Who Review: The Witch’s Familiar

Continuing from last week’s episode, the Doctor finds himself face-to-face with a dying Davros. The Doctor is usually quite savvy to his evil opponent’s evil intents, but could it be that as his life comes to an end, Davros is softening? Could it be that all he wants is to make his peace with the Time Lord? Meanwhile, what happened to Clara and Missy? Are they really dead, victims of the Daleks? Or is there some Missy mischief going on…?

SPOILER ALERT!! My comments may (and likely will) contain spoilers for those that haven’t seen the episode. If you want to stay spoiler-free, please watch the story before you continue reading!

This was again, I think, a strong opening story. I expected the second part to begin with a cliff-hanger resolution (as one does if one is used to Classic Who). Instead, Moffat decided to resolve the Clara-Missy death shocker. The explanation sort-of works, and it does neatly answer the question of how Missy survived “Death in Heaven.” I was left wondering how on earth she would have had time to calibrate both vortex manipulators to use the energy from the Daleks’ weapons. She would have had plenty of opportunity to calibrate them for the Cybermen’s guns… but, oh well. I can accept it’s a generally good idea, and it keeps Clara alive a little longer (see my comments last week).

In this episode, we learn that Skaro has a sewer system that is their “graveyard”–only these Dalek mutations aren’t dead. They are the discarded remains of Daleks, left to rot, except they never do. Which means, given the opportunity to lash out, they take it. Such as when a Dalek’s armor casing is compromised, or they get a sudden blast of Time Lord regeneration energy. No complaints from me about this. There’s nothing I recall from Classic Who that contradicts this idea and it serves multiple ends: it gives a bit more depth to the character of the Daleks (they dispose of their “dead” and these remains have anger issues), it provides a neat resolution to the story, and it gives us something to consider in anticipation of the next Dalek encounter–re-energized angry Dalek goo!

Last week I complained about the idea of Missy being the Doctor’s “best friend,” and I was afraid for a while we were going down the same path with Davros. From the get-go I was not taken in, and would have been very annoyed with Moff if Davros had been sincere. At first I found it hard to believe when the Doctor said he wasn’t fooled, but I suppose if I wasn’t fooled, why would the Doctor have been? Maybe he just played innocent a lot better than I would have. And as for Missy, the Doctor’s “best friend”–doesn’t the fact she was goading the Doctor to kill Clara when she was disguised as a Dalek, making the Doctor believe it really was a Dalek, tell you enough? Missy is all about Missy. Her “friendship” with the Doctor, like everything else in her life, is just a means to her own selfish and evil ends. Kids, your best friend would never do this. If you have a best friend who would have you kill one of your other friends just because they don’t like them, or they want you all for themselves, that’s not someone you want to be friends with. Steven Moffat may disagree, and if so, just don’t be his friend. 🙂

Speaking of Clara the Dalek, that had to be a piece of deliberate irony. The first season we met Clara, she was a Dalek (Season 7a’s “Asylum of the Daleks”). Now, in her last season, she’s a Dalek again.

Finally, did you notice how the story came back to that “Genesis of the Daleks” dilemma: “Have I the right?”–should the Doctor destroy the Daleks at the point of their inception, and change the course of history? This story ends where it began, and where the cliff-hanger left us: the Doctor and young Davros. The Doctor could have shot Davros before he had the chance to become an evil genius. In “Genesis”, the Doctor’s dilemma was resolved by circumstances outside his control. The battle was already won, so he didn’t need to worry about destroying the Dalek mutations. Here, the Doctor makes the conscious choice to show mercy on Davros and help him survive the hand mines, even though he knows what will become of him.

Once again, a great episode of Who, a good conclusion to the opening two-parter, superb performances by all involved, and the appetite is appropriately whetted for what’s to come!

What did you think?