Victory of the Daleks review [Matt Gatiss]

"That wasn't human. That was never human technology. That sounded like..." - The Doctor

Answering a call from Winston Churchill, the Doctor and Amy land in the war chambers of 1941 England. Soon enough, Churchill unveils his secret weapon - metal pepperpots with gunsticks and eyestalks. The Ironsides.
The Doctor's Case:

• A good quotation: "I am your ssssoldier." "I don't care if you're a machine, Bracewell. Are you a man?"
• The easiest way to solidify a new leading man as the Doctor, the show has found, is to have him go up against the Daleks. Ninth did it in his sixth episode and Tenth did in his eleventh but Matt Smith had the difficult task of replacing the immensely popular David Tennant. Better bring the Dalek appearance forward to his third episode (and Capaldi later goes up against them in his second). The Eleventh Doctor brings a new dimension to his relationship with the Daleks - they're good, and he doesn't know what to do about that but hit one in the hopes it'll attack and be the monster he expects it to be. It's not remotely as poignant as the Ninth and Tenth Doctor's anger but it's early days. Unfortunately, this is spoilt a bit by, a) the fact that we know the Daleks are evil and we've seen this before in The Power of the Daleks, and b) they stop being good after less than fifteen minutes.
• The characters this episode are decent enough. Winston Churchill is a caricature spouting out famous quotes when prodded but Ian McNeice plays the part well, and his friendship with the Doctor is great fun to watch, especially when he tries to steal a TARDIS key. Bracewell is hardly the most memorable of characters but has two of the best scenes in the episode - his bomb being defused by his belief that he is human and the final scene where he's delighted to go on living and packs his suitcase to go off and live.

The Valeyard's Case:

• A bad quotation: "I love me a squaddie." "I am the Doctor, and you are the Daleks!" "Don't mess with me, sweetheart." "Do your worst, Adolf!"
• The teaser wasn't necessary. We didn't learn anything from it that we couldn't have from the moment of the Doctor and Amy's arrival to the reveal of the Ironsides. If it was just so that that woman could mention her boyfriend in an attempt at world-building and adding an element of emotion, it failed on both accounts. Getting a regular person's perspective on the war and why they might be so blindly willing to trust the Daleks to end it would have been a great addition to the episode. Alas, that wasn't to be.
• Amy is far too casual in her treatment of both the Daleks and Winston Churchill. Rose was tentative around Metaltron in Dalek and was in awe when she met Queen Victoria; Martha exclaims "what the hell is that?" when she first sees a Dalek in Daleks in Manhattan and is amazed to meet Shakespeare. Just like her successor Clara Oswald, Amy takes things in her stride far too easily. How can the audience be nervous about the Daleks if the companion isn't? How can we care about meeting Winston Churchill if Amy doesn't? 
• "Have you ever fancied someone you know you shouldn't? Hurts, doesn't it?" Amy fancies the Doctor already? After Grace, Rose, Reinette, Martha, Astrid, Christina and River (and Clara yet to come), it would be more interesting if there was a female who didn't fancy the Doctor. She's supposed to be getting married in the morning and a companion with so few scruples is difficult to like. 
• I'm one of the few without a strong opinion on the new Dalek designs. They're quite cartoonish, yes, but the speed at which the design is dropped is ridiculous. Moffat could have tried to make them work but chooses to cowardly write them out as much as possible, with them pretty much disappearing after series 5. The new Daleks are introduced, do nothing but stand around in that one room and then retreat. They should have been fearsome and shot up the war chambers or something rather than being entirely impotent on that ship. Because of all of this it's difficult to see Victory of the Daleks as much more than a failure at Dalek marketing. A story that was quickly hushed up and forgotten about.

The Inquisitor's Judgement: As far as Dalek stories go, this is certainly one of the worst. Steven Moffat said in a 2018 interview on the Fan Show that he hadn't given enough attention to the second production block, and it shows. Although Bracewell and Churchill are good guest characters, the plot of this episode is paper-thin and the Daleks are something of a non-threat outside of the small vignettes of them looking suspicious in hallways early on. F

Doctor Who (Series 5)
The Beast Below  |  Victory of the Daleks  |  The Time of Angels/Flesh and Stone