TV Review: Doctor Who Series Nine Episode Two "The Witch's Familiar"

"Anyone For Dodgems?"

The fundamental strangeness to this years' two-part opener of Doctor Who stems from the notion that it feels way too much like a series finale, something of which can't be said of any of the eight series' previous of NuWho, with the return of "arch-nemesis" Davros being one the most shocking and unexpected characters to return this early on in the series. Where "The Magician's Apprentice" essentially allowed the audience to witness the return of the Doctor this year in proper rock n' roll fashion with a heap of effective buildup and plot development, "The Witches' Familiar" takes a whole step further by delving deeper into the relationship between two contrasting couples; Missy and Clara and Davros and The Doctor, whilst continuing to play on the established riffs set years earlier of genocide and choice in the Tom Baker serial "Genesis of the Daleks". Where last years' series finale double-header of "Dark Water" and "Death In Heaven" started off brilliantly yet ultimately fizzled out by the time of its' conclusion, the start to this years' series has been a brilliant and welcome return for The Doctor, with "The Witch's Familiar" not falling behind its' predecessor at all and instead wholly surpassing it.

Within the depths of greatness present in "The Witch's Familiar" lies ultimately, a fantastic lead performance from Capaldi as The Doctor, who surely now has shrugged off the little criticism he had at the start of his tenure and has taken to his new persona with aplomb. Not only does Capaldi address both the darker and lighter sides of the Doctor better than possibly any before him, (with Ecclestone a close second) with scenes of sheer hatred towards Davros being contrasted with scenes of a much more comedic nature, particularly when Davros' mode of transport is duly repossessed, much to the audience's and the Doctor's enjoyment. Not only does Capaldi shine, but so too does the return of Julian Bleach, whose portrayal of Davros surely must rank as one of the greatest of all time in the mythology of Doctor Who, with the scene in which tears and compassion trick the Doctor into helping his evil plans being wholly majestic from start to finish. 

In terms of the overall layout for the season, the organic plot point of the Doctor's involvement in a supposed Time Lord/Dalek hybrid automatically grabbed my attention, with the reasoning for the Doctors' departure from Gallifrey perhaps being the reaction to such, a storyline that is inevitably set to be expanded upon over the course of the next couple of months or so, whilst the foreshadowing of Clara's imminent departure surely must have been played upon during the heartbreaking scene in which she attempted to stop the Doctor from killing her when inside the Dalek (a hark back to "Planet of the Daleks"), a scene in which had a range of different symbolic interpretations ranging from Clara's first appearance in "Asylum of the Daleks", to the underlying genetic makeup of the Daleks and their quest for hatred rather than compassion. "The Witch's Familiar" ultimately proved that two-part Doctor Who serials are not wholly dead and buried, setting up the series with a bang and reviving everyone's love for the most famous time-travelling madman. 

Overall Score: 9/10