Doctor Who 9x02: The Witch's Familiar

Compared to last week's episode, The Witch's Familiar had a far less impressive opening. As expected, Clara and Missy survived their Dalek encounter through teleportation. Things weren't much better back in the Dalek city where we get a bit of faffing about as the Doctor tries stealing Davros' wheelchair. It's a funny moment but really just exists as padding.

Fortunately, once the Doctor is recaptured we get get the Doctor/Davros conversation we've been looking forward to. The kind of thing the television series hasn't done since,  Revelation of the Daleks. While Julian Bleach's Davros may have been overshadowed by the Daleks and returning companions in The Stolen Earth, here we get to see all the facets of this version of Davros.  First he tries persuading the Doctor that touching the wires will kill all the Daleks, then, weeping crocodile tears over the return of Gallifrey and playing the dying victim. The scene where Davros reveals that he can use his real eyes was one I wasn't particularly keen on. It seemed to defeat the point of having an electronic one in the first place, but it was probably necessary to persuade the Doctor of Davros' sincerity. Julian Bleach made a crying Davros feel in character. Peter Capaldi was no slouch in this conversation either. Where his Doctor was more of a clown last week, here we see the old anger return with Clara's death, tempered with a more sympathetic side as he falls for the weak Davros.

Surprising, the scenes between the Doctor and Davros were not the best bit of the episode. The best bits were actually the scenes of Missy and Clara breaking in to the Dalek City. Missy once again veers on the right line of being funny and dangerous, toying with Clara like a cat with a mouse. Once again, we got to see Missy trying to make the Doctor like her. Last time she handed him a Cyberman army and this time she tried to trick him into shooting a Dalek which actually had Clara inside. The good thing she is definitely surviving for future appearances. The only bad thing about the focus on Missy is it means that Clara once again feels sidelined. Still, there's a whole series left to go to improve on that matter.Seeing her inside the Dalek nicely homaged both Ian Chestertson in the The Daleks story and Oswin in Asylum. It seems Coal Hill teachers and Oswalds are doomed to be Daleks.

With the focus on the four leads, it was inevitable that the Daleks themselves would be side-lined. In this case it was fair enough, because it allowed for more of a focus on Davros. There are more than enough Dalek only stories to be getting along with anyway. Having said that we did get some interesting developments. The notion that they power their guns by hate nicely refers back to a similar notion in Death tot he Daleks. The other interesting idea was the sewers containing dead Daleks. This was not only nicely grim, but also worked as the Chekhov's gun solution to the problem. It was a shame that despite getting Time Lord DNA, there was little time to explore what the implications of that would be.

Although the episode ends happily, there are still some plot threads left dangling. The question of why the Doctor left Gallifrey has been brought up again. Reasons for this have been varied. In the 90s, the New Adventures novels toyed with the idea of 'the Other' who stole the Hand of Omega from Gallifrey so it'll be interesting to see what Steven Moffat does with the idea in 21st century Who, The secrets of the Doctor's confession dial are as yet unknown. The legend of the Hybrid is also up in the air. Was this all resolved here or a hint of future events?

Having reached the end of the two parter it seems the 'Apprentice' and 'Familiar' of the two titles were left up to the viewer. One could argue that the Doctor was the Magician who shaped Davros, his apprentice, when he taught the boy mercy. Then again one could say that Clara is the Doctor's apprentice as she learned from him. It's easier to see Clara as the Witch's Familiar. It's certainly a far cry from the simplicity of the 'slutty titles' that Moffat wanted for the Series 7 'movie poster' stories.

There were plenty of nice easter eggs and callbacks to old episodes for fans, from the 60s through the present. But for all the nods to the past, I am looking forward to fresh take next week. Just the Doctor and Clara in a brand new place with what appears to be brand new characters and monsters. The series goes forward.

8/10

Doctor Who 9x01: The Magician's Apprentice

It's new Doctor Who month again. There's already tons of opinion pieces about this episode all over the internet but who cares? Let's have another.

It has been ten year since Doctor Who was brought back to our screens. The show has built up a large fanbase and no longer needs to prove itself to audiences . I wonder whether this affected Steven Moffat's development of the episode because it seemed more relaxed about dropping continuity references than ever before. It's only the first episode and we've already had the return of Missy, Davros, Kate Stewart, UNIT,  the Shadow Proclamation, the Sisterhood of Karn and the Maldovarium. There were even clips of older Doctors. Most of these elements are relevant to the plot and some are explained but you probably wouldn't show to this episode to a beginner. As a result I have a hard time knowing whether I enjoyed the episode because it was good or whether I enjoyed it because it pushed all my fan buttons.

Of all these returning elements it is Davros that is the main core of the episode. Children have been appearing more frequently in Doctor Who since Steven Moffat took over. Normally they are rescued by the Doctor, or he inspires them in some way. Here we are presented with a very interesting and cynical twist on this format. What if the child you rescued turned out to be someone who would become a dictator? This argument was also put forward in Genesis of the Daleks and forty years later we get to see how the Doctor would actually react in that scenario. It seems that the Doctor left Davros alone in a field of Handmines. Many years later, a dying Davros sends his new agent, Colony Sarf, to search for the Doctor. 

Meanwhile, on Earth the planes have stopped. Clara Oswald is sought by UNIT and together they track down Missy. It's an interesting sequence, but one which largely exists just to reunite Clara with Missy. Arguably, unless UNIT are more relevant in the next episode, Missy could have sought Clara out via more simple means. On the other hand it is nice to have a scene of four smart women in positions of power, working together.  

The Doctor, who has apparently left Missy a confession dial which will open after his death. Missy and Clara use Vortex manipulators to track the Doctor to medieval times when he makes a grant entrance with a guitar and a tank. This sequence goes on for slightly too long but then we get Colony Sarf back who takes them forward to Skaro, the planet of the Daleks that has apparently been concealed from the rest of the universe. The Doctor is taken to Davros while Missy and Clara are taken to the Supreme Dalek. 

It is here that the episode gets back on track as Davros and the Doctor discuss old times. It was great to see Julian Bleach back as Davros. I was lucky to have avoided spoilers about this character's return so it was a nice surprise. It's also been seven years since we last saw the character, so his return is more exciting than the return of his Dalek creations. Julian Bleach holds back on Davros' mania and we get a much more chilling performance, perhaps indicative of the fact that Davros is apparently dying.

The episode ends on an interesting cliffhanger. Missy and Clara appear to be exterminated while the Doctor re-appears in the past of Skaro with a Dalek gun to apparently 'exterminate' someone, Supposedly Davros. It's more likely that he will use the gun to destroy the handmines and Missy and Clara probably used their vortex manipulators to escape before extermination, but I coild be wrong. It'd be more interesting if that was wrong. 

Overall the tone of the episode is interesting. There is a lot more humour in episode like the old Matt Smith series. Nevertheless, the idea of Doctor's guilt over leaving a child to die make it appear that we will retain some of the darkness of Series 8. It's a good balance. The episode is also brimming with interesting ideas such as the Handmines, as well as Colony Sarf as a creature made out of snakes. 

Murray Gold continues to create more subtle music as he did in Series 8. I barely noticed it, but it felt suitable in providing the right mood at the right points. 

There are only a few real negative points. One is that Jemma Redgrave underplays the role of Kate Stewart to the point that the character comes across as a bit boring. It is also odd that Kate, the head of a military organisation, would be too slow to see the idea of he trapped planes potentially being used as weapons. Osgood's replacement, Jac, is not yet a patch on her predecessor. The joke about Clara kissing Jane Austen was a bit naff, as was the Doctor using the word 'dude'. Also the plot thread of the Doctor preparing for his death has been done before in The End of Time and Series 6. Hopefully this time it will go in a different direction to either of those two. 

The negatives are mostly overcome by a spectacular cast. Jenna is, as always, brilliant. Michelle Gomez is also brilliant, having dialed down the craziness a little bit and made more of an emphasis about being the Doctor's friend. I like the way the character embraces her Time Lord status as a sign of superiority. It is also good that she is still utterly ruthless, killing snipers and making the occasional threat to kill Clara. It’s not quite clear what Missy’s overall function is in the story but we will probably get that next time. Liked seeing Missy and Clara working together. Love her response when the Doctor calls Davros his arch enemy. 

Of course, Peter Capaldi is brilliant as the Doctor. Any other Doctor, such as David Tennant, might have seemed irritating playing the guitar, but Peter Capaldi, as an older man, makes it seem good. Cool and uncool at the same time. He pulls off the ageing rockstar look well. Capaldi also pulls off the Doctor's vulnerable when the Daleks threaten his companions. I was worried they would lighten his character too much, but he still has a certain self doubt and insults people at times.

Overall this was a pretty good start to Series 9. Perhaps it teetered a little bit too much onto the continuity heavy side, but was fun regardless. I look forward to seeing how the story resolves itself in The Witch's Familiar.  

8/10

Goodbye Clara Oswald

It's been confirmed that Jenna Coleman is leaving Doctor Who. It's not completely a surprise.
Even before the Daily Mirror leaked the news earlier this week, we'd known that she'd
considered leaving last year. The appearance of River Song at Christmas also seemed to hint at this. Who better than an old friend to help the lonely Doctor in his time of need?I haven't even mentioned yet all the teases in the Series 9 promo material about how the series would be  'glory years' of the Doctor and Clara,  All  very reminiscent of how Tennant's Doctor and Rose were said to be having the time of their lives before their separation in Doomsday. No one is irreplaceable, and Jenna has been in the show a great deal longer than any of the other modern companions. It's probably a good time for to leave on a high and pursue bigger and better things. Really, we fans have been privileged to have this brilliant actor as a lead for so long.

Jenna made a great impact during her first appearance as Oswin Oswald, making a temporary character lovable to the point where you were sad when she turned out to be a converted Dalek. You just wished she could have gone with the Doctor at the end of the tale. Of course Jenna's returned later that year in The Snowmen as the Victorian nanny version of Clara. She proved that she was versatile enough to play roles from different periods.

Her rise to full time companion status in 2013, as the modern Clara Oswald  suffered a bit. The character seemed very vague, as if the production team wanted to keep the mystery going, but Jenna still did her best in the role. The character was thankfully reinvented as a headstrong schoolteacher for The Day of the Doctor, and the character of Clara grew in my estimation.

Jenna may be leaving but she has left behind a legacy of television, comic books and even had herself remade as a Lego character!She also had the special status of being the companion for the 50th anniversary of the show and having the small but crucial role of dissuading the Doctor from destroying Gallifrey.

It's been fun but it's not over yet. We've got a whole series of Clara left to enjoy before the end. She may even have a minor cameo in the upcoming Christmas Special, like Danny Pink in Last Christmas. No doubt there'll be a lot of teasing within the show as to the nature of her departure.  Lets hope that these 'glory years' truly are glorious!