Doctor Who S09E02 - The Witch's Familiar (spoilers)

[Iroscato]

Much better IMO. A few creaky moments but it had a lot more Doctor/Davros scenes (which once again were superbly acted on both parts and even left me quite moved, despite the obvious ploy), was funny as hell in places, and moved along much better than part 1.

I really liked the slightly more layered Davros - he's evil as balls, sure, but there's that little spark of humanity (for want of a better word) that he's never quite been able to shake, and remnants of that were passed on to his children. It also, perhaps, lays the foundations for a potential Dalek arc involving their redemption, or perhaps a new civil war. This new information combined with the creation of Rusty the Dalek last season suggests they are building towards something.

I also liked the end scene with Clara being inside the Dalek and Missy attempting to goad the Doctor into killing her - just to remind us that she is still the utterly deplorable bitch she's always been. On a related note, I do believe that was the first time the word 'bitch' has ever been uttered on DW. Hopefully it makes the Daily Mail implode.

So yeah, not perfect, but still bloody good from where I'm standing.

[Eternal_Freedom]

Substantially improved. If it had been this throughout (as in, they cut out some of the waste from the first episode and put them together as a 60 minutes special) then I woudl have rated it a five. The Doctor/Davros scenes are truly excellent and do (I think) prove that Capaldi is very capable in the role.

So, predictions time: Missy will obviously escape Skaro and almost certainly be back later this season. The Dalek problems will be revisited - the idea of a new Dalek Civil War storyline is a cool one, I hope they run with it. It would allow for lots of Daleks without the "how will the Doctor kill them all this time?" feeling. The Confession Dial or whatever it was will be important later on. The Doctor will continue trying to find Gallifrey...or Davros will have the Daleks focusing on that as well, now that he knows it has returned. Missy might go looking for it as well. Odds on that the thing the Doctor is running from is what's described in the confession dial.

[Bedlam]

I agree this is a better episode than last weeks the Davros / Doctor discussion was electrifying and the Missy / Clara scene's were generally amusing. I though the Dalek sewer idea, although suitably horrifying, we a little over played, it sort of worked when the Dalek casing her been holed by Missy but not really with the fully functional Daleks, plus I would have thought that being powered up by time lord energy would trip the genetic purity thing the Daleks have.

I actually found the travel machine translation system and the fact the guns are fired by strong emotions quote effective, it was mostly used to set up for the Doctor / Clara face off but the implications are quite dark.

I guess we can now argue over whether the doctor's lost a regeneration, or more than one now, but given he just started a new set, it doesn't really matter until we get to the 100th anniversary.

[SpottedKitty]

A few creaky moments but it had a lot more Doctor/Davros scenes (which once again were superbly acted on both parts and even left me quite moved, despite the obvious ploy), was funny as hell in places, and moved along much better than part 1.

<nod> The "I know you know I know" schtick where they both knew, but the Doctor "knew" one level further.

And I think I might have just realised one of the reasons Missy is behaving in such a manic fashion — could she still be coming down from the high of her previous thoroughly nutty John Simm regeneration?

[madd0ct0r]

I'm am quite enjoying the build out of the dakeks as a civilisation. The sewer/graveyards idea makes perfect sense for these ultimate survivors

[JLTucker]

Loved every bit of it until Davros hatched his plan. I knew it was coming, but it would have been nice to run on that "Am I a good man" theme from last season and apply it to Davros.

[Iroscato]

Bleach's acting was too good to waste on a simple throwaway deception. I hope some of the sentiments were genuine at least

[dragon]

At least we know why there was no earth shattering kaboom when the TARDIS was thought to be destroyed.

[Enigma]

So there's two Dalek empires?

[Parallax]

If there is, it'd simply harken back to the classic series where one of the things that kept the Daleks in check were the Daleks themselves - they were often too busy fighting a civil war to fight other species in any meaningful way. Davros' faction vs. Daleks who thought Davros was not a Dalek.

[Metahive]

Davros is back, huh? Nice to know that the Doctor is suffering from comic book hero syndrome and never manages to affect any sort of lasting, positive change in the universe when it comes to actually getting rid of irreedemable and mass-murderour evildoers. That's the exact reason I stopped reading superhero comics because that's fucking bullshit and renders their struggles largely futile because The Joker/Lex Luthor/Magneto/Red Skull/Dr Doom will always come back and ruin more lives. Fuck that shit.

[FaxModem1]

Sadly, that's been the problem since they brought out more and more survivors of the Time War. Essentially, no one really died in the Time War, as someone on this board once said, it was a picnic that went really out of control.

[Tribble]

Sadly, that's been the problem since they brought out more and more survivors of the Time War. Essentially, no one really died in the Time War, as someone on this board once said, it was a picnic that went really out of control.

But that's what a lot of people wanted because the Time War overshadowed everything. As the 10th Doctor said "Where could you be now that you could forget something like that?" The Time War was just a plot device that had stopped being relevant several seasons ago. In fact IMO "The Parting of the Ways" was the last episode where it had any real meaning. When confronted with the Daleks the Doctor refused to destroy them if it meant wiping out Earth. What else needed to be said after that? The Time War shouldn't have been mentioned again because there really wasn't anything left to gain from it plot wise, apart from the Doctor moping- and we already had a full season of that with the 9th Doctor.

In hindsight something like "The Day of the Doctor" should have occurred in the 2nd Season. After the Doctor decided that his actions in the Time War were inexcusable, he figured out a way to "save" Gallifrey - but as a result baddies like Davros , the Master, some Daleks etc manage to escape. That way instead of them being "yet another random person who survived the Time War with little/no explanation" they would have survived solely due to the Doctor's decision. And of course he would also had the goal of finding Gallifrey while being one of the only Time Lords in the universe left to solve problems- plenty of things to mope about there.

As much as I enjoy references to the Time War and episodes about it, it really wasn't necessary after season 1.

[Darth Yan]

I enjoyed Day of the Doctor and the time war I felt was wrapped up nicely.

Also, Davros only survived because of Dalek Caan's intervention. Sort of like how the master survived because he fled

[Metahive]

I enjoyed Day of the Doctor and the time war I felt was wrapped up nicely.

You mean the war or rather its outcome was lazily retconned away. Having the Doctor actually grow as a character and cope with the consequences of his decision was too much for the showrunners to accomplish, so they simply magic'd the entire issue away. Makes it easy!

Also, Davros only survived because of Dalek Caan's intervention.

Davros also died again because of Dalek Caan. You might remember that Caan had come to utterly despise his kind and its creator by the end and worked on destroying both.

Sort of like how the master survived because he fled

Yes, and he too already came back. Twice. The second time he ended up in the timelock together with Rassillon.

BTW, where are Rassilon and his omnicidal cabal anyway?

[Darth Yan]

I enjoyed Day of the Doctor and the time war I felt was wrapped up nicely.

You mean the war or rather its outcome was lazily retconned away. Having the Doctor actually grow as a character and cope with the consequences of his decision was too much for the showrunners to accomplish, so they simply magic'd the entire issue away. Makes it easy!

Also, Davros only survived because of Dalek Caan's intervention.

Davros also died again because of Dalek Caan. You might remember that Caan had come to utterly despise his kind and its creator by the end and worked on destroying both.

Sort of like how the master survived because he fled

Yes, and he too already came back. Twice. The second time he ended up in the timelock together with Rassillon.

BTW, where are Rassilon and his omnicidal cabal anyway?

1.) The War had dragged on and become a source of wangst. Given that having him gain absolution by undoing his greatest failure wasn't a bad idea. It also allows him to finally gain solace and forgive himself.

2.) The point remains that the Doctor didn't make Davros come back. The idea of showing the human within the monster is also pretty solid.

3.) Not sure what happened to Rassilon. Day of the Doctor mentions that Rassilon's plans had failed.

[Broomstick]

So... this prophecy of a "hybrid"...

What if the Doctor didn't run because of his part in making it... but because he actually is this hybrid? Ah, yet another Time Lord weapon/creation running off on it's own, like the Moment or Sexy Thing the TARDIS. Might account for his being such a different sort of Time Lord, having less control over regeneration, of winning so damn much of the time.

After all, look what Rassilon did to the Master as a last-ditch attempt to evade the end of the Time War. Time Lords don't seem to have much issue with experimenting on their own, using people for their own end in various ways, and otherwise being complete manipulative bastards.

OK, whacky thought.

[Khaat]

So... this prophecy of a "hybrid"...

In that case, since we're talking time travel, why the Doctor and not the Master? It would explain a) how they always fail to end each other (paradox for the Master, character for the Doctor) and b) are"frenemies": the Doctor creates this "hybrid", the hybrid is the Master, the Master travels back and forth across the Doctor's timeline with "spoilers" to see that (s)he is created by the Doctor's actions. The Master (Missy) has taken credit for putting Clara in the Doctor's way, and that has had a tremendous impact so far (Name of the Doctor, Listen)