A signal from an archaeological dig brings the TARDIS crew back to Earth for this season's introduction of a Doctor Who classic.
The episode begins on an unlikely alliance of three armies facing the most dangerous foe they'd ever encountered, splitting its body into three pieces once they'd won.
Swearing secrecy to eliminate the creature from history and simply passing down their knowledge to protect the three pieces. While one was buried on Anuta Island another in Siberia, the final one never made it to Yorkshire as intended, as the final of the three "Custodians" was shot with an arrow. On New Year's Day 2019, archaeologists Lin (Charlotte Ritchie) and Mitch (Nikesh Patel) discover the third Custodian's body in the sewers under Sheffield. While bantering, they give hints about a romance when Mitch brings up a New Year's kiss they had, and he is overjoyed when she saw it as something big. Their date planning ends when they find the Custodian's part of the creature, and Mitch realizes that the "Battle of Hope Valley" could be real. Left under a UV light, the part begins reacting, and suddenly the other pieces move as well, with the Sheffield piece wriggling violently. The TARDIS crew is watching numerous New Year's celebrations, including cosmic fireworks, but the Doctor gets a signal from Earth about the alien creature. Hearing something move, Mitch and Lin realize a bag is missing from their setup, and when Lin searches nearby, she finds a tentacled creature on a wall. Mitch is flabbergasted when the TARDIS appears in front of him, and after introductions, Lin tells everyone about the creature she saw. The Doctor stores some slime on the wall for analysis, and they worry that the creature could be anywhere in Sheffield, in the sewer system. The Doctor warns the archaeologists to avoid any creature they see that is strange and Yaz escorts them out; they go their separate ways as Lin begins acting strange. The TARDIS crew lands in Graham's home, and while the Doctor does a protein comparison of the goo and some eggs, the doorbell rings. Graham immediately shuts the door on the visitor, but Ryan soon enters with his dad, Aaron (Daniel Adegboyega) for an awkward silence after the Doctor chastises him. Ryan leaves so he and Aaron can catch up over coffee, and Graham requests a word with the latter while the Doctor and Yaz stay behind.
Aaron says he's here to turn over a new leaf for the year; Graham instructs him to be careful because he hasn't done enough for Ryan, who has been through a lot. Aaron is surprised when Ryan bids his "gramps" a farewell.
Lin arrives home, and while struggling in the bathroom, she finds the creature attached to her back, and tries to touch it, only for a familiar voice to say not to. Claiming to be her "pilot," it shows that it can control how she moves and speaks, declaring that she's its puppet. Back in the TARDIS, the Doctor is horrified to find the creature's DNA is that of a Dalek as it forces Lin to search the Internet to find out everything about Earth's defenses. The Doctor explains Daleks to the others, and though Graham doesn't think these "squids" sound like much, she assures him that one is enough. Yaz leaves Lin a voicemail, and while the Doctor wonders how a Dalek is moving without its shell, we see it has forced Lin to speed on the highway. A police cruiser pulls them over, and when an officer steps up, the Dalek declares him an enemy of the Daleks and kills him. His partner steps in to help, and after killing her, the Dalek takes off in their cruiser, calling Lin, now wearing one of their vests, a useful soldier.
Ryan is irritated as Aaron tries to sell a microwave/oven at the coffee shop; his dad reveals he's not working on rigs anymore because he's been rethinking his life.
Aaron further angers his son by simply asking "how he's doing;" when he says it's been hard for both of them, Ryan declares that he doesn't care how it's been for him, as after never being there, he has no right to demand respect. Aaron asks what Ryan wants to hear, and the latter goes into an apology for not being there and how he felt lonely and unloved. Shocked at first, Aaron realizes he obviously would've felt that way, and says how sometimes you realize you've made decisions you regret, but are too late to fix them. Ryan says Aaron hid the times he needed him, and Aaron replies that he's not hiding anymore, while elsewhere the Doctor and Yaz pick up Mitch. While planning to search for any other Dalek DNA, the Doctor asks Mitch if they found anything alien at the dig; he asks if they're part of the Order of the Custodians.
Mitch tells them about the Order, and the Doctor realizes the signal they picked up was from the Dalek's pieces coming together, after the UV lights revived it.
Horrified that a Dalek has been there for so long, the Doctor's question about its mobility is answered when Lin still doesn't answer, which Mitch says is strange. He tells them how she went to investigate the Dalek, and the Doctor rushes into the TARDIS to find Lin by connecting Yaz's phone, with Lin's number, into the machine. She realizes the Dalek is using Lin to move around, and after Ryan enters, annoyed after the conversation, the Dalek somehow blows the TARDIS's navigation system. She says this can only happen if it's a recon scout, which is a specially mutated kind that left Skaro first, making it a worse situation. Graham leaves to get peanut butter so she can grease some parts, and the Dalek arrives at an MDZ research facility where it uses a worker's handprint to get in. It recovers a Dalek shell gun, but suddenly gets a signal from the Doctor, who can now speak directly to it; it admits to being a recon scout and says Earth is its prisoner. Though it now has a weapon, the Doctor says it won't win and demands that it free Lin; it responds by simply laughing at her. The Docgtor then uses some tech to make Lin appear holographically, then momentarily halts the Dalek's control to tell Lin to keep fighting. The Dalek claims superiority over them, but the Doctor reveals she's been distracting it to reboot her system, and comes after it as it breaks the connection.
As they wonder what the Dalek took, the Doctor uses CCTV footage to track it, but is forced to switch to satellites when it disables the cameras.
Knowing they'll need help, the Doctor tries to contact Kate at U.N.I.T., only to get a help line worker who says the organization has been suspended for review. Because it has been a while since an alien invasion, the organization has funding issues and partners started withdrawing support. Back at Graham's place, he pulls out a box of toys, explaining that his dad threw away his mom's stuff when she died; when Grace died, Graham instead went through her things to find Aaron's childhood belongings. He reveals Grace once told him that if people asked about her after her death, to say she had given birth to and raised someone she was proud of. Admitting feeling denial that if he didn't go to her funeral, Grace would still be there, Aaron wishes he were better at life; Graham assures him that he still has time. The Dalek has Lin drive to a farm, and after killing the farmer it heads inside to use his metalworking equipment to construct itself a new shell. Though it demands that Lin keep working when she tires, she starts to regain control and struggles to knock it off her back. The others soon arrive and rush to Lin's aid when she calls out; though the Doctor congratulates her for winning her fight, she says the Dalek is still there. After telling the others to go get Lin medical attention, the Doctor explains that she'll face the Dalek alone, since she's done it plenty of times before. Now in its shell, the Dalek spends the rest of the episode heating things up on Earth, but Aaron helps the Doctor realize that a little heat is exactly what they need.
This episode had a few quirky moments, but overall I enjoyed the story it told and how it brought back the Doctor's ultimate foes.
At the start of the episode, there's a bit of mystery surrounding what the creature is, as the only clues we have are about its size and dangerous nature. The episode isn't really focused on keeping it a mystery, however, as the Doctor figures out what's going on quickly and most fans likely guessed upon seeing the Dalek in the sewers. As has been done over time, however, this Dalek presents us with a new problem from the Doctor's enemy when it takes control of Lin's body. The majority of the time that we see Daleks, they're inside their shell, and the great danger comes from this tank-like casing. Originally the casing could be a hindrance, since it lacked mobility, especially at stairs, but the Daleks got a massive improvement when they received the ability to hover. Now there is a whole new type of Dalek to make things worse, as this kind can use its shell to its full potential but also find a host if necessary. The situation reminded me of the creature Starro from DC comics, an alien starfish that reproduces asexually and takes over the mind of whomever it latches onto. Without this ability, the Dalek would've been in a terrible position, as without its shell it would be vulnerable to the group, but with this power it was able to blend in until it had the opportunity to escape and set about making a new shell. I won't spoil exactly what it does later thanks to this shell, but lets just say it shows exactly why the Doctor said just one Dalek can be a major problem. I also liked the fact that the Dalek crafted its new shell out of common parts in a farm after finding itself alone, similar to the Doctor's new sonic. Much like the Master taking on a youthful look after encountering the 10th Doctor, it's a nice touch to have one of the Doctor's oldest foes do something to get an updated look that is similar to what the Doctor did. The shell itself is rather crude, but has an interesting design to it, and again like the Doctor, it shows how smart the Daleks are when one makes a tank shell from parts it found in a barn. With this problem, it's surprising and scary to learn that U.N.I.T. is currently disbanded, both because of the imminent threat and the fact that the organization has been a huge part of the show for so long. One wonders how things will go now that they're gone, and of course there's the question of what Kate is now doing. Having been built up throughout this season, we finally get the emotional payoff of Ryan reuniting with his dad, and it's just as awkward as you would think. It really says something that Graham's immediate reaction to seeing Aaron was to slam the door, and it's clear that Ryan is uncomfortable around him. Forgiveness is again a big part of the show as Aaron does clearly want to try to make amends with his son, but there is a lot he did wrong. The question of when forgiveness should be given arises here, as while Ryan is in the right for not wanting to respect the man who was never there for him, Aaron does repeatedly admit to his wrongdoings, and obviously he can't just change what he did. Here's where an easy joke about time travel could come in, but there would be too much that would change if the Doctor allowed anything to happen to the past. This is the last bit of Doctor Who we get for now, but I'm already looking forward to what more Jodie Whittaker's Doctor and her companions will do in the future (now a time travel joke can be made).
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