WATCH ALONG | DOCTOR WHO | 9x2 | The Witch's Familiar
Added 2023-06-30 14:04:01 +0000 UTCA Few Notes:
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*****
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Comments
I really like this story. I love the scene with the Doctor playing guitar at the beginning. Overall it's a very fun episode. Missy is great. Clara I started to like more. The only complaint I have is how in part one Clara is made to seem more clever then Kate & Unit. Anyway still a 4/5 and I rank it 12/140.
Jade Ellis
2023-07-02 21:33:46 +0000 UTCThat exchange is one of my favourite Twelve moments too. I tend to prefer the Doctor's philosophy coming across in quiet moments rather than big bombastic speeches and this is a lovely example.
Lois Lane
2023-07-02 12:31:37 +0000 UTCThis story is full of fan service, which I think was a major goal, but you raised a lot of good points about the plot. It was pretty incoherent. I mean, the Doctor magicked up a cuppa with no explanation or afterthought, just to make a cheap joke (that wasn't even funny). Maybe Moffat leaned in a bit too hard to the Doctor-as-Magician trope.
David Blau
2023-07-01 20:08:54 +0000 UTCMe and you are on the same page about Missy. I'd literally watch her in every single episode and enjoy every moment of it. The "The Doctor gave it to me when my daughter-" cut off was so mean. I JUST WANT TO KNOW MORE!!!!! I did really love the scenes between Davros and Twelve, too. "Compassion, then." "Always." "It grows strong and fierce in you like a cancer." "I hope so." "It will kill you in the end." "I wouldn't die of anything else." is one of the best exchanges about the Doctor's philosophy I think. And I agree that the Doctor really feels different this season. He's grown so much since his first appearance. I have no idea what the ending means for the timeline and I've seen this two parter approximately 45853 times, so. I wouldn't worry too much about it :)
Otso Casey-Stewart
2023-07-01 03:13:00 +0000 UTCLOVE this two part story, maybe my favourite series opener of New Who. It's close with The Eleventh Hour. But I just love how epic this story is and how many heartfelt moments are in it. It's definitely one that gets better on each rewatch for me. The moments between The Doctor and Clara are everything. In part 1 when this happened: Clara: "How did you see me?" The Doctor: "When do I not see you?" Clara: "What? One face in all that crowd?" Doctor: "There was a crowd too?" Oh I get chills every time. I'm sorry but that's one of the most romantic things I've ever heard on this show. And then the way he grabbed her and hugged her was EVERYTHING! That's the first time he'd done that. It's like during series 8 we saw him warm up to the touching thing with Clara. Like in Last Christmas he said he'd only hold Clara's hand and then he accepted and let go when she hugged him in the sleigh. I think that nearly losing her a few times made him realize just how much he doesn't want to let her go. And that's also shown in this episode when he calls her "my Clara" again and when he was ready to kill all the Daleks if she wasn't returned safe and well to him. He loves her SO much. The most interesting thing about Clara and The Doctor's relationship for me is that this is the first time we've seen The Doctor be more in love with someone than they are with him. So far we've seen companions be in love with The Doctor while he doesn't reciprocate and we've seen mutal love like with Rose and River. But with Clara it doesn't feel the same, she's definitely in love with him but she still loves Danny too. Whereas The Doctor is so crazy about Clara that he'd do anything for her, to the point of him becoming dangerous. It's like Missy said at the end of series 8 "you'd go to hell if she asked you" and he would. And that's fascinating to me. The Doctor and Clara have a completely unique dynamic and I just love them to bits. 😍 As for the rest of the story. I totally agree with you about Missy, she's insane but the best lol. Her dynamic with Clara was brilliant and she cracks me up. Definitely my favourite version of The Master at this point. She's manic but there's still a calculated logic behind it. 👌 And I also almost fell for Davros' trick. It really did seem like he was actually dying but in the back of my mind I was still waiting for it to be a trap lol. But what I didn't expect was The Doctor tricking Davros back. Making the sewers come alive was genius! And the sonic sunglasses are AWESOME, so cool. I love those. 😂 I can't wait for next weeks episodes, they're in my top 20 of the show. Can't wait to see what you think. 😊
Siobhan Linehan
2023-07-01 00:55:19 +0000 UTCIm right there with you. Really not a fan of this story more so for how it handles the Daleks.
TheBoyRyan
2023-06-30 16:52:06 +0000 UTCThe performances of Peter Capaldi & Julian Bleach (Davros) was amazing this episode.
Tommy
2023-06-30 15:51:08 +0000 UTCThe whole premise that by saving Davros the Doctor taught him mercy is also BS. When did we ever see Davros show any mercy? The Doctor’s shock at Clara being able to make the Dalek tank say "mercy" also feels off because we literally see a Dalek beg River Song for mercy in “The Big Bang”. The moment Davros opens his eyes also makes no sense. It’s trying to be all emotional and touching, but it contradicts Davros’ backstory of being disfigured during the Kaled/Thal war. I mean, think about it. If Davros has his real eyes, why has he also got an artificial one? The idiotic retcon that the Daleks’ battle tank prevents the Dalek mutants from expressing any emotion other than hate completely contradicts the concept of the Daleks. The mutants themselves were genetically engineered by Davros to feel no emotion except hate. The Daleks are meant to be an allegory for Nazis. This retcon totally undermines that. Worse still, this alteration also makes the Daleks way too similar to the Cybermen (with the emotional inhibitors serving pretty much the same purpose). The only reason why this retcon was put in place was to have that moment at the end with Missy trying to trick the Doctor into killing Clara, who was helpless inside of the Dalek tank, which is something else Moffat is stealing from one of his previous stories. “Asylum of the Daleks” in case you forgot. Those tanks are pretty useless too if they’re overrun by those Dalek mutants coming out of the sewers. Speaking of which, the whole climax makes Davros look really dumb. He’s trying to harness the Doctor’s regeneration energy for the Daleks for a reason we’re never told about. It’s certainly not to make them immortal because they already are. That’s why the sewers exist! Anyway, if Davros wanted to do this, why in God’s name would he also connect the sewers to his life force?! It makes no sense. The Daleks also do nothing in this story. They just stand (or whatever the correct word is for Daleks) around in that room for the entire story. I also find the way the twelfth Doctor is characterised in this story very odd. I already mentioned him giving up all hope, but he’s also become really silly out of the blue. When did that happen? Capaldi's been turned into Matt Smith 2.0 and it makes no sense whatsoever. The moment he rode in on the tank, playing electric guitar is horrible. It's been said that's the moment hundreds of thousands of people quit watching Doctor Who. The evidence is certainly there in the ratings.... Just a really bad story all around.
Azmat Mahmood
2023-06-30 14:16:55 +0000 UTCI…I really don’t like this story. First of all, this whole thing with the Doctor supposedly “dying” is played out. Moffat had already done this multiple times in the past. At the start of series 6, the end of series 7 and now here. It’s just a case of boy who cried wolf at this point. Also, why did the Doctor just assume he was dying? He’s summoned by Davros and all of a sudden the Doctor gives up all hope and thinks he’s going to die? Seems very off to me. It’s also very odd that he would give Missy of all people his confession dial. I know they have a “frenemy” sort of dynamic, but still. Speaking of Missy, why was she in this story? She did nothing, served no plot purpose. You have the MASTER and DAVROS in the same story and you do nothing with that. Massive missed opportunity. It's also very odd that Missy and Clara are paired together and they seem relatively fine with each other and have "witty" banter, considering Missy was responsible for Danny's death just two stories ago.... The Doctor questioning his morality and whether or not he’s a “good man” is also really tired because we just spent the entirety of last series doing that very same character arc. Was that all pointless? With that being said, the scenes between Davros and the Doctor are great. It’s just a shame that it’s all ruined by the stupid "it was a trap all along" twist (which makes all of those great Doctor/Davros scenes meaningless). Even worse is the idea that the Doctor knew Davros was pretending all along too (making those scenes even more redundant because they were both lying and didn't mean a single word they were saying), but he just went along with it. Moffat might think this is clever writing, but all he’s doing is undermining his own work. Speaking of morality issues, this whole story is playing off a question (“if someone who knew the future pointed out a child to you and told you that that child would grow up totally evil, to be a ruthless dictator who would destroy millions of lives, could you then kill that child"?) the Doctor asks himself in “Genesis of the Daleks”. The reason why that was so compelling in Genesis is because the writers made it clear there was no wrong or right answer. That’s why I have an issue with how clean cut the issue is presented here. Moffat completely misses the mark on that one.
Azmat Mahmood
2023-06-30 14:14:31 +0000 UTCThis is one of my favorite season openers. Been looking forward all month to watching along with you 🙂
Michael T
2023-06-30 14:06:27 +0000 UTC
