Evolution of the Daleks

Evolution of the Daleks is an episode that barely takes a moment to breathe. Immediately we are thrown into a good old-fashioned Dalek corridor chase, sublimely complemented by Murray Gold's epic score. Within just a few minutes marauding pig-slaves and flying Daleks besiege Hooverville. And within just a few minutes more the human part of Sec is beginning to take hold.

"We must return to the flesh and to the heart."

With her script for this episode, Helen Raynor has done almost as good a job as Rob Shearman did with "Dalek" in how she presents the Dalek race in a new and fascinating way. I say 'almost as good' because I think that Shearman had a slightly harder job in trying to make us feel compassion for a 'traditional' Dalek; Raynor at least has a humanoid Dalek.

"Observe humanity. For all their faults, they have courage."

Having watched "Daleks In Manhattan", it seemed pretty obvious to me that the three Daleks were going to turn on Sec. In my head I imagined a Davros / Daleks "Genesis of the Daleks" type finish, but never did I imagine that events would play out in the way that they did. I was somewhat taken aback by just how far Raynor pushed Sec ? within two episodes he goes from the fiendish leader of an evil Dalek cult to an almost whiter-than-white visionary.

This created a lovely dilemma for the Doctor ? should he help him?

In all his incarnations the Doctor has been an unstoppable moral force. He has always done what he believed to be the right thing or what he believed to be for the greater good. But usually the audience, scrutinising the Doctor's decisions from outside the box, can clearly see what the right moral choice is or was. Watching "Evolution of the Daleks" though, I honestly didn't have a clue. Thousands of frozen humans, completely brain-dead. Should the Doctor let Sec use their empty husks as vessels for a new, tamer Dalek race? Talk about the difficult decisions?

"He is an enemy of the Daleks? and so are you! You have lost your authority. You are no longer a Dalek! You taught us to imagine and we imagined your irrelevance."

Predictable as it may have been, the recalcitrant Daleks' eventual insurrection certainly didn't lack impact. The image of Sec being forced to crawl in chains ahead of Thay and Jast is certainly an enduring one, and Sec 'taking the bullet' for the Doctor is an almost equally powerful moment. I love the shot of the death ray illuminating Sec's cyclopic skull. Beautiful.

What I found really entertaining though, was seeing Caan, Thay and Jast plotting, scheming and bitching about Sec. I loved the way that their domes would swivel around 360? as if they were looking over their shoulders, scared of getting caught! Fantastic.

Turning to the man himself for a moment, I've been a fan of David Tennant throughout his reign ? he had me won over by the end of "The Christmas Invasion" ? but in this episode I couldn't help but be dumbfounded by the sheer gravity of his performance. Following hot on the heels of Solomon's touching and eloquent speech during the attack on Hooverville was certainly an unenviable task, but the Doctor's plea to the Dalek to kill him seemed worryingly heartfelt. It was almost as if the Doctor wanted to die, and were it not for the compassion of Sec he would have. And it doesn't end there.

The scene atop the Empire State Building is regeneration-worthy. When the lightning struck the tenth Doctor's body I would have written him off had I not seen clips from later episodes! There is something about the Daleks that brings out the best ? and worst ? of the Doctor, and in "Evolution of the Daleks" it is more evident than ever.

"Never waste time on a hug!"

I'm sure I'm not the only one to have noticed this new little phrase creeping in to the Doctor's vocab - this and bloody "Allons-y." I noticed this saying first in Stephen Cole's tie-in novel "Sting of the Zygons," and it stood out again here. It's as if the Doctor is regressing to his pre-Rose state. He's closing up.

"?he looks at me and I just sort of think, he's not seeing me. He's just remembering."

Poor Martha?.

The spaghetti western-style showdown between the Doctor and Caan was the highlight of the episode for me. The last of the Daleks and the last of the Time Lords? again. The scene mirrored not only that fateful meeting between the ninth Doctor and the Dalek in Van Statten's museum, but also the final battle of wits between the seventh Doctor and the Dalek Supreme in "Remembrance of the Daleks."

Bar one pivotal difference.

"Caan, let me help you. What do you say?"

With pale red eyes and the emotion in his voice barely kept in check, the tenth Doctor looked upon the last Dalek in existence and offered it mercy. The Daleks might commit genocide at the drop of the hat, but not the Doctor. Not anymore, at least. He's become a better man. The man who once vaporised Skaro's sun offers the olive branch to Dalek Caan, and what does he say?

"Emergency temporal shift!"

And when all was said and done, Helen Raynor had one last uplifting surprise in store for us. Lazlo and Tellulah. The Pig and the Showgirl. The Pig with a tragically short life span? were it not for the intervention of a Time Lord.

"Oh Tellulah with three l's and an h! Just you watch me!"

And they all lived happily ever after? well, they both lived happily ever after. Hardly "Everybody Lives!", but it still has the same sort of feel-good resonance.

And so once again I have nothing but praise for all concerned in the production of this week's magnificent episode of Doctor Who - bar a couple of minor gripes?

Why was the grand 'Invasion of Manhattan' confined to a sewer and a backstreet theatre?

Since when were Daleks made of Dalekanium? The last I heard, Dalekanium was an explosive! Whatever happened to bonded polycarbide armour?

I believe that this is called clutching at straws.

Next week I promise I'll try to tear "The Lazarus Experiment" to shreds.

Promise.