ANDREW'S
DOCTOR WHO REVIEWS 
Deep Breath has its faults, but I’m not overly keen on Into
the Dalek at all. There’s a nice little idea at the centre of it – a good Dalek
and a trip inside it to discover why, but I don’t feel it lives up to the
promise of its idea. It’s not without its good bits, of course, even the very
worst Doctor Who has some good stuff, but it’s the weakest story in a long
time.
Clara is now teaching at Coal Hill School (remember that?!)
and meets up with a new teacher, Danny Pink (Samuel Anderson) and the two
strike up a friendship. The Doctor arrives and tells Clara about an expedition
in the future that has captured what seems to be a good Dalek – a Dalek that
says its own race should be destroyed. He cannot believe that a good Dalek
could exist and so Clara and the Doctor travel to the future.
They, and a group of three human soldiers, are miniaturised
and enter the Dalek, which the Doctor nicknames Rusty, in order to discover
whether it is really now good. They discover the damage has hit the “cortex
vault” which is something that stops the Dalek from developing ‘good’ feelings.
The Doctor and Rusty discuss the beauty of the Universe and Rusty states that
if his own kind want destroy this beauty
then they must be evil.
The Doctor fixes Rusty, but accidentally reverts him to his
normal Dalek nature. Rusty calls for a Dalek fleet to come and attack the
humans. Clara though operates a switch within Rusty’s memory cells which reminds
him of the beauty of the Universe and the Doctor to link his mind to Rusty’s.
Rusty sees not only the wonder that the Doctor sees but also his hatred of the
Daleks and this disturbs them both. Rusty tells the Doctor that although Rusty
is not a good Dalek, the Doctor is.
Rusty exterminates the Dalek force that has arrived and then
sends out a signal to convince the Daleks that the human ship is destroyed. The
Doctor returns Clara to Earth and she meets up with Danny again.
This story pursues doggedly the “Am I a Good Man?” question
that the Doctor keeps asking of himself and compares him to both the normal Daleks
and to Rusty, the ‘good’ Dalek. The point is rather laboured at times which I
think is the thing that hamstrings Into the Dalek more than anything else. It’s
just not done very subtly.
Away from that, not much is really happening, a bunch of
human soldiers are included as much as anything so they can be killed off and
the Doctor can reject the survivor because he doesn’t like soldiers. Sorry?
Doesn’t like soldiers … the Doctor? UNIT’s scientific adviser who’s very best
and most loyal friend is a soldier? This is just set up for conflict with Danny
and Clara later and is something the makes certain bits of this whole season
annoying.
There are some good bits in Into the Dalek, the Dalek fleet
attacking is dramatic and it’s generally well-filmed, but all in all this is a
story that misses the mark.
NEXT UP: ROBOT OF SHERWOOD
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