S03E05: 'Evolution of the Daleks'

Following a distinctly underwhelming first part, ‘Evolution of the Daleks’ delivers its own enjoyable hybrid of thrills, smiles and tears (well, only at the fact that Tallulah isn’t exterminated).

The visual treatment of the metallic menaces is impressive, following the anti-climactic feeling during ‘Daleks in Manhattan’. Given more engaging material, James Strong’s direction rises to the occasion by depicting the innate slyness of the Daleks through various quick shots of the Cult of Skaro members glancing at each other with their eyestalks in disbelief at Sec’s actions, along with glimpses of them training their guns and sights on The Doctor, their ‘eyes’ narrowing, consumed with a desire to kill their mortal enemy.

Worth noting too is a particularly well-realised shot of a Dalek tearing down the sewers in pursuit of the escaped prisoners, that highlights their dynamism – a huge step away from the trundling machines we saw on our screens in the classic series.

The central Hooverville based attack scene is superbly staged and exhilarating. The desperation of the hovering Dalek to exterminate The Doctor gives a fascinating insight into their malevolent psyche, whilst David Tennant brilliantly conveys the anger and injustice felt by the Time Lord when screaming at the Dalek to kill him. This nicely counterbalances with the jovial, life-living element to the character that surfaces at the end of the episode, taking joy in saving Laszlo from death and reeling off crowd-pleasing lines like “The Doctor is in”.

In terms of the plot’s unravelling, there’s enough portentous signposting to figure out in advance how things will turn out. It’s a given that the Daleks will turn on Sec, Solomon will be slaughtered as soon as he gives the ‘why can’t we all just get along’ spiel, and that the Human Dalek army will start questioning their orders.

The overwhelming desire to portray Martha as an intelligent and pragmatic companion has been served well in recent weeks, but in this episode it feels too forced and contrived. It may sound a bit incredulous to discuss how unrealistic it felt when Martha deduced so much from The Doctor handing her his psychic paper and later finding the State Building’s architectural plans, but it’s important to ‘believe’ in the events we witness.

Furthermore, like last week’s first part, most scenes involving the ghastly and mawkish Tallulah simply dragged along and detracted from the momentum of the main plot.

Still, you shouldn’t forget that the show’s target audience aren’t all seasoned and cynical fans so the sheer predictability is easily forgivable. Besides, the episode’s heart is in the right place and the kiddies can learn a neatly packaged lesson about humanity and morality whilst lapping up the exterminations.

Criticisms aside, ‘Evolution of the Daleks’ is an enjoyable episode that enhanced the standing of the Skaro scoundrels by depicting them as the calculating and scheming survivalists that they should be, rather than simply rehashing old formulas.