Doctor Who “The Magician’s Apprentice”

Well, back to the Doctor.  And there’s a snake man looking for him all of the most unlikely of places.

That said, the Doctor doesn’t do much this episode.  He’s in a cold open where a young boy is in the middle of a field.  There’s a war on, and the boy is surrounded by hands poking out of the dirt with eyeballs in their palms.  And no, they aren’t friendly.

But the kid says his name is Davros…

OK, that seems like one thing, but there’s a snake man out there with a message for the Doctor from Davros, and the Doctor seems to be doing what he can to avoid the man and everyone else.  So, when the world’s airplanes all freeze in place, naturally Clara just leaves her job and goes to UNIT to talk to Kate Stewart about that because…she can just do that now?  I mean, the Doctor has had lots of other companions, some of them going back decades.  It sure is a little odd that only the current one ever goes off to help when weird stuff happens.

Turns out Missy is involved.  Yes, she’s alive.  No, she doesn’t explain how.  It’s Missy.  That’s, like, her whole thing.  But she has something on her, something that she says would go to the Doctor’s closest friend when Clara finally shows up, and it’s a Time Lord’s last will and testament.  Clara,  for some reason, assumes she is the Doctor’s best friend but Missy says she’s known the Doctor longer and so forth and so on.

OK, I would say Sarah Jane Smith was the Doctor’s best friend.  Maybe Amy Pond or Jo Grant.  Jamie McCrimmon perhaps if I want to go back far enough.  Clara doesn’t seem all that close to the Doctor compared to some past companions.  And Missy?  Fergetaboutit.

Funny thing, when the pair find the Doctor in medieval times going into battle in an arena armed with a tank and an electric guitar, it doesn’t take much to give him the message.  He’ll go with the Snake Man, and both Clara and Missy demand to go too.  The TARDIS is left behind, and the other guy in the arena was a Dalek puppet the whole time.  The funny part is when Clara asked who Davros is, the Doctor says it’s his worst enemy, and Missy is just as offended by the idea she isn’t the Doctor’s worst enemy as she is by the idea she isn’t his best friend.

Davros, see, he wants the Doctor to admit something about himself, and the Doctor won’t.  But he may because Missy and Clara escaped on their own, found the TARDIS, and then the Daleks came along and exterminated both women and the TARDIS.

Daleks suck.  So does Davros even though he can’t control the Daleks and never could.  Heck, Missy sucks too since she offered to show the Daleks how to fly the TARDIS before they killed her first.

As such, the Doctor’s trip to see Juvenile Davros now makes sense as he figures if he kills the kid then, he can save his friends in the future.  Or at least Clara.  Because, you know, Clara is special.

Huh, not much of a cliffhanger for what appears to be a two-parter.  I don’t believe for a moment the Doctor is going to kill some kid.  Or anyone for that matter.  There’s probably stuff I don’t know yet.

You know what?  K-9 is the Doctor’s best friend because he’s a good dog.  Glad I got that settled for myself…