Sunday, August 31, 2014

Doctor Who: Series 8, Episode 2 – “Into the Dalek” (2014)

 
I hope “uneven” doesn’t turn out to be the theme for this season, but that’s what we have so far.  Now that the post-regeneration wonkiness is out of the way, we get our first “regular” Twelve story, and it’s a collection of fascinating ideas and some likeable one-shot characters, but it doesn’t feel terribly cohesive.
 
I was excited to see Phil Ford writing for Who again – he co-penned the excellent “The Waters of Mars” with Russell T. Davies, his episode of Torchwood is a good romp, and I’m a fan of his fine work on The Sarah Jane Adventures.  So, I was disappointed that I didn’t enjoy the episode as much as I’d expected.  It was co-written with Moffat, however, and I’m inclined to blame a good chunk of my issues with the writing on him.  Now, I obviously don’t know who wrote what, but sloppiness and odd pacing are problems that I tend to have with Moffat, not Ford, so there we are.  (I’m really not trying to be a cranky Moffat-hater, but I think I’m close to hitting my limit on this particular showrunner.)
 
Anyway… “Into the Dalek” brings the Doctor and Clara (eventually – he has to go fetch her.  The whole part-time companion thing seems weird to me) to the middle of a (presumably) human-Dalek war, and the humans have picked up an intriguing prisoner/patient:  a Dalek that wants to exterminate its own kind.  With the help of a miniaturizer, the Doctor, Clara, and a military entourage literally get inside the Dalek to find out what caused such a fundamental shift from the Daleks’ usual MO.
 
I absolutely adore the concept.  I like learning more about the inner workings of a Dalek, the balance between machine and living thing, and the central issue – are all Daleks inflexibly evil, or could they be made capable of good? – is a good one.  There are echoes of tons of previous stories here.  The miniaturizer takes me all the way back to Four, Leela, and K9 in “The Invisible Enemy,” and going inside a Dalek reminds me visually of the Tessalecta in “Let’s Kill Hitler” and thematically of “Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS.”  The heavier questions of morality and the Daleks’ potential for good are variously reminiscent of “Genesis of the Daleks,” “Dalek,” and “Asylum of the Daleks.”  Ultimately, I think it lands somewhere in the middle of all of these – it bites off more than I think it can chew, and it never quite resonates the way of these of these stories do.
 
The Doctor isn’t in especially good form here, which is part of the problem.  It’s worrying, since this is supposed to be a “settled” look at Twelve, at who our new Doctor really is.  However, he’s handicapped by two issues.  First, this is a Dalek story, and the Doctor’s long history with the Daleks has a tendency to impair his judgment, give him tunnel vision, and make him react more ruthlessly than he ordinarily would.  Also, he’s working alongside a group of soldiers, which unfortunately tends to bring out his sanctimonious side.  I get that he doesn’t like violence, and he has additional Time War-related issues about combat, but he tends to get so rude and dismissive of soldiers, and it leaves a bad taste in my mouth.  People join the military for all kinds of reasons, and he doesn’t have to treat them like they’re all warmongering Sontarans.  Plus, Vastra eats people – it’s not like his other associates are squeaky clean and nonviolent.  I’m hoping the Doctor we get next week will be more representative of what we can expect.

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