Doctor Who Series 10 Finale: 7 Big Questions We're Asking After 'The Doctor Falls'
4. Why Didn't The Pilot Fly The Ship Away From The Black Hole?
Poor Nardole – that scene of him waiting in front of the
lift, knowing that the Doctor and Bill will never come back is truly
heart-breaking. Yes, he gets a nearly happy ending with the hint of an unlikely
romance with Hazran, but as it stands it is only a temporary peace. With the
ship still close to the black hole and time continuing to move faster at the
bottom allowing new hordes of Cybermen to evolve, Nardole will soon be called
into action again.
We never did find out who if anyone was piloting the ship, but the heavily foreshadowed reappearance of another pilot to save Bill begs the question why didn’t she take control and get the ship out of there? The Pilot claims to be able to operate any ship, even the TARDIS. She can presumably break into the most heavily defended vessel to take command. If she stands above the usual laws of time and space, why was she only interested in saving Bill and the Doctor?
The easy solution would be that she could only fly the ship on its own terms: even with Heather at the helm it would still take too long for the ship to be sufficiently far away from the black hole to prevent the Cybermen from evolving and multiplying quicker than the humans and Nardole can contain them. But it’s still a bit of a cop out given her extraordinary powers and inadvertently makes Bill appear selfish for forgetting the children. It feels like a misstep particularly as it was a child who saw though Bill’s Cyber-converted form to show her exactly the sort of kindness that the Doctor spoke so passionately about.