World of Who: The Witch's Familiar

So this episode was a really fun and heavy episode as the Doctor and Davros have what seems to be their last conversation. The episode is possibly the best two episodes of NewWho for a while. It really felt like a sequel to Genesis of the Daleks from the Classic Era and reminded me of what I wanted to see from Batman Beyond, where old Bruce visits old Bane. This season is already on to a much better start than the previous season, we what I'd like to say is a good use of tone (as in the tone is maintained throughout a scene and not offset by strange comedy). This episode even feels like a better version of Asylum of the Daleks which people said should have honestly been a two part episode. It makes better use of the Daleks, better use of Clara and has the Special Weapons Dalek doing something along with various other versions. I found this had a lot of great strong points with only a few weak spots here and there.

Peter Capaldi I felt was only held back by two things: his costume and the shades, so he was great as usual. His conversation with Davros is possibly his best one since Genesis when it was the 4th Doctor (Tom Baker) and Davros. It's clear the Doctor does feel guilty and seeing his anguish at the thought of Clara having been killed by the Daleks was brilliant, not as rage driven as the 11th Doctor but not as sullen as the 10th Doctor.His conversation with Davros bring up another side to his character as he comes to understand more about Davros than he ever thought he would. It honestly reminds me a bit of the Big Finish Audio Story Omega, where the 5th Doctor begins to sympathize with Omega and helps him only to be betrayed by him. The Doctor does at times get upstaged by Davros who along with Missy steal the show. Ultimately the Doctor does redeem himself in his own eyes I think as he realizes that he does instill a form of mercy into Davros and I think that the Doctor may see a bit of himself in Davros and possibly vice versa.

If people didn't like Davros before then if those doens't do it nothing will. Davros has never really been much of a character save for a mad scientist but this episode here really fleshed him out to an extent. I don't think everything he said was just a ruse, he did create the Daleks to end a war and save his people from dying so if anything I find his congratulations to the Doctor about saving Gallifrey to be real enough. His plan in itself is brilliant enough and like the Master it shows how well he knows the Doctor. He seems to be torn between breaking the Doctor down and manipulating him at times, like Missy in Death in Heaven, he tries to bring the Doctor down to his level, agreeing with his ideology about compassion but at the same time get him to use his regeneration energy to heal him and the Daleks. We see a remorseful Davros, a subtle Davros, and of course classic madman Davros.

Along with Davros Missy also stole the show and she has been since the previous episode. It's interesting how she's upped the crazy but is more downplayed compared to last season, probably because of the less attention put on her plot wise. She doesn't come off as just crazy but like the Doctor (and possibly most Renegade Time Lords) shows a knack for controlling a situation. She really does come off as the Doctor without a moral compass but not like the Master from RTD or Moriarty from Sherlock. Missy doesn't seem to be insane just to be insane, it serves her genius. With the Jon Simm version it felt that he was insane because he was trying to show he was different than the Doctor where Moriarty just seemed to want to shock people (at least after his first appearance). Missy really does make the madness her own or at least she is given the chance to show how despite the insanity the genius is blended in well enough and this is coming from someone who really hated the Master being as Missy calls "bananas". I can't wait to see how she plans to survive Skaro.

Clara really didn't do much of anything until she was put into a Dalek. Jenna Colemen's acting was decent but she really didn't have anything to do other than serve as the Missy's companion which showed why she can't have a companion. It really felt like something out of Asylum of the Daleks and maybe we should have seen something like this more. It would have been interesting to see of Clara had some sort of psychic connection with her counterparts. Seeing her try to understand the Dalek functions and trying her hardest to convince the Doctor that she wasn't a Dalek was gold. It would have been interesting to see more of Clara on the inside, like if she slightly felt emotions of hatred boiling up. 

As good as the episode and story was there were some issues with the story, especially at the end. The idea that the Doctor apparently planned to let Davros sap his energy away didn't make much sense. It really came out of nowhere and how did the Doctor know Davros was after that and it doesn't take away from the fact that he thought Clara was dead; unless that was an act to. Clara did say the Doctor knew Missy wasn't dead and he wasn't worried about Missy when she was shot by the Daleks. I wish we had gotten more from Colony Sarf or just more of him slithering around. How did it all tie up? Well that's pretty good though it almost felt the story was going in a different direction. With the Doctor's decision not to save Davros in the beginning I thought it would have been setting up for his statement about the Doctor saying that he saves people, as if he is motivated by more guilt over what he caused. Instead we get a really interesting point about the Doctor saying that "the Doctor" isn't real but on days when he tries really hard, he is the Doctor. It shows that the Doctor does have this idea of what he himself should be and that he doesn't always live up to his own standards. The Confession Dial really meant nothing at the end and just kind of kept getting in the way, save for wondering what the Doctor has to confess at the end of his life.

Ultimately this was a really good two parter story and really felt like the attempt at that "darker" story that Moffat promised in season 8. A bit off at the resolution and I think the Sonic Shades are stupid (because it would take less time to pull out and point then to pull out, put on, and activate) but other than that I give the story a 4/5.


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