9X02 "The Witch's Familiar" Grading/Discussion)

[Mr. Adventure]

Davros must have just watched Return of the Jedi and been like "ooh, that see you with my own eyes is gold". He even had a very imperial window in his lair to watch the sunrise.

Strangely though there was no real callback to Oswin.

Better than the first part but hopefully with his enemies using the "Am I a good man?" schtick on the Doctor he will be able to move on from all that. At least the plot didn't resolve on everyone having to pump up how great and awesome the Doctor is.

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

How much regeneration energy has the Doctor loss? only just got some new ones and he is doling it out like candy

The Doctor gave up some to heal River, but then got more back from River. Hard to tell how much constitutes a full regeneration's worth.

 

[Mr. Adventure]

^ I thought he was just going to use his fingers to open Davros' eyes though that is admittedly rather yucky (why I thought he was telling him not to tell anyone).

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

"And we have a pointy stick"

 

[kirk55555]

4/5

A very good episode, and a bit better than part one (athough that was very good too). It had some good serious parts, and some pretty funny moments (like the pit of vampire monkies ). Misst also had some great moments. Also, I started watching the first Dalek serial The Daleks yesterday, so it was awesome to basically see the same city on Skaro, with similar architecture on the inside in this episode. It made the episode just that much cooler to recognize another nod to the show's past. The resolution to all of the cliffhangers of part one weren't super surprising, but it didn't hurt the story. Overall, this two parter is easily the best 12th Doctor story so far, hopefully Series 9 will keep up this level of quality.

 

[sttngfan1701d]

Okay, that's more like it. Redeemed the "Meh"-ness of the last episode, though I hope the rest of the season isn't like this...i.e., underwhelming part 1 with slow buildup leads to much better part 2.

Nice callback to Oswin, too. Not sure how I feel about "sonic glasses" yet. How are they supposed to work? Can't the TARDIS just make another screwdriver? It did for Eleven.

And how much regeneration energy did he expend? It certainly seemed like he gave up enough to render several potential regenerations, well....gone.

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

Missy was in the sewer, then only the Daleks will work with her because only the Daleks don't have noses.

A little familiar, that.

 

[diankra]

The only other chair on Skaro bit is a Fatal Death injoke as well.

 

[sttngfan1701d]

Just wondering, why didn't Clara try saying something like "Coal Hill" or something along those lines?

Because that would've been too easy and Moffat wants everyone to think he's so clever by tying the whole "mercy" thing into the whole story.

 

[Sparkle Fabulosa]

That was surprisingly better, at least the second half of the episode anyway. Missy deserves to be punched in the face! Grr!

I really thought that when Clara climbed into the Dalek she would have had flashbacks of being Soufflé Girl.

Not really digging the sunglasses as his new gadget. He's not a spy.

 

[sttngfan1701d]

I wanted so much for the Doctor to point that Dalek gun at Missy's head when he found out Clara was in the Dalek and say "Run. Get out of my sight while you still can," or something like that.

 

[Sparkle Fabulosa]

I wanted so much for the Doctor to point that Dalek gun at Missy's head when he found out Clara was in the Dalek and say "Run. Get out of my sight while you still can," or something like that.

Me too! If ever there was a time for him to really lose his cool, that would have been it.

 

[The Wormhole]

Well, it was an okay episode, I guess. Not much really happened, though. Still, I did enjoy the scenes between the Doctor and Davros, as they do kind of offer some insight into Davros. Yes, Davros was manipulating the Doctor to feel sympathy for him, but that still doesn't rule out the possibility that some of the stuff like Davros feeling lonely and missing his people would be true. In fact, it would have to be in order to suck the Doctor in. The stuff with Clara and Missy was also great, though mainly for the amusement value. And it sure was nice of Missy, tying Clara up and hanging her upside down to zip up her jacket for her. You know, don't want her getting cold now, do we?

The whole thing with Clara inside the Dalek really didn't make much sense to me. We've seen Daleks out of their armour before, and have heard them talk, their voices sound the same. So Clara's dialogue being converted by the armour to sound like Nick Briggs makes no sense at all. Also, we've hear Daleks say some very unusual things even while in their armour. Hell, back in Asylum Oswin Oswald was able to identify herself as Oswin and as a human without much problem, so this whole thing of every attempt to identify her self coming out as "I am a Dalek" or every other attempt at communication being "Exterminate!" just doesn't work.

Also, why is it such a significant plot point that a Dalek can say mercy? This too has already been done, in The Big Bang the Stone Dalek begged River for mercy.

So, I see they're doing an Anthony Ainley thing with Missey being left in situations of certain death but surviving somehow.

Some of the Davros stuff revealed in this episode is odd. So, he really is a torso without legs at all? And his eyes work fine, he's just been keeping them closed all this time? And I couldn't help but be reminded of the Borg Queen upon seeing that cybernetic spinal chord hanging out of his body.

And now, with the Doctor's confession and the hidden true reason for why he ran from Gallifrey apparently going to be a thing for the season, it really does seem Moffat is this time going for something like the Cartmel Master Plan.

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

I wanted so much for the Doctor to point that Dalek gun at Missy's head when he found out Clara was in the Dalek and say "Run. Get out of my sight while you still can," or something like that.

Me too! If ever there was a time for him to really lose his cool, that would have been it.

I got the sense he told Missy to run because he wanted to point the gun at her.

 

[Redfern]

So, his eyes weren't "melted" from their sockets as was assumed all these decades?!

Also, I grinned at the depiction of different Doctors in the "flashback" sequence. The Fourth sneaking to one pillar, the First emerging to slip to the next with Capaldi finally emerging from that one. I wonder who played the First and Fourth so that scene? (The credits are shrunken for the BBC America broadcasts in case anyone in the UK is puzzled.)

Sincerely,

Bill

 

[The Wormhole]

I wonder who played the First and Fourth so that scene? (The credits are shrunken for the BBC America broadcasts in case anyone in the UK is puzzled.)

There was no one listed in the credits. For all we know, it could have been the same people who wore those costumes for the group shot in Day of the Doctor.

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

The only other chair on Skaro bit is a Fatal Death injoke as well.

"Why do you have chairs on a Dalek spaceship anyway?"
"We.will.explain.la-ter"

The Doctor and Davros having a laugh reminded me a little bit of the Batman and the Joker at the end of The Killing Joke. Two enemies that had been around and around so many times.

 

[DWF]

What was amazing is that for a minute or two I could really feel sympathy for Davros, then he reverted to form. But I did it like it that the Doctor saved young Davros and in a engineered the idea of mercy into them, saving Clara in the end. The storyline as a whole though does contain a bit of continuity bending, but from Moffat that's to be expected anymore.

 

[diankra]

BTW... when Clara works out the weapon-powers-teleport trick, the clip insert is Missy's 'death' last year.

 

[Guy Gardener]

So if Davros had asked for "mercy" instead of "pity" in Genesis, it would have all turned out roses?