Davros weeps!
Warning: Spoilers below.
After last week’s rip-roaring adventure, it was probably inevitable that the conclusion to this two-parter would be a bit of a letdown. Which isn’t to say that “The Witch’s Familiar” isn’t good fun and intriguing all on its own; it just can’t satisfactorily resolve some of the bits and pieces showrunner (and writer of these episodes) Steven Moffat left dangling last week in the grand “The Magician’s Apprentice.”
We want to hear it.
Chief among those is the resolution of Clara and Missy’s being disintegrated by the Daleks, which of course they weren’t, and which of course nobody ever thought they actually were. Not even the Doctor believes they’re dead, as he keeps asking Davros and the Daleks where Clara is. He’s been at this far too long and he knows how the game is played.
Still, Moffat and director Hettie Macdonald (also back from last week) have some fun with the explanation for the companions’ still being alive, conveying the technobabble of it all in a great little maybe-flashback/maybe-fairy tale from Missy — “a tale of the Doctor,” where it doesn’t matter which face he’s wearing because “they’re all the Doctor to me,” she says. It’s also telling how Missy admires the Doctor’s brain power and his ability to work all those calculations in a few nanoseconds. She’s his biggest fan.
That story also brings us to this question: If the Doctor assumes he’s going to die, what happens then? He’s always so sure he’ll pull it out of the fire, no matter the crisis he’s in, because he’s the Doctor. But in this case, it’s Clara and Missy in their unlikely partnership — or rather, their miner/canary dynamic — who will have to take on the whole not dying thing if they’re gonna save their collective favorite person in the world.
It turns out one thing the Doctor does when he thinks he’s gonna die is spin around in Davros’ chair like it’s a bumper car. Like last week’s rock-apalooza, we’re seeing a very different side of this Doctor even in the midst of very dire circumstances. But that bit of fun aside, there are some surprisingly heartfelt moments in this episode between the Doctor and his hated foe Davros, of all people (does Davros count as people? I guess…). Davros weeps! Yeah, Davros was probably feigning joy at Gallifrey being saved; those were likely crocodile Kaled tears. But I like to think that on some level he and the Doctor have such an ancient bond that he genuinely was happy for his old enemy. After all, how many times did they drive home the “friend’s inside the enemy, the enemy’s inside the friend” concept here? As Davros says, “I wish just once we had been on the same side.” Kind of like how Missy is on the Doctor’s side now? (Ish.)
Likewise, the Doctor actually knew he was being manipulated by his foe the entire time and let it happen, but don’t tell me that the joke he and Davros shared wasn’t legit. Also, not only do we get a Davros weeping moment here, we also get a Davros snorting moment too. (We also got a Missy snort later when the Doctor says, “First word: moron.”)
In the end, this storyline is all about mercy. A “genetic Dalek defect” Davros calls it, that his creations have mercy for their father. And it’s that mercy that protects Clara, who the irresistible Missy has put in a Dalek shell. The Doctor’s do I/don’t I save Baby Davros dilemma is a no-brainer once he realizes that his act of mercy in the distant past will save his friend in his present.
By the way, seeing Clara’s words translated into Dalek — “I love you,” “you’re different than me” and almost everything else equals “exterminate” in that awful language — was amusing, as was the Mistress’ glee and dancing around at the whole charade, although it was actually quite dark too when you think about it. That’s almost all the Daleks have left, that hatred. Which is what ultimately consumes them when the Doctor turns the tables on Davros and uses the dead(ish) sewer Daleks to overtake their fellows up above.
And then there’s the bigger mystery that we’ll likely be tracking all season, which is why exactly did the Doctor leave Gallifrey way back when? What is the Doctor’s confession? Davros implies that it could be that the Doctor ran from what he knows will be his part in a prophecy involving a Dalek/Time Lord hybrid. I don’t like the sound of that at all, though it will be interesting getting to the bottom of the Doctor’s origin story, as it were. But until then, it’s same old, same old. Just the Doctor and Clara in the TARDIS!
Some notes:
- Hopefully one day we’ll hear the nest of vampire monkeys story!
- “Of course the real question is where did I get the cup of tea. Answer: I’m the Doctor. Just accept it.”
- The only other chair on Skaro!
- “You’re my secret favorite, don’t tell the others.”
- No more screwdriver?! I’m not sure I can get used to that.
- I’ve got a bad feeling about Missy’s very clever idea…
“The Witch’s Familiar” had the deck stacked against it as a follow-up to last week’s tough to top cliffhanger, but it still manages to be an exciting and touching episode that sets up the rest of the season nicely.
