Sunday 31 August 2014

Doctor Who: Into the Dalek

As follow-ups go, that was pretty alright.

So this episode does its job of following up on a strongish opening. As far as reviewing goes, there’s a few really interesting bits in it.


The plot:

Some humans are fighting some Daleks in an asteroid field and they’ve captured a damaged Dalek that seems to think that Daleks are evil and must be destroyed. As the Doctor puts it  “Morality is malfunction.”

With that interesting premise already in place, now we get the really good stuff  - shrinking people to tiny size and letting them explore inside the Dalek like it’s a ship or building. So we get the idea of a good Dalek and the opportunity to look around and gain more understanding on how a Dalek works.

That much is pretty cool. But what’s even cooler is watching the Twelfth Doctor handle it. At one point he practically kills a guy to gain an escape plan. This is something that would have enraged both Ten and Eleven and no doubt several fans. It makes us ask the question is this part of his new persona or is this just him going onto battle mode, like Nine discarding his no guns rule when faced with the Daleks.


The Doctor’s own hatred having an effect on the Daleks comes up again. This has been a constant theme in Moffat’s Dalek stories during his tenure. It’s good, but I wish it had been demonstrated as well in the past as it is in this episode.

Missy makes an appearance again, this time to welcome someone else who died because of the Doctor. Interestingly the other bit part (whom the Doctor didn’t like very much) doesn’t appear to have been taken to paradise.

There are problems though. It takes Clara to figure out how to stop the Dalek once it’s been repaired, but I don’t see how the Doctor couldn’t have figured it out himself. True, the Daleks bring out the worst in him; this case seemingly making him give up on anything but explosions. The Doctor’s main weapon over the years has been his cunning and the thought that the eventual solution would not occur to him at all seems a bit odd.

But that’s easily offset by the writing, acting and THE CAPALDI. As I said, this is an alright follow up. It’s better than many before it, but I can’t say that my attention was completely held throughout.


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