Resolution

"Me and a Dalek? It's personal."

Writer: Chris Chibnall

Format: TV

Broadcast: 1st January 2019

Series: 2019 New Year's Day Special

Featuring: Thirteenth Doctor, Yaz, Ryan, Graham

Synopsis

As the New Year begins, a terrifying evil is stirring from across the centuries of Earth's history. As the Doctor returns Ryan, Graham and Yaz home, will they be able to overcome the threat to planet Earth?

Verdict

Resolution was a great little New Year's Day Special and was definitely better than I first remembered on broadcast earlier this year. I think I gave this episode a slightly lower rating first time around because I was just so excited by the prospect of the Thirteenth Doctor getting her Dalek story. It wasn't close to being a traditional Dalek episode, but second time around I realise that and I'm absolutely fine with it. I liked the little backdrop of how the Dalek had been around in the ninth century and was defeated by humanity banding together and burning its casing. If that wasn't enough, they then cut up the mutant body inside into three pieces and buried each part in a different part of the planet. The South Pacific, Siberia and South Yorkshire. The latter had been found in an excavation with the body part never buried and after being subjected to analysis under the light, it was reanimated. I wasn't too sure how it was able to just teleport its other two parts from across the globe, but I guess that was one of the enhanced abilities of the Dalek Reconnaissance Scout. I liked the idea of this being one of the very first Daleks to leave Skaro and head for Earth and it had now been delayed for so long. Jodie Whittaker was marvellous as the Doctor in this one and she absolutely shone as the same person as all of the incarnations that came before her when talking about the Daleks. This didn't feel like a first meeting and I think that is an important element of the episode. It worked well. Mitch and Lin were likeable characters and with the latter being taken over by the Dalek, she really had quite an eventful episode! I'm not sure if a simple jacket would have been so good and covering the mutant, but it taking over her as its pilot was very good. I wasn't overly thrilled with the music in this episode which is something I very rarely mention, but it was just too aggressive and present for my liking. It didn't take away from the episode itself, but I think it halted the story's pace a little. Ryan had a very good episode with his dad showing up again and after all of the parenting talk throughout Series 11, I guess this was inevitable and I actually enjoyed it much better than earlier in the year. Ryan stood up to him well and showed him that he should not be respected which I liked a lot. The Doctor was also not too pleased for him to be around given his lack of parenting skills and failure to show up at Grace's funeral. He ended being quite heroic though with the use of his microwave oven! Hmm, I'm still not sure where I stand on this aspect of the episode but I was glad that the mutant lived on after its makeshift casing was obliterated. I'm still not a big fan of the DIY Dalek casing and would have preferred the Thirteenth Doctor encounter a more traditional design, but I can appreciate that Chibnall was doing something new with the Daleks and despite appearances, it still worked very well. The scene in the TARDIS where the Doctor didn't actually take it to the Dalek fleet was fantastic and full of anticipation and I'll be honest, I thought that Aaron went with the Dalek into the supernova! I'm not sure what my memory was doing there, so it was a surprise that he survived and now had something of a good relationship with Ryan. I'm not sure I'll want him around at all in Series 12, but it is nice that Ryan can perhaps move on from this now and show a bit more personality. Overall, a very good episode! Oh, and Merry Christmas!

Rating: 8/10