This felt like a very formulaic episode for the most part and very similar to S05E02 "The Beast Below"
A future human colony, creatures who smile but then change to a more sinister face, a creature in servitude to humanity.
There are also elements of classic Who:
Humanity in suspension - The Ark in Space An advanced party of robots sent to prepare a world for humanity - The Chase (The Mechanoids - input, input, English)

That doesn't mean it can't be a good episode but it definitely didn't feel very original.

The visuals were very impressive, with the buildings looking like a very pretty if a bit spartan place to live.
The death scenes were probably as gruesome as they could get away with, the first was particularly effective as her sister begged the Vardi to give her more time, that she would be happy again.

The emojibots were reasonable. a little shambling and didn't look like on their own they could achieve much. The Doctor does say they are an interface so I suppose they don't need to be very agile to do this.

The episode was another strong one for Bill, she isn't coming across as smug or dismissive as multiple previous companions have.
She is acting as a great surrogate I would imagine for new viewers. She is asking the questions they might, Why doesn't the Doctor just leave? Why is it his responsibility to solve the problem?
It was nice to see the Doctor affirm that he feels he does need to prevent further colonists falling into the trap.

The final resolution was a bit odd. It seems in these days of Who the Doctor has become less human-centric. He always had concern for other creatures but often episodes end with creatures being destroyed and humanity going on.
Examples in classic Who would be the Wirrn in "The Ark in Space" or the Vervoids in "Terror of the Vervoids"
The ending to this was humanity waking to find the creatures they designed to prepare the way have now become their own species. That humans are now beholden to them and must live by their rules while they are under their roof.
It is a common theme in sci-fi of humans developing labour saving inventions and then losing something of their humanity, becoming lazy in the process.
Do the humans awaking have skills the Vardi need? Do the humans have the skills to exist independent of the Vardi?

I found this episode and easy watch, didn't enjoy it as much as last week but not bad. 6 robots with even less communication skills than a Mechanoid out of 10

Agree. Paint by numbers episode. The Emoji-bots and nano-bots were a silly threat. And ... The Doctor saves the day with a wave of the sonic again. At least there was minimal Nardol. 6/10

And so the humans have to act right or the Vardi will start killing them again? It didn't look like they'd have a bright future there after all.

@MysteryReader said:

And so the humans have to act right or the Vardi will start killing them again? It didn't look like they'd have a bright future there after all.

At the end the Doctor (and Bill) did say: "Smile."

For some reason the Doctor thinks the colonists should forgive, because the Vardi have forgotten (unless the Vardi have some kind of backup system the Doctor doesn't know about).

And how will the colonists react when they, after paying rent, have to eat food from the garden, grown with the compost of their dead family and friends?

Will the Doctor then say: "Be a good human and eat your vegetables."

@wonder2wonder said:

@MysteryReader said:

And so the humans have to act right or the Vardi will start killing them again? It didn't look like they'd have a bright future there after all.

At the end the Doctor (and Bill) did say: "Smile."

For some reason the Doctor thinks the colonists should forgive, because the Vardi have forgotten (unless the Vardi have some kind of backup system the Doctor doesn't know about).

And how will the colonists react when they, after paying rent, have to eat food from the garden, grown with the compost of their dead family and friends?

Will the Doctor then say: "Be a good human and eat your vegetables."

I wasn't really happy with this ending... the Doctor is always against military. Living in a g'damn dream world...

SMILE reminded me a lot of a Terry Nation script from Classic Who. Basically, it involved the Doctor and his companion spending the early part of the story wandering about the place, wondering what was going on. About the only thing that was different was the fact that they were not cut off from the TARDIS in some manner and nor was the time ship disabled in any way.

I actually liked it a reasonable amount, because it was inoffensive and un-challenging. That may not sound like much of a recommendation, but compared to serials like KILL THE MOON, IN THE FOREST OF THE NIGHT or DARK WATER / DEATH IN HEAVEN, it was almost a classic.

I also liked the ending. It was not a nice cuddly and warm ending, where everybody got to live happily ever after without a care in the world. It doesn't work like that in real life and it's nice to see a DW serial reflect this. Besides, the problems faced by the Humans were of their own making, so suck it up and deal with it.

I liked the episode. I loved the wide angle shots of the fields. Little stuff like that makes the show more cinematic. The building location was great too. One of the best locations I've ever seen in the show. Nice and bright and roomy. None of this BBC Wales studio stuff!