When I first saw the title of this episode, I took it metaphorically. Oh, look, a “Star Trek” reference, haha. No. They literally went inside a dalek.

I loved this episode, but it was definitely more than a little strange. We had the return of evil Mary Poppins, and remember when I said that the 12^th Doctor was getting darker? Well, it’s happening. His bias and callousness in this episode is pronounced, and if I wasn’t sure was part of a character arc, I would be upset. That being said, I want to see where this goes.

The episode begins with the Doctor rescuing a soldier from a fleet of daleks, but being unable to save her brother. He takes her back to her ship, where he is led to a dalek that claims to be good after seeing the wonder of the universe. He returns to pick up Clara, still holding the coffees he went to get from what she says is three weeks ago. This raises several questions about how this happened. Why did he leave Glasgow all the sudden in the TARDIS? Why did he leave without Clara? How did Clara get home from Glasgow? A few seasons ago this would have driven me crazy, but seeing as how Steven Moffat, the showrunner every whovian has a love-hate relationship with, regularly writes plot holes big enough to stick your fist through, I’ve let it go. (Cue obligatory ‘Frozen’ song.) He is very serious in this scene though, and asks Clara if she thinks he is a good man, which she cannot answer. At this point, I’m not sure what my answer would be either.

Clara, in the meantime, has been teaching, and has met new teacher and former soldier Danny Pink. To be honest I can’t tell you much about him because our DVR is either possessed or very glitchy, and the first 10 minutes of this recording was mostly audio and lots of pixels. He appears to be a new series regular and romantic interest for Clara though, which I am all in favor of. I hadn’t been hoping for a romantic subplot, but he seems like an interesting character to have around. She certainly wouldn’t become involved with him if the 11^th doctor was still here, and this shows that she has more to her life than just the Doctor.

Clara and the Doctor return to the military base, where they and several soldiers are shrunken down to microscopic size and placed inside the dalek’sye stalk, where they venture into the creature’s body. Breathing seems to be a motif this season, because when in last week’s episode the characters couldn’t breathe, this time they have to breathe even if they don’t want to, as the soldiers tell them if they don’t keep breathing as they are shrunken the pressure will cause them to explode.

I’m not usually a big fan of the ‘going inside a body’ trope (I aged out of Mrs. Frizzle a while ago), but I thought this episode was fantastically done. From their first journey down the dalek’s light-filled eye-stalk down into the inner workings of its cyborg body, the design was brilliant. The dalek was mechanical enough to make it seem like they were inside a building, but enough of a creature to remind us that the strange labyrinth they were wandering in was alive. We’re reminded of this fairly early, when one of the soldiers triggers the dalek’s antibodies. Initially we assume that the Doctor will save him, but then we realize that his actions were not focused on saving the man, only the rest of the party. His indifference to the soldiers continues throughout the episode, an attitude quite hypocritical considering how many of his friends and companions have been soldiers themselves (Martha, Jack, River, and many others from the classic series).

They manage to fix the dalek and it reverts to its normal mode of ultimate evil. Everyone seems surprised by this, which I find a little ridiculous. What did they think would happen? The Doctor seems almost pleased by this, as he seems convinced that there is no such thing as a good dalek, but is reprimanded by Clara, who was once a dalek herself. They think of a way to try and put it back, and another soldier sacrifices her life to enact the plan. She dies like every other victim of the daleks, but immediately wakes back up in the garden we saw last episode, accompanied by the sinister Missy.

The plan works in a way, and the Doctor connects his mind to the dalek’s in order to show it the beauty of the universe again, but all it sees is the Doctor’s own hatred of the daleks, and vows to destroy them. This greatly distresses the Doctor, who seems horrified that the dalek sees only his own hate. They exit the dalek and are returned to normal size, and the dalek leaves the ship to go attack his fellows. Before he leaves though, he tells the Doctor that he is not a good dalek- the Doctor is a good dalek.

All in all, this was an interesting and enjoyable episode. Some of the dialogue was a little stilted, and the plot was hardly realistic, but it was an interesting character study, and points to the development of an interesting season arc. I think Clara’s final words to the Doctor before she heads home sum up who he is right now: “I still don’t know if you’re a good man. But you try to be. And I think that’s the point.”

P.S. I’m not just talking to myself here. This isn’t rhetorical, you can talk. See that, down there? That’s the comments section. Don’t be shy.