Doctor Who: Revolution of the Daleks Review

DW "Revolution of the Daleks"

Fascism is in the Daleks' DNA, in-universe and out. While originally more of a Godzilla-esque warning of atomic mutation, occupation imagery in "The Dalek Invasion of Earth" and explicit Nazi callbacks in "Genesis of the Daleks" cemented an allegorical connection to the Third Reich. But in a show as long-running as Doctor Who, the villains change with the times. In "Revolution of the Daleks", the title pepper pots are recast as tools of a militarized police. It's an ingenious update of the concept for modern concerns, albeit one the episode introduces like a stick of dynamite then discards for a generic theme of "security". But sometimes one idea is all you need to make an impression, especially when the episode around it is mostly concerned with delivering a solid romp. Nothing "revolutionary", but the episode succeeds as ideal New Year's Day viewing.

The Doctor is still in a Shadow Proclamation prison for crimes committed by her past incarnations, that list of past lives having grown significantly by the revelations in "The Timeless Children". The Doctor must reconcile her sense of self, with help from a jailbreak staged by Captain Jack Harkness, and a pep talk from Ryan. Of course, the conclusion is inevitable. Just as the Twelfth Doctor wondered for a whole season if he was a good man and ended up reaffirming his Doctorishness with humility, the Thirteenth finds her definition of simply being the Doctor who saves the day, by opposition to her oldest enemy.

That enemy have a bit of a twist for most of the episode. The Daleks' sleek, black/silver/red design is human-made, empty of all but vestiges of mutant DNA. Chris Noth's Jack Robertson (returning from "Arachnids in the UK") and Harriet Walter's Prime Minister Jo Patterson chortle evil to each other in a conspiracy to use Dalek casings for crowd control. It's another "Power of the Daleks"/"Victory of the Daleks" situation, hapless humans thinking they can control something beyond their understanding. Eventually, secretly made Dalek mutants take over the casings and all hell breaks loose. The episode is a sequel to "Resolution", and continues the concept of the mutants controlling humans like puppets; one mutant goes all face-hugger on Captain Jack, also recalling the dream crabs from "Last Christmas".

Captain Jack is firmly in his "cheesy" Doctor Who characterization, late of the torture he underwent in Torchwood. He's essentially a fourth companion in the episode, joining Yaz, who maybe craves and needs TARDIS companionship a little too much, and the departing Ryan and Graham. Ryan says he needs to look out for his planet, conjuring memories of "Can You Hear Me?", when his insecurity at abandoning his human friends was also tied to the threat of climate change. But it turns out Ryan means it in more of a fantastical Doctor Who way, so he and Graham are bestowed psychic paper by the Doctor to help with adventuring. That's a first. But do they have the money to jet around the globe, righting wrongs?

The episode provides composer Segun Akinola plenty of time to trot out his Dalek motif from "Resolution". Unlike Murray Gold's choral apocalypse, it's a slightly more traditional action movie villain theme. Breaking out of prison fairly early, the Doctor thankfully has plenty of time to bop around and be the hero. Jack Robertson is a bit of a pleasant surprise; because he's such a caricature, it's easy for the calibration of his role to go awry. Granted, he has his cartoony moments, but at least there are no explicit Trump jokes this time around. "Revolution of the Daleks" is a straight-ahead Doctor Who adventure, an effective fastball that finds its target. 7/10.

Stray observations:

- Captain Jack (off-screen) checks in Gwen Cooper and her kid. Nice to see some Torchwood continuity still in the picture.

- The Shadow Proclamation prison is a bit of an alien menagerie. There's a Pting ("The Tsuranga Conundrum"). And aliens appearing for the first time in the Thirteenth Doctor era (Ood, Sycorax, Weeping Angel, Silent). The Silence haven't appeared since "The Time of the Doctor", seven years ago. But then again, you wouldn't remember them even if they did.