As with last week, no spoilers above the fold out of respect for my West Coast friends. Just a quick note to say that this week's new episode Smile continues the trend of strong stories. As an added bonus, it ties directly to a story I just watched a few days ago, The Ark. No Monoids to be found, but plenty of EmojiBots. That right there is a definite step up.

Morning after spoilery-update below:

Thought #1: This story relates directly to the First Doctor story The Ark, which I just watched a few days ago. It also relates to The Ark in Space, The Beast Below, Dinosaurs on a Spaceship, and probably some others I am not thinking of at the moment. In any case, the broad strokes of The Ark is that the Earth has died and this ship is part of a diaspora to find a new home for the surviving humans. Most of the humans are in suspended animation while a small advance crew does the things that need doing. Also aboard is another species, which is invaluable in their help but largely subservient. In the conflict of the story, the other species (in this case the Monoids) has dominated the humans and threatened their complete extinction. By the end, the Doctor has forced the surviving members of both sides to come together and insisted that they must work together cooperatively to survive on their new homeworld. Smile is completely different in terms of the details ane execution, but largely similar in the broad strokes.

Thought #2: (Majorly spoilerly here)  At the end of last week's episode, The Pilot, a big deal was made out of how terrible it is to wipe away someone's memories. It is a big dramatic moment at the episode's conclusion, doubly dramatic because the Doctor does not even realize that his own memories of his previous companion Clara have been wiped. So here we are, only a few hours later in terms of story, and how does the Doctor resolve the big conflict at the climax of the story? He wipes the collective memory of the Vardi mere moments after learning that they have become self-aware and sentient. He does to them exactly what was done to him, and what he very nearly did to Bill. Let's just say that the Doctor isn't very big on retaining lessons learned.