Doctor Who 8.02 Into the Dalek

[selenak]

In which there are good character stuff and gigantic plot holes.



The most glaring of all, of course, being the utter omission of Oswin. In an episode that screams for at least a mention at the top of its voice. Now I suspect that Moffat didn't want Clara to have all the memories of her other selves, not even after she caught up with her splitting, but in the first episode of present day Clara, she has Oswin's computer skills. Even if you postulate "present day Clara has no conscious access (anymore) to the memories of her other selves" for whatever reason, Oswin should have been the reason why the Doctor asked Clara for her help with this particular problem to begin with. Two lines of dialogue would have done the trick, even appreviated ones like "I thought -" "I don't remember any of that, Doctor".

(It reminds me of Amy having to deal with the memories of various conflicting lifetimes post season 5, which gets no mention in the series proper even if it gets an extra scene on the dvds. Moffat has the annoying habit of setting these things up and then ignoring them once they served their immediate plot purpose. Like Amy's parents. No, I'm never going to let that one go, ever.)

It's not the only continuity problem. The episode pretends this is the first Dalek ever to show the ability to change from the Dalek "Exterminate all non-Dalek life" imperative, and well, not even in New Who Only. It didn't work out well for the Daleks, and it needed handwavey hybridisation, but there were the wo Daleks in Daleks in Manhattan, and of course the Dalek in Dalek and its suicide. Speaking of the later, that's another problem. "I am not a good Dalek, but you are" is a hard hitting punchline on its own, but not if you compare it with the earlier "You would have made a good Dalek", spoken to the Ninth Doctor. Even Clara's "is this really the lesson we learned today?" comes across as a paler echo to Rose's "What have you become, Doctor?" (and I'm not a Rose fan). This episode pretends it says something new about the Doctor-and-the-Daleks relationship, when it doesn't, and that's annoying.

Now, the episode on its own, disregarding what came before, also has some plot holes (it really didn't occur to either the Doctor or anyone else that repairing the Dalek would restore it to its original parameters? Seriously? And how come the apparatus to enlarge everyone from Rescue I again survived the Dalek assault? Also, apparantly Luke, Leia and Han told the Doctor, Clara and the soldiers how to get slime free in no time flat), but it benefits from likeable guest characters and a good performance by Capaldi. On its own, the idea of the Doctor wanting to build on the Dalek awakening to other ideas after its reaction to the birth of a star by sharing memories and succeeding in a devastating way, by refocusing its etermination agenda back on the other Daleks, due to his own unsurmountable hatred of them, even if he doesn't want to share that one (or does he? Seven would have done that deliberately), makes for an emotional impact. I also really liked the first encounter between the Doctor and Blue. Speaking of, the Doctor not wanting to take soldier Blue on board is an obvious ironic setting up for the newly introduced ex soldier and teacher (Danny) Pink ending up on the TARDIS later, and I really hope this will end the soldierphobia, because I thought we'd moved beyond the externalized self loathing in this regard, and the Brig would have had some pointed remarks on the whole subject.

Danny Pink and Clara: very Moffatian meet cute, with Clara taking the initiative. As I said, his ex military PTSD and guilt (since the untold answer to the question whether he ever killed people not soldiers leading to the proverbial single silent tear is obviously yes) makes him an obvious counterpoint to the Doctor, and they'll probably meet soon.

The Doctor and Clara: continue to fuel my suspicion they're Six and Peri, the next generation. So far, it works well for me. (Except for the Oswin non-mentions, see above.)

Comments

[andraste]

Agreed - there was stuff I liked about this one, but the continuity was a bit of a mess.

And you know what else bothered me? They didn't disarm the Dalek! I mean, someone took the gunstick off the one in Dalek, you'd think the future would be able to manage it. Even if it's broken and says it only wants to kill other Daleks, it just seems like a sensible thing to do. Something else that could have been solved by a line or two of dialogue - maybe the gunstick is booby-trapped to discourage people from removing it?

[selenak]

So true. Who leaves such a dangerous opponent armed! Especially after having fighting experience with the Daleks. It just smacks of script carelessness all around, which is a shame, because with some more effort, you could have made this into a great episode.

...How long before fandom will detect a significance in the Doctor calling this Dalek "Rusty", though? :)

[beck_liz]

Agreed. Even if they thought the Dalek had really switched sides or "turned good" or whatever, disarming it should've been the first thing they did until they were 100% sure of it.

[percysowner]

Totally agree about them forgetting Oswin. She was the first thing I thought of and of the Dalek in Dalek. I admit I totally forgot about the good Dalek in Daleks in Manhattan, possibly because the episode didn't impress me.

I'm not sure the miniaturization machine needed to be saved. On rewatch, Journey said when we are done push the red button to leave, but it was absolutely not clear if the red button transported them out, if they had to get to the ship and it transported everything out or what. It did leave me wondering why red shirt Ross and Gretchen didn't at least try to hit their red buttons when being attacked by the antibodies, but oh well.

The soldier phobia has me a little baffled. I mean not only did The Doctor work with Unit and The Brigadier's granddaughter, The Doctor has also commanded soldiers AND had Rory, the Last Centurion, as a companion. Centurions were not running around the Roman Empire spreading peace, love and understanding. They were warriors. Yeah, they didn't have weapons as destructive as modern day, but they were soldiers.

Fans have stated, although I have no idea if they are right, that Russel T. Davies is known as Rusty, so that may be an in joke.

With all the plot issues, the episode hit on an emotional level for me. I love the practical and pragmatic Capaldi Doctor. He fits in fine with classic Doctors, if not the emo 10 and the perky 11. They killed people all the time and just didn't reflect on it or even really own up to it. So I'm enjoying the heck out of a Doctor that simply acknowledges that he can't save everybody and moves on.

[jesuswasbatman]

I seem to remember that some fans referred to the damaged Dalek in "Dalek" as Rusty, as well.

[likeadeuce]

This episode pretends it says something new about the Doctor-and-the-Daleks relationship, when it doesn't, and that's annoying.

Yeah, I had a similar reaction to it. "Isn't this just a retread of the Nine & Rose Dalek episode, with a more confusing plot?" So I'm glad it's not just me.

I'm hoping we haven't seen the last of Blue, as well.

[selenak]

Given that the Nine & Rose Dalek episode itself was the adaption of a Big Finish audio featuring Six & Evelyn (& Dalek), that makes it even a third degree...something. Granted, every Doctor and Companion combination is somewhat different. But still.

[kalypso]

Clara doesn't have Oswin's computer skills, Oswin has the computer skills Clara acquired during The Bells of St John. At the start of the episode, Clara seemed inept with computers, to a rather implausible degree; after she was uploaded by the Great Intelligence and downloaded again by the Doctor, the downloaded version turned out to have Mad Computer Skillz, even if these mainly seemed to involve typing very fast...

I agree that it would have been interesting to tie this story in with Oswin, though I'm not sure how it would have gone, as I don't recall any episode addressing the question of what Clara remembers of the other lives. I suppose it may yet come up, like that unexpected and fascinating conversation between Rory and the Doctor about the fall of Rome, but this would have been a good opportunity to explore the question.

I do think this episode was intended as a companion piece to Dalek (the Doctor confronted by a chained Dalek who speaks his name underlines that agenda), and I think there's a deliberate compare-and-contrast between Rose and the Ninth Doctor, and Clara and the Twelfth Doctor. In this century, those are the only two companions who have had to manage the transition between two Doctors. But it seems to me that the echoes are of the Ninth Doctor rather than the Tenth, because of the last conversation between Clara and the Doctor in Deep Breath, when they're standing in a 21st-century British street and he asks whether she wants coffee, then adds "or chips... or coffee and chips?" That's a clear nod to the conversation between Rose and the Ninth Doctor in the final scene of The End of the World, when they go off to get chips (later described by Rose in New Earth as "our first date"). Clara decisively rejects chips, a sign that she's accepted she is the Doctor's pal, not his date. And now we revisit Dalek.

I believe the technical term for my response to the Doctor calling the Dalek "Rusty" is LMAO. I am quite sure that Moffat-haters must think it was an outrageous and provocative attack. I am also quite sure that the one person laughing more loudly than me was Russell T. Davies.

The thing that really shocked me about Into the Dalek was the way the characters cheerfully accepted the idea that a "good" or "moral" Dalek was one who wants to kill other Daleks. I think we were moving away from that by the end of the episode, when the Doctor appeared to understand that he had failed because he reinforced the Dalek's tendency to hatred, losing the opportunity to define a good Dalek as one who wants to change other Daleks. But my favourite companion piece to Dalek remains kerravonsen's Necessity, which really does address how Daleks might change (and is also the only story I've read in which I really like Rose).

I am a little puzzled by Clara's immediate and decisive attraction to Danny Pink. A nice lad, but you'd be looking at him for a while before you were reminded of Marcus Aurelius.

[selenay]

I do think this episode was intended as a companion piece to Dalek (the Doctor confronted by a chained Dalek who speaks his name underlines that agenda),

This was my thought. The Doctor has moved from "you would make a good Dalek" to "you are a good Dalek" and that seemed significant to me. I could be reading way too much into it, of course, but that was my first thought after watching the episode.

[kalypso]

But what does the Dalek mean by "a good Dalek"? I've watched the episode three times now, and have become more and more fascinated by it.

As I said, to my horror most of the characters appear to use the term to mean "a Dalek who kills other Daleks rather than humans"; by that definition, it is a good Dalek, as it's just killed lots of its fellows and is setting off apparently to kill more. But the Doctor has killed thousands, probably millions, of Daleks in the past, so maybe it's just referring to that, and means "you've done better than I have."

But my hope is that, like the Doctor, it has come to recognise that a good Dalek in the sense of a moral Dalek, one who values beauty over destruction, is possible, which the Doctor said would make "all the difference in the universe". In that case, what it's saying is that it's possible but it ain't me, babe - whereas "you are a good Dalek" could mean "you hate Daleks, but you chose to save me rather than kill me." (When Journey Blue tried to destroy it, the Doctor was emphatic that "The Dalek must not be destroyed: we can do better.")

If it does mean that, however, I don't think the Doctor understands; he's so disgusted with himself because the Dalek looked inside him and saw hatred that I think he assumes the Dalek is still using the bad definition, "good at killing Daleks", and hears the term as a condemnation, rather than something close to the "good man" he asked Clara about - someone who tries to overcome hatred and to avoid killing.