Yeah, I know, I still haven’t finished the season 2 post, I’ll get around to it, I promise, but while it’s still fresh in my mind, I thought I’d write about Doctor Who episodes as they air for the sake of being a bit more topical in a naked bid to increase traffic –uh, what? Anyway, Series 9 of Doctor Who is the 2nd season to feature Peter Capaldi as the twelfth Doctor (who’s actually the thirteenth, but more on that in a future post) for the sake of this post I will assume you’re all as familiar with the Doctor Who mythos as the show itself seems to, to be fair it doesn’t assume much, just as a disclaimer this review will contain heavy spoilers for the premier episode of series 9, as well as possible spoilers for other parts of the series.
The episode opens on an unnamed battleground, as we see a man aim a bow and arrow at an aircraft, so I think from that we can assume these people aren’t exactly winning on the tech side of things. Soon after the man spots a child running through the battlefield, he gives chase, assuring the child he won’t hurt him, after asking his colleague to go ahead he says that there are “hand-mines” about, the child points to the soldier’s ankle to reveal that something has grabbed him, at this point I thought Moffat was using the weeping angels again, so my eyes rolled a bit, but instead, the man was just pulled underground really quick, so new monster? Cool.
The kid looks on in silence, (he hasn’t spoken yet by the way) as he is completely surrounded by “hand mines” popping up, then out of nowhere comes a familiar gadget, The Doctor’s sonic screwdriver lands at the boy’s feet, (off-topic, that particular sonic screwdriver always looked to me like it could double as a lightsaber, do I think Steven Moffat would do that? Probably not, but I also wouldn’t put it past him, so if The Doctor reconfigures his Sonic into a lightsaber, or energy sword of any kind, I want you to remember that I fucking called it)
It is here we hear The Doctor’s voice for the first time, The sonic allows him to communicate with the boy in spite of their distance, The Doctor tries his best to encourage the boy, and then asks his name, the boy speaks for the first time stating that his name is Davros!
And credit where credit is due, I did not see that coming, on that bombshell it’s time for the opening credits, after which, we are presented with what looks like a rejected Star Wars villain, he says in his very snake-like voice that simply screams “bad guy” that he’s looking for The Doctor, apparently no one else can find him either. Darth Voldemort’s search takes him to Karn, (KAAAARN!!...sorry, had to) where the sisters greet him politely and inform him that unless he leaves their planet immediately, they will take his skin, and make it clear that his vague, not-really-established powers are useless there, as greetings go, there are those less civil. He then gives them a message from The Doctor, “Davros knows, Davros remembers.”
The Doctor is then revealed to have been there in hiding throughout that exchange, but then we cut to Clara, doing her thing she’s just about to start teaching a class about Jane Austen when it turns out planes are frozen in the sky, Clara is contacted by…UNIT (I think) and summoned to some kind of headquarters, where it’s quickly revealed that all of the planes on the planet are in fact frozen in time, and the one responsible is Missy, who, surprise surprise, is not dead. The first thing she does is demand eight snipers be trained on her (three for each heart and two for her brain) so that Clara would feel safe enough to talk to her in an otherwise neutral location.
Clara accepts Missy’s terms and meets her, there she learns that Missy is in possession of The Doctor’s last will and testament, in the form of a funky space-disk that will only open after his death. Missy releases the planes as a show of good faith in return to get Clara to help her find The Doctor, who is apparently not only dying but aware of it to the point that he’s made a will. They tract The Doctor to an unspecified medieval period, that looks to be in the midst of some kind of castle tourney, as a man with a large axe is standing in an arena. Missy tells Clara to look out for any anachronisms, they don’t have to look for long.
Just in case you thought anyone but Steven Moffat was running the show, before Missy can even finish the sentence, The Doctor enters the tourney arena riding a tank rocking some shades and playing an electric guitar, when the other contestant enquires as to what he’s doing, he says “you said you wanted an axe fight.”
It turns out The Doctor has been throwing himself a 3-week party, during which he appears to have “introduced the word “dude” a few centuries early” upon seeing Clara he plays a riff from “Pretty Woman” on his guitar, Clara acknowledges his out of character behaviour and asks “which one of us is dying?” This prompts The Doctor in a rare display of emotion to suddenly hug Clara, (12 is notoriously very specifically not the hugging type) after some brief theatrics with Missy, The Doctor’s would-be challenger appears to be choking, they rush over to help him only to find a snake around his neck.
This heralds the return of Darth Voldemort, who gives The Doctor his message from Davros, before throwing The Doctor’s own Sonic Screwdriver at his feet. The Doctor explains he doesn’t have a screwdriver anymore, as Clara remarks on the look of shame on The Doctor’s face, the three of them are taken off-planet to some sort of space station, where The Doctor is taken before Davros.
In the meantime, Missy has noticed the gravity doesn’t feel as artificial as it should, as apparently she can tell, she opens the airlock and steps outside, seemingly walking on the vacuum of space, it turns out she’s actually standing on an invisible planet, but which one? We’re not made to wait for an answer, as if on cue, the planet becomes visible and Missy, to her considerable shock, recognises the planet as a newly-revived Skaro. (Oh and the challenger from earlier was a dalek drone who stole the TARDIS by the way.)
Missy and Clara are captured as The Doctor looks on powerless from Davros’ chamber, the Daleks reveal their intention to destroy the TARDIS, Missy takes the opportunity to try to convince the Daleks of her strategic value due to the power of the TARDIS and her ability to use it, and it looks for a second that they might go for it, but instead they disintegrate her on the spot, The Doctor is now on his knees begging Davros to spare Clara, Davros says that he only created the Daleks, he doesn’t control them, Clara attempts to run and is quickly shot down before the TARDIS is destroyed, the episode ends with a flashback to little Davros in the hand-minefield calling out to The Doctor for help, The Doctor says he’s going to save his friends the only way he can, he pulls out a weapon and says “Exterminate.” On that bombshell, the episode ends.
This was a particularly strong opening episode of the show, full of its own twists and turns, the same fun dialogue fans of the show will have come to expect and quite the cliff-hanger ending, though I’m curious how The Doctor got back to that time period without the TARDIS, and will he actually go through with it? Him wiping out Davros would be a sizeable wallop to the space-time continuum to say the very least, without him there are no Daleks, therefore no time war, and probably a fair few of The Doctor’s deaths don’t happen, which is quite a gamble when you remember in a 2005 episode, the whole world was put in danger because one person went back in time and saved someone they shouldn’t, I don’t think Moffat likes us to have long memories though.
In all seriousness, I’m not one of the haters, I quite like a fair amount of Steven Moffat’s episodes, though I do understand why others don’t and even I think he’s probably better off not running the show by himself. That said, this was a bloody good episode, I don’t think Clara should come back though, I like the chemistry Jenna Coleman has with Peter Capaldi, but the character of Clara has run its course and then some, it’s time for a new companion I think.
With that said I really hope Missy comes back, I loved John Simm’s Master as much as anyone, but I’m not one of those of the opinion it should still be him, that incarnation of The Master completed his character arc with a very satisfying conclusion and any more would just be milking it, besides, Michelle Gomez (Pickwell from Bad Education if you’re not familiar) does a fantastic job as Missy. The gender-flip didn’t bother me anywhere near as much as the fact that it being “The Master as a girl” was treated as a huge reveal even though it was obvious from the beginning, and everyone knew. The moment I heard the name Missy, my brain went, “Missy, probably short for Mistress, that’s The Master.” and I don’t think I’m in the minority there. But regardless, there’s a lot of potential for a fun character there and I’d hate to see it cut short now.
As for The Doctor himself, well, I like Peter Capaldi, last season he played a much more jaded and cynical Doctor more akin to Eccleston than either of those between, which I think suits the character of a centuries-old time traveller very well. As much as I loved Matt Smith’s Doctor, and Tennant’s before him it was a breath of fresh air to see a Doctor who actually sort of acts his age, there isn’t so much of that in this episode, but because The Doctor was convinced he was dying that’s probably why, there’s still plenty of room for growth in this character, and I’m looking forward to seeing where they go with it.
Overall, good episode, maybe a few niggling worries about where it leads being the worst I can say about it, looking forward to seeing where this goes tonight.
Quote of the week
Missy: (on the subject of where, she, The Doctor and Clara stand as acquaintances) Y’see that couple over there? You’re the puppy.
