Doctor Who 8x2 Into the Dalek

HELLO AGAIN YOU The opening scene with the gun is so well played out. Tapping on the Doctor's disgust for guns and the army and specifically a scene were the Seventh Doctor speech when he talks down a sniper from shooting him. So we've had Handles the Cyberman, Rusty the Dalek... I love Steven Moffat exploring the enemies-can-be-allies angle. Watching Danny and Clara is lovely. I kinda wish Clara was attracted to me. Altho I'm unsure about her first answer to 'was I a good man?' Its very different to how she'd have answered 11. It is in keeping with a re-tooled Clara/Doctor dynamic going forward, which is phenomenal. Watch their magic! Capaldi's attire is in the tradition of The Third Doctor, Jon Pertwee. Very flamboyant, horror themes. Pertwee's era is my favourite of the classic Docs. There's a very stable, rich group of companions. The General Blue is played by Michael Smiley, a Northern Irish actor. He grew up about five miles outside the capital Belfast in a town called Holywood where I live now! He first became known as the bicycle courier in Simon Pegg's cult fave geek sitcom, Spaced. The role/s were based off Michael being a real-life cycling enthuiast. Last year I learned my podcast co-host worked as part of the production crew on a documentary series following Michael as he cycled around Northern Ireland. He was brimming with praise for the warmth of the man. (Our podcast is called 'I've Never Read Discworld'. Michael's name came up when we discussed fan-casting him as salesman CMOT Dibbler off the back of his performer role in that creepy memorable Black Mirror appearance)

You were right about the Doctor being told by a dalek that he is a good dalek in that first series, it's a trigger for the Doctor! Imagine your mortal enemy being like 'Actually, you'd be cool as one of us' must be horrifying to hear, so it's always a big deal when it's said. I enjoyed this episode, when you face this enemy so many times you gotta try and think of more ways of facing them so thought this was quite an interesting take!

Now that you mention the outfit (and brown bowtie) at the end, I don't know if you ever noticed that the 11th doctors attire changed between season 6 and 7. Or at the very least you never mentioned it. He took on a darker brown, less colourful look after losing Amy and Rory, as though his whimsey had died with them and he "matured" so to speak.

Would it be a spoiler to point out that Rusty will be a future Doctor? I think the 474th Doctor... PS... There is only 1 Mr. Pink and he doesn't tip. (Reservoir Dogs)

Capaldi is a very different doctor, so you can probably imagine why some people noped out at this point. Which is a shame because they missed some of the best stuff in the show.

I think the connection to "you would make a good dalek" (S01) and "you are a good dalek" (S08) is interesting considering (unbeknown to us at the time, but in context after the 50th anniversary) the Ninth Doctor had JUST regenerated after defeating the Daleks in the Time War. The Twelfth Doctor has JUST regenerated after defeating the Daleks in the Battle of Trenzalore. In the former he thought he had wiped out the Timelords, in the latter he couldn't free them. It's maybe coincidence but the Doctor did say "there's no such thing as coincidences" and "never ignore a coincidence (unless you're busy)" lol. I like to think these dark moments showcasing the Doctor's hatred are really to do with the timing of WHEN he's dealing with these solo Daleks.

I love Rusty the Dalek if only more Daleks were like him

I just wanted to say in the final act the reason why 12 says "Course you must, you have unfinished work haven't you" to Rusty's "I must go with them" & "victory is yours but it does not please you" is because 12 knows exactly what Rusty is about to do. In a series of leaks before S8, eps 1-5 (partly missing VFX mostly) & their scripts were leaked from an unsecure server in South America. In this particular episode "Into The Dalek" Rusty completes "the ultimate sanction" after calling 12 "A good Dalek" Rusty sassily rolls away to teleport to the Dalekship shouting "Death to the daleks!!" he then procedes to blow himself up taking the daleks and the ship out. Ultimately I think the connotations to Rusty being a suicide bomber was the final reason why it was cut from the episode but the leak proves it was originally filmed & it's a fascinating "What if" right? It also makes more sense why 12 spoke to Rusty in that way. The leaked episodes can be found for anyone interested at https://archive.org/details/doctor-who-2005-s-8-e-1-leaked-episodes/Doctor+Who+(2005)+S8E2+Into+the+Dalek.mp4

The twelfth doctors theme being called ‘a good man?’ Is so fitting for him.

“You would make a good Dalek” is from the Ninth Doctor’s Dalek episode, so happy you caught that! It’s a very satisfying callback. We are indeed on a very fascinating journey of self-discovery with 12 and it’s only been two episodes! In this episode we are exposed to some of his rather binary perspectives. Daleks are evil, anything else is inconceivable. And this leads to an interesting teaching moment between Clara and 12. (“No Doctor, that is not what we just learned.”) And that’s definitely new for their dynamic. (Along with: “She’s my carer. She cares, so I don’t have to.” HA.) In fact the episode itself is constructed around that novel aspect of their relationship: the Doctor, much like a student, goes to Clara, the teacher, seeking clarity/answers to a very vulnerable question — “am I a good man?” In a way that question is a fascinating extension of the last episode’s theme of a person’s “basic programming.” The Doctor is not programmed to kill, and the droid is not programmed to kill itself, yet one of them has a “flaw” in their programming and acts against their programming. Then, in this episode: soldiers. Soldier Blue. Mr. Pink. The Dalek. What’s a soldier’s basic programming? The Doctor seems to equate soldiers to mindless followers with guns. They don’t think for themselves, and that makes them dangerous. A Dalek is a soldier who was programmed to hate, and it can’t ever change. Until, as the Doctor learns, they (or at least, this Dalek) CAN. But it’s noteworthy that the Doctor does not really internalize that lesson, i.e., that one is not bound to their “basic programming.” He denies Soldier Blue an invitation into the TARDIS for the explicit reason that she’s a soldier. But what about the Doctor’s basic programming? The Dalek looks under the hood and finds hatred, and it rattles the Doctor. I love that Clara notices how much it shakes him, thinks back to his question, and does her best to reassure him.

Yep, we don't have to wait long until Twelve gets his first encounter with the Daleks. It also helps establish his character and how he's not one of the 'nicer' Doctors with how he interacts with others and is willing to be more ruthless to get the job done. A good example is when be calls Clara his carer because she cares so he doesn't have to, or sacrificing that soldier (and his attitude to the soldiers in general). With a new season comes new plot threads and you can now see that Missy and her heaven/the promised land is going to be a recurring element this season. It's good to see more of Missy because she's such fun to watch. Also, someone has already mentioned Capaldi and how you didn't seem to recognise him, and I'd like to expand on that with how he was questioning his new face in the last episode. It wasn't just a general query about his faces in general but was more specific about why he had the face of someone he'd encountered before. They do actually address that in the show eventually.

Don't know if anyone commented this on your Deep Breath reaction but prior to him being cast as 12, Peter Capaldi had been in Dr Who & played Caecilius in The Fires of Pompeii.Just a little fun fact I thought I'd share before you get inundated with that exact same comment when you upload it to youtube.