Episode 2,'Into the Dalek', premiered on Saturday. It is the second episode to feature Peter Capaldi.
"The Doctor saves Journey Blue, a rebel fighter, from her ship, which is under attack by Daleks, but is unable to save her brother, who has already perished. He returns her to the rebel space station, code named Aristotle. He is greeted by Journey's uncle, Colonel Morgan Blue, who thanks the Doctor for saving his niece, but declares that he must be killed for fear he is a Dalek spy. However, Journey declares that, as he is a 'doctor', the Doctor can help their patient, which is revealed to be a war-torn Dalek they found floating through space who has appeared to have turned good.
Meanwhile on Earth, Danny Pink, a veteran of the war in Afghanistan with emotional scars from his past, begins teaching Math at Coal Hill School. In the staff room, Danny is introduced to Clara Oswald, who invites him to a going away party for one of their coworkers. Feeling awkward due to an obvious connection between them, Danny declines, but when Clara finds him in his classroom beating himself up over his actions, she then invites him out for a drink. He agrees, and she returns to her office, where she comes face to face with the Doctor, who she has not seen since he left her three weeks ago when he went for coffee in Glasgow (as seen in "Deep Breath"). He tells her that he needs her help, and asks whether he is a good man. Clara replies that she does not know.
They return to the Aristotle, where Colonel Blue details plans to miniaturize the Doctor, Clara, Journey and two rebel soldiers, Ross and Gretchen, so they can enter the broken Dalek, nicknamed 'Rusty', to see if they can determine what is making it good. Entering through the eyepiece, they begin exploring the upper part of the Dalek. Ross shoots a grappling hook into the floor, and the Dalek releases antibodies, much like in the human body, which incinerate him. The Doctor, Clara, Journey and Gretchen flee to Rusty's waste center, where the Doctor correctly guesses that nothing will be guarded. From there, they head to an area of high radiation, with Rusty speaking to the Doctor on the beauty it had witnessed in the galaxy, including the creation of a star, and that the Daleks must be destroyed for wanting to destroy that beauty. At the Dalek's power center, the Doctor discovers a large crack, which he deduces is causing the malfunction within the Dalek. He uses his sonic screwdriver to seal the crack, fixing Rusty in the process. However, this causes it to return to its normal thinking pattern, losing the good within it.
Colonel Blue and his men are helpless as the Dalek breaks its chains and begins exterminating the rebels, determined to aid the Dalek cause. It contacts the Dalek main ship, which releases more Daleks with the aim of destroying the rebel station. Inside Rusty, Clara convinces the Doctor to try to reawaken the good side of the Dalek. They split up, with Clara and Journey heading to reawaken memories of the Dalek's past now being suppressed, and the Doctor heading to the Dalek's consciousness. Gretchen sacrifices herself to set up another grappling hook to get Clara and Journey to the brain of Rusty, but is destroyed by antibodies. She awakens after her death in "Heaven" and is greeted by a mysterious woman named Missy, the same woman that greeted the Half-Face Man in "Deep Breath".
Clara manages to awaken Rusty's memory of him seeing the creation of a star, while the Doctor manages to link his mind to Rusty's consciousness, reminding him of the destruction the Daleks caused. However, Rusty associates with the Doctor's own deeply-rooted hatred towards the Dalek race, and he exterminates his fellow Daleks as they attempt to destroy the rebel station. On leaving the inside of the Dalek, the Doctor parts with Rusty, upset that the Dalek saw only darkness within him and wishing for a 'victory' in creating a good Dalek. Rusty's response is that the Doctor himself is a good Dalek, while Rusty is not. The Doctor vows to continue with his mission to destroy the Daleks. The Doctor and Clara depart. Journey asks to come with them, but the Doctor declines, telling her that he though she has a kind heart, he wishes that she hadn't been a soldier.
The Doctor returns Clara to her office, moments after she left. Clara tells the Doctor that, although she is still unsure of whether he is a good man, she knows his intentions are well meant. On leaving, she bumps into Danny, who says he's glad that his being an ex-soldier hasn't put her off. Remembering the Doctor's treatment of Journey, Clara tells Danny that she is not so judgmental."
I wasn't a big fan of this episode. There was one aspect I liked, that being the introduction of Danny Pink and his blossoming relationship with Cara, but a lot of things bugged me.... here's 4 that did.
4. Journey Blue
Journey Blue is a soldier on the Aristotle. While I like future female space pilots she was just 'bitchy'. Everything out of her mouth was just arrogant and defensive. You never saw her go from this state to a more peaceful state. She was just yelling the entire episode until the very end where all of a sudden she asks if she can go with the Doctor appearing to be nice. You can't blame the actress "Zawe Ashton", you can only blame writing and direction. They didn't seem to have a grasp on the direction they wanted to go with her. While she does come off as a bad ass, which can be good, she also just comes off as EXTREMELY stubborn, which is annoying.
3.Rusty- The 'good' Dalek
I'm all for a "good" Dalek. We heard the Doctor say there has NEVER been a good Dalek, but if I recall, we DID see a good Dalek in 'Asylum of the Daleks' (one of the best Doctor Who episodes to date) where Jenna Louise Coleman (Clara) made her first appearance as "Oswin". A disillusioned projection of a 'good' Dalek who didn't know it was a Dalek.
This is NOT that episode. In 'Into the Dalek, we have a rogue Dalek, who in internally injured. This Dalek has antibodies to rid itself of foreign intruders... however often that is but no way to heal? If its a perfect machine, how can it not heal itself? What we've learned is if a Dalek is internally damaged, it becomes good, if its fixed, it goes back to being bad. So this is the FIRST Dalek to ever be damaged?? Thats just hard to believe
2. Writing
The writing issues are basically summed up by Rusty the Dalek, Journey Blue, and the Doctor in this episode. I expected much better from Moffat seeing as we have a brand new Doctor, so the stories should be good, right off the bat. This episode feels like a middle of Series 9 episode. The story just didn't live up to what we know we can expect from Moffat. Shrinking the Doctor down and sending him inside a Dalek? it sounds like it could be done well, It simply wasn't. Even the cinematography wasn't up to par. I felt as if I was watching a "really" old episode of Doctor Who. Plus the green screens and CGI was poorly done. Did Doctor Who run out of money? They might of after spending a boat load on a World Tour.
1. The Doctor himself
I like Capaldi, I like him a lot. He is an extraordinaire actor. He was good in Deep Breath, but here he just seemed flat. I'm used to a mad, witty Doctor. In this episode we got a dark Doctor with no comedic abilities at all (in the episode anyway). I felt like I was watching a full blown drama, with no hopes of whimsy. This just may be me expecting the 10th or 11th Doctor to bleed through, but Capaldi is a FAR change from them. At one point he simply lets a soldier die, using his death for his own personal gain. Past Doctors would NEVER do this. Is this good or bad? I do not know yet. I wish I did. It's hard for me to enjoy an episode if I have yet to know if the Doctor is going to continue to be vicious and withdrawn or is he's going to be whimsical, goofy and slightly mad. I just did not like the Doctor in this one, he just came off as an 'asshole'. I hate thinking my Doctor is an 'Asshole'.