2nd Opinion, Part 2: “Revolution of the Daleks” – A Mixed Bag
Gustaff’s take on the New Year’s special.
“Revolution of the Daleks” is our first look at 2021 and what the future of Doctor Who holds. We have John Barrowman back, a couple of new Daleks, some old ones, the return of everyone’s “favourite” Donald Trump stand-in, and of course, Jodie Whitaker, who we last saw was rotting in space jail.
This episode is a mixed bag for me. It’s still miles ahead of “The Timeless Children” though. Don’t worry, I have already put some money in the swear jar, but this episode seems to contain as many things I didn’t like as things I did. The only real question is whether the good stuff is good enough to not make me think about all the bad stuff. I would say, for the most part, the episode succeeds.
I particularly enjoyed the Yaz and Jack pairing. Their conversation about travelling with the Doctor and being left behind invokes memories of “The Parting of Ways”, as well as “School Reunion” and “Utopia”. Jack is the perfect companion to lay down the law for Yaz.
The story had a good pace with all the characters, save Graham, receiving enough screen time. More than that, they actually received something to do. The last couple of episodes have tried really hard to push Yaz to the front of the group. I confess I found her laughable throughout this episode. As an alleged police officer, she doesn’t have a commanding presence, she doesn’t know how to approach or interrogate a suspect, she doesn’t carry a weapon on her, just in case. And while it looks good for the viewers, there clearly isn’t enough information on the Doctor’s whereabouts to warrant a conspiracy theory wall.
It’s also great to have Jack back again and even better to see him actually interacting with the Doctor. It’s something we should have got last season, but I really enjoyed his presence here. I love the idea that the two are such good friends that Jack would dedicate almost two decades of his life just so he can free her. Their banter together is fun to watch and leaves you with goose bumps.
On the flip side, I am extremely disappointed that the Doctor couldn’t escape from Judoon Supermax by herself. It really highlights just how incompetent this incarnation is. The Eleventh Doctor managed to escape from the Pandorica, a custom-built prison designed by his rogue’s gallery, in less than five minutes. The Sixth Doctor, after being imprisoned by Peri for ten years, willingly stayed incarcerated, even though he demonstrated his ability to escape numerous times. Likewise, the Eighth Doctor revealed that despite being imprisoned for six years, he chose to stay despite finding a way to free himself on day one. To see the Doctor need someone else to rescue her despite having a long history of escapology under her belt is upsetting. It’s also just as bad seeing that she has to mark her incarceration time despite the fact the Doctor has shown countless times to have an ideal memory.
I appreciate this episode not leaning so far into politics as the Chibnall era is known for. Robertson likewise is more tolerable even though his motives, while fuelled by power and greed, would ultimately result in a plus for humanity. He’s just like every other politician out there, doing whatever he can to win our votes. His complete heel turn near the end also felt in character given what we’ve seen so far, even if it was pretty nonsensical.
Speaking of nonsensical, this episode features quite a bit of that. Why does the Doctor bring Robertson to Osaka in the first place? Is it to set up more artificial conflict? I think it’s to set up more artificial conflict. While I appreciate Chibnall sticking to the new UV light rejuvenation rules he created for the Daleks last year, I am still waiting for an explanation on how UV light equals pinpoint teleportation in Dalek mutants. Perhaps the biggest WTF moment comes from the Doctor deciding to call in more Daleks to take care of the new clone Daleks. This is such a dumb, dangerous and irresponsible idea and clearly only exists, so we can have a Civil War moment between the two factions…which is also resolved off-screen, I should add. It’s so bad and out of character that this idea is in a foot race with the Doctor’s plan to strand the Master in her favourite planet’s past for 77 years UNSUPERVISED! What’s worse is the fact that this is literally the first idea the Doctor comes up with in the episode. She doesn’t even brainstorm something else first!
I will give credit where it is due though. The Doctor using the second TARDIS to lure the Daleks into a trap before destroying them is utter genius. It relies on me having another WTF moment at another boneheaded plan, but one that is right up the Doctor’s alley in brilliance. Not only that, but successfully getting rid of the second TARDIS closes down any potential plot holes/easy to fix problems Doctor Who might come across in future stories.
An issue that constantly plagued me during my sitting, and also ties into a major problem I had with Series 12, is the lack of originality. “Revolution of the Daleks” is essentially the 2021 version of “Victory of the Daleks”, with bits of “Power of the Daleks” and “Blood of the Daleks”. The only problem is this kind of story should be impossible in 2021 because the entire planet should already know about the Daleks, thanks to the events of “Doomsday”. It’s made more erroneous when you remember Rose gets a shout-out, as well as her fate which happened in the aforementioned episode. The story is asking me to make an extraordinary leap in suspension of disbelief and have me pretend that the internet didn’t exist in 2007, that nobody in the government, media, the general public or any ex/current Torchwood, Forge, Counter-Measures or UNIT personnel recognized the Daleks on television and that even if they did, nobody did ANYTHING about it? Doctor Who is magic and all, but the magician regenerated at the end of Series 10, folks.
Due to the pandemic still running rampant, it seems as though “Revolution of the Daleks” might be our only episode for this year. Overall it’s an alright episode with enough good bits to balance out the bad ones. Such a shame to be outshone by Big Finish (again) announcing David Tennant guest starring as the Tenth Doctor in Torchwood alongside John Barrowman’s Jack Harkness next year. Ball’s in your court, Chibs!
