The Doctor just saw his best friend and associate Clara vaporized right before his eyes by the Daleks. Missy is also a casualty as well, but appearances can be deceiving. We find Clara outside the Dalek’s facility hanging from a tree where Missy is sitting casually on a rock sharpening a stick. Clara, still hanging is baffled as to how they escaped from the Daleks. With her smug and witty charm, Missy tries to explain that she used some of the Doctor’s ancient hidden tricks of escaping to get them out of the mess they were in. Now she tells Clara that they need to go and save the Doctor In order to do that they must trek through the underbelly of the Dalek Headquarters. Normally that doesn’t seem such a bad idea, but this is Skaro, home of the Daleks. Missy tells her that remnants of the old Daleks still linger within the tunnels and they are not happy being discarded like that. She uses Clara as bait to lure one of the Daleks, kill it in order to use its outer shell to infiltrate the headquarters and save the Doctor. To make matters worse, Missy convinces her to get into the Dalek shell and operate it like its alive. This brings back memories of when we first her in “Asylum of the Daleks”. It was Matt Smith’s Doctor first encounter with Clara where we ultimately discover that she had been transformed into a Dalek, but unaware of it until the end. Now she is going back into one voluntarily to help save her friend. It’s rather comical watching these two ladies work together. Missy is crazy, psychotic, but her whimsical attitude makes you want to love her. Clara is a straight shooter, all serious, and very gullible when it comes to trusting her.
While Clara and Missy come up with a strategy to rescue the Doctor. Davros is starting to get into the Doctor’s head. Davros tempts the Doctor with ultimate power over the Daleks. Because he is dying, Davros thinks that the Doctor has the opportunity to make a decision on whether to use this power to destroy his archenemy or to control them. He convinces Davros to give up his chair and roll down toward the main hall where the Dalek Supreme is located. His intention is to threaten it to divulge the whereabouts of Clara Oswald. He is convinced that Clara is alive and they are holding her prisoner. His rage and determination is pretty evident when he confronts his enemy. But Davros is one step ahead of him when he is recaptured by his henchman, Colony Sarf. Back in the infirmary, Davros tries to plead to the Doctor’s compassionate side and ask him for one last request. For the first time, he opens his eyes and looks upon his rival. The Doctor is starting to believe that he is really dying, so he tries to help him. “Compassion will be your undoing”, Davros said earlier, and that is exactly what happened when he exploited him. By giving up some of his regeneration energy, Davros is able to heal himself, strengthen the Dalek’s power, and seriously weaken the Doctor. But he turned the tables on Davros by informing him that by siphoning his regeneration power he not only healed himself but reawakened all the Daleks, both alive and the discarded. The planet of Skaro is literally bursting apart with millions of Daleks waking up. Missy and Clara find the Doctor, but he is taken aback with the Dalek standing in front of him. Missy explains that this is the Dalek that killed Clara and must be destroyed. Clara pleads within the Dalek that it is really her, but all the Doctor hears is a Dalek voice. But then he heard a word that he never thought he would hear from his enemy….”MERCY”. Knowing that something is not right with this one, he commands it to open its shell. He is relieved that Clara is alive, and threatens Missy to run. She does so only to be cornered by several Daleks.
Clara and the Doctor watches the Dalek facility being destroyed from a distance. He is still confused as to how a Dalek would understand the concept of mercy because it was never programmed in its language. He finally understood what he had to do. He goes back to the time where he left the younger Davros alone in the hand field. He uses a Dalek weapon to make a safe passage for Davros to escape. He knows that a single act of compassion or mercy can make huge difference in a person’s life. He now knows that he was the one who introduced the term “mercy” to someone who will one day be his nemesis.
His past caught up to him. He no longer has the sonic screwdriver but sonic shades. Missy came back and his old enemy resurfaces to battle him once more. This is a different Doctor from last season, and I like this one. He seems to be having more fun. Can’t wait until the next episode.
