Coming off of the high emotional stakes of the end of Series 9, followed by a gap year that felt very, very long at the time, The Pilot had a bit of a curious feeling to it. As the title would suggest, it's meant to offer a soft starting point for new viewers (as are most season premieres, really, though success may vary). As a getting-on point for new viewers, it was pretty good in 2017, but today, with the subsequent Chibnall era cleanly breaking from the Moffat era in so many ways, it would make for a pretty weird starting point. Thus it's in a bit of an odd position, and now stands mostly on its own merits.

As it happens, those merits are some fairly strong ones. The headliner, of course, is our introduction to Bill. She's immediately charming, and by the end of the episode is firmly established as a good match for Capaldi's Doctor. As a lesbian, it was also encouraging to get a companion "like me" on-screen, though that's all secondary to Bill's energy and personality. She's definitely one of my favorite NuWho companions, and this episode did a great job building the foundations for that.

It also sets up an interesting trajectory change for the Twelfth Doctor. His new job as a university lecturer obviously builds off the blackboard scenes and to-the-camera lectures from Series 8 and 9, so it feels like a very natural development, and also grounds him in an interesting new setting in the form of the university. It's clear he's still healing from the losses of Clara and River, but is on the whole a more kind and cuddly version of himself which feels like a good place to round off the character as we go into his final season.

I'm also glad that we got Nardole as a permanent companion in this season. I wouldn't have guessed he'd fit into the role just based off of his appearances in the previous two holiday specials, but he inhabits the new role very well and is a great balance for the Doctor and Bill, even at this early point.

On the whole, a great story which does a splendid job setting up its season, and is just loads of fun in its own right.

(The only thing I hate about it is how the next time trailer spoiled the end of World Enough and Time, but that's hardly its fault...)