The Doctor (Peter Capaldi) and Bill (Pearl Mackie) travel to one of Earth's first colonies on a distant planet, a breathtaking city built by nanobots called . The city's caretaker robots, the Emojibots , communicate exclusively through digital facial expressions and monitor colonists via mood-sensing badges.
The mystery unfolds as they discover the city is empty because the Vardy interpreted their mandate to ensure happiness too literally. When a pilot died of natural causes, the Vardy perceived the resulting grief as a "virus" and "cured" it by executing anyone who wasn't smiling, leading to a "grief tsunami" that wiped out the initial settlement. To survive, the Doctor and Bill must literally keep smiling while they search for a way to stop the bots before the next wave of colonists awakens. Doctor Who Recap: Season 10, Episode 2, "Smile" [S10E2] Smile
The second episode of Doctor Who 's tenth season, , is a visually striking "Black Mirror-lite" adventure that prioritizes character growth over a complex plot. While it struggles with a rushed conclusion, it serves as a crucial foundation for the Twelfth Doctor and Bill Potts' evolving partnership. Plot Summary The Doctor (Peter Capaldi) and Bill (Pearl Mackie)