Pick up your jaws and put your thinking caps on, Doctor Who fans! After digesting the twists, tears, and terror of tonight’s series 7 opener “Asylum of the Daleks,” we’re going to pick it apart and offer our thoughts. This article contains spoilers for 7×01. And if that big, bold warning wasn’t enough to dissuade you, trust us – if you haven’t already seen episode 1, leave this page and come back once you have.
Well, let’s deal with the Elephant in the room (or rather, the human in the Dalek). After all the pre-broadcast hype and promises of “shocking twists” and “game changing revelations,” our minds were running rampant with crack theories and impossible cameos. But it’s fair to say that we would NEVER have predicted we’d be meeting Jenna-Louise Coleman’s Oswin Oswald three months before The Doctor does! Coleman was outstanding and refreshing as the computer genius, her brilliant comic timing and super-fast delivery was as surprising as her inclusion in the episode itself. We didn’t think it was possible to fall in love with a character so suddenly, but her presence and chemistry with Matt Smith – despite never being in the same room as him – were so convincing that we could already have a new favourite companion on our hands. Of course, Oswin’s ultimate fate in the episode leaves The Moff in a bit of a sticky situation when it comes to bringing her back on a full-time basis. But we’ll get to that later.
The Moff had a real challenge on his hands in attempting to make the Daleks scary again. Too many deus ex machina defeats and a multi-colored paint job made them more pathetic pepper-pots than psychotic cyborgs. But when push came to shove “Asylum of the Daleks” changed all of that, with the genocidal creatures’ uncharacteristic pleas of “SAVE US!” being just as disturbing as eye-stalk’s protruding from the heads of human corpses. While the “every Dalek ever” angle was far less relevant than the publicity made out, playing spot-the-cyborg was an entertaining trip down memory lane that only added to our enjoyment. There were moments when the Doctor’s worst adversaries sank to lower and deadlier depths than we’d ever seen them before, but that didn’t mean they were entirely immune to comedy (Rory’s eggs-change with one of the Asylum’s inhabitants made us “LOL” harder than we care to admit). They perhaps weren’t quite as terrifying as in “Rememberance of the Daleks” and “Dalek,” but their place as the show’s most recognizable monster was justified throughout.
With a turbulent yet tight script and assured direction, it’s easy to forget about the confident performances from the show’s leads. Matt Smith brought all of the charisma and eccentricity that we’ve grown used to, but also brought a mature and wiser edge to The Doctor – especially impressive for an actor playing a character nearly 1000 years his senior. The leading man’s exchanges with Oswin were so fast-paced we were beginning to think we were watching an Aaron Sorkin show, and one thing’s for sure: we can’t wait to see Smith and Coleman share the screen come December. Before we get that slice of television gold though, we first have to endure the departure of Amy and Rory Pond. “Asylum of the Daleks” reminded us just how much we’re going to miss Karen Gillan and Arthur Darvill. Both actors have improved immeasurably since their 2010 debut, and after bringing emotional and captivating performances to the characters potentially soap-y divorce we were reaching for the tissues. Time Lords help us when we see “The Angels Take Manhattan”.
It’s about time we tried to wrap up these fan-gasmic ramblings into something vaguely representing a review, so we’ll try our best. “Asylum of the Daleks” doubles as both an incredibly strong series opener (“blockbuster movie” is the right term) and refreshing yet valid entry to the Dalek legacy. It may not quite be remembered in the same vein as fan favourites, yet it has all the elements of a Doctor Who classic: an intricate script, stylish direction, captivating performances and all of the unexpected twists we’ve come to expect from showrunner Steven Moffat.
Analysis
What can we learn about the series’ future from “Asylum of the Daleks”? Well, we know Jenna-Louise Coleman’s new companion is going to end up being converted into a Dalek before sacrificing herself to save The Doctor, don’t we? Maybe, but the death-before-meeting thing has already been done with River Song in recent years so can it be that simple? Could the actress be playing two different characters with some strange link but an ultimately different fate? We’ll just have to wait until Christmas. Either way, we can’t wait to find out how her journey in the TARDIS leads to Oswin Oswald’s ultimate extermination. Several filming reports give us clues, but we’ll confine that to WhoHype’s spoiler section for the purists among you!
The second biggest twist of the episode can only be described as a game-changer, with The Daleks mainframe being modified to forget all previous encounters with their arch-nemesis. As far as the Daleks are concerned now, they have never faced the son of Gallifrey and the race’s entire history has several blank spots. We don’t think this rules the monsters out for future episodes (after all, it’s always possible The Doctor comes up against an earlier version of them), but it certainly changes the dynamic of their relationship and allows future Dalek episodes to go in very different directions. We predict the monsters will return for the 50th Anniversary, providing the celebration with both an homage to the past and an opportunity to reboot the creatures once again for a whole new generation of Doctor Who fans.
Image: BBC
Of course, we couldn’t write an analysis of the episode without going deeper into Amy and Rory’s deteriorating relationship. While Pond Life helped to bridge the gap between happily married couple and pending-divorcees, “Asylum” still seemed like a sudden turn for the worse when the divorce papers are signed in the opening minutes of the show. Their marital problems are (understandably) disregarded while the TARDIS trio try to avoid certain death, but when the two are left alone for the first time since their split they’re forced to address the underlying issues. When the tragic consequences of Demon’s Run are finally revealed, we’re sucked into the sheer Doomsday-style emotion of it all – and this writer isn’t ashamed to admit that it brought a tear (just the one, honest!) to his eye. Of course, by the end of the adventure they’re back together again but we can’t help feeling that their lack of children will be addressed again in the future.
What did you think of “Asylum of the Daleks”? How will Jenna-Louise Coleman’s character be dealt with in future episodes?