‘Doctor Who’ Recap: ‘Resolution’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

THIS IS THE EMERGENCY SPOILER ALERT SYSTEM...YOU ARE ADVISED TO READ AT YOUR OWN RISK...

It’s been quite the unique year when it comes to Doctor Who, because nothing about this series has resembled the old guard of the show with the Thirteenth Doctor at the helm of the TARDIS and quite frankly, that’s a good thing. Because this season of change has allowed for Jodie Whittaker to shine as the Doctor since her character has been taken to new heights this year and these adjustments have allowed for the writing to explore brave new frontiers and to me, all of the changes that have come about, have made this year, one of the finest the saga has ever offered and while a new Doctor and new direction for the series should have been enough for us to digest, the series had one more big surprise waiting for us under its proverbial sleeve.
 
After all, if there’s one thing that’s been a true staple of the modern era of the show, it’s the Christmas Special, something we Whovians love gathering around the T.V. for long after we’ve enjoyed a delicious dinner and unwrapped our presents. But this year, that special was pushed down the line to New Year’s Day, leaving me to wonder exactly what the series was planning because making this kind of a move had to mean that something bigger was on the horizon, the kind of story that needed to be free of the weight of Christmas and as it turns out, I was right since ‘Resolution’ delivered a tour de force story on ‘Who Year’s Day’, one that featured the return of an age old villain to the saga; the Daleks.
 
However, before we dig too deeply into their return, we need to take a moment and talk about something that is an important element of the holiday special, the fact that it always has a little bit of heart. For every single special that came before this one had a dash of holiday cheer or special moments with the characters and this particular tale was no exception to that since it featured a reunion between Ryan and his mostly absent father, Aaron, and well, this was quite the brilliant addition to the story. Because it served as a lovely break from the more terrifying moments involving our iconic villain, but also because it finally resolved a lot of lingering pain for Ryan.
 
Because Ryan finally had the opportunity to finally say what he needed to say to his dad regarding his excessive absence from Ryan’s life and he wasn’t the only one to hammer this point home and force Aaron to face his past and his mistakes since Graham made a go of it as well. And he was finally able to get Aaron to explain some of his reasoning for being absent from his family’s life and express his regret when it comes to how he’s handled his relationship with Ryan and it was just awesome to see the show take the time to focus on character growth in an episode that quite frankly made action and adventure and thrills and chills a greater focus, and all of that came courtesy of the Doctor’s greatest enemy. 

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In fact, kudos to Chris Chibnall for writing a script that removed the goofy stigma that the Daleks have endured over the past few years because here…they were back to their terrifying selves, or self in this case. For in reality it was only one ancient Dalek on Earth, and it wanted nothing more than to complete its mission and satiate its bloodlust and it managed to accomplish the latter of those goals since this Dalek was murder happy, slaughtering people with impunity in this tale and what made this creature all the more terrifying, is how it turned out to be the most resourceful and intelligent and conniving Dalek of the modern era, outside of Davros that is, since it was able to scheme its way into surviving every bad thing that came its way and that matters, because this little punk’s resilience pushed the Doctor to make a tough decision.
 
If anything, how the Doctor dealt with this surprise Dalek is what made this episode so supremely worthwhile. Because let’s be honest, when it comes to the Doctor and the Daleks, leaving emotion at the door is nearly impossible for either side, especially the Doctor since she’s seen horrors untold when it comes to these squirmy schemers and the first thing that I really liked when it came to her having to face off against them once again, is how she was in essence on her own this time around since we came to discover that UNIT is no more, a plot point that I’m not sure how I feel about just yet, so that might be another blog for another time, so I digress.
 
Which circles us back to my point about the lack of help the Doc received in this tale, because it gave the new Doctor her greatest challenge to date and she handled it in magnificent fashion. She worked the clues and kept a level head when she discovered exactly what she was up against and it was chilling to see her face off with the Daleks for the first time, again. But what matters more about this standoff is that she stood toe to toe with her greatest foe and didn’t show an ounce of fear, something that honestly cannot be said of prior incarnations of the Doctor and well, it made her decision to put an end to this particular Dalek a sound one since she really did give the little guy every chance to stand down and see reason, but it refused to do so and it was either bid it farewell or see more innocent people perish.
 
If anything, it was refreshing and incredible to see the fierce side of the Doctor return, and while it may seem hypocritical of her to take a life when she’s preached preservation, it is obvious that this decision brings the Doctor’s journey this year to its logical conclusion since she is now the Doctor through and through, since the Doc, will do whatever it takes to preserve life. In the end however, I really enjoyed this New Year’s Day special. It was bold, and intense and terrifying from time to time since that Dalek was something else and I loved that the Doctor once again made it known that she’s the world’s greatest protector and at this point, I really cannot wait to see what adventures await us and Team TARDIS in 2020, and I will definitely be counting down the minutes until the Doctor returns. Until next year. 

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