Dr Who S8x02, Into the Dalek
Aug. 31st, 2014 04:57 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bookish_dragonI think, especially after having been called a good Dalek by a Dalek, that the Doctor should actually sit down and have a think about what he's doing with his life. You have to ask others whether you're good, chances are you will not like the answer.
By which I mean, in trying to make the Dalek re-experience the beauty and wonder of the universe, you have to be very careful about what's in your own hearts, that he doesn't see the beauty and wonder of wholesale destruction. And there's so much destruction that you have seen over the years, let alone that which you have caused yourself.
I can't speak for his regenerations before the reboot, and I don't know how they felt about the Daleks, but from 9 onwards if there was one species that the Doctor had no time for, and no mercy, about the one race that could inspire him to a 'Nuke the site from orbit. It's the only way to be sure'-attitude, it would have to be the Daleks. And in trying to convince this one Dalek to see the beauty and wonder of creation, of the tenacity of life, it seems he has succeeded only in giving it a new thing to hate, its own species. He hasn't managed to reform it all, only given it a new channel for its unending hate. No wonder he asks Clara again if he is a good man. And that might be why he doesn't want Journey to travel with him. He's been a soldier himself, I assume. The role he had in the Time-War is not all that clear. He could just have been a lone wolf-type, what he has always been. But he's been around enough soldiers over the years. His daughter was one, before she buggered off, never to be brought up again in the series. He knows the way they think. And she would be a reminder of when he failed. Why that doesn't apply to Clara? Because she isn't impressed enough with him to put up with his shit? If he had to pay her, he couldn't afford her. And that's why he needs a companion. He goes somewhat insane if he is left to his own devices. He goes even weirder when there's no-one around to keep him busy. And a companion does that for him. They keep him grounded. Well, as grounded as you can be, a grown man running around the universe with your magic box, travelling from wonder to wonder, never to settle down and commit to something, not counting the TARDIS, the one thing he will not be parted from, whatever the circumstances.
And Clara doesn't put up with his shit. Not in this episode anyway. "You got us into this. Fine, you did as they asked you to, but that doesn't absolve you from trying to get us out again. You're the Doctor, you don't get to wallow. Not now. Not until we're sage, and maybe not then either. You don't get to pull the 'Well, I told you so'-card. So, get us out." And he does. And there is much restraint from people who get irritated beyond human comprehension by his odd ways and who'd like to slap him as well.
By which I mean, in trying to make the Dalek re-experience the beauty and wonder of the universe, you have to be very careful about what's in your own hearts, that he doesn't see the beauty and wonder of wholesale destruction. And there's so much destruction that you have seen over the years, let alone that which you have caused yourself.
I can't speak for his regenerations before the reboot, and I don't know how they felt about the Daleks, but from 9 onwards if there was one species that the Doctor had no time for, and no mercy, about the one race that could inspire him to a 'Nuke the site from orbit. It's the only way to be sure'-attitude, it would have to be the Daleks. And in trying to convince this one Dalek to see the beauty and wonder of creation, of the tenacity of life, it seems he has succeeded only in giving it a new thing to hate, its own species. He hasn't managed to reform it all, only given it a new channel for its unending hate. No wonder he asks Clara again if he is a good man. And that might be why he doesn't want Journey to travel with him. He's been a soldier himself, I assume. The role he had in the Time-War is not all that clear. He could just have been a lone wolf-type, what he has always been. But he's been around enough soldiers over the years. His daughter was one, before she buggered off, never to be brought up again in the series. He knows the way they think. And she would be a reminder of when he failed. Why that doesn't apply to Clara? Because she isn't impressed enough with him to put up with his shit? If he had to pay her, he couldn't afford her. And that's why he needs a companion. He goes somewhat insane if he is left to his own devices. He goes even weirder when there's no-one around to keep him busy. And a companion does that for him. They keep him grounded. Well, as grounded as you can be, a grown man running around the universe with your magic box, travelling from wonder to wonder, never to settle down and commit to something, not counting the TARDIS, the one thing he will not be parted from, whatever the circumstances.
And Clara doesn't put up with his shit. Not in this episode anyway. "You got us into this. Fine, you did as they asked you to, but that doesn't absolve you from trying to get us out again. You're the Doctor, you don't get to wallow. Not now. Not until we're sage, and maybe not then either. You don't get to pull the 'Well, I told you so'-card. So, get us out." And he does. And there is much restraint from people who get irritated beyond human comprehension by his odd ways and who'd like to slap him as well.
