13.29: Eve of the Daleks
In which the trailer was better.
Broadcast: January 2022
Watched: September 2022
Two quotes to sum up the two problems with it:
“Yes, that makes sense!” “Does it, because I thought I was losing my mind?”
Alternatively, “That is so stalkery!” “I prefer shy.”
It’s basically on a par with all Chibnall’s New Year Dalek episodes... Great concept (“Groundhog Day with Aisling Bea and Daleks”), great trailer, massively wastes it all of that, but still actually fun in a way his stuff doesn’t always manage to be.
Problem number one is: it does absolutely nothing with the gradually closing time loop other than “kill everyone a lot”. Everyone in it remembers everything. It also just doesn’t feel that thought through: if the Daleks don’t die why does time reset for them, too? If everyone’s coming back a minute later on each run why do they all appear in the same place again? And how does this fit with the whole “Nick doesn’t survive past five to” bit?
Problem number two: it’s sociologically interesting and maybe a bit weird how quickly awkward unrequited love stories have gone from “sweet” to “creepy”, but we are where we are, and this definitely feels creepy. Nick is clearly intended to be a nice guy, in the genuine, not internet, sense of the word: the bit where he tries to save Sarah and just assumes she was also trying to save him is great, as is his sacrificing himself in a doomed attempt to show he’s not a creep. But no matter how you look at it, Nick keeping bits of dead relationships in a storage unit does feel like he’s keeping their bodies in a chest freezer. Just throw things away!
Arguably, problem three is it lacks the scale of Revolution, but after the chaos of Flux this might not actually be a problem at all.
For all that, it’s a fun idea, the guest cast are likeable, and also it’s kind of nice after Flux to have some straightforward Dalek nonsense with some good jokes in it. If I was the sort to grade things it’d be a solid 7/10.
Loads of good bits, to be fair:
Mrs Doyle as Aisling Bea’s mum! Aww.
Dalek shaped hole in the door, cool.
Weird Jeff is one of the great unseen characters. (The bits with the different stuff in his room is great.)
“Daleks do not have managers.” “Well maybe that’s part of the problem.”
Nick, ducking, so the Daleks kill each other.
Yaz finally snapping and yelling “Stop leaving us all the time”!
Bad bits:
The first time the Doctor and co die is INCREDIBLY stupid, with her just assuming the sonic will stop the Daleks. Still, nice way into opening credits, 9 minutes in. Even Moffat didn’t do 9 minute intros did he?
“Ex... terminated.”
Probably bad bits, let’s see where they land:
Thasmin. [Bingo]
“My actions are catching up with me, I will not let you die because of decisions I’ve taken” - could... could there be a plan? Surely not? [It was NOT!]
Other things:
“I can fix this!” “Then why haven’t you?” Sarah sums up the entire Chibnall era.
The Doctor resetting the TARDIS to deal with remnants of the Flux feels like a bigger deal than the show seems to think it is - like it’s about the universe still not being right. Also the Daleks are determined to kill the Doctor as revenge for the end of Flux. So there we go.
Genuinely did not recognise the guy from Woman Who Fell at the end, not sure if anyone else would have, baffled as to what Chibnall is trying to say here.
I do wonder if the decision to kill the Doctor and a bunch of other people over and over again is the Chibnall equivalent of Moffat’s “Why won’t you just let me die”.