BWW Recap: The Doctor Faces Davros in 'The Witch's Familiar' on DOCTOR WHO

The two-part premiere of DOCTOR WHO season 9 comes to a close with "The Witch's Familiar!" The Doctor finds a way to escape Davros and the Daleks, in style might I add. Keep reading for the full recap, but beware of spoilers!

Well Clara and Missy aren't dead, but Missy is sharpening a stick while Clara is tied upside down? Missy is telling Clara a story about The Doctor, alone, and about to die. She asks Clara how he survived? "Consider The Doctor," she says.

Missy explains that both she and The Doctor know how to manipulate the vortex manipulators to use the Daleks' energy beams to charge up the manipulator and teleport away. Clara and Missy realize that The Doctor, who usually thinks he's going to win, thought he was going to die, so it's up to them to save him!

Davros calls for the Daleks to find The Doctor, since he is trying to escape. The Doctor stole Davro's tech and is promptly "exterminated." Just kidding, The Doctor is unharmed, because Davros' chair has a personal force field, which protected him from the blasts. Meanwhile, Missy pushed Clara down a 20ft hole, and now they are in the sewers--which isn't so much a sewer, but a graveyard....

The Doctor tells The Daleks that all he wants is Clara alive and safe, and that's all he wants, and if she is dead, he'll burn everything. Unfortunately, Colony Saff's snakes are engulfing The Doctor in the chair at that moment, and The Doctor can't escape. Down in the sewers, Missy decides they need to trap and kill a Dalek, and Clara is the bait! Just before the Dalek kills Clara, Missy uses a broach to poke holes in it so that the Dalek's in the graveyard seep in to kill it. Wow, clever.

The Doctor dreams of the battlefield with young Davros and when he wakes, he finds himself once again trapped. At the same time, Missy and Clara are taking apart the dead Dalek, and Missy tells Clara to get in. Davros tells The Doctor he survives by being tapped into every living Dalek, because the Daleks have one design flaw: respect and mercy for their leader. Davros tells The Doctor he could commit genocide with one single act: killing him.

The Doctor won't do it, though-- not a surprise.

Missy hooks Clara up to the Dalek's shell and now she's linked up to it. When Clara says her name, the machine says a Dalek, and when she says "I love you," the machine says "Exterminate." Missy realizes their saying "exterminate" is how the Daleks reload.

Davros asks The Doctor why he left Gallifrey, and tells him that Colony Sarff took his Confession Dial. Davros asks The Doctor why he really left Gallifrey. When The Doctor tells him his people aren't actually dead, Davros tells him he's happy for The Doctor, which confuses him. Davros asks to see The Doctor's face with "his old eyes," and then tells him not to lose his people again. He then asks The Doctor if he was right, "am I a good man?" Davros and The Doctor then share a heartfelt moment when Davros tells him he isn't a good Doctor. Davros then shows signs that he is about to die.

Missy has some fun with the Daleks, and then tells them she wants to see Davros.

The Doctor is helping the little boy he abandoned on the battlefield, "I think I owe him a sunrise." Davros tells The Doctor that he wishes they could've been on the same side at least once. The sun is about to rise, but Davros can't open his eyes, so The Doctor uses a little bit of his regeneration energy to let Davros see the sun, but then Davros takes all of his regeneration energy to gain his strength. "Your compassion is your downfall," Davros points out to The Doctor. Missy sees what's happening to the Daleks and runs to find The Doctor.

Davros tells him that this is part of the future: a half Dalek/half Time Lord hybrid. Missy runs in and stops it, but it's too late, the Daleks are more powerful now---or so Davros thinks. However, The Doctor points out that he put regeneration energy in ALL the Daleks on Skaro, including in the sewers. All of the Daleks in the sewers are waking up and coming out.

Missy is trying to convince The Doctor that Clara is dead and that the Dalek in front of them, aka Clara, is the one who killed her. Clara desperately tries to convince him that it's her, and asks for mercy, a word a Dalek could never say. He tells her to open the casing, and she reveals herself, thankfully! The Doctor uses his sonic...sunglasses? Sonic sunglasses to have the TARDIS redistribute itself and form around them. Meanwhile, Missy is caught by Daleks, but has a clever idea.

The Doctor is confused by how Clara got the Dalek to say mercy. We then see The Doctor back on the battlefield with young Davros, and The Doctor "exterminates" all of the hands that are surrounding the boy, and then takes the boy home.

Well, as expected, The Doctor, Clara, Missy and the TARDIS are ok! Is it just me, or is it more enjoyable watching Missy and Clara interact than anything else? I think that they are testing out an all female dynamic, because with a new companion, and probably a new Doctor, soon, they could be a change coming! Honestly, I just want a show starring Missy. She is so exciting and she captures my attention so quickly. I love how she's bad, but also good. She wants The Doctor to kill Clara, but she'll also save him if need be. Her muddled morals make her even more interesting. At the end of this episode, Missy found herself trapped, but with a clever idea that probably saved her life, so I can't wait to see when she pops up next!

Speaking of female doctors, the Master regenerating into Missy makes it clear that time lords can regenerate into different genders, so when Twelve regenerates is a female going to take his place??? I hope so! Well that's far away, so let's talk about the current, amazing Doctor. Man, I was almost fooled by him when his regeneration energy was captured by Davros, but I should have known he had a plan--and a clever one at that. I don't know how geniune Davros and The Doctor's interaction was, but I believe there was even the smallest hint of truth behind what they both said to each other. It's interesting to see the two heads of a warring people. The Doctor and Davros represent both the Time Lords and the Daleks and how far both would go for their species and for what they believe to be right.

Also, seeing Clara in a Dalek on the verge of death sent me back to her first appearence as Oswin. Clara has so many near death experiences, but she always manages to make it out unharmed. It's because she's clever. Clara holds her own against The Doctor and Missy, both very cocky and smart time lords. I loved the scene in the beginning of the episode where she and Missy were going back and forth over what they think The Doctor is doing and why he does it. I'm scared to see how she and The Doctor split up at the end of this season...I really don't hope it's her death that causes it, but the more I think about it, the more probable it seems. She always seems to be on the verge of death, and The Doctor is so adamant about her safety, that her death could really trigger something in him. Needless to say, I'm looking forward to the rest of this season.

Favorite Quotes from "The Witch's Familiar"

The Doctor: Admit it, you've all had this exact nightmare."

Clara: "We can chuck a stone down or something." Missy: "Aye, good idea." *pushes Clara"

Missy: Tell him the Bitch is back."

The Doctor: "First word: moron. Second word: sewers."

Missy: "It wasn't me who ran, Doctor, that was always you."

The Doctor: "I don't think any of that matters, friends, enemies, as long as there is mercy."

---

Leave your comments on tonight's episode below, or tweet me at @kaitmilligan. And be sure to head over here next week as I recap another episode of DOCTOR WHO!

Photo Credit: Simon Ridgway, © BBC WORLDWIDE LIMITED

To post a comment, you must register and login.