Doctor Who: The Witch's Familiar

Welcome back to the Missy Show! Y’know, sometimes I wish it was the Missy Show, because Michelle Gomez is KILLING it, isn’t she? I just love Missy!

Let’s check out what happened in this episode of Doctor Who!

Okay, so Clara is hanging upside down, and she isn’t dead. Neither is Missy. But we knew that, right?

Missy tells Clara a story about the Doctor — and the costume changes are really great here — with no TARDIS. He’s being stalked by invisible assassins, he’s surrounded, close to death. And Missy wants Clara to tell her how he escaped. Clara answers the question correctly, and Missy explains that that’s exactly how she and Clara got away. So, that answers that question, tied up with a neat little bow! Oh, except for the vampire monkeys. But that’s another story!

Missy and Clara plot to save the Doctor from Davros and an army of Daleks … with a pointy stick.

Back in Davros’s sick room, the Doctor threatens Davros with a Dalek gun. Then he apparently rips Davros right out of his chair and leaves him for dead on the floor. And then climbs into said chair. WHAT THE EFF IS EVEN GOING ON. I’m supposed to believe that the Doctor would just kill Davros in cold blood like that? SERIOUSLY?

Oh, and then the Daleks exterminate the Doctor. But he’s okay. Because he’s the Doctor. And also Davros’s chair has a force field.

Over near the Dalek sewers — yeah, Daleks have sewers. Who knew?! — Missy pushes Clara in to see how far down they go. It was actually a very comical moment. Clara is pretty mad, and she threatens Missy with the pointy stick. Missy explains that the Dalek sewer is also the Dalek graveyard. Eww.

In the sewer, Clara and Missy hear the Doctor’s speech about wanting Clara back alive. It’s very touching. But stupid Davros has to ruin it by being not-dead. JEEZ, this guy NEVER DIES. Suddenly, the Doctor is covered in snakes because Sarf apparently put snakes in Davros’s chair one day, for this exact reason, I guess?

Missy AGAIN tricks Clara into being bait for the Daleks — Clara’s kind of naïve, isn’t she? — and Missy kills the Dalek that comes to investigate the sewer.

The Doctor wakes in Davros’s chamber again, and Davros talks. And talks. And talks. We get a peek at Snake-Guy, and he’s now changed into a bunch of cables. Um. O…kay?

In the sewer, Missy puts Clara inside the Dalek casing.

In Davros’s chamber, MOAR TALKING. Davros explains that he’s connected to the life force of every Dalek, and that they all have respect and mercy for him. The Doctor now realizes that by touching the cables, he could kill every single Dalek. He could commit genocide, and Davros pushed him to do it. Because, duh, snake cables.

The Doctor refuses, and in a wonderful scene, explains why. He came to help Davros because he’s sick and he asked, and because he doesn’t want to just be some “old Timelord who ran away.” He wants to be The Doctor. He wants to do what the Doctor does. Save people. Even if that person is evil old Davros.

In the Dalek, Clara becomes a Dalek. She learns to control it with her brain, and Missy locks her inside. It’s then that she learns that she can no longer say her own name. Oh, and if she gets emotional, she automatically starts shooting. Also, most feelings make her yell, “Exterminate!”

So here’s my major grief with this: WHY DIDN’T WE KNOW THIS BEFORE?! Is this new?! The Doctor has talked to Daleks before, and this has never, EVER been mentioned. WHY? Ugh, sorry. It just really bothers me. It’s like the writers are making stuff up — and making it canon! — just to make the plot of one episode fit together. We have 50 years of Dalek background, and this was never a part of it! Okay, okay … shutting up now.

Davros wants to know why the Doctor ran with the TARDIS. The Doctor puts on his shades, because he’s cool, I guess? They banter some more. The Doctor tells Davros that Gallifrey didn’t burn. That he brought it back, but he’s not sure where he put it.

Davros changes tactics and plays the good guy. He actually *cries* and then opens his ACTUAL eyes so he can look at the Doctor. Davros tells the Doctor to do everything he can to protect his people, as Davros protected his. He asks the Doctor if he’s a good man. Then they have a laugh when Davros makes a joke. I mean, it’s a really, really great scene. Davros says he wants to see the sun one last time with his own eyes. Welp, that does it, and the Doctor is now going to do all he can to keep Davros alive to see one more sunrise.

Meanwhile, Dalek-Clara gets Missy up to the Dalek hand-out room. I assume that’s what it is because it has, like, twenty Daleks just hanging out in it at all times.

The Doctor decides to use a little bit of regeneration energy (OH MY GOD IT DOESN’T WORK THAT WAY AT ALL WTF?!?!?!?!) to keep Davros alive for the sunrise. Of course, that backfires because, duh, Snake-Guy is the cables! So Snake-Guy keeps the Doctor attached to the cables and sucks a ton of regeneration energy through the cables and into Davros.

In the Dalek hang-out, Missy is about to give up Clara when the Daleks start to glow with the energy flowing into them through Davros. Missy runs off to find the Doctor.

Davros mentions a prophecy that was on Gallifrey, about a hybrid race. He asks the Doctor if that’s what he ran from. His part in the coming of the hybrid; Half Dalek, half Timelord.

Missy enters the room and blasts the cables. The Doctor is detached, but the Daleks wake up renewed and more powerful than ever. Davros is also feeling just fine now, thanks.

BUT WHOOPS, NOT SO FAST, FOLKS!

The Doctor knew what was happening, and he LET IT HAPPEN! HE PULLED THE OL’ SWITCHEROO, GUYS! The regeneration energy also went down into the sewers, and woke up generations of Daleks that are now REALLY ticked off.

As he’s running, the Doctor runs into Dalek-Clara, and she, of course, can’t tell him who she is. It just keeps saying, “I AM A DALEK, I AM A DALEK.”

Missy tells the Doctor that it’s the Dalek that killed Clara. The Dalek begs for mercy. The Doctor realizes that it’s Clara inside, and he tells Missy to run. Missy runs.

The Doctor gets Clara out of the Dalek casing, and he reassembles the TARDIS with his new sonic glasses. And that’s all I’m going to say about the sonic sunglasses.

Missy gets away in the end (of course).

The Doctor realizes after he and Clara are safe that it was HE who taught the Daleks mercy, through Davros, when he SAVED the boy in the field! He goes back and shoots off of the handmines, and takes young Davros home.

So the first time I watched this episode, right after it aired three weeks ago, I hated it. But on second watch, I guess it wasn’t totally horrible.

I hated the stupid Dalek Clara bit, and I’m not even going to mention the sonic sunglasses, but I didn’t HATE it.

I just wish Moffat et al. would leave the classics alone. Let the canon lie, and stop changing huge stories to suit their own episodes.

I didn’t have a ton of favourite lines, so here are the two I liked:

• Davros: “I hope you are grateful. It wasn’t easy to procure, and very nearly unique, of course. You should feel privileged. The only other chair on Skaro.”
• The Doctor: “I’m just a bloke in a box! Telling stories!”

See y’all next time!

Doctor Who: The Magician's Apprentice

Hello, Whovians! Welcome to series 9! I AM VERY EXCITED! I have such high hopes for this season, seeing as it’s (OMG SPOILERS!) Jenna’s last as a companion. I’m not at all a Clara fan (although I adore Jenna), but I truly hope she gets the send-off she deserves. And now, on to the premiere!

On a battlefield, a soldier spots a boy running where he doesn’t belong. The soldier follows, and they both get caught in a “hand mine”. Good god, that’s some creepy stuff right there. Eye-hands that suck you underground. NOPE.

After the soldier is sucked beneath the earth, the Doctor randomly shows up in the field. Apparently he was looking for a bookshop, and he ended up on the battlefield. The Doctor tries to help the boy and tosses his sonic screwdriver over. He asks the boys’ name, and the boy replies, “Davros.” OH MY GODDDDDDDD WHAT WHAT WHAAAAAAT?!? WHAT IS HAPPENING?? HOW….WHO…..WHAT?!?!?!

Ahem…Sorry…..Um, the Doctor is now obviously conflicted. He’s not sure what to do. I mean, this child will grow up to create the most evil beings in all of time and space. They will destroy planets, commit genocide, start the Time War that kills off the Time Lords…Of course; I’m talking about the Daleks. What would YOU do?
Queue opening credits!

Meanwhile, a creepy snake-type guy riding an invisible Segway is searching for the Doctor. He asks around the universe; In the Maldovarium, on the Shadow Proclamation, and finally on Karn, where he leaves a message. Davros is dying, and wants to see the Doctor one last time. “Davros knows. Davros remembers.” 

Um, wut. Davros is ALIVE?! Again?!?! And apparently he still has the Doctor’s sonic screwdriver! Davros tells the snake-guy to find the Doctor’s friends. That’s the sure way to find the man himself.

In school, Clara is teaching a class when she spots something odd out the window. A plane is just hanging in the sky. We find out that it’s all planes, all over the world. They’re just frozen in the sky, and Clara dashes off to UNIT HQ to help out.

Clara and Jemma realize that the planes are merely a message from someone who wants the Doctor’s attention. Queue Missy, texting her favourite song on the Doctor’s private UNIT channel! She summons UNIT and Clara to a parley.

Missy explains to Clara that the Doctor has left his confession dial—a Timelord will—with his closest friend. Clara assumes the confession is meant for her, but NOPE! It’s Missy he’s left it to.  The girls have a chat, Missy proves her continued evilness by killing a couple of UNIT agents, and Clara convinces Missy to unfreeze the planes. They hunker down with UNIT and try to figure out where the Doctor would go to have a last hurrah. It’s pinpointed to 1138AD, and off go Clara and Missy with the help of Missy’s vortex manipulator. She slips another on Clara’s wrist, and syncs it to her own.

They land in an arena of some kind. The Doctor makes an EPIC entrance, playing the Doctor Who theme song on an electric guitar while wearing sunglasses and riding on top of a tank! It’s bloody beautiful! He makes a few really bad dad jokes, plays “Pretty Woman”, hugs Clara, and leads a “dude” chant. It really is a fun, adorable scene.

Sadly, even adorable scenes have to end, and snake-guy shows up in the arena. Missy and Clara led him right to the Doctor. Snake-guy literally turns into a snake, explains that Davros knows and remembers, and tosses the sonic screwdriver onto the ground. In a flashback, the Doctor remembers leaving young Davros alone on the battlefield. He just gets into his TARDIS and leaves. Poor kid. 

The Doctor agrees to go with the snake-guy. Clara and Missy ain’t havin’ that, and despite the protests of the Doctor, they’re also taken along to see Davros. Bors is then revealed to be a Dalek slave, and he finds the TARDIS. The Daleks have procured the TARDIS.

On the trip to see Davros, the Doctor explains to Clara who Davros is and how he made the Daleks. They enter Davros’s hospital ship, and the Doctor is led away to see the man himself. As he exits, the Doctor says one word, “Gravity.” Missy explains to Clara that the gravity is more like a planet than a ship. She easily breaks her restraints, and the two take a walk outside.

In Davros’s chamber, we’re shown many wonderful flashbacks of former Doctors and his run-ins with Davros. We see the Sixth, Seventh and Tenth Doctors, and most importantly, we see the Fourth. His words ring clear, “If someone who knew the future had pointed out a child to you, and told you that that child would grow up totally evil, to be a ruthless dictator who would destroy millions of lives. Could you really kill that child?” So, um…wow. Nice, nice callback, Mr. Moffat. That was really wonderfully done. And the point is made to our most recent Twelfth Doctor.

Missy with Clara walking outside, and the Doctor with Davros inside, both realize at the same time where they are. Davros has brought them back to Skaro, where it all began. Where else would Davros go to die? The Doctor is trapped in Davros’s chamber, and Missy and Clara are brought into a room with the TARDIS. It’s full of Daleks…all different types of Daleks from many different episodes. Missy tries to get them to keep her alive by telling them that they need her. It doesn’t work. She is exterminated. The Doctor begs Davros to save Clara. Clara runs. It doesn’t help. She is also exterminated. The Doctor is devastated. Davros wants to hear the Doctor say it just once, “Compassion is wrong.” And the Daleks begin to destroy the TARDIS.

We flash back to young Davros on the battlefield. The Doctor has returned, and he’s going to save his friends, the only way he can…with extermination! And a Dalek gun! WHOA! CLIFFHANGER!

IS EVERYONE OKAY?! DEEP BREATHS, YOU GUYS! Jeez. JEEZ.

So we all know there’s no way Clara and Missy are dead, right? Remember the vortex manipulators? Clara’s is synced to Missy’s? They got out safe for sure. And how about young Davros? Do you think the Doctor is going to kill him? No way, dudes. He’s totally going to shoot a path through the hand mine. Teach compassion by showing compassion, right?

But is Davros really dying? Will Moffat actually kill him off this time? (I’m gonna vote no)
Is the TARDIS okay? (I’m gonna say yeah. No way can Dalek guns destroy that old girl)\

All in all, it was a good episode. I enjoyed it. I wish it had been a regular episode, and not a premiere. I expect more from premieres. I expect…well, I expect The Eleventh Hour, or Rose, or Smith and Jones, or Partners in Crime. I expect huge, massive, brilliant, fun premieres, and this one was just okay. However, I enjoyed this one way more than Deep Breath, so we’re already taking a step in the right direction this season.

Favourite lines:

Missy: “Okay, cutting to the chase: not dead, back, big surprise, nevermind.”

Missy: “Since always. Since the cloister wars. Since the night he stole the moon and the president’s wife. Since he was a little girl. One of those was a lie, can you guess which one?”

Bors: “Dude! What is that?!”

The Doctor: “When do I not see you?”

The Doctor: “I spent all day yesterday in a bow tie. The day before in a long scarf. It’s my party, and all of me is invited.”

The Doctor: “Davros is my arch-enemy. Why would I want to talk to him?”
Missy: “But, wait, hang on a minute. *Davros* is your arch-enemy now?”
The Doctor: “Hush!”
Missy: “I’ll scratch his eye out.”

Missy: “I know traps, traps are my flirting, this is a trap.”

As I mentioned above, I have high hopes this season, and I’m so glad I’m able to share my thoughts and theories here with you guys. Until next week!

Hello, New Doctor

So the internet exploded today with the announcement that Peter Capaldi is the new Doctor.
And then my inbox exploded with people who wanted to know what I think of the choice.

First, I love you guys. I really do. I'm seriously honoured that you even bother to ask me my thoughts. You have no idea how flattering that is. ♥

Secondly, I find that I'm having a very hard time putting my thoughts into words, but I'm going to try.

We've seen Mr. Capaldi's work in previous Doctor Who timelines. He was brilliant in both Fores of Pompeii and Torchwood: Children of Earth.
He was also recently seen in World War Z.
He's much more high profile that previous Doctors, and I'm okay with that.

I'm very happy that he's older, and I'm very happy that there will be no more potential romance with Clara.
I'm rather hoping that the next companion is an older woman or a man of any age.
I'd love to see the Doctor have a best friend again. I miss Donna and Amy in that regard.

I also like his face. Yes, that matters to me. Sorry.
He's handsome in an awkward way. Perfect for the Doctor, in my opinion.

Now, here's what worries me--
Can he bring the humour and fun to the role that both David and Matt has for the last 6 seasons?
Yes, I love it when the Doctor goes dark, and Peter will be amazing in those situations...but what about the childish fun? That sense of wonder that surrounds the Doctor?
I truly, truly hope that Mr. Moffat keeps that part of the Doctor's personality, and that Mr. Capaldi can play it as well as his two previous successors have.

It helps to know that he's been a big fan his whole life. We know the last huge fan turned out to be wonderful--David Tennant.

So, colour me optimistic, but cautious.
Like Matt, Peter will have to make me love him. Unlike David, it's not going to happen right off the bat.

I am very excited to see what he can bring to the role. He will be an amazing Doctor, regardless.

And that's how I feel about Peter Capaldi as the Twelfth Doctor. :)