The episode starts off with the Doctor (Peter Capaldi) trying to save a young, abandoned boy he found on a battlefield while looking for a bookstore. The Doctor finds out that the boy’s name is Davros, the creator of his arch enemy the Daleks. We then meet this strange being in a cloak searching across the universe for the Doctor. Missy/The Master (Michelle Gomez) has also been looking for him as well and even has to get his companion, Clara Oswald (Jenna Coleman) to help. Clara and Missy eventually find the Doctor partying and teaching a village the word ‘dude’ a few centuries early. The strange being ends up tracking them all down and takes them to the planet of the Daleks to see an old, dying Davros. Davros makes the Daleks exterminate Missy and Clara so that only he can talk to the Doctor. The Doctor is furious that his friends are dead and suddenly remembers the young Davros he had met on the battlefield. The Doctor is left trying to decide if he should sacrifice the young Davros to save his friends or just try to defeat Davros in the present.
As a whole the episode was a fantastic way to start off the season. There was plenty of action especially with that cliffhanger, mystery, and wibbly wobbly timey wimey stuff to get you ready for the rest of season nine. For the most part all the acting was great, especially from Peter Capaldi. I think he’s absolutely brilliant as the twelfth doctor. I’m glad that we got to see the return of Davros and the Daleks, and I’m excited to see what they have in store. I’m also happy that they brought back Missy. I felt like her character wasn’t used to its full potential in the last season. But as much as I loved the returning characters and all action I did feel that there was too much packed into the episode. I felt like some concepts, especially Davros searching for the Doctor, could have been established last season. Overall, I give the episode 8.5 sonic screwdrivers out 10. I look forward to see how the rest of season nine will proceed.
