Doctor Who Social Club

This is an odd one. It's not terrible. It had action. But it continues a very odd Dalek story. After the Human Daleks all die, I don't really feel any sympathy or compassion for them. They were still empty killing slaves, even if they have the odd moment of something that looks like empathy. As for Dalek sec, I'm glad to not have to look at the weird design anymore.

We got an answer for the green goop - turns out it was an "embryo". Given the Dalek's supposed metaphor as supremacist Nazis, it feels out of place that they would chuck any failed biology into a sewer of all places. It never amounted to anything beyond this one line. The technobabble gene editing stuff makes no sense, but I can suspend my disbelief there.

Plot-wise, the doctor's ultimate "sacrifice" is almost identical to what he did back at Alexandra Palace the previous series: Climb up the tall tower and interrupt it. Well, it works, so don't fix what isn't broken I guess. I am surprised that the Daleks, who can terminate slaves remotely, didn't do so the moment they mutinied. And that the only Dalek who can issue a wireless kill signal, needs to be physically crocodile clipped in to a computer somewhere. Those plot holes are more difficult to overlook.

Historically, wikipedia's list of solar events (there's a list for everything, I love it), tells me there was a solar flare event that affected new york May 1921. However, the Emprie State building was completed in 1931, 10 years later. It's a small detail I doubt anyone would care about, but it's mildly annoying.

By the end, Doctor ended up helping lazlo, but left him looking disfigured. Feels like he probably could have fixed him completely if he put in a bit of effort. I know the Doctor tries not to meddle too much, but this is another case where a little meddling round trip to a future hospital and back would probably be better for the timeline.

There was some little bits of humour I did enjoy:

• Doctor's slinking away and overdramaticisms at the beginning
• "[Turns to look at each other] Both: Dalekanium!"
• Martha telling someone else not to wander off

Whatever endearing qualities existed in the first part of this story are almost completely absent in the second. It's mostly a lot of things happening, and most of them don't make sense.

The most potentially interesting storyline is Dalek Sec's newfound humanity, but it's made abrupt and dull. The concept was played with more successfully back in "Dalek", and will be played with again more successfully in the future.

The Doctor offers himself as a sacrifice to save the residents of Hooverville, despite there being no real reason for the Daleks to spare them even if he does surrender - the ploy only works because Sec has a sudden change of heart, and he's not even there for the Doctor to appeal to.

The Daleks' plan revolves around a solar flare, but the eventual power source for their experiment is a bolt of lightning?

The Daleks' betrayal of Sec is actually a high point, particularly because their doubts were clear in their "body language" even in the last episode. But then they keep Sec alive for...some reason, even though that's an extremely un-Dalek thing to do.

The remnant of the Cult of Skaro recalibrate the machine to convert the humans with pure Dalek DNA, so of course they come out the other end looking exactly like regular humans, without even Sec's goofy hybrid makeup. Their laser Tommy guns are pretty fun, though.

The idea of a Dalek-Time Lord hybrid species is glossed over so quickly it doesn't have any time at all to land, even though the episode tries to make a big deal out of it.

Dalek Caan escapes without killing the Doctor, because the plot says so.

The Doctor can use the genetic machine to save Laszlo's life, but can't turn him back into a regular human. Okay.

Martha's still hung up on the Doctor. What a thrilling plot twist.

What a shame. Despite the obvious flaws in the first part, this episode thoroughly fails to salvage the interesting bits.