Doctor Who Series 8 Episode 2 - Into The Dalek - Review

Starring: Peter Capaldi, Jenna Coleman, Zawe Ashton & Samuel Anderson

Written By: Phil Ford & Steven Moffat

Directed By: Ben Wheatley

 

Into the Dalek is really the first regular episode of Doctor Who since Nightmare In Silver over a year ago. Think about it, since then we've had the Series 7 finale, the 50th Anniversary special, the Christmas special, and last week's episode saw Peter Capaldi debut as the Doctor. There's been a lot going on in Doctor Who recently, and it comes down to Into The Dalek to bring us down from such a tremendous high. So was this episode something of a disappointment or can it reintroduce us to regular adventures in time and space?

 

As her ship is about to be destroyed by the Daleks, the Doctor saves rebel fighter Journey Blue from death and returns her to her command ship, the Aristotle. But onboard the Aristotle, the rebels have captured a seemingly impossible thing - a Dalek so damaged it has developed morality as malfunction. Fetching Clara from Earth, both she and the Doctor prepare to be miniaturized so they can enter the Dalek, and find what is causing the damage. 

 

As the title suggests, this episode once again sees the return of the Daleks. The Daleks will always be Doctor Who's most iconic villains, but it can be difficult to come up with new story ideas for them, mainly because they just aim to kill anything that isn't a Dalek. However, Into The Dalek was able to steer them in a new direction, it did something different compared to previous Dalek stories. This story saw the Doctor, Clara and others literally go into a good Dalek. Strangely, the promotion surrounding this episode seemed to paint the idea of a good Dalek as something new and impossible, but it’s really not. A couple of years ago, a book was published that literally had the title: The Only Good Dalek, the idea was explored in 1966’s The Power Of The Daleks, and was seen again in Series 5’s Victory Of The Daleks. But in just this episode, the Daleks haven't been used this well since ... I can't even remember when they were last used this well. While the Dalek antibodies felt like a lazy design, and were too reminiscent of the antibodies in Let's Kill Hitler, Rusty and the other Daleks attacking the rebels was brilliant. It looked fantastic and made the Daleks seem intimidating again, thanks in no small way to Ben Wheatley's superb direction. Incidentally, this is the first time we've actually seen a Dalek exterminate anyone since 2010. Four years ago! Is it just me that finds that embarrassing? 

 

Although the ideas in this episode are nowhere near as new as they would like you to think, it's still a really enjoyable entry to the series. It perhaps came a little too soon for this series, considering this is only Peter Capaldi's second outing as the Doctor, and might have worked better in a few weeks time. However, Peter Capaldi is still amazing as the Doctor and we’re getting to see just how dark this new incarnation really is. (Spoiler Warning!) One particular highlight took place when Ross the soldier was about to be killed by Dalek antibodies and although the Doctor tells him he can save him, he gets killed. When Journey is appalled by the Doctor’s actions, he simply replies:

 

 “He was dead already, I was trying to save us!”

 

For the Doctor, that is cold and it's a stark change in direction when you look back at David Tennant and Matt Smith's Doctors. When the group arrive in the Dalek's protein banks, he even quips that Ross should be "the top layer if you want to say a few words,”. This a very dark Doctor, and I really like it. Though the Doctor may be darker, his new incarnation still has morality and he even asks Clara if he's a good man. Towards the end of the episode, Rusty the Dalek practically spells it out for him, telling him: "I am not a good Dalek. You are a good Dalek.”

 

Clara was again good here, and I'm still so glad that her character is free from the "Impossible Girl" mystery. Without it, her character is feeling so much more developed and engaging. While there's some grim stuff happening on the Aristotle, seeing Clara getting to know Danny back on Earth, prevented it from getting too dark. Yes, this episode marks the first appearance of Danny Pink, a fellow teacher and former soldier at Coal Hill school and someone who will become a recurring character later in the series. Samuel Anderson does a great job as Danny, even if we still need to see a bit more from the actual character. I also get the feeling that Danny apparently killing someone who wasn't a soldier, will later become more significant. We also know that Danny will become Clara's boyfriend later in the series, but compared to previous boyfriend characters like Mickey or Rory, I imagine Danny will be better at holding his own against the Doctor.

 

As for supporting characters, both Zawe Ashton and Michael Smiley where great as the human rebels. In particular, Journey Blue had some good moments, especially seeing her cope with the loss of her brother. While Colonel Morgan Blue was good as well, there were times where he felt quite undeveloped. The mysterious Missy showed up once again this week, and I think we've got our story arc for Series 8. If it concerns what happens when we die, then I'm really looking forward to finding out who Missy is and what "heaven" really is. This could be something quite dark, and I definitely welcome it after the more complicated story arcs and "fairy-tale" tone of more recent series.

 

If there's at least one really serious problem I had with this episode, it's how Rusty the Dalek was fixed. (Spoiler Warning!) Rusty was a good Dalek because a radiation leak was affecting his brain chemistry. The group enter Rusty and fix the problem. They then act surprised that Rusty returned to your generic Dalek! It just comes across as stupid on the Doctor's part! It was clear that the radiation was the cause of the problem, so fixing it and having Rusty start killing people shouldn’t have surprised anyone! Clara then has a row with the Doctor after he tells her that a good Dalek can't exist. But he's right! A damaged Dalek might have morality, but a fully-functioning and working Dalek cannot be good, Rusty is proof of that!

 

Overall, Into The Dalek is certainly a solid story. It has some problems, but apart from everyone acting surprised at Rusty once he's fixed, they're relatively minor and don't stop the episode from being a huge deal of fun. The Daleks haven't been used this well in a long time, Peter Capaldi is continuing to show us just how brilliant his Doctor is and the character of Clara is finally becoming an actual person, as opposed to just being a mystery for the Doctor to solve. I also look forward to seeing where the Missy and "heaven" story arc will be going.

 

 

Into The Dalek



7/10