C+Q - The Witch's Familiar (2015)

The second half of this two-part opener does not disappoint. Yes there are a few dodgy bits here and there, much like in The Magician's Apprentice, but overall I absolutely love it. Peter Capaldi is once again phenomenal as the Doctor. In just fifteen episodes, he seems to have reached his full potential in the role and I hope he stays with the show for years and years to come. He effortlessly invokes every previous incarnation, drilling down through them all to find a sort of middle ground, as if Capaldi is the centre of a Venn diagram showing the crossover of every previous Doctors' performances. This is most notable when he's rolling around in Davros' chair. Elements of so many past Doctors, most notably Tom Baker, Peter Davison, and David Tennant, can be seen in the way he acts, which is amazing considering he's only working with the top half of his body in those scenes. For me, it wasn't until Series 7 that Matt Smith really reached perfection with his Doctor and by then he was only months away from leaving. Here, at the very start of his tenure, Peter Capaldi knows exactly how the Doctor should operate. It seems so easy to complement an actor's performance as the Doctor that by now it must seem like an empty comment, but I seriously think he's among the best actors we've ever had in the role.

Speaking of Davros' chair, this episode was full of fantastic moments, most of which helped to further the serials' message about friends within enemies and enemies within friends. The Doctor in Davros' chair, Clara in a Dalek's casing, Davros opening his eyes and laughing, and of course every moment that Michelle Gomez was on screen is just utterly captivating to watch. This episode was a great mix of quiet character-driven moments, like the Davros and the Doctor's long conversations about morality, and big action set pieces, like Missy murdering a Dalek ("I'm a Time Lady, it's our golf."). Some elements did seem forced into script for no reason other than setting up the series arc (that whole prophecy business about hybrids came out of nowhere and I'm not entirely sure what any of it was about) and there's a lot of fanwank for no good reason (it turns out there's literally no explanation for why all the different flavours of Dalek are all together in one place) but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't having great fun watching it. It's become a cliché to describe The Magician's Apprentice/The Witch's Familiar as being a series opener that feels like a finale, but it honestly is true. There's so much more I wish they'd done with this premise (the brief exchange between Davros and Missy at the very end only served to highlight that they'd totally wasted the opportunity to have these two iconic villains interact more) but then again what we did get was excellent, especially it terms of lore. For example, we now know why the Dalek in The Big Bang was able to beg for Mercy from River Song. We also now know to a certain extent why the Doctor always survives. I know a lot of people hated the resolution to the cliffhanger, and I'll agree that it is a cop out, but it's an entertaining and well put together cop out (although I'm sure the brief appearances of Tom Baker and William Hartnell were intended to distract from how much of a cop out it really is). We all knew that at the very least Missy would've survived because she's a long-running character who's been with the show since the early 1970s, so it isn't that big of a shock that both she and Clara walk away unharmed, and I'm satisfied with the explanation.

On the subject of Missy, I already can't wait for her next appearance. John Simm was good, but he never had me anticipating the character's return as much as Michelle Gomez does. Like the episode in general, she can go from being absolutely bonkers and whimsical one minute to being restrained and sinister the next. A particular highlight for me is the very end, when she's trying to make the Doctor exterminate a Dalek with Clara inside. Just when you thought the character had softened up too much and turned good, she does something to remind you why she and the Doctor could never really be best friends. She may have a more pronounced sense of humour than Masters of the past, but Missy is still fundamentally the same character, and I love it when that flashes through. In the same way Capaldi's portrayal contains brief traces of Tom Baker or Jon Pertwee or David Tennant, Gomez is still fully recognisable as the John Simm character while also featuring elements of Delgado and Ainley. The result is a Doctor/Master duo that feels like it has way more history behind it than Tennant and Simm ever did. The rivalry between the two Time Lords hasn't been this strong since the classic series. Missy is just so much fun to watch and I hope she shows up in the Series 9 finale.

In the name of 'balance', I suppose I should provide a few paragraphs of negativity, something I feel the need to do in every glowing review I write. The survival of the TARDIS at the very end of the episode didn't make much sense. This basically ensures that TARDISes are completely indestructible. And yes, we sort of knew that before, but from now there's absolutely no question. Also, I'm not so keen on the sonic shades. The decision to take the screwdriver away is certainly a bold one as it's not only a vital part of the show's 21st century image but its also got huge marketing potential. However, the screwdriver hasn't really been taken away, it's just been replaced by another gadget that does exactly the same thing. So what's the point? Maybe in a few episodes time I'll think they're the coolest thing ever, but I'm just not feeling it right now. I'd rather he didn't have a sonic at all if we're making such a big deal about him not having a screwdriver-shaped one. I also feel like Davros should have definitively died in this story but who am I kidding, even if they did kill him off a future showrunner would just bring him back in another seven or eight years anyway. Davros is a rare breed of recurring villain in that he could meaningfully be described as the Doctor's nemesis and yet he's only appeared in seven televised stories over the show's 52-year history. If they did kill him off for good, it would have an impact while also being no big loss in terms of storytelling potential.

Oh, and while I'm having a moan, the very last shot of the story pisses me off so much. We have the Doctor holding an exterminator gun walking away hand in hand with Davros holding the sonic screwdriver...BUT WE CAN'T SEE THE SCREWDRIVER! If the kid had just lowered his arm so we could have seen it, it would have been a perfect visual summary of the story's entire theme and would have been such a memorable image. It was so frustrating to see the ending come so close to perfection. Incidentally, wee Davros has made me slightly reconsider my general uneasiness while watching child actors, because unlike most of them that have appeared in Who, this kid was actually fairly capable and he clearly knew what he was doing. He made some very intelligent choices in his performance, like reacting to the Doctor abandoning him with a sense of betrayal and hatred rather than sadness, planting the seeds for what will eventually become a supervillain. When talking about child actors, I must stress that I don't blame them for dodgy decisions or things I don't like, like not having the screwdriver in the last shot. Obviously that's a huge nitpick and I understand that. It's a small annoyance in the grand scheme of things but it was still an annoyance. If anything, that should be a sign of how good this episode is that I have to turn to such small things to find criticisms.

Moving back to the good stuff, here's a trivia quiz for you: do you know which modern Who staple didn't appear and wasn't mentioned at all in this episode? Planet Earth. Yes, for the first time is so, so long, we have an episode that makes no reference whatsoever to Earth. It's such a relief to finally be out in the depths of space on a proper alien planet. Not just a green screen, not just a single corridor relit and shot from a bunch of different angles, but a full-on fully realised planet. There were lots of CGI establishing shots and corridors as per usual, but we also saw many interior and exterior locations from around the Dalek city like the cliffs and the sewers. Not only that, but the windows in the building gave a great feeling of continuity between these locations as we could see the surrounding cliffs from the main Dalek control room. It was a simple effect but it really helped to unify Skaro into one coherent location, and I just wish they would do this all the time. The Witch's Familiar is the first episode in a very long time to use the TARDIS to its full potential and actually take us somewhere that is in no way related to Earth. In fact, the only human in this entire episode is Clara. So, all in all, Series 9 is off to a great start.

Thoughts on the Future

***** This section discusses some really big spoilers. And I don't just mean 'spoilers', I mean potential 'ruiners'. You have been warned. *****

So far, so good. The first two episodes of Series 9 were worth the wait. Right now, I have a lot of thoughts and opinions about where the show is headed so I thought it would be good to document them now before anything else happens. First off I suppose I should go through each of the upcoming episodes in turn. Toby Whithouse's two-part adventure is probably the story I'm least anticipating, not because I think it'll be bad but because compared with what's coming up I think it'll be merely decent. Toby Whithouse, as much as he's praised for being future showrunner material, is yet to really impress me, and given that Episodes 3 and 4 are in the unfortunate position of following up Episodes 1 and 2, I don't think he's going to blow me away. I'm expecting a perfectly competent adventure that'll showcase the Doctor and Clara's new dynamic but won't make huge waves. I really hope I'll be surprised.

Episodes 5 and 6 is where the REALLY good shit starts. Written by both Steven Moffat and Jamie Mathieson, I'm expecting Episode 5 to be one of this year's highlights, not only because it introduces Maisie Williams' character, but also because, according to the Radio Times, this is the episode where the Doctor remembers where he's seen his face before. Ever since the issue of the Doctor's new face was referenced in Deep Breath, I've been excited to see how the big reveal would play out, but given that Episode 6 doesn't take place in Pompeii, I'm worried that the Doctor isn't going to follow up on it at all. Personally, I'd love it if the reasoning behind his new face was in some way connected to Gallifrey, mainly because I really want Series 9 to make some major advancements in that storyline. Given that the return of the Time Lords was discussed in The Witch's Familiar, it makes me think that Moffat is planning for Gallifrey to be the main focus of this run. Other than that, these two episodes look like they're going to be a lot of fun. The historical Earth settings are both fairly unique in terms of what we've seen from Who before and the new monsters look fantastic. Another hope I have for Series 9 is that it'll introduce some new recurring villains, and these big metal fridge creatures look like they have potential.

Episodes 7 and 8: Peter Harness does UNIT vs. the Zygons. I already love it.

Next up is a weird experimental trilogy to take us into the Series 9 finale. Episode 9, Sleep No More, is a Gatiss script done in the style of a found-footage movie. Current rumours state that it involves the Weeping Angels, which might be fun. Personally, I'm really worried that this episode is going to be too much of a gimmick, full of jump-scares and shaky-cam. Little is known about Episode 10, Face the Raven, except that Rigsy from Flatline is in it. I like the fact that the Twelfth Doctor era already has its own recurring elements, like Missy, UNIT, and now Rigsy: Capaldi's answer to Craig Owens. He was great last year, so hopefully he'll be just as good here. Episode 11, Heaven Sent, is by Moffat and apparently Peter Capaldi is the only actor in the entire episode. As long as he has something interesting to get on with for 45 minutes instead of just talking to himself, I'm sure it'll be entertaining. One of the first things we learned about Series 9 was that Episode 11 would end with a massive mind-blowing cliffhanger, and right now I'm struggling to think what it could even be. Hopefully nothing leaks between now and then. As for the finale, we know literally nothing about it at this stage. As I said above, I really hope Missy is in it.

Then comes the 2015 Christmas Special, which I'm really looking forward to given that it sees the return of River Song after her long absence. I love her character, both in terms of her personality and her story premise of constantly meeting the Doctor in the wrong order. Every episode she appears in adds a new level of meaning to her death in Forest of the Dead, and I love the implication that when we first met her in Series 4, she'd already met the next two Doctors. My only real issue with her character is that she only had two appearances after her wedding, so we never actually got to see her relationship with the Doctor grow naturally over time. The Doctor jumped from not knowing who she was to being madly in love with her in the space of a few episodes. However, now that we know that she's coming back this Christmas, it means that her story isn't truly over yet and we might still see more glimpses into her married life with the Doctor. I'm not expecting her to have many post-Matt Smith appearances so this might be the only time we get to see Alex Kingston and Peter Capaldi working together on the show. I hope they make the most of having these two in the same episode while they can.

But as much as I am looking forward to the Christmas Special this year, I'm also terrified, because I've heard a rumour about what's going to happen. Obviously take this with a huge pile of salt, but apparently the Christmas Special is a multi-Doctor story in which the Twelfth Doctor meets the future Thirteenth Doctor, rumoured to be played by Richard Madden from Game of Thrones. Now, I love multi-Doctor stories, and I ADORE the idea of a multi-Doctor story from a past Doctor's perspective where we get to see a future incarnation. So why am I so worried about this rumour coming true? Because if it does come true, everyone is going to be waiting for Richard Madden to take over, and I'm worried that it'll pressure Peter Capaldi to leave. If this multi-Doctor story happens and Capaldi goes on to play the part for a further three years, it'd be excellent, but I suspect if they've cast the Thirteenth Doctor already it'll be because they want him to start right away before Richard Madden or whoever it is gets caught up with other acting roles. In all honesty, I'd feel a lot safer if the premise was just "What if the Twelfth Doctor met River Song?" rather than "What if the Twelfth Doctor met River Song AND the future Doctor?!" It'd make Capaldi's days in the role seem numbered and also distract from the Doctor/River dynamic in what could be River Song's final appearance ever. Still, I remain hopeful that it'll at least be fun to watch. As always, time will tell.