Doctor Who Season 8 Episode 2: Into the Dalek

More doctor who response blogs! Because I'm hopelessly unoriginal and obviously think my unfiltered thoughts are hilarious. Same as last time, I took notes, I shall put them below and then discuss in greater detail. This is a thing that I'm going to try and do every week, whether you like it or not. Yay for totalitarianism! Speaking of which, this episode has some Daleks. They're back because of course they are.
(Also some a minor fix from last week,it turns out this season is 8, not 7. You can breathe easy now, it's been remedied. Go about your business as usual.)

I feel like the plunger positioning is borderline harassment...

On to the notes. It seems somewhat obvious but SPOILERS:

• Ooh starting with a crashing spaceship. Should I drink? Are we playing the "overused Doctor Who tropes" drinking game?
• Capaldi is doing well. This first scene in the TARDIS is really quite powerful, much better than anything in the first episode. Kudos.
• Let's play a game of "Who knows the difference between a Scottish and Northern Irish accent"!
• Is this going to be Clara-less? It's been a while since the last companion-less episode...
• Oops spoke too soon.
• Weird awkward workplace banter is awkward.
• Only named child so far is the only one who does/says anything. Drink.
• Teacher is reduced to tears at single question. Is he new? Or does this happen every time some asshole kid asks about the army? Because it has to happen, kids do that.
• Dat sexy cry tho.
• Dramatic irony using the term ladykiller. Class A writing there, lads. Also, he's called mr pink, should I expect reservoir dogs jokes? He doesn't look like Steve Buscemi...
• Oh, he is new. Previous statement retracted.
• This man acts like an eight year old. Like, down to the "pretending to be in a plane" thing. Also, weren't there Daleks a second ago? I was promised Daleks!
• He's awkward and therefore endearing. Drink.
• Oh, come on, I thought we were done abusing Clara. Doctor, weren't you being somewhat collected and mature like two scenes ago? Can we have a little consistency please?
• Title drop!- oh wait, no, that's a JJ Abrams film
• Are you my mummy? (Couldn't help it)
• A good Dalek? Wasn't this a story in season 5? Churchill was there...?
• Fast talking. Still very 11.
• Get into it's head. Hardy har. Now get on the magic school bus and into that metal space nazi. (Sidenote: can the TARDIS shrink down and into something? Would that count as travelling in space? Probably not...)
• Oh hey, is that a man of the night's watch I spy?
• We'll ignore the obvious "decreasing size effect on volume" issue I assume.

Hello there, audience.

• Ooh it's art! Look at that artsy shot, it is so very art.
• "The most dangerous place in the universe." Drink.
• Evil refined. The new fragrance from Chanel.
• Chased by antibodies while tiny. Drink. (Not a Who trope but still a trope, I'm counting it)
• Yay running! Actually not sarcastic this time, I love the running.
• There's that "tree fall" direction from last episode. Ow, my brain, it hurts from the awful. This is "Willy Wonka's tunnel of da fuq" levels of uncomfortable.
• Since when do Daleks eat people? Do they do that? Also "inside a body and end up in stomach acid-y stuff". Drink.
• This is going to be more of a "shrunk down and in a body" episode than a Dalek episode, isn't it? Goddamnit.
• "Built like a man". Am I going to have to take "Doctor insults Clara's body and physical appearance" as a given from now on? Because I'd really rather not.
• So glad the crack in the wall plot line is over, otherwise they'd totally be pulling that right now.
• Did no one see that coming? Really? "You fix the Dalek that's good because it's broken and it'll stop being good" didn't cross anyones' minds?
• Have they completely scrapped the new Dalek design at this point? How long was that a thing, one episode?
• What has the doctor done to deserve a slap, Clara, really? Character inconsistency is really out of hand, since when is Clara violent? I get disappointment, I do, but that's not slap worthy!
• "God save us all". Drink.
• What have we learned? I'm genuinely confused. Are they going to let the radiation back out? Because that seems risky, at best.
• "I'm sorry". Drink.
• "I'm a soldier". Drink.
• Goes to pull trigger/grenade pin but can't do it (and is angry about it). Drink.
• "There's no way we can do it in time". Drink (so many tropes, holy shit)
• Oh hi, character who hasn't spoken in twenty minutes! I'm so glad your sacrifice means something thanks to our emotional attachment to you as a person.

(Edit: to truly understand how integral this Gretchen Allison Carlisle character is, I searched and could not find a single image of her. You get this collage of screen shots and this gif I found on tumblr. Because of course)

Bets on whether or not this will actually happen?

• You got your one question, stop being greedy.
• Again, that name carries so much significance because this character has been so integral to the plot thus far.
• Missy's back. Is this a private afterlife for people who die in ways involving the doctor?
• Question: if they're fighting Daleks, why do they have no Dalek-proof guns? They existed in season 4, surely they could find a few.
• Daleks do not have souls. That's why their jazz is so crappy.
• Broken lightbulb jokes are just... Delightful
• Yes, that's how memories work. A literal screen with images on it.
• I called myself "the doctor" because "the who" was taken.
• Those antibodies are much slower than they were a second ago, funny that.
• "The truth? You can't HANDLE the truth!" (It's bad, I know, I couldn't resist)
• Irony win.
• "Short and roundish but with a good personality and that's the main thing". Oh for the love of-  If this is a new trope, I might as well get something out of it. Drink.
• Wasn't your original answer "I don't know"? I could be wrong...

(for the record, I was not actually drinking for every "drink" included, it was more of an extended joke. By all means though, rewatch the episode as a drinking game, I probably will)

Right, where to begin with this one. One large aspect of this episode was the doctor's preconceptions and prejudices surrounding the Daleks, something that has been dealt with numerous times on the show (see "Dalek" in season 1, The "Daleks in Manhattan" double bill in season 3, "Victory of the Daleks" in season 5, "Asylum of the Daleks" in season 7... you get the idea). I'm honestly not complaining, that's like asking Pinky and the Brain to stop plotting world domination, Sam and Dean to stop hunting or Yogi Bear to stop stealing pic-a-nic baskets: It's one of the primary conflicts of the show, of course it's going to come up every now and then.

I felt this episode dealt with its premise of a good Dalek quite well. It was also interesting to see Clara's reaction to the Doctor's prejudice towards the Daleks, seeing as she does not yet know the scale of how evil they are (literally unfeeling space nazi levels) though, as mentioned before, her slap seemed really out of character and stank of Moffat's "strong female character" writing. There definitely seems to be a lot of self reflection for the doctor in this season so far, with the use of the serving tray as a metaphor for how similar the doctor and the android were in episode one and now the Dalek turning back to its genocidal tendencies thanks to all the terrible things the doctor thinks (and knows) about the Daleks, coming full circle with the chilling line "[The Doctor] is a good Dalek". Great stuff. I may be alone in this but I love how introspective the Dalek episodes are for the Doctor. Season three is my favourite season, as I may have mentioned in the past, and Daleks of Manhattan is up there as one of my favourite stories (next to The Empty Child, Impossible Planet, Family of Blood and Silence in the Library stories, to name a few). Personally, I love moments when the Doctor questions just how different the Time Lords and the Daleks really are, putting his "humanity" as it were, under the microscope. So, as you can imagine, I really liked this episode.

There are still issues with the episode. There's the case of "red shirting" Gretchen and Ross which was less than fantastic writing.

Every time I say fantastic, it's in this voice in my head

It does drag a little and takes a while to get away from the "we're inside a body" aspect and into the philosophical stuff, and why exactly they needed to fix the Dalek in the first place wasn't all that well explained. Buuuuut there were scenes where people are being chased and gunned down by a Dalek, which is the main thing (short intermission for fangirl squee-ing). 

Overall, I liked this episode, more than last week's which I also didn't hate. This is a good sign. I like the idea that Missy (afterlife lady) might exist in some alternate universe where people who die in connection to the doctor go. Also, this means we might see more of everyone's favourite character: GRETCHEN! And, y'know, other people from previous seasons, that'd be cool too. I like Mr. Pink, there's a lot of potential for the doctor to grow in relation to his soldier stance there (somewhat similarly to his growth in season 4 after Martha joins UNIT). He's also attractive and fairly well written, acting like an awkward little boy aside. And the idea of seeing Clara in a workplace environment as opposed to always being the doctor's sidekick is promising, I'm hoping they'll add some dimension to her through this. 

I am still cautiously optimistic. Don't let me down, season 8. I believe in you.

As always, Embrace the Madness.