S8E2: Into the Dalek

This episode was absolutely phenomenal. It has great writing and a fantastic plot.

I am writing under the assumption that you have seen the episode if you go past the page-break, which is only visible if you're on the home-page of the blog. Any other way, you must have clicked directly there, in which case, there is your error. I do not give a synopsis, I give a critical reaction.


The premise is a completely new one to DW. Yes, of course, its a bit of a combination of "Dalek" from Eccleston and Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS, but the two together make it better than one might think.

The plot of the story, like with Deep Breath wasn't truly the main focus of the story. Last time, the focus was on the social changes, etc. that the regeneration will bring/has brought. This time, it focuses on what the new Doctor is like, what his values are, how he is willing to achieve his goals, whether or not he believes that the ends justify the means.

It also features Clara being very independent. She has had time to adjust to the change of the Doctor (at least two weeks, thank-you coffee time-slip!) and although two weeks isn't too long of a time, she is starting to interact with Danny Pink in ways she may have liked to with Eleven (we must consider the fact that she may have been lying when she said she didn't like-like the Doctor) but did not with him and does not feel comfortable doing so with Twelve. I think it will be interesting to watch their dynamic evolve, and its also interesting to note that many have called her Moffat's Rose and, as we all know, Rose was with Mickey, who was also black. It may mean nothing and it was just that Samuel Anderson and Noel Clark were truly the best actors to audition for their respective roles.

From S1E6 "Dalek"

The biggest thing that I think we have to talk about is the parallel between S1E6 "Dalek" and this episode. As we all know, most likely, the dalek there says to the Ninth Doctor that he would make a good Dalek. I think that that was a moment that he never will forget and also that would shape the rest of his life. I think from that point on more than before, he spends his life trying to not make a good Dalek.He does so many things to avoid fulfilling that pseudo-prophecy, but in the eyes of Rusty,

From S8E2 "Into the Dalek"

who may or may not have known of that moment as the Doctor did hook up his brain to the Daleks, he did not avoid it. He became the good Dalek even though he spent over a thousand years trying to prevent it. In the eyes of his worst enemy, he is his worst enemy.

With the ending the way it is with Blue, we have to remember a few things. The Doctor saved her, and then she saved the Doctor from being shot and bagged for the security of the Aristotle. I've seen some saying that the Doctor owed it to her to travel together, but no. I don't think he owed her anything.

"Am I a good man?"  I have to say that before his regeneration, I think Clara would have definitely said yes. But in this story, we watch him allow the death of at least two people, and depending on how you look at it, a third, or maybe even more. Clara, I think, really, really wants the Doctor to be a good man, but she's just not sure if he really is or if her idea of the Doctor is a good man.

Check back next week to see the reaction to "Robot of Sherwood"

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