I really enjoyed 90% of this episode, so a success for me and one of the best of the Whittaker era so far.
The Doctor was great. We're finally getting those little moments from Jodie that remind of the previous Doctors like "I learnt to think like a Dalek a long time ago." And having a villain to face off with who wasn't a teeth-covered blue muppet gave her a chance to shine - the scene with her talking to the Dalek-woman from the Tardis was electric! I loved it! Wish we'd seen more of her scarf.
Graham was good as usual, and Ryan actually was pretty good too. Yaz was once again just kind of there sadly. As for our guest stars, I was very surprised none of them died! Ryan's dad worked well in my opinion and I found some of those scenes genuinely moving. The ridiculousness of the man carrying a microwave oven with him wherever he went and trying to sell it while supposed to be reconnecting with his son is.... yeah. The two archaeologists were very likeable and the woman did very well at portraying a dalek puppet.
The story felt like a film which was cool - big stakes without trying to go too big, moving at a consistent pace, plenty of wow moments like the creature revealed, the Dalek blowing through the wall, etc.
There were a couple of scenes that annoyed me because they felt out of place and wasting time though - the phonecall to unit, the unnecessary gay security guard death scene: that stupid scene with the family with no wifi. The rest of it though, after a slightly slow start, I was on the edge of my seat.
I didn't like that they screwed Unit. I get that they wanted to explain why Kate and UNIT didn't show up and the namedrop was cool but did they have to do it so stupidly?
The Dalek itself was mostly pretty cool. The creature on the woman's back was genuinely pretty scary. The Dalek voice sounded a bit different and I liked it. Being a special recon Dalek felt a bit like the writer just going I can do what I want with it now when they didn't really need to - I don't think anyone expected the Daleks to be exactly the same in the new era. The top half of the Dalek was cool, but the way it suddenly went from skinny to wide at the hips I thought looked rubbish. I did really like the red light inside it though. And the extermination effects looked very cool. And it felt like the Dalek was an actual threat in a way Daleks haven't for ages which was what I most wanted.
Overall, there are flaws but it did everything I wanted it to and I really enjoyed it!
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