What happened?
The Dalek-human hybrid marshalled plans to create more of his type. However, his leniency towards The Doctor, enlisting him to help realise his dreams, fostered mutiny amongst the remaining 3 Daleks who turned against him and set about their age-old plans of conquering and destroying.
The Doctor, Martha, and a few other people managed to prevent the Daleks from generating their own army, which resulted in two of the Daleks being killed. The Doctor confronted the last Dalek, offering him help to save their race, but the Dalek refused and made an escape into space and time. The Doctor and Martha left, with The Doctor certain he would meet that Dalek again, eventually.
Thoughts
A better episode to cap off this two-parter compared to the previous one. Whilst I did find I had some problems with it overall it managed to entertain me and restore some dignified menace to the notion of Daleks being The Doctor’s ultimate nemesis.
The biggest problem I had with the episode was The Doctor once again willing to sacrifice his own life. It’s arguable he took a calculated gamble in the first episode of this series in trusting Martha would save him, but here he offered himself to the Daleks and practically screamed at them to kill him.
He had absolutely no guarantees that the hybrid Dalek would intervene – indeed he was the most surprised of everyone that the unthinkable had happened. So this, for me is a somewhat troubling aspect to his character; his being so quick to press the self-destruct button on himself. Is this just bad writing on the show, or a planned and intended aspect to his character that will eventually be addressed?
Is the pain of losing Rose causing him to no longer have as much regard for his own life? Even though he is the last of his race, a point that he made such a big fuss about so much in this episode he was willing to help the last Dalek, the race that wiped out all his own kind. If this really is some new character flaw that will get picked up then this is terrific stuff; a sophisticated seeding of a deeper psychological insight.
I’ve got serious doubts that is what was happening, though.
The Doctor did save at least one ‘race’ from extinction in this episode though: the unfortunate human-pig slave Laszlo! I’ll be honest, if I was him, I’d rather have died. Instead The Doctor saved him and offered him a life in the slums of Hooverville where he could be stared and sneered at for the rest of his life. Gee, thanks!
The episode did have its good moments, though. I really liked the part where the leader of Hooverville gave a courageous speech to the Daleks, imploring them to find peace and co-operation, only to be greeted by the iconic “Exterminate!” and vapourised in a cheap special effect. It felt brutal, like old-style Doctor Who, undercutting cheesy expectations with nasty consequences.
How the Daleks were once again given a bit more power and respect was welcome here, as well. I thought the previous episode had rather undermined their stature and this episode went some way to regaining it. The confrontation scene with The Doctor and the last Dalek was good stuff. A last face off before the Dalek batted away any helping hand.
No doubt this lone Dalek has now gone off to hatch plans to generate more Daleks from somewhere and once again try to exterminate their way through worlds and destroy The Doctor, and I’ll look forward to seeing it/them again.
I’d be surprised if we see another Dalek in this series, mind.
What was the best part?
Easily the scene where the leader of Hooverville took a stand and made a speech to the Daleks and asked for their response. He got one. “Exterminate!” Classic.
What do I think will happen next?
Back to some stand alone episode, I should think. The ongoing issue with Martha and The Doctor’s relationship seems to continue to be one-sided and, as the episodes roll by, I don’t see much happening to stop that trend. Potentially there’s going to be something of a frustrated despair for Martha at how The Doctor won’t return her feelings. I know she’s not going to remain his companion for the next series so I anticipate their parting will be due to her just not being able to stand his inability to reciprocate her feelings.
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