Doctor Who - 'The Magician's Apprentice'

“I try never to understand, it’s called an open mind.”

We open on a terrible war, where soldiers with longbows face laser biplanes and blood-curdling 'hand mines', and a child's only hope of rescue is a madman in a blue box.

A mysterious being called the Colony Sarff is seeking the Doctor, to bring him to an old enemy. On Earth, Missy stages a grand display to attract UNIT so that she and Clara can team up to find the Doctor, who has sent her his last will and testament. The Doctor knows that the end is coming, and is willing to face it, but he wants to face it alone. His friends will never allow that and his enemies know it, and when you have the Doctor's friends you have his hearts in your hand. Killing him is easy, but what about destroying him.

The Good

• Against my every expectation, the returning Missy was not annoying as all hell, her arrogance, viciousness and total sense of superiority all the more apt to the Master for not being justified by her total control of the situation. This actually made me review John Simm's Master and realise that the problem even with that incarnation was that the Master's defining trait is that his reach always exceeds his grasp. He schemes and plots, and could easily dominate any planet he chose; it's his determination to rule the universe that sees him fail by allying with bigger and nastier creatures he is never quite smart enough to control.
• Clara; also not annoying. Yay!
• The irresponsible party doctor with his tank, dude.
• Speaking of the Master's return to form, Davros is also back to a strong suit - needling the Doctor and bringing out his worst as only he can. Also, his dialogue is some seriously creepy serial killer shit that would not be out of place in Hannibal.
• The creepy, creepy hand mines.
• The not-spoiled reveal of Davros.
• "I don't have a screwdriver anymore." Given how hard it's been leaned on, that's a powerful statement, and hopefully one that will be held to for at least a while.
• Classic Daleks, and all the callbacks to 'Genesis of the Daleks'. Continuity is not always Doctor Who's friend, so it's a brave pitch, and so far it's paying off.
• Good to see the Sisterhood of Karn still getting their props.

The Bad

• nuWho's continuing obsession with the deconstruction of the Doctor. It's almost the writers more than Davros who want to destroy any sense of moral certainty in the character.
• Zapping Clara. Zapping Missy might have been for realsies, but glooping them both pretty much gives it away that either there's some trickery going on or that there's going to be some wibbly wobbly timey wimey done. Or not; I stand willing to be surprised.

The Ugly

• The Doctor is pointing a Dalek gunstick at a child. This is what they call a Hail Mary, and depending on where they go with it... It could go very badly wrong.

Theorising

So, I'm assuming that Davros is pulling some smoke and mirrors game here; quite possibly angling to demolish the Doctor's rectitude in front of his companions. As much as I'm not a fan of the amoral Doctor, it would be interesting to see how they handled Missy's reaction if the Doctor did turn out to be just like her after all.

Top Quotes

• “Tell me the name of the boy who isn’t going to die today!” Of course you realise this makes Davros The Boy Who Lived, and the Doctor is clearly He Who Must Not be Named...
• "Oh, don’t be disgusting, we’re Timelords, not animals. Try, nanobrain, to rise above the reproductive frenzy of your noisy little food chain, and contemplate friendship." Okay, it's a bit of a sop, but I'll take what I can get.
• "A daffodil isn't a broadsword, but I still won the last round." Appropriate enough from the man who once bested Robin Hood with a spoon (although at least he didn't cut his heart out with it.)
• “Did The Doctor tell you that? Because you should never believe a man about his vehicle.”
• “Hunter and prey held in the ecstasy of crisis, is this not life at its purest?” Nice to see the spirit of ruthless social Darwinism alive and well.

The Verdict

I confess, I am still not a huge fan of Moffat's determination to drag the Doctor down and make him some sort of grim antivillain. On the upside, his long-standing and absolute hatred of the Daleks is an order of magnitude better than last season's ridiculous hate-on for all soldiers (see last season's reviews for further ranting on that.) Overall, I'm liking this one, and I am more keen for the rest of the season than I was on Friday.

'The Magician's Apprentice' goes to a very dark place. It will be interesting to see where 'The Witch's Familiar' and the rest of the season take us. From the official hints they're lining up some dramatic 'the Doctor unleashed' business, although form suggests that there will be some filler fluff in there as well, which may be the best or the worst of the season.

Score - 8/10