Spoilersss!
There’s bunch of them wriggling themselves free and slithering about so let’s get to it. It’s time to take a look into Doctor Who 9×02: The Witch’s Familiar. The action and the drama are split in two distinctive story lines. First, the Doctor’s confrontation with Davros ends up being a duel between the idea of compassion and cruelty. Second, Clara going along with Missy to try to save the Doctor while risking her own neck because Missy is just waiting for the opportunity to get her killed.
There has to be a way to phrase those two scenarios better. The Doctor first decides to take Davros’ Dalek-like chair which is armed with some shielding device to protects him from the weapons of the Daleks. Unfortunately, it doesn’t protect him from Colony Sarff. The snakes quickly entrap him and return him back for a heart to heart with Davros. I must confess that Davros was winning me over, but the moment that his life is about to end, the Doctor does something for him he’s literally never done before. He’s willing to give him a part of his life essence. This has no logic and it’s the first time that this plot device has been exposed. Can the Doctor actually expand someone else’s life? Well, obviously it goes against some sort of code he’s breaking, correct? Not really, something’s amiss.
Missy and Clara are alive. This is not much of a surprise considering we’re at the first episode of the season. The way that it is explained is really interesting. For that Missy has to tie Clara up and interrogate her about the Doctor because it’s Missy. She has made fashion herself a pointy stick. She’s going to go hunting and fend for herself but implies she’ll have Clara as prey if she doesn’t find anything. It’s Missy being Missy and both of them end up in the sewers of Skaro where really there’s a lot of decomposing Daleks turn into muck. Missy is quick to trap Clara against the wall as a decoy to trap a Dalek and open up the casing. Her plan is for Clara to use the Dalek as a suit (after removing it’s bio-mucky occupant) which showcases how the Daleks block out their feelings. Any identity declarations are replaced with, “I am a Dalek.” Any emotional statements with “Exterminate.” Any emotional outbursts with laser fire.
The Doctor shares his regenerative powers with Davros. It’s a trap. Davros intented to fool the Doctor all along and drain him of power. It’s Missy to the rescue as she fires off the cables and Sarff’s snakes to free her fellow Time Lord. The Daleks however, have receive the jolt of power. It’s all lost. Or, quite the contrary as the Doctor explains that he’s been going along. The power has also awakened the Daleks from the underground sewer/cemetery who want revenge on their fellow brethren.
As things are literally turning to muck, the Doctor and Missy run into a Dalek. It’s Clara, but Missy’s plan is to have the Doctor believe this is the Dalek that killed his beloved companion. Unable to express emotions, Clara tries desperately to say something to the Doctor until she find out that the one thing that comes through is a mercy plea. The Daleks are not supposed to know the word, which is why the Doctor ends up getting Clara to open the casing. Missy wanted the Doctor to kill his own companion. The Doctor tells Missy to run.
The Doctor and Clara finally ran to the place where the TARDIS was being kept. As the Daleks close in, the Doctor explains that the TARDIS has not been destroyed. It has merely distribute itself. Unfortunately, the Doctor does not have his sonic device. Or more accurately, he does it’s just that he has fashioned a new one in the shape of a pair of shades. The TARDIS appears to take the Doctor and Clara away from Skaros.
The Doctor does make one last stop. He appears back where he left Davros and saves the life of he who one day will create the Daleks. It’s all to show him the concept of mercy, a concept that will save Clara in the future.
Highs/Lows:
- Michelle Gomez as Missy. I still think she’d make a most interesting albeit constantly unreliable companion. Then again, better to have her close to keep an eye on her, right?
- The whole deconstruction of the nature of the Daleks was handled a lot better than I expected. Still, there’s things to work with and you can bet the Daleks will free themselves somehow.
- Obviously the confession disk will remain a constant plot device now that it exists.
- The whole sonic-screwdriver-in-the-shape-of-glasses. Didn’t quite buy it. Ok, perhaps a one-use version of the screwdriver.
- Davros relying on the Docto’s compassion for the plan to work. Doesn’t sound like a very Dalek thing to do.
- The whole idea of putting Clara inside a Dalek has shades (pardon the pun) of the first appearance of the Impossible Girl.
- Super-quick resolution to the whole TARDIS being destroyed thing. I would’ve bought more that it disappeared and reappeared as that’s already in its nature.
That will do for now.
Never Think Impossible 