Doctor Who: Into the Dalek (8x02)

Okay... so this episode does better than the last one in some respects, and worst than the last one in others. I think honestly I like it overall better than the opening, though. Let's start with the plot. I'll try not to get too caught up in my distaste over the Moffat-isms of the episode. I can't blame the man for all the world's problems, after all.

We open with the Doctor saving a young soldier, Journey Blue, from an exploding space craft. Journey's brother, however, perishes in the crash. The Doctor seems remarkably nonchalant about this, as he drops Journey off back at her command ship, the Aristotle. There, it appears that the humans on board are at war with Daleks. One Dalek is on board the vessel, but it is behaving oddly, declaring that all Daleks must be destroyed. The crew of the Aristotle, mistaking the Doctor for a medical doctor, ask him to examine the patient, by shrinking down and entering inside of it. The Doctor is horrified to realize that they wish him to go inside the Dalek.

We then cut to Clara, who is introduced to a new teacher at her school, a war veteran named Danny Pink. Clara hints for him to ask her out, but he's awkward and shy. Eventually, she tells him to take her out for a drink. Clara then goes into a supply closet to find the Doctor, whom she hasn't seen for three weeks. The Doctor asks Clara if he's a good man, and Clara finds that she doesn't know.

Back aboard the Aristotle, the Doctor, Clara, Journey Blue, and two other soldiers (Ross and Gretchen) are shrunk down and put inside the Dalek to find out what's wrong with it. While in there, Ross shoots a grip-hook in order to try and get to a certain area, and Dalek "antibodies" come along to eliminate him.

The Dalek, nicknamed Rusty, reveals that he saw the birth of a star, and it has made him damaged, and therefore "good." The Doctor is able to fix the problem within Rusty, but unfortunately this makes Rusty evil once more. The soldiers outside of the Dalek are helpless, as the Dalek tries to kill them, and even manages to contact the Dalek ship to send reinforcements.

The Doctor seems pleased to discover that Daleks can't be good, but Clara slaps him and tells him he's missing the point - they've learned that Daleks can be good. Clara goes to try to restore the Dalek's memories of the star being born while the Doctor tries to make the Dalek see the goodness in the world. In order to accomplish these goals, Gretchen sacrifices herself to the antibodies. She awakens in "Heaven" and is greeted by Missy, whom we saw briefly at the end of the last episode.

The Dalek remembers how to be "good," but he sees inside the Doctor a deep hatred of the Daleks. Instead of becoming all the way good, the Dalek simply changes his goal: he now wants to "exterminate" his fellow Daleks, instead of humans.

Journey wants to come with the Doctor and Clara at the end of the episode, but the Doctor doesn't let her, because she's a soldier.

Back at the school, Clara assures Danny Pink that she has no such prejudices against soldiers, and they make plans to go out.

I have a lot of problems, but most of them are sort of... complicated.

Firstly, didn't some of this feel like a re-hash? In "Asylum of the Daleks," the first episode of Series Seven, we saw the Doctor and his companions travel into a planet of Daleks, going somewhat "into the Daleks" in a sense. And the same themes of the Doctor's deep hatred were explored. That affinity between the Doctor and Daleks as a species is a really interesting tension, but it was too blatant and silly here, as Rusty said "you are a good Dalek" to the Doctor. Also, I was disappointed that there was no reference to Oswin Oswold here, as the Doctor's very first encounter with Clara was actually when she was, quite literally, inside a Dalek. The thematic resonances between that episode and this one did not feel intentional or clever, but rather like a lazy do-over.

The Doctor's prejudices against soldiers is very sloppy, here. I get it, he doesn't like violence. But at the same time... haven't we seen more complex attitudes about this in the past? What about Rory taking on the role of a Roman soldier as the Last Centurion? The Doctor didn't seem to judge him for that! Or what about Captain Jack Harkness? What about Martha and Mickey's decision to work for UNIT? These things are certainly not cut-and-dry, but I felt like it was really uncool of the Doctor to reject Journey out of hand, simply because she's a soldier.

As we get to know this new Doctor, I find I'm perfectly okay with a lot of the choices that are being made, but occasionally things go too far. For example, when he rescues Journey, he is flat-out rude and unpleasant to her regarding her brother's demise, and you get the sense that part of this is because he doesn't like soldiers. Now, it would interesting if we saw the Doctor treat her callously by accident, and then later realize how he was behaving. It would be interesting to see him struggling to be kind even though he doesn't really like Journey. Instead, he comes across as just unpleasant. Not very interesting, beyond the obvious attempt to subvert our expectations of how the Doctor should behave.

When Clara tells the Doctor that she doesn't know if he's a good man, but he's trying... well, I don't know that he is trying. I haven't seen much evidence of that. I think that might be over-all my biggest problem so far with this new Doctor's characterization. It's fine that he's mean, and harsh, and unfeeling. It's not fine if we're expected to accept this at face value, with no exploration of how he might try to combat these tendencies within him,

I did like quite a bit about this episode, though.

First of all, I enjoyed the fact that Clara seems to be getting something of a life outside of the Doctor. That was always one of the more interesting things about Amy and Rory, the way they traveled with the Doctor, but had their own established life as well. While many things about this idea weren't done very well, I'm cautiously optimistic about Clara's role as a teacher, and her burgeoning new romance with Danny Pink. (It doesn't hurt that Samuel Anderson is easy on the eyes).

I also enjoy the Doctor's friendship towards Clara. He might be unfeeling and cold to most people, but he sees real value and goodness within Clara. And even if he gets it wrong sometimes, he tries to use positive reinforcement to make sure Clara knows that she matters to him. I also enjoyed the line where Clara said that the Doctor was one of her "hobbies." It distances us from the uncomfortable idea that Clara should throw her entire life into being with the Doctor, or with any man for that matter. Although she is starting a new romance arc with Danny Pink, I still think Clara stands out better as an individual than Amy ever did.

Clara's identity as a teacher is coming out very well. She's particularly good at this. She knows how to help people come to the right answer. She does this not only with the children she teaches, but with the Doctor as well. I hope we can continue to play with this dynamic.

We had people of color, and lots of women in this episode! When the Doctor, Clara, and the soldiers go inside the Dalek, the one other male member of their team is the first to die, and it becomes a team of three women (one of color) and the Doctor. Yay! And Clara's love interest is also of color. After being subjected to an entirely white main cast for much of Moffat's run, I'm glad that at least we have Danny now.

I guess I'll leave it at that. I had an okay time watching this episode. Doctor Who never gives me that feeling of joy and excitement that it used to, which is too bad. But I can't write it off entirely, either.

7.5/10