As a spaceship hurtles through asteroids, chased by a larger ship, which is finally blown up. The pilot says sorry to her brother next to her. Then finds herself face to face with the Doctor (Peter Capaldi). He rescued her and he wants to be thanked by her, but she's not happy since he couldn't do the same for her brother and he replies well, she's alive. She asks him to take her back to her ship, Aristotle. Meanwhile, Clara (Jenna Coleman) has a productive day of her own at school. She meets new teacher, Danny Pink (Samuel Anderson) who was a soldier. He's asked questions by one boy in class, if he's shot anyone. He replies, he's one soldier who's shot other soldiers. The boy then asks if he's killed anyone who wasn't a soldier and he sheds a tear. Clara meets him and practically invites him out for a drink.
The Doctor carries coffee around and turns up to get Clara. He left her and they were meant to have coffee in Glasgow three weeks ago. He needs her help, cos apparently he's a Doctor, mistaken for a medical one and he must help the Dalek that they found in space. They're to be miniaturized and put inside of the Dalek so he can find the source of the problem and help it. The Doctor saying being made smaller was better as a movie. Referring of course to Fantastic Voyage (1967) which was about a crew of doctors/scientists placed inside the body of the man they're trying to cure. (Anyone any flashbacks to the ep of Doctor Who with the Eleventh Doctor (Matt Smith) and that miniaturized humanoids, Teselecta, Let's Kill Hitler. Cos I had one here. Think the show makes these subtle references to past stories when it's not supposed to, but kind of keeps coming back to them.)
Anyway they think that the Dalek is good since it says that Daleks are bad. Travelling to its nerve centre, cortex, there's a lot of talk about morality and whether a Dalek can become good, this one at least. They need to reach the bottom of the Dalek to see what's wrong with it and one of the token extras, ha, Ross, shoots a cable grip for them to do this. But the Doctor warns not to do that cos now they're going to be attacked, by antibodies. Ah yes, typical scene from the movie. The Doctor throws him a battery and says he can swallow this, thinking he'll be okay, but instead he's just dead. "Trust me," says the Doctor. Remember he lies, though it's not apparent he actually recalls that now or not. He was dead anyway, in a bid to justify his actions, but the Doctor wanted to see where he would end up. Coming to a chute of some sort which he tells them they must go down, otherwise be attacked by antibodies.
They end up in the Dalek's stomach, when he says that they sometimes save their food, which turns out to be humans. Another flashback moment when Doctor Eleven and Amy ended up in the bowels of the ship in The Beast Below. This Dalek has seen beauty is says, the birth of a star. Finding the source of the leak, a radiation leak, the Doctor puts it right by sealing it with his screwdriver. Again that leak looked more like that dreaded Crack they were chasing, or rather was after the Eleventh Doctor since the moment he became the Eleventh. Well it did. More deja vu.
Of course you knew that once this was done, then the Dalek would immediately change back into the menacing force that they are. This Dalek now sends word to the ship outside and goes on a rampage. There was no good Dalek and as the Doctor corrects Journey Blue (Zawe Ashton) he didn't say they were good Daleks. So after plenty of exterminating and the like, the Doctor thinks if he could reach out to the Dalek and talk with him, he can make him remember his memories and the beauty of the star it saw. Was carried away writing there calling the Dalek a 'he.' Carried away by its morality, or lack of. So if he can change this Dalek' perception of morality and convert it back to being good, then maybe he can do the same to the others.
But before that, came the slap from Clara, when the Doctor says it can, "die all you like, not my problem." Showing he's not really bothered with what's happening. Clara needs to get back to the top and asks how she can do that, well Gretchen (Laura Dos Santos) obliges and sacrifices herself in the same way, by shooting the cable grips and asks to be remembered for doing something good. Cue her ending up with Missy (Michelle Gomez) in heaven. That place does not even feel like it's heaven.
Clara managing to get back up using the cables, thinks the lights/bulbs are its memories which have gone off. Thus she tries to get them back on, so it recalls its repressed memories. In time for the Doctor to get through and make it recall seeing the birth of the star. At the same time, Rusty, as the Doctor named him (so why didn't I just use this all the while I was writing 'it', ha) also sees into the Doctor's soul, "I see beauty, I see divinity, I see hatred." Saying Daleks are bad and need to be killed. Then ends up killing its own who are on Aristotle and attacking the soldiers.
The Doctor also recalls he called himself "the Doctor, but it was just a name. Then I want to Skaro and then I met you lot and understood who I was." The Dalek calls the Doctor a Dalek too and has called off the ship's attack, giving orders for it to retreat. He must go and kill them. Journey wants to go with the Doctor but he doesn't take her. Clara returns to her closet in school and has changed her clothes for the leaving party and Danny notices she has changed her clothes.
This episode appears to be stepping back into darker territory as the Doctor acts far beyond is name and isn't really bothered with saving anyone and it's left to Clara to make sure he does this, by resorting to the use of a slap. Doctor: "what's that look for?"
Clara: "It's the look you get when I'm about to slap you."
She's the one who's done a lot of growing up and maturing over the past year and must keep him in check. Thus her response to his question at the end, "you asked me if you are a good man. And the answer is, I don't know, but I think you try to be." Reinforced by the Doctor wanting Rusty to see the good in him, which it doesn't do, but would pick up on his hatred and specifically hatred for the Daleks. With the Doctor and Rusty acting off each other, picking up on what he wants the Dalek to see in him, but he sees only the hatred, since it too has the same hatred. Only this converts into the Dalek wanting to use that hatred to kill of its own kind. Which might necessarily not turn out to be a good thing in the long run.
Getting the Dalek to recall may just be parallel to Clara also helping him to recall, just what it is he does and who he is. Doctor Twelve plays it close to the chest, not letting any emotions get in the way and is clearly a more darker Doctor in many ways. The moments of darkness that were hinted at in Eleven, which have come to the fore in Twelve. Thus needing Clara to make sure she's the voice of reason and in some ways, humanity.
As for Danny, of course the story will take time to develop with him, but Clara makes an immediate observation that she's met someone else who also has a colour for a last name and not putting it together yet, that he's also a soldier too. The Doctor not wanting Journey with him as she's a soldier. With Danny saying something similar about being an ex-soldier and how this hasn't deterred her.
Clips from the eps Dalek, The Stolen Earth, Journey's End are shown when he tries to access Rusty's memories.
Into the Dalek marked a change from the usual eps with the Daleks and focused instead on looking at what the Dalek is like from the inside and not just inside its body but also its brain, morality, memories.
Then again, in yet another flash, remember (Clara) Oswin Oswald was also inside a Dalek looking out wasn't she in series 7 Asylum of the Daleks. Seems she's forgotten that along with the writers. Who seem to be trying to get away from this series for some reason. Or am I wrong? Since she doesn't mention that at all. Perhaps she's not meant to know this just yet or delve into it.
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