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

TV Review: Doctor Who Series Nine Episode One "The Magician's Apprentice"

Enemies Reunited

After a wholly unbearable wait of almost nine and a half months, Doctor Who has finally returned to our screens with the wonderful Peter Capaldi reprising his role as the 12th (13th or 14th depending on your own POV) Doctor with trusty Jenna Coleman keeping her place as loving assistant Clara Oswald, albeit for the time being with it being confirmed that she is set to leave the programme at the end of the series. Her departure will be examined at a much later date but for now, the return of Doctor Who featured everything you could possibly desire from a programme that even in its' ninth season since its' return in 2005 is running strong and arguably, is better than ever, with the overly dark, adult tones prominent in series 8 being continued upon, with themes of genocide, child killing, and regret all resulting in "The Magician's Apprentice" being a booming, if rather eerie, return for the Doctor and his TARDIS.

When a programme such as Doctor Who has been running for longer than half a century, certain plot threads and storylines are inevitably going to either end up tangled up in knots or re-visited, something of which can be said of "The Magician's Apprentice", an episode that borrows heavily from themes first presented in Tom Baker's classic episode, "Genesis of the Daleks", a story in which the Doctor is sent back to Skaro by his fellow Time Lords in order to prevent the creation of the Daleks from ever occurring, yet instead of simply hiding from such, series nine's opening episode takes one step further from the Fourth Doctor's attempts by asking the question whether the Doctor would kill the creator of the Daleks if he met him as a child? The revelation of Davros in the opening scene in which the creepy, yet rather brilliant hand-mines are the cause of almost certain death for the young creator of the Daleks was simply excellent particularly if you, like me, refrained from spoiler-tastic Twitter feeds and journalists who stupidly revealed the return of one of the Doctor's biggest enemies before the episode's launch.

Of course, Peter Capaldi is excellent as the aging Time Lord running from the threat of Davros' hate, whilst the rather anti-climactic return of Michelle Gomez as Missy sought to highlight the rather bonkers approach she has taken to the role of the Master who even through their many battles, still remains one the Doctor's oldest friends, evident with Missy receiving the last will and testament of the Doctor, something of which was not sent to Clara, much to her distaste. If their are problems with the episode, these include the rather overlong guitar-wielding scene, and the cringe-worthy, almost wooden performance of Jemma Redgrave as UNIT Director Kate Lethbridge-Stewart, but with these being swiftly looked over, "The Magician's Apprentice" is a solid return for the Twelfth Doctor, with the return of Davros being a rather unexpected bonus resulting in an eagerly anticipated climax to the story which is set to air this coming Saturday. Welcome back, Doctor Who!

Overall Score: 8/10