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chicafrom3Alternate post title: "You looked inside me and you saw hatred. That's not victory."
But, wow, that was amazing.
So first of all, I think the second episode of any new Doctor is as or more important than the regeneration episode. Because the regeneration episode is as much considered with the fact that there is a new Doctor as who that Doctor is, so most of the latter falls to the second episode. And this did a really, really good job of exploring that question.
(Also, the best Dalek episodes are the ones that shrink the conflict down to something intimate, something small-scale, and this did an excellent job of that.)
The big questions of the episode are: Can there be such a thing as a good Dalek? Is the Doctor a good man? What, in fact, makes someone good?
(Can morality be a malfunction?)
And there's no real answers to any of those questions. Clara, I think, sums it up best with "I think you try to be, and I think that's probably the point."
And then there's also "The Doctor is not the Daleks" -- if he defines himself in opposition to them, then his sense of self is built on their continued existence, and their continued evilness, and that's pretty messed up. Clara calls him out on it when she points out that he's a little pleased that they're all going to die inside Rusty because it means he was right in his belief that all Daleks are unambiguously evil, and if all Daleks are unambiguously evil then he, as their opposition, must be unambiguously evil.
That was a convoluted sentence. I'm sorry. And I'm going to stop philosophizing now, because a) I need to let the episode sink in more, and b) I don't think I'm doing a very good job of expressing my thoughts.
The main point of this post is that I reallllly liked this episode.
Twelve is being established as fairly morally unstable, and also very concerned about that fact. He's also incredibly alien, which is always a good thing to set up for a new Doctor right away; the opening scene with Journey after Kai's death felt very much like an alien dealing with a human. ("My brother just died!" "But his sister didn't.") And right now he's dependent on Clara for direction.
You could do way worse than Clara for direction. She does her best to keep her head on straight, she calls him out when he's out of line, and she's really good at guiding people to the right conclusion. I wish she'd been my English teacher in school. She must be pretty good at it. ("I think I'd better be.")
Heavy foreshadowing with Twelve's aversion to taking on Journey as a companion because of her history as a soldier, and Danny telling Clara that he was afraid she had a rule against soldiers. ("No. Not me...") I'm so looking forward to Danny as companion.
Danny is frigging adorable, by the way. That whole bit with his banging his head against his desk because of how he blew the conversation with Clara was cuteness personified.
On a final note, I a) am already shipping Danny/Clara they are wonderful together I love them; and b) desperately need some AU fic with Journey as a companion. Please? Someone? Anyone?
But, wow, that was amazing.
So first of all, I think the second episode of any new Doctor is as or more important than the regeneration episode. Because the regeneration episode is as much considered with the fact that there is a new Doctor as who that Doctor is, so most of the latter falls to the second episode. And this did a really, really good job of exploring that question.
(Also, the best Dalek episodes are the ones that shrink the conflict down to something intimate, something small-scale, and this did an excellent job of that.)
The big questions of the episode are: Can there be such a thing as a good Dalek? Is the Doctor a good man? What, in fact, makes someone good?
(Can morality be a malfunction?)
And there's no real answers to any of those questions. Clara, I think, sums it up best with "I think you try to be, and I think that's probably the point."
And then there's also "The Doctor is not the Daleks" -- if he defines himself in opposition to them, then his sense of self is built on their continued existence, and their continued evilness, and that's pretty messed up. Clara calls him out on it when she points out that he's a little pleased that they're all going to die inside Rusty because it means he was right in his belief that all Daleks are unambiguously evil, and if all Daleks are unambiguously evil then he, as their opposition, must be unambiguously evil.
That was a convoluted sentence. I'm sorry. And I'm going to stop philosophizing now, because a) I need to let the episode sink in more, and b) I don't think I'm doing a very good job of expressing my thoughts.
The main point of this post is that I reallllly liked this episode.
Twelve is being established as fairly morally unstable, and also very concerned about that fact. He's also incredibly alien, which is always a good thing to set up for a new Doctor right away; the opening scene with Journey after Kai's death felt very much like an alien dealing with a human. ("My brother just died!" "But his sister didn't.") And right now he's dependent on Clara for direction.
You could do way worse than Clara for direction. She does her best to keep her head on straight, she calls him out when he's out of line, and she's really good at guiding people to the right conclusion. I wish she'd been my English teacher in school. She must be pretty good at it. ("I think I'd better be.")
Heavy foreshadowing with Twelve's aversion to taking on Journey as a companion because of her history as a soldier, and Danny telling Clara that he was afraid she had a rule against soldiers. ("No. Not me...") I'm so looking forward to Danny as companion.
Danny is frigging adorable, by the way. That whole bit with his banging his head against his desk because of how he blew the conversation with Clara was cuteness personified.
On a final note, I a) am already shipping Danny/Clara they are wonderful together I love them; and b) desperately need some AU fic with Journey as a companion. Please? Someone? Anyone?