Doctor Who in Review: Into the Dalek

WARNING: SPOILERS

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Now that that's out of the way...

I'm loving how Capaldi is portraying the 12th Doctor. This is our first episode to see him, from beginning to the end, truly as the Doctor. No more recovering memories. No more disorientation from regeneration. This was the Doctor. And he was fantastic. But he still has questions. This is going to be an important theme to series 8, I'm thinking--is the Doctor a good man?

A bit more on that below.

Aside from the deeper questions of this episode, I love Capaldi's demeanor. He actually kicked open the TARDIS doors! I don't think we've ever seen that before. This, paired with some choice lines of dialogue, give me the strong impression of 12 being a bit of an irreverent Doctor. Journey Blue: "Is Ross here?" Doctor: "Yeah. Top layer, if you want to say a few words."

This Doctor is cold. He still cares. He still wants to do good. But he doesn't have the same level of empathy as we've seen in the past couple iterations of the Doctor. It seems like now more than ever he needs a companion with him. Good thing he has Clara! For now, that is.

My favorite instance of this colder Doctor has to be when Ross (one of the soldiers) accidentally triggers the Dalek antibodies. The Doctor gives him a pill, saying 'trust me. It's important." Ross takes it, smiles--more at ease.

And then Ross died.

When questioned about this, Capaldi explained: "He was dead already. I was saving us."

This is a fantastic inversion of the usual 'trust me' we get from the Doctor. We as fans have become so comfortable with trusting him, and this scene inverts that whole idea. Looking forward to more like this.

Also--completely unrelated--I loved the use of the sonic this episode! He used it to unscrew a bolt hole and to weld a metal tear. Using the sonic screwdriver as an actual tool is a breath of fresh air. 11's run delved a bit too much into the 'magic wand' angle for my taste.

Introducing Danny Pink

I thought they did a great job characterizing Danny in a fairly short amount of time--though they went a bit overboard with the lady killer stuff. I mean, what the hell was up with that secretary? Anyway, Clara and Danny had pretty good chemistry on screen so far. I'm looking forward to seeing them interacting more together. I'm especially looking forward to seeing how the Doctor and Danny get along in future episodes. I don't think it'll go smoothly, based on the Doctor's interactions with Journey Blue.

Speaking of which...

At the end of the episode, Journey begged to travel with him. He rejected her only because she was a soldier. This felt a bit off to me. He's had great relationships with soldiers in the past--Unit, for example. The Brigadier in Classic Who. To outright reject her because she was a soldier seemed wrong--it was missing the nuance of why he dislikes soldiers. He doesn't like people who just take orders. He treasures that independent spirit. I think if he'd emphasized why he doesn't (usually) like soldiers, it wouldn't have felt as odd. It's likely meant to set the stage for some conflict between him and Danny, as he has a soldier background.

The Good Dalek

I thought they did a pretty great job explaining why a dalek might turn good. What would trigger that? Witnessing the birth of a star--realizing the futility of exterminating everything. It's such a simple idea, but works so perfectly. I loved it. It also worked perfectly to explore the doctor's prejudices. Especially at the end, when he tries to help the dalek by joining their minds. He shares his love of the universe, the beauty of everything . . . but also his hatred of daleks.

The revelation that the doctor is a good dalek is a powerful realization. Looking at 9's episode "Dalek," back in 2005, when Eccleston was told "you would make a good dalek," it seems the doctor has progressed down this dark road a bit more, now. "You are a good dalek."

On an unrelated note, I'm a bit disappointed they didn't bring up "Asylum of the Daleks" at all. In that episode we also had a good dalek. Not only was it a good dalek, but it was one of Clara's echoes! When the Doctor went to grab Clara right away at the start of the episode, I thought it would come up in some way. But nothing. Even a throw away line would have been sufficient. Oh well. Missed opportunities.

The Chalkboard

On his TARDIS, you can see a few shots of a chalkboard in the background. The board is filled with symbols and equations, not unlike in "Deep Breath," when he's writing all over the bedroom floor. In that first episode, they seemed like a simple way to show off his intellect, or to show he needed to empty his mind. But now, after seeing the markings again on the TARDIS, I'm starting to wonder at the significance. Could he be trying to calculate something having to do with Gallifrey's location? That hasn't been touched on yet in series 8, but it'll have to come up eventually--it was such a huge revelation at the end of series 7! The chalkboard equations might be a small way to introduce the idea in early, without having to outright mention it. The Missy Mystery

Missy has taken another one! I really liked how this scene appeared in the middle of the action, rather than at the end. Nice change of pace. At this point, I think I'm going to comfortably say that Missy is collecting these people right before they die. The cyborg was skewered, sure, but he's a cyborg. That can be fixed. Now, the girl at the end of this episode is a bit more problematic--at least, at first. We see her surrounded by the antibodies, she screams, and then there's that flash of white light. Then she appears in 'heaven.'

A friend pointed out that her transition from fighting the antibodies to 'heaven' was almost the exact same transition as the start of the episode, when the Doctor materializes the TARDIS around Journey Blue to save her as her ship blew up. In light of this, I'm fairly certain that Missy has a TARDIS, and used it to save Gretchen in the same way the Doctor used it to save Journey. This continues to support my initial thought that Missy might be the Master, but really, it could be any timelord. More questions!

As to the 'why,' that's not quite as tricky. Of the two people Missy collected so far, the Doctor was involved with both of their deaths in some way. In "Deep Breath," the Doctor (probably) convinced the cyborg to kill himself. In "Into the Dalek," he convinced Gretchen that sacrificing herself would be worth it. Missy is collecting people who the Doctor, in one way or another, steered toward death. No idea why, yet, but that seems to be the connection so far.

So . . . that's about it! I thought it was a great episode, one that showed off more of what makes Capaldi an excellent choice for the 12th Doctor. Honestly, this is one of my favorite dalek episodes, right up there with 9's "Dalek."

Until next time!