Despite being a strong conclusion to the premiere, this episode runs into a familiar problem.  When you have a set of adversaries that are supposed to have a long and rich history, having them act like everyone’s an idiot is hardly convincing.  It’s a recurring gripe whenever one character is meant to be a bit more crafty than the rest of the people in the room; too often, it means downgrading the opponents to blind fools. 

In this case, the episode centers on the duel between The Doctor and Davros.  Davros conspires to use The Doctor’s compassion against him, which might have been a reasonably clever thing to do.  Except, of course, that he rubs “compassion as your greatest weakness” into The Doctor’s face right before employing the gambit, and it also comes on the heels of Davros doing apparently terrible things.  Davros puts on a great performance, granted, but it comes within the context of so much villainy and scenery-chewing that fooling The Doctor was never really a viable plot point.


So the audience had to either believe The Doctor was really that stupid, or wait for the inevitable turnabout.  And sure enough, the seeds had already been planted with the “Dalek Ooze” earlier in the episode.  I just find it hard that Davros would be so blind to the potential drawbacks of his plan.  While it’s true that the Daleks in the “sewers” had been discarded because they were unworthy, weak, and therefore disposable, if The Doctor had injected some measure of mercy into the Dalek mindset via Davros, it seems odd that Davros would overlook the possibility.  Not to mention, wouldn’t flat-out exterminating those Daleks that weren’t worthy be the more Dalek-esque action?  

That’s hardly my only nitpick regarding adversaries.  Missy spent much of the two-parter being one of the better versions of The Master to date, only to bring it all to a head with an attempt to get The Doctor to kill Clara.  Her attitude and coaxing was so pushy that I found it hard to believe that The Doctor didn’t figure it out right off the mark.  The writers did their best to sell the notion that Clara was in danger, but at no time was I convinced that The Doctor would pull that trigger.


Other nitpicks aside (such as those ridiculous “sonic sunglasses”), I like the fact that The Doctor’s “confession” remains unspoken, and the notion that the writers will be exploring some of the reasons why The Doctor fled from Gallifrey in the first place is an intriguing one.  It’s been addressed in general terms over the course of the franchise, of course, but getting a little more specific isn’t necessarily a bad thing.  Running from the overly-restrictive rules of the Time Lords can encompass several different factors, and which one is the most prominent is very likely in the eye of the beholder.





Missy is also still out there, which means that there is potential that she will recur throughout the ninth series.  And while I know some folks are already tired of her, I happen to enjoy the notion of an incarnation of The Master that actually lives up to the name.  She’s got the insanity down, but underneath is the core of a rationale that I would love to see explored further, especially in terms of the Doctor/Master symmetry.  Hopefully Moffat is thinking in terms of a tighter story arc and has similar leanings.