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
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
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