Asylum of the Daleks review

And now the review for the first episode of the new season of Doctor Who Asylum of the Daleks!

Asylum of the Daleks

               

Written by Steven Moffat

Directed by Nick Hurran

Starring Matt Smith as the Doctor

Karen Gillian as Amy Pond

Arthur Darvill as Rory Williams

 

Wow! Now that was a great start to a new season! Seriously, it doesn’t get much better than Daleks, big explosions, plot twists and soufflés! Did I mention Daleks? Yes, I did! And good thing too because the title of the outstanding season premiere for Matt Smith’s third season is Asylum of the Daleks! Just from that bit of info alone you can guess there are Daleks involved (who doesn’t love them?) and one could also guess that the episode involves some sort of holding place, much like a prison! Now you’re asking yourself how big explosions and soufflé fit into the mix, but fear not I’m here to hold your hand like a lovely young fellow and tell you a bit of what’s going on and I’ll also be dishing out my lovely opinion and thoughts on this episode. And for those of you a bit worried about spoilers then STOP RIGHT NOW as there will be spoilers in here involving a certain plot twist. You’ve been given fair warning so now on with the review!

You've been warned!

                We start our new season on the planet Skaro, home planet of the Daleks. The Doctor has come to meet a woman requesting his help, but all is not as it appears. The woman is actually a new type of Dalek, a fearsome new take on the robomen from The Dalek Invasion of Earth, but less cheesy in appearance. 

That looks a tad painful.

The Doctor is captured, and soon after are Amy and Rory are swooped up by the Daleks too. Another problem looms over Rory and Amy though, divorce! Yes, that’s right divorce is in the cards apparently for our lovable time traveling married couple. Now the Daleks haven’t just captured the Doctor to kill him, but to request his help. Within the Dalek Empire is a whole planet that the Daleks use as a prison for the most deranged and damaged Daleks in their collective. The problem is that a spaceship has crashed onto the planet, rupturing the force field that holds all of the insane Daleks on the planet at bay. To make matters worse a lone survivor of the crashed ship appears to be on the planet, and to make things grimmer she spends her time making soufflés! What kind of a beast is this soufflé making woman named Oswin that can hold out against such deranged Daleks!? 

Terror in the kitchen!

 The Doctor, Rory and Amy are sent to the planet to deactivate the shield so the Daleks can blew the planet to smithereens, but they’re given bracelets to wear so the nano-technology on the planet doesn’t convert them into the new People-Daleks. This would be done by the nanos in the air slowly altering their bodies to become killing machines. Looks like we’re off to a great start, and a major twist awaits Who fans at the end of the episode that will play into future episodes of our beloved Doctor Who.

 

 

What does the future hold for Matt Smith as we approach the big 50?

               Ok let’s start things off simple. The Daleks, if some of you haven’t guessed already, are rather prevalent in this story. Actually, every Dalek that has ever appeared in Doctor Who is in this episode. So to us Dalek lovers this is basically the Mardi Gras of Dalek episodes. 

The Daleks on parade!

Everywhere you look is a Dalek! The only thing missing from this Dalek parade is Davros. I’ve decided that despite my love of Davros, this is a good thing as the episode already has a lot going on in it without needing everyone’s favorite insane hover chair bound wrinkle face. 

I still have hope though for his return one day in the distant future.

What we do get though is a look at the current Dalek Empire, now filled with everyone’s favorite multicolored Dalek paradigm. I may be in the minority here but I don’t hate the new Dalek paradigm. I think it’s a good idea that just needs to be worked in right. And hey! What do you know; they worked fine in this episode. They felt like high ranking officials when surrounded by normal Daleks. 

Why must everyone hate them?

All and all the Daleks were great in this episode, even the new Dalek-people are a nice new edition to the majesty of the Dalek Empire. We even get a nice Dalek explosion in the episode and everyone loves it when Daleks explode!

Even Tom loves expldoing Daleks!

               I need to get something off my chest about Amy and Rory. I do like Amy and Rory, I really do! However, I feel like things are wearing a little thin with them and their time on Doctor Who. While there’s this new an interesting development for them this episode, the idea of divorce, I feel like it wasn’t explored well outside of their introduction scenes for this episode. Introducing Amy as currently being this vein fashion model diva and Rory as this fed up soon to be ex-husband was a pretty interesting way to bring them back into this season. 

Work it girl~

A new and interesting act of the Amy and Rory relationship enters the fray, or at least a look at the possible end of it. Sadly though we get a one episode glimpse into what could have been.  Aside from some off putting comments from the couple and some worried looks from the Doctor things get solved rather easily. A heartfelt confession and a revelation about Amy not being able to bear any more children after the events of Demon’s Run and everything is back to normal. 

Back to normal for our "happy' couple.

Sadly though, I feel it would have had a bigger impact later on towards their departure during episode 5 of this season. I’d have loved to see the whole divorce mechanic played out for a few more episodes. Having Amy and Rory aboard the TARDIS with some bickering and spite, and the Doctor constantly trying to mend it would of made things really interesting leading up to their big departure. An interesting new dynamic for them is quickly done away with and I for one was hoping for more. However, Amy being infected by the Dalek nano-machines half way through the episode was done surprisingly well. The scene where she begins to hallucinate about what I can only imagine are bits of her life are even a bit intoxicating to the audience. It’s really appealing scene, and then when she snaps out of it to a bunch of Daleks hovering about was just sublime. 

Dalek dance party!

This eerily beautiful little hallucination suddenly turning into a Dalek dance party worked well in shifting me out of wondering what exactly Amy was hallucinating about and back into the threat of the TARDIS crew being stuck inside this asylum.

                 The best thing overall about Asylum of the Daleks is the lone survivor of the crashed ship, Oswin, played by Jenna-Louise Coleman. Jenna-Louise Coleman? Wait a minute. That’s the new companion who joins the Doctor after Amy and Rory leave! What’s going on?! Well, Moffat and everyone working on the show kept it under wraps, but she makes her first appearance in this episode, and what an amazing surprise it is! 

For practically the whole episode we see her from deep inside the planet, boarded up in a room trying to keep herself safe from the Daleks. The Doctor only hears her voice over transmissions broadcast throughout the asylum, and he can’t see her face. Oswin is this smart, frisky, witty girl who seems to have outsmarted the Daleks and sits in her little bunker making soufflés. She even takes to remarking on the Doctor’s chin which I found to be quite cute and I must admit she’s starting to win my heart. 

The Doctor though raises and interesting question, where does she get the milk to make the soufflés? The answer to that is a plot twist that while not astronomically shocking, is conveyed marvelously by Coleman. Seriously, I was feeling a bit teary eyed by the revelation that she in fact is a Dalek. When making a soufflé you... 

Get it? Eggs-stir-min-ate? EXTERMINATE!

She isn’t one of the new human-look-a-like Daleks, but she was so smart and clever that the Daleks in the asylum wanted her to join their ranks. Our upcoming companion in her first televised appearance on Doctor Who is basically already dead. If you’ve been turned into a Dalek you might as well be dead as there is practically nothing left of what you once were. However, Oswin fights on; she’s been pushing on and resisting her conversion. Trapped inside the shell of a Dalek is Oswin entombed in her own little make believe world where she’s continued to fight on. She struggles to remain human. The heart breaking scene in which she confronts her own fate is now one of my favorite moments in Doctor Who. Oswin’s sacrifice at the end to save the Doctor, and rid the Daleks of their knowledge of the Doctor had me cheering, but also left me a bit melancholy. Oswin’s last words though gave me hope.

Doctor... Who...?

                Yes, I loved this episode! It was fantastic, complete with a look at a new upcoming companion that I already love and the thing everyone loves, exploding Daleks! 

Despite the fact I felt the Pond’s marriage woes were handled a little poorly the rest of the episode absolutely glows. This was the best television season opener so far in Doctor Who’s history. It had everything one could hope for in a self-contained story, including a plot twist that was kept so well hidden that I wasn’t even slightly spoiled by the media or episode previews. Now, I haven’t been a major fan of a majority of the Dalek episodes since Doctor Who returned to television in 2005, but Asylum of the Daleks does it right! This is a Dalek story that belongs up there with The Dalek Invasion of Earth and Genesis of the Daleks. 

A bright future awaits the Daleks under Moffat's loving rule!

The Daleks feel like a big threat again rather then something people struggle to write a good episode for. Now I’m left with the question of how things will play out for the Doctor and Oswin when they meet face to face even though at some point in the future it seems she’ll perish. The Doctor doesn’t even have a clue yet as to whom she was. I find hope though in Oswin’s last words as she turned to the camera and smiled.

"Run you clever boy. And remember."

                                 

I will certainly remember this episode for the rest of my days. And I eagerly await young Coleman’s return.

Rating: 5 out of 5

Till we meet again~