~by Korama Danquah
Doctor Who Season 9, Episode 2 Recap
“The Witch’s Familiar”
Written by Steven Moffat
What Happened
In this episode Moffat does not, as I thought last week, completely erase the existence of the Daleks. Thank goodness.
We also find out early on that Clara (Jenna Coleman) and Missy (Michelle Gomez) are alive and well. Actually, Missy is well. Clara has the misfortune of being with Missy who calls them a team because “every miner needs a canary.”
The episode has a few through lines – Clara and Missy trying to get back to the Doctor, the Doc-tor and Davros talking about compassion as Davros dies, and the Doctor trying to determine whether or not Clara is alive.
Missy remains a moral enigma as she gets Clara and herself through the Dalek sewers (which are alive and comprised entirely of aging Daleks). Davros learns that Gallifrey still stands from the Doctor and confusingly congratulates him then tricks the Doctor into using his regeneration energy to power the Daleks and revive Davros. This was apparently foretold in an ancient Gallifreyan prophecy, which might have been the reason the Doctor ran away.
Fortunately the Doctor, ever clever, anticipates Davros’ plan and turns it against him. Missy then tries to trick the Doctor into killing Clara (moral enigma, am I right?), but her plan fails because Clara (who is using Dalek armor as a disguise) asks for mercy.
We close out the episode where we left off last week, with the Doctor holding a Dalek ray gun facing down a young Davros. He uses the ray gun to kill the hand mines and save Davros teaching him that it doesn’t matter if you’re a friend or foe – what is important is to always have mercy.
What Does This Mean
Well, the two part episode is over, and our next episode doesn’t seem to directly rely on the events of “The Witch’s Familiar”. The Daleks’ sewers revolting against them might mean the de-struction of all Daleks, but Moffat has sung that tune many times before and then taken it back. The Doctor says in this episode “Ah, well, I’m inconsistent”
I’m interested to see how the Doctor’s relationship with Missy plays out after she tried to con-vince him to kill Clara.
Notable Quote of the Episode
Clara: What are you doing?
Missy: Murdering a Dalek. I’m a Time Lady, it’s like our golf!
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Next week’s episode, ‘After the Lake’ is Saturday, October 3 on BBC America.
‘After the Lake’ – When an Underwater Base comes under attack, the Doctor and Clara must save the frightened crew.
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