It’s also hard to see how River Song could have fitted this in between her last night with the Doctor and her final destination in the library. Perhaps Nardole has time travelled from a point even earlier than The Husbands of River Song, after all we were reminded again in this episode that he is able to fly the TARDIS.