“The Witch’s Familiar,” the second episode of season nine of “Doctor Who,” concluded the adventure that ended on a cliffhanger in the first episode and provided greater depth to the characters we’ve seen so far. We finally understand why Davros summoned the Doctor to Skaro, and we know a little bit more about the Doctor’s morals.

The episode started after Clara and Missy had purportedly been killed, but they were soon shown to be alive thanks to Missy’s quick thinking and timelord technology. In an unsteady truce, the two of them headed off to rescue the Doctor, now trapped on Skaro with Davros. They enter the building through the sewers, where they trap and then kill a Dalek at Missy’s behest. Once killed, they open the Dalek’s casing and seal Clara in. She can control the Dalek’s motions with her mind, but the creature’s bloodthirsty hardwiring limits her speech.

Meanwhile, the Doctor and Davros are discussing the past, and, impossibly, Davros seems remorseful for the destruction he’s wreaked with the Daleks. During their conversation, Davros and the Doctor seem to bond, impossibly. They share jokes and laugh, and by the end the Doctor is helping Davros to live through the night so he can see one last sunrise.

Throughout this whole time, my frustration was rising. The Doctor has always been a compassionate man, but his kindness towards Davros had crossed the line into foolishness, as even in old age his enemy is still untrustworthy. My fears were confirmed when the entire evening turned out to be a trap for the Doctor, ending with Davros harnessing the Doctor’s regeneration energy to prolong his own life and make his Daleks stronger.

However, I shouldn’t have doubted the Doctor. Missy and Clara (in Dalek form) arrive, and the Doctor reveals that he knew Davros would betray him, and let him do it. His plan to renew his Daleks is horribly backfiring, and the decomposing Daleks in Skaro’s sewers are rising up and attacking their younger foes.

What Davros’ planet in ruins, the Doctor prepares to leave. Missy directs his attention towards Clara, but instead of explaining that Clara is inside the Dalek, she says that the Dalek killed Clara, and urges the Doctor to kill Clara in her Dalek attire. Clara attempts to communicate with him, but is unable to inside the Dalek skeleton. Things seem hopeless, until she says a phrase a Dalek would never say: “I show mercy.”

The Dalek is revealed to be Clara, who the Doctor rescues. They return to the TARDIS and head off the planet, leaving Missy stranded. If it wasn’t clear enough from the first episode that Missy wasn’t a good person, we more than have our answer now. I still want to know why she tried to get Clara killed though; we see her actions but not her reasoning. The last we see of her in this episode, she’s surrounded by Daleks calling for her extermination. Maybe we’ll see her again; maybe she’s really gone this time. Somehow, I doubt it.

The episode ends with the Doctor returning to Skaro to rescue a child Davros from land mines, and we see how mercy can be a powerful weapon. Ultimately, this is who the Doctor is: not a fool who lets his guard down too quickly, but a man who chooses compassion with both eyes open, because he knows it to be right.