"Into the Dalek" -- Thoughts

[earlgreytea68]

I've been doing a lot of thinking about this episode, so let's see if I can articulate any of my complicated emotions.

• When I first finished it, my initial reaction was: I loved it. I loved it so much more than last week's episode. And I liked last week's episode! But this episode felt settled and assured, like I knew who all of the characters were supposed to be. The tone seemed more even, and the Doctor seemed more like I could get a handle on him. I think this was probably deliberate, I think regeneration episodes are always chaotic. I've tended to like them (loved TCI, loved TEH) but I'm happy to be away from that now.


• The first TARDIS scene sold me so entirely on this Doctor. Like, his exasperation over people freaking out on him all the time instead of being grateful over his Doctor actions. I mean, Doctor, you're not really very clear with anything or reassuring, but I like how he's just, like, out of patience. I am also frequently out of patience, so I like this impatient Doctor, I'm on board with him.


• And I love that he was walking around carrying coffee. I don't know, I love slice-of-life-on-the-TARDIS scenes. My favorite scene in all of DW is Rose and Ten listening to "Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick."


• "It's smaller on the outside." "Yeah, it's a bit more exciting when you go the other way." LOVED THIS. LOVED IT.


• "Oh, it's a roller coaster with you, isn't it?" Still loving the Doctor, still loving how dry and sarcastic he is, still really in love with him at this point.


• The thing about all the soldier stuff. Okay. I get what they're going for, about the danger of always being ready to kill everything, about the danger of carrying guns around with you all the time. Like, good job, Doctor. The thing is, Doctor, though, right, he *was* a soldier for a little while there, a soldier against the Daleks, and I think that's why he reacted so strongly against the whole soldier thing, but that moment when he turns Journey Blue down just...broke my heart. It was the Doctor breaking my heart. And I don't like when the Doctor does that. I liked him so much at the beginning of the episode, all of that exasperated sarcasm, but as the episode went on, I was just like, "I don't know, is he just...mean?" Like, that thing with Journey Blue just felt *mean* to me. He doesn't know her, he can't judge her. She's living in a world under attack from Daleks, and surely the Doctor remembers what that does to you, surely the Doctor should remember that fighting the Daleks turn you into something you don't like, and maybe he could have been a bit nicer about that? A friend said that the scene wasn't so much a rejection of Journey as the Doctor feeling like he needs to not have soldiers around him because of *him.* And yeah, I get that, but I couldn't help this feeling of uneasiness.


• And I realized why. Like, there was this one time when I hated the Doctor because I felt he was all mopey and judgey and grating and I was like, "God, remember when you were nice and had fun with your life?" AND IT WAS AT THE END OF TEN. And honestly, really, I have *such* PTSD from how much I despised Ten at the end. I literally feel like the Doctor comes anywhere near something that reminds me of Ten at the end and I, like, shudder in anticipatory horror of having to put up with all that again. I think that was why I ended up loving Eleven so much, he was just so determined to *not* be that way anymore, and I needed the break just as much as he did, and, anyway, I put my finger on why I'm feeling so skittish now. I loved the episode, I really did, but I have this vague feeling of "Oh, no..." and I think it's my fear that the Doctor will just keep feeling mean to me and not sweet, and I can't help, I want to love my Doctor, I want to want to bundle him up. Which isn't to say that the Doctor can't be exasperated and sarcastic and impatient, just that I really need him to balance that with moments of niceness every once in a while, and he hasn't really clicked that for me yet. I liked the "Am I a good man?" conversation, good to see he's worrying about that. But I wanted something more. Some word of encouragement for Journey. Something nice about Gretchen. I actually liked his cavalierness toward Ross's death, but then when it just kept being more of the same, I was like, "Doctor, people are dropping like flies around you, do you care?" And maybe that's the point, that he *can't* care because it would freeze him up. But, anyway, I need to get there with him still. But, like, when he says to Journey, "I think underneath it all you're probably kind." Like, actually, Doctor, Journey seemed way kinder to the people around her during this whole adventure than you did...


• Which is to say: I like this take on the Doctor a lot, I genuinely do, but I'm still waiting for a bit more. But I already got a bit more this episode than I had last episode!


• One thing I am totally on board with: TWELVE AND CLARA I LOVE THEM. I love that he kind of flits in and out of her life and she's totally okay with that. I love that their entire relationship is basically built on him insulting her. WHY DO I FIND THAT CHARMING? I HAVE SO MANY ISSUES. And I love the idea that he keeps Clara around as his "carer." Like, it's a new way to think about the companion, and I love that. Like, maybe the Doctor needs to keep someone around to keep him a little grounded, to remind him not to be impatient and exasperated with everyone, to not be over the whole universe, to keep a little bit of wonder there. And I love that Clara realizes that, that she puts up with him because she *knows* him. I love his little moments of honesty with her. And I love that he actually gets Clara back in time for her date with Danny because I was worried for Danny.


• Thing I am not looking forward to: the inevitable OH TEH NOES!!11!!! DANNY IS A SOLIDER thing that is going to happen.


• Okay, the whole innuendo girl with "I bet you were just reading"? I LOVED THAT BIT. I am basically the only single girl without kids working at my current place of work, and they always ask me what I did on the weekend, as if I have all these amazing plans, and I'm kind of like, "I read." By which I mean: I READ A LOT OF FANFICTION. So my headcanon for Danny Pink is that he's some BNF reading Omegaverse somewhere AND YOU CAN'T TELL ME OTHERWISE.


• Speaking of Danny Pink: I adore him. That little bit where he was, like, banging his head against his desk over not being encouraging toward Clara? I LOVED THAT SO MUCH. I am on board with Danny Pink.


• I like the new visuals for the theme a lot, but I'm not a huge fan of the re-worked music yet.


• I think Heaven looks like a lovely place. Aside from the creepy Missy. I mean, it has TEA! I always knew Heaven would have tea!


• I didn't mind the recycling of the whole "tiny people in a big person" and antibody attacking thing, because that was one of my favorite bits of the "Let's Kill Hitler" arc, so I'm happy.


• I'm going to think of little people inside of me every time I fight off a cold from now on, though.


• I think the whole "Let me show you how awesome the universe is!" thing was supposed to be my moment when I felt all inspired and touched by the Doctor but I didn't get there. Possibly because it backfired on him? But the moment fell flat for me as an emotional touchpoint.


• I thought being inside of a Dalek looked like it would make a fun ride at an amusement park.


• We've moved from "You would make a good Dalek" to "You are a good Dalek" in terms of Doctor/Dalek relations. And, actually, I see that. Nine was a pretty emotional Doctor, actually, which made sense considering where he came from. More emotional than Ten, really. More emotional than all of them. Hard to be a Dalek when you're still all emotional, but that potential has always been within the Doctor: Live too long, and you'll shut it all down in order to keep going, won't you? You'll put the light out on certain memories. Which is exactly what he seems to have done. He no longer makes a good Dalek, he *is* one, because he's shut down so much of him; the things he loves can be drowned out by the thing he hates, so he doesn't think too hard about either one if he can help it.


• I have ceased trying to keep track of what has happened to the Daleks through the arc of this show: out of time, back in time, frozen in time, blargh whatever.


• So presumably Clara doesn't remember being a Dalek? But presumably the Doctor *does* remember that? I mean, haven't we already met a good Dalek? Wasn't it Clara? We just didn't know it until the end?


• So one rogue Dalek can take it basically all other Daleks? Is that because the Daleks can't adjust to a new reality where they have to attack one of their own? Because it seemed like one of the other Daleks could have easily taken that one rogue Dalek out while he wasn't looking, no?


• The line about the raging lunatic Dalek made me think of that insane Dalek in JE. Basically the only part of JE I could ever abide, mostly because I just laughed helplessly at it constantly. "I fleeeeeeeeeeew!" Best part of JE.


• You guys, how can we have Robin Hood without Richard Armitage in eyeliner?

Comments

[np-complete.livejournal.com]

It cannot be that I am the first to comment! Man, this really is a ghost town, isn't it?

Or, as I prefer to think of it, a tourist town in the winter season, when the tourists have gone but the year-rounders still smile at each other when they meet like they know a secret.

In some ways, Twelve seems like a combination of Ten and Nine. The battle-weariness of Nine, the life-weariness of Ten. I can so easily imagine Twelve saying, "I used to have so much mercy!"

What I don't quite see is how that happened. I can barely remember the Christmas Special, other than the fact that Eleven spent about a thousand years there doing something that didn't seem necessary (defending a town that could easily have been evacuated.)

But Eleven still had zest. I remember that clearly. He was old and tired and not always in touch with consensus reality, but he still found each sunrise worth seeing.

So what drove all that mercy out of Twelve? I really don't see it. Twelve has stains on his soul, but Eleven, even at the end, didn't seem to.

[glowing-fish.livejournal.com]

I also have thought about that. Why is Twelve (or 1A, as they are calling him in some quarters) so GRIM AND GRITTY? He is grimmer and grittier than Nine, and Nine just came out of genociding his own people. Twelve is the Doctor that redeemed himself, who has just entered a new cycle of regenerations, and who knows that he isn't responsible for the destruction of Gallifrey. So why so angry?

Other than, of course, the external reason that it has to be Serious Business.

[earlgreytea68.livejournal.com]

Ha! I love the idea of viewing LJ as a tourist town! Lovely!

Eleven did have a ton of zest. Eleven really loved life. He was really, really passionate about life. And I think that's why this seems such an abrupt about-face. I think the farther away we get from Eleven, the more I'll get used to this Doctor and it will no longer feel jarring.

Following the first Doctor's arc

[glowing-fish.livejournal.com]

One thing I've considered is that this doctor is following the arc of the first doctor. He is being called "1A" by some.

For a long time, the fact that the First Doctor's first few stories (through Marco Polo) were so uncharacteristic, was written off as just because the show wasn't developed yet. Why did the Doctor infamously try to kill someone in his first story, and try to throw Barbara and Ian out of the Tardis in his third? Because he was a Time Lord, and perhaps one that was getting old and callous. Not sadistically evil, but above time, and not really concerned with the affairs of mortals. It was only through his long association with humans that he developed his humanity.

Maybe being given a second regeneration cycle in a way stripped away that development. He is back to being where the first doctor was. He is a Time Lord, above time, and he has to learn how to be human again.

Re: Following the first Doctor's arc

[earlgreytea68.livejournal.com]

This is a really, really interesting idea. I need to dwell upon this for a bit...

Also, a popular Missy theory:

[glowing-fish.livejournal.com]

A theory I've heard, and which makes a lot of sense, is that:

Missy=Mistress=The Master.

Re: Also, a popular Missy theory:

[wickedgillie.livejournal.com]

Oooooooooh! I like that theory!

Re: Also, a popular Missy theory:

[earlgreytea68.livejournal.com]

Oooh, love that!!

[wickedgillie.livejournal.com]

While there were the usual Swiss cheese plot holes, I didn't mind them as much because everything up to the first bit with the antibodies, I was emotionally engaged and loving the episode. The innards did sort of win me back over, but I didn't have the same level of happy as I did for the first bits.

I thought it odd that Journey would suddenly want to come with, more so than Twelve turning her down. Perhaps she'll be the new companion after Clara exits at Christmas?

I love Danny Pink. Love love love. And if last week was a 7, this week for me was an 8.5

[glowing-fish.livejournal.com]

It would be nice to have the primary companion not be someone who was a young woman from contemporary earth.

That was actually one of the surprises I had when watching Classic Who... I thought that having the main/only companion be a naive but spunky young woman from contemporary earth was something the show had inherited. But after watching Classic Who, I realized there is literally only a few seasons when that is true.

[earlgreytea68.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I don't know why they don't deviate from that some.

[earlgreytea68.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I thought it was odd Journey suddenly wanted to go with them, too. But maybe she'd just had enough of that terrible day she'd had and was ready to get away from her life, I guess.

[miwahni.livejournal.com]

I really enjoy your thinky posts, even when I don't have anything to add. Except to say that I thought the dialogue was smart and snappy all the way through - "I'm his carer." "She cares so I don't have to" - I think that was my favourite bit of the whole show.
I would like to know why the Doctor is so cold, though. He's not seemed that callous before, not for a long time at least.

[earlgreytea68.livejournal.com]

The dialogue was lovely and sharp and polished. I just need to get the Doctor there, too. ;-)

[fuzzyboo03.livejournal.com]

I just read that the same guy wrote this as wrote Waters of Mars. Which could explain some of the vibe you're getting?

I am having trouble with this new Doctor. I cannot even put my finger on what it is, too. Maybe it's just that Matt Smith was MY Doctor.

[earlgreytea68.livejournal.com]

Oh, actually, that *does* explain a lot!

[crimedoc1.livejournal.com]

One reason perhaps the Doctor was so negative and rejected Journey might be that he'd just had Rusty tell him "You are a good Dalek" and also had Rusty totally pick up and run with the Doctor's own hatred toward Daleks. This must be shoving his mind right back into the Time War, when he had to be a soldier himself. I mean, he wants to be a good man and here he's being called a good Dalek. So probably right now the last thing he wants around him is a soldier who will remind him of Daleks and the Time War and what has just happened here.

[earlgreytea68.livejournal.com]

Yeah, good point.