Episode #253 - Into the Dalek

                 The Doctor: This is Clara. Not my assistant. She's… er… some other word.
                 Clara: I'm his carer.
                 The Doctor: Yeah, my carer. She cares so I don't have to.

Episode #253:      Into The Dalek.
Companions:        The 12th Doctor and Clara Oswald.

Air Date:               30th August 2014.

Surrounded by his greatest enemies, the newest Doctor will journey into the most dangerous place in all of the universe. With the limits of his compassion being tested, the Doctor will be forced to ask a question about himself that he doesn't know: "Am I a good man?"

In this adventure, the Doctor and Clara find themselves being shrunk down and inserted into a supposedly "friendly" Dalek which has come to hate it's own kind. Once inside they must repair the damage effecting it and in hopes that it will remain friendly. Basically this story is quite reminiscent of the classic 4th Doctor adventure The Invisible Enemy, which itself was based upon the science fiction movie The Incredible Journey.

Into The Dalek is a good adventure as we get to see something new that we haven't seen before. It may not be the most original story but we've not see the inside of a Dalek before. If it has a downside it is simply that the story just goes from point A to point B to point C... and so forth. It's just far too linear with little get up and go. But by the stands of modern Who it's fairly typical in that regards. It just doesn't provide an all that interesting story.

One element that I really do like with this one and it is a staple of the Capaldi era is how the writers continue to play with the Doctor in ways that help us understand him more, especially the post Time War him. In this instance it's that despite being our hero and wanting to help, the Doctor is consumed almost by his hatred of the Daleks. Nothing new there but it is perhaps handled better in this story than it has in other previous ones. There is also a sudden and previously unseen mentality where he doesn't like soldiers. This may just be a part of this incarnation but previously he never had an issue with his friends from UNIT. Just seems a bit odd and part of the emerging storyline for Clara's new love interest at Coal Hill school, Danny Pink.

We also have another snippet with the mysterious lady in black and we have a name now, Missy. There was much internet debate about this but I think we all worked out who is was very quickly. For spoilers sake I won't give it away here just in case you haven't seen the episodes for the rest of this series.

This incarnation of the Doctor grew on my very quickly and the dialogue between him and Clara is especially witty. The quote at the top of this page is one of my favourites and I think sums up all regenerations of the Doctor very well.