Doctor Who Series 8 seems to be off to a solid start. The 50 year old science fiction saga is still going through the process of re-introducing us to the titular character of The Doctor after his regeneration, and as seems to be tradition early in the introduction of a new Doctor, the second episode of series 8 features the Doctors long-time nemeses, the Daleks.
Naturally, there will be some spoilers here, but I will try to keep as much secret as possible.
Now, anyone who knows me would be aware that I love the Daleks. The concept of a race created to do nothing but destroy everything else, with defenses that render them virtually immune to all but the most powerful weaponry, combined with their odd, almost harmless looking design make them one of the more unique science fiction adversaries, in my eyes. Fans have always wondered what makes them tick, so to speak, and in this episode, we get our most detailed look ever into just how a Dalek works.
Not to steal the show, the Dalek story in this episode is downplayed a bit. In this episode, we have the introduction of a new teacher to the school Clara teaches at; an ex soldier who clearly has a deep back story to him. Naturally, he and Clara begin to talk some, and this soldier theme is reflected in the Dalek story as the episode progresses.
As for the Dalek story itself, you do learn quite a bit more about the inner workings of a Dalek, how the mechanical and organic parts interact, how they maintain their hatred for everything in the universe, and how they keep out infections. Yep, even Daleks have to keep themselves healthy, in their own way, it seems.
This episode is filled with some odd, rather dark moments. No one said Doctor Who was a happy-go-lucky show, but these moments seem to come with no warning. The producers did say this season would be much darker, so it is to be expected.
I really don’t want to spare too many details on this episode. It isn’t a great one, but well, what can be said in a review to let you know it’s good without telling you the whole story? It adds more elements to the very convoluted story element that Clara is, touches on a new Series 8 thematic of “Heaven” which clearly will become important as the season progresses, and it’s a Dalek episode!
Into the Dalek gets an 8/10 from me. It wasn’t the best Dalek episode, but at least it had them in it. If it was any other story base, I wouldn’t think too highly of it. The episode could been better fine tuned, but I do think there is much more being thrown around this season start than in the past, so that can be forgiven. Capaldi is showing to be a damn good Doctor, and that alone is worth the episode getting checked out by those interested.
