Happy 2021, fam! It’s been 10 months since we last popped into Sheffield and the TARDIS, right before the world changed. (And not just for the Doctor either, with all those reveals from “The Timeless Children.”) The Doctor’s in prison. There’s Daleks amok on Earth. New Daleks, with just a touch more evil than the old ones. What a way to start the New Year. Let’s see if everyone can get out of this new “Revolution of the Daleks.” And as always, Spoilers!
1. Do Not Meddle in the Affairs of Daleks
One of my favorite quotes of dubious origin is “Do not meddle in the affairs of dragons for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup.” In other words, don’t get into situations where you are outmatched by your enemy, for you will lose every time. That’s a lesson that your favorite evil businessman and mine, Jack Robertson (Chris Noth) doesn’t seem to want to learn. After the events of last year’s New Year’s special, “Resolution,” he has his hands on that mutant Dalek, and he sees immense business potential in them as security drones. Fire up the 3D printer, sign a nice contract with Downing Street, and you have Daleks processing your passport at Heathrow, controlling security during your tour of the Houses of Parliament, and much more. (Terry Nation based the Daleks on the Nazis, so it’s not surprising to see them co-opted under the premise of law and order.)
But meddling in the affairs of Daleks will not end well for humans. One of Robertson’s scientists, Leo, found the tentacled mutant Dalek host and decides In The Name of Science he wants to experiment on it. As you can imagine, that went really well . . . for the Daleks. Leo’s under Dalek control and there’s an entire host farm of Daleks growing somewhere in Osaka that just can’t wait to find these new and improved husks and get to some good ol’ fashioned extermination.
Not good for the humans. So where’s the Doctor?
2. Family Reunion
As we saw at the end of “The Timeless Child,” Thirteen’s in space prison. But we know this isn’t for long. A well-timed Captain Jack cameo gets Jodie Whittaker out of space prison and back to her TARDIS and eventually Sheffield . . . where she finds a divided fam. While Yaz never gave up hope on finding the Doctor (converting the spare TARDIS into a research station to help bring the Doctor home), Graham and Ryan have moved on to a post-Doctor life. (Something we know that is coming in a more permanent fashion by the end of the hour.)
So when Thirteen returns to the fam, the reception isn’t exactly a warm one at first. But it’s all glossed over to tackle the Dalek problem at hand. Not spending just a bit of time on it is a mistake, given how much the Doctor has talked about how much she’s loved her fam. But it’s also part and parcel for this Doctor, one who doesn’t want to get into complicated emotions. A heart-to-heart with Ryan later on in the TARDIS is rather forced and awkward, and also out of character for the TARDIS itself. I find it hard to believe that a time machine that can travel to the farthest reaches of space and time in a heartbeat would take four minutes to go from the UK to Japan.
3. New Year, New Dalek
This isn’t the first time the classic robots have received a facelift. Who remembers the primary colored Daleks from 2010 that look like they came straight out of Target? The mutant Daleks are are taller, slimmer, and with the new lights (blue and, at night, red), they look straight out of Tron. But what’s sadly missing? No more plunger arm!
Guess this is what happens when you take your Daleks corporate.
4. Clever Girl
While the Doctor doesn’t do well with emotions, she does well when it comes to making a plan in the heat of the moment. In quick order, she exterminates the mutant Daleks by pitting the race against each other. A quick call to Skaro brings in some old school Daleks (plunger arms and all) who don’t take well to their sexier corporate counterparts. (It’s not the first time the series has seen Dalek versus Dalek – – a Dalek civil war has been a part of several episodes of the classic series, such as “Evil of the Daleks” and “Revelation of the Daleks.”)
Continued belowBut there’s still one fly in the ointment: Jack Robertson, who still wants control of the Daleks, and gets it by spilling the beans on who summoned the Skaro Daleks to earth: the Doctor. But after a (rather drawn out) chase around the Dalek ship to plant explosives (a plan that gets scrapped when Jack reveals Robertson’s betrayal) the Doctor gets the last laugh. Because she always does.
5. Bye, Fam
We all knew that by the end of the hour, this TARDIS would be two people lighter. The chase around the Dalek ship plants the red herring that Graham and Ryan’s departure would be with their deaths . . . and that wouldn’t have been too bad if it had come to pass. Both these men have grown in their travels with the Doctor, accepting and understanding that they have a purpose in life bigger than what they had been given on Earth. Hints of a health scare for Graham early in the previous season also meant he was probably more accepting of his mortality.
It’s also well within the tone of the series to forcibly separate companions from the Doctor, even in times where it seemed they were making the decision to leave on their own. Amy Pond gave herself up to the Weeping Angels to have a life with Rory. Bill Potts left to travel through time and space, but not before being a Cyberman. Clara Oswald wipes the Twelfth Doctor’s memories of her before taking the long way around to her eventual death. (Though that one had a happy ending – – an avatar of Bill Potts restores those memories in “Twice Upon a Time.”)
But Graham and Ryan take their leave of the TARDIS of their own will. The ten months that passed between this episode and “The Timeless Children” left Ryan with a lot of time to think, and get reacquainted with Earth, a place he likes quite a bit. It’s a case of “tell, don’t show,” which does blunt any sort of emotional impact of the announcement. Ryan’s decision also prompts Graham to realize his time is short, he’s not getting any younger, and Ryan is the last link to his beloved wife Grace. They trade the dazzle of the TARDIS for quiet domestic life, though news of strange happenings in Finland and Korea does bring them brief moments of joy and fond memories of their adventures.
While I enjoyed the multigenerational touch of the TARDIS this past season, the potential of an all-female TARDIS crew would be most exciting.
Except . . .
In a post-credits scene (also posted to Doctor Who’s Twitter account) one man learns his lucky number is 13, the color blue will be important, along with the letter D. Everyone, let’s meet Dan, aka John Bishop! The onscreen text of “Introducing John Bishop” suggests that this is a new companion for Thirteen and Yaz, though some reports (including the official press release from the BBC) avoid using that word.
While I’m always excited to see another Gen Xer in the TARDIS, part of me does wish that it was a party of two in there for the moment, to explore some of that relationship. Over time, Yaz embraced leadership in her travels with The Doctor, a relationship that reminded me a fair bit of Ace and the Seventh Doctor. The two of them together, growing and learning from each other, would have lent a character depth that goes missing when there’s a lot of people around.
We’ll be back in the TARDIS later this year, as filming is underway for the new (and shortened) season in Wales. Till then, wear your mask, wash your hands, and stay safe, fam.
