Review of Eve of the Daleks
Warning: This review may contain episode-specific spoilers and wild speculation about future episodes.

Welcome to year 12 of the blog! I’m not sure how much longer I’ll continue to update (at least through the middle of 2023, but more on that in my second January post), but for now I’m looking forward to continuing to share the journey with you.

Source – bbc.co.uk – © 2022 BBC

During the Thirteenth Doctor’s tenure, the tradition of a Christmas special has shifted to that of a New Year’s special. This year is no different, though we also get a special countdown to New Year’s in the deal.

In a shocking turn of events, at least on first viewing, the pre-credits sequence shows the Doctor and her friends bolting from the TARDIS as it does a self-reset, only to be confronted by Daleks—and summarily exterminated.

But we all know the Doctor can’t die here and now—she can’t even regenerate, since we know she’s got two more specials to go before that, and her replacement hasn’t been announced—so it’s not a complete surprise when the TARDIS team, not to mention their soon-to-be new acquaintances Sarah and Nick, are back. It’s a little surprising that everyone remembers having been exterminated, but that, of course, makes things all the more interesting.

As usual, Chibnall immediately draws the audience in with his keen characterizations that make us like and empathize with new characters. I was all set to be angry that the first one to die was the Black dude, but it turned out that not only did literally everyone else also get exterminated, but he was also immediately brought back—and made it out at the end. Still giving some side-eye for the tropiness of that first death, but I can almost forgive it because Nick was such an awesome character, and got some good character development.

Amazingly enough, the plot also worked well for me this time. Perhaps I was in a forgiving mood instead of a nitpicky one, since the only thing that really bothered me about it was that the loops were all clearly too long for the nominal time they lasted. I actually checked the timing on my second viewing, and they ranged from pretty much correct (the 4-minute loop) to ridiculously long (the 10-minute long 6-minute loop). I understand the narrative reasons for not keeping that close of an eye on the clock, but it was something that stood out to me even on my initial viewing, so perhaps that’s where the episode could have used a little more in the “attention to detail” department.

Other details, especially those of the Easter-egg variety, were delightful:

Perhaps the most significant part of the episode, though, was Dan—captain of the good ship Thasmin—finally calling Yaz out on her feelings for the Doctor, and vice versa. The tortured look on Yaz’s face as she was forced to confront a truth about herself she’d never admitted before, “not even [to] myself,” was simply beautiful for its raw vulnerability.

And yet somehow their relationship seems to be backsliding. At the end of Flux, it looked like they were finally headed in the right direction, with the Doctor admitting she shouldn’t have shut Yaz out. They were on their way to have A Talk™ when they ended up at ELF Storage instead; now the Doctor has slipped back into her old habits, putting Yaz off when she asks, “What did you mean when you said your actions were catching up with you?” with an insincere “Nothing!”

I found that aspect frustrating, but the rest of the episode actually ended up being exactly the kind of lighthearted romp I really needed right now. And the brief trailer for next time, an episode the internet tells me will be titled Legend of the Sea Devils, looked like a dream come true. I can hardly believe we’ll be getting an episode set in China, apparently revolving around Madame Ching—a notorious and exceedingly successful pirate from the early 19th-century.

I am crossing my fingers super hard that they don’t screw this up. Chibnall is not writing this one alone, but his rumored co-writer, Ella Road, appears to be non-Asian, too. At least they’ve chosen Haolu Wang, who is herself Chinese, to direct. Hopefully her involvement will help to eliminate any egregious errors that might have slipped through the writers’ awareness.
We’re on the downward slope of the Thirteenth Doctor’s tenure now, and I’d really like for all of these final specials to be as entertaining and enjoyable as Eve of the Daleks. It’s so wonderful to feel a sense of anticipation again, with Madame Ching in our immediate future and a new Doctor announcement lurking around the corner. Here’s hoping we can ride a high into the next New Year, as well.