Matt Smith came fully into his own version of the Doctor last season. Would this continue or would Doctor Who start feeling old and worn out. This is the 50th anniversary of Doctor Who- is there any stories left to tell?
Plot:
(Spoilers- Do not read unless you have seen the episode:Asylum of the Daleks)
The Doctor, Rory, and Amy are kidnapped by Daleks. The Ponds are on the verge of a divorce when they are taken. The Daleks use a new technology to make human into sleeper agents for the Daleks. Think Cylon but with Eyestalk in the forehead and a death ray in the hand.
The Doctor and his companions were brought to the Parliament of the Daleks. They did not bring back the Doctor and the Ponds to kill them. The Prime Minister of the Daleks insist that the Doctor “Save the Daleks”. The rest of the Daleks join in on the chant “Save the Daleks”.
The Parliament of the Daleks is hovering outside the Asylum of the Daleks. The Asylum is a prison planet where rogue Daleks are sent when they can’t be controlled by the Prime Minister. A ship of humans crashed into the Asylum and it has disrupted it and may be critically damaged. The Daleks are hearing Beethoven music coming the planet being broadcast by a human.
The Daleks are afraid that the crazy rogue Daleks might find a way to escape. The Daleks can’t destroy the planet because of the forcefield on the planet side. Their only hope is to send the Doctor and the Ponds down to the planet to prevent the escape and to lower the force field. There is no chance for escape for the Doctor and his friends without agreeing to go to the planet. They are given a bracelet to help prevent the nano field on the planet from converting them into Dalek androids.
The Doctor connects up with Oswin, the human on the planet. Oswin Oswald has locked herself in a room and spends her time cooking souffles and listening to Beethoven. She is a genius and has hacked the Daleks systems. The Doctor has questions like where she is getting the eggs and milk and how she is able to hack the most superior technology known.
Oswin helps the group out more than once. She hacks the memory banks of some of the Daleks on the planet to remove their memories of the Doctor. She wants the Doctor to rescue her and take her with him in exchange for Oswin dropping the force field and activating the teleporter.
The Doctor goes to find Oswin. He discovers that she is a fully converted Dalek. Because of her brilliance, they fully converted her to one of them. She doesn’t realize that she has been changed and has been hallucinating. As a last ditch effort to save her humanity, she insists that she lower the shield and activate the teleporter.
The planet is blown apart but the Doctor and the Ponds escape back to the ship. The Doctor is able to teleport them directly into the Tardis. The Doctor pops out of the Tardis to gloat to the Daleks but they don’t remember who he is (thanks to Oswin) and question his identity with “Doctor…Who?” After the Doctor dropped off the Ponds with a renewed relationship, he danced around the Tardis laughing and chanting “Doctor Who!”
What I Liked:
Oswin Oswald, the converted Dalek on the planet, was played by Jenna-Louise Coleman. Jenna will be portraying the new companion, Clara Oswin, after the Christmas episode. There appears to be some connection with the characters Oswin Oswald and Clara Oswin. It will be fun to watch how this plays out.
I completely love the Dalek episodes. Their character was developed further in this episode. We saw the Parliament of the Daleks. The idea that the Daleks have a representative form of government instead of a dictatorship is fascinating. They have Daleks go rouge and they fear them. They can’t easily kill their own because they admire the hate in their fellow Daleks’ hearts.
The Doctor demonstrated further complication of his character. He demonstrated no desire to help Oswin even when he thought she might be human. He took great joy flaunting his victory over Daleks.
I enjoyed that the Ponds were on the verge of divorce. By the Doctor coming back into their lives, their messy relationship became tossed up in the air again. This lead the Ponds to finding their love for each other again. I love the scene where Rory tells Amy that he has always loved her more. She reveals to him that she knows how much Rory desires children and she is no longer able to give him children. She loved him so much that she let him go. Their love kept Amy from transforming into a Dalek after her bracelet of protection was broken. This led to their renewed relationship.
What I Didn’t Liked:
This episode was fantastic. There was no flow other than River Song was left out of the episode.
Review:
This episode hit on all cylinders. This was another great season opener. Last year opened with a great and confusing episode. This one was just pure awesome fun.
My Grade: A
