Doctor Who: Asylum Of The Daleks Review

The Doctor returns for one of his finest adventures yet!
There were so many ways in which the season opener for Doctor Who Series Seven could have gone wrong- right from the off, it seemed that with the lack of a major series arc and much of the episode's footage debuted in trailers that the first episode might be set to flop. Nothing could be further from the truth, though: Asylum Of The Daleks was an inspired triumph from Steven Moffat, a story that balanced the many elements it had thrown into it perfectly and brought some stunning surprises along the way.

First up, let's get the obvious one 'out of the way': in contrast to our knowledge of her debut in the Christmas Special, the new companion star Jenna-Louise Coleman made a fully-fledged appearance in Asylum as the mysterious Oswin Oswald, a woman apparently trapped in the titular Dalek prison who held a dark secret. It appears that there's much more to Oswin than meets the eye, especially considering that she seemed to know the Doctor would discover who/what she was as she smiled to the camera. Better yet, though, Jenna-Louise rocked the role, sometimes speaking at a faster rate than even Matt could and injecting many laughs as she was introduced for the first time. Few show producers would be so audacious as to show off the star who's 'replacing' her predecessor whilst the latter is still filming her final adventures, so it's telling that only the Moff can pull it off.

If we reverse back, though, we can see too that Karen Gillan and Arthur Darvill have fully grown into their roles as the dividing Ponds. From 'Is it wrong that I've missed this?' to the beautiful, tear-jerking scene where the couple rekindle their love (engineered brilliantly by the good Doc), this time around they've proved their own as truly incredible companions, and it'll be a crying shame to lose them in four weeks' time. The Daleks were on top form this time too, with glimpses at their classic incarnations aplenty in the Asylum, and very dark implications at their similarity to the Nazi regime once again. There was even true fear to be had from them, in the brilliant homage to the scene where Barbara was once menaced by the Daleks outside a locked door and indeed the human slaves.

Already, I'm losing myself in the countless strong points of the episode, and I could go on- the special effects overhaul, the mostly impressive new spin on the title sequence, the incredible rendition of a ravaged Skaro and the Moff's staying true to the Doctor stepping back into the shados- but in the name of fairness I'll just mention the minor weaknesses. This was debatably less of a Dalek story than one for the Ponds, but I couldn't care less, as Closing Time worked similar (albeit slightly weaker) magic with the Cyber-Men hidden last year. Perhaps it would have been nice for the classic Daleks to get more screen-time, too? Nevertheless, Asylum Of The Daleks remains an outstanding opening to Series Seven, the best season premiere I've ever seen Who give us and a cracking standalone episode to boot. Now to see where this intriguing minor arc develops next...
5/5