Foreword

This is the fifth installement in my series of reviews covering the third season of "New" Doctor Who. At the moment I'm writing this, S3 has already concluded in Great Britain, but I am aware that such is not the case in most other countries. That being said, I won't put any "spoiler warning" anywhere; each review clearly states the episode it's covering and therefore I trust you won't look if you haven't seen that episode yet and don't want to be spoiled :-)

Evolution of the Daleks

Right, here we go. The review that I've both awaited and dreaded the most in this DW S3 series. Awaited because I'm perfectly aware that I've been gushing so much over everything that was good about the previous episodes (and knowing there will be plenty more gushing over the next ones) that I must have lost any credibility that you, as readers, may have been willing to lend me at the onset of these reviews. So here I was seeing a good opportunity to display some of the serious, impartial, snobbish attitude of the respectable critic. On the other hand, dreaded because I've never been too keen on slandering anything (let alone a programme otherwise very good), except when I think it is my duty to warn the unsuspecting public of an undeniable, major waste of time coming their way (which is, luckily, a rare occurrence)

Then that....that thing that occupies Doctor Who's slot on BBC One during the autumn/winter season showed up just as I was about to post this review, and I had to rethink my whole position on this episode

And to hell with the serious, impartial, snobbish attitude of the respectable critic

Not that all the problems with that episode may be suddenly swept away under the carpet and overlooked, but at least it was trying: trying to put a new spin on a old enemy, trying to provide an exciting story, trying to say something relevant, and, I'm beginning to suspect after a few times watching through this episode, trying to question the Doctor's morals, a closer look at his character that has been a constant of New Who, and particularly of this season (something I've already alluded to with Gridlock and shall be coming back to a lot as this theme becomes much more important with the following episodes). Unfortunately, it never quite succeeds and leaves us with a conclusion to this Daleks two-parters that qualifies as tepid at best

We were left at the end of Daleks in Manhattan with Martha and, unbeknownst to them, the Doctor being taken prisoners by the Daleks and this nightmarish image of Dalek Sec in his hybrid form being let out of his metal shell claiming he was "our future" (and was I the only one who shouted at my screen "No, I'd rather stay as I am, thank you very much"?). The Doctor manages to distract the Daleks and get everyone out. They run to Hooverville to warn Salomon of the impending attack but he refuses to leave and it isn't long before they're being surrounded by the pig slaves and threatened by the Daleks themselves. Salomon's killed and the Doctor is about to be shot when Dalek Sec intervenes and requires that the Doctor be brought to him unharmed: it turns out that he hopes to have his help in resuscitating the Daleks as a new race and give them a chance to start again on another planet. In the meanwhile, Martha, helped by Frank and Tallulah, tries to figure out how to stop the Daleks' plans

The thing with the Daleks is that we've seen so much of them since their first appearance in "The Daleks" serial (back in the times of the first Doctor) that, while they have to bring them back on occasion because they are an integral part of the Who-verse, you just wonder how they can do so in an original fashion. And in a way, Helen Raynor manages to give us an interesting twist here: the Daleks are all but extinct, and they need to figure a way to go beyond survivance and, logically enough, the one way to do that is to evolve. Now I say logically: it's logical from a Darwinist point of view which, as far as we know, applies to all living entities. It doesn't fall, however, within the scope of Daleks' logic: in fact, very little of what Dalek Sec does once he becomes hybrid follows Dalek logic, as the Doctor is quick to point out, which first throws the other Daleks in confusion, to then lead them to rebel against their leader. There is a very strong moral outcome to this, and it's that by refusing change, they end up being reduce to just the one. One Dalek - one Time Lord, and the final face off is a well executed scene

That part of the story is actually pretty interesting if you take the time to rewatch the episode, stop and think about it, but the problem is that it's drowned by a lot of things, many of which just don't work in this episode. The script, for instance, is far from being as tight and slick as it usually is; there is way too much going on at the same time which detracts you from what could (should) have been central themes (but more about that in a little while). And, uncharacteristically enough, while all secondary characters hold their own, it's from the leads that the problems come, both script- and acting-wise. Martha's guesswork about the Dalekenium is a bit far fetched, but that's still within the realms of tolerable. My main issue with her is that they had to bring her insecurities about the Doctor to the front yet again, even though it had been done already in that story, in Daleks in Manhattan. But at least then it was in a rather lighthearted way which made it ok. In Gridlock there were reasons for her to mention those insecurities as it brought something to the story and tied in with the final scene and the overall themes of that specific episode. But here this aspect is introduced in a rather unsubtle way, is irrelevant to the rest of the story and, worse, begins to undermine her character at this point. My other issue is one of the rare times when I could find fault in Freema Agyeman's acting - when the Doctor is about to follow the Daleks back to the laboratory and she asks what is about to happen to them. Now, as far as I can remember at the moment, it's the only time her acting genuinly made me cringe, which tends to make me think that this slip had a lot to do with her having to battle her way through mediocre lines

Same goes with the Doctor here, only these problems are actually amplified where he is concerned. As I stated earlier, I believe, after watching that episode a few times, that the script tried to focus also on the Doctor's morals, being put in this impossible situation where he is asked to help his enemies, which is particularly tricky in the light of the long Doctor - Daleks history, and in particular of what we know of the Time War. Only it fails to deliver. For one, it takes very little time for him to accept helping the Daleks, which is rather unbelievable, despite his attempt at explaining it to Laszlo ("I know that one man can change the course of history [....] I have to believe it's possible"). More shocking, he barely bats an eyelid when he finds out how exactly they are hoping to revive the Dalek race, that is by using human people in a near dead state and whose identity and memories have been wiped out to be replaced by a new Dalek hybrid identity. Now that would be worth investigating, but the storyline doesn't give you the time and you have the feeling that the writers were suddenly scared off by the difficulty of tackling such a delicate subject - which is a shame as it will be proven later this season that not only it is possible to address that issue without undermining the figure of the Doctor overall, but you can do so to great effect. Because here it is half-hearted, it rather backfires, and you end up wondering why the Doctor does something so OOC in the first place

Almost as annoying is David Tennant's acting. Again, on hinsight, it is clear that it is down to something about this particular episode: it almost feels like, aware of the faults in the script, in particular where the Doctor was concerned, he uncounsciously tried to overcompensate for them by resorting to what he was doing a bit too often in S2, namely shouting and gesticulating a lot, which is always to the detriment of the intensity of his character. The only time when he clearly got his act together was in the theatre, where he regained this kind of gravitas and dangerous aura that he gives off when cornered, and I was about breathe in relief when they had to have him GO AND DO THE BIG SACRIFICE ACT, AGAIN. At that point I just wanted to throw something at my tv. Now we all know that the Doctor carries a lot of emotional baggage since the Time War, compounded by what happened with Rose. We know he's a bit suicidial since then: I mean, look at how many times he's put his life in jeopardy in the space of just a handful of episodes. But here he's not putting his life in danger, he's almost begging the Daleks to kill him. Twice. And that's just not consistent with the Doctor at all, especially when it would have achieved nothing either time (and it's also undermining the Daleks in the process since they have so many occasions to get rid of their most dangerous enemy and never do anything about it!?). Even for an actor like David Tennant, otherwise excellent and so at ease with the character, it would have been impossible to make it easier to swallow anyway - it's just a huge characterisation mistake, of the likes that would make me stop reading a piece of fanfic altogether

If that episode teaches us anything in the end, it's that good intentions don't necessirly translate into good TV. The good news though is that from now on an until the end of that season (at least - we don't know, at the moment I'm writing this, what season 4 will be made of), it's not good TV that awaits us: it's TV - dare I say storytelling? - at its best

A few things to watch out for

Favorite scene: The Face off between Dalek Caan and the Doctor

Favorite line: In my favorite scene:

"Caan, let me help you. What do you say?"
"Emergency temporal shift!"

There's also this one when the Daleks revolt against Dalek Sec

"You told us to imagine, and we imagined your irrelevance"

Other noteworthy stuff:

Whatever the quality of this episode, it is a Dalek episode nonetheless and therefore there are a lot of elements that are interesting in regard to the whole Dalek mythology. One of the most interesting however is that it's the second time something of their own creation turns against them. Only last time, it was the Robomen (or whatever their name was spelled)

There's no geeky fangirl delight this week, but we'll have Tuxedo-Ten! in the next episode so I'll let it pass for once

A lot of reviews for this episode pointed out how the Doctor was pushing his body to the limit, seemingly now surviving things that would have killed him before. However, it is not the first time that he survives being struck by lightening/electrocution: I mean, "Genesis of the Daleks" anyone? Also, the Doctor mentioned in Smith & Jones how he was struck by lightening when he was helping Benjamin Franklin and, obviously, it didn't have to regenerate from that....


Next episode: The Lazarus Experiment