Clara wakes up and finds herself dangling upside down from a rock pillar. Missy is seated nearby, and Clara realizes that they're in the desert outside of the Dalek city. The Time Lord sharpens a stick and talks about a time that the Doctor was alone and being stalked by fifty invisible android assassins. She asks Clara how he survived, and she figures he used a teleport bracelet the Doctor stole from the androids, and used their energy discharges to teleport away. Clara realizes that's how Missy escaped death during the Cyber invasion, and how they escaped the Daleks. Missy admits that the Doctor must have made thousands of calculations in a few second, and then releases Clara. When she wonders why the Doctor always survive, Clara figures that it's because he always believes there's a way out. Missy points out that the Doctor made out a will and threw himself a goodbye party, and Clara says that then they have to find a way out for him.
In Davros' chamber, Davros explains that it took him a long time to realize the Doctor was the man who left him in the mine field. The Doctor finds a discarded Dalek weapon and puts it to Davros' head, and orders him to get out. The Daleks soon detect that Davros is leaving the infirmary, and they order him to return. Davros warns them that the Doctor is escaping, and the Daleks fan out to search their city.
Outside the city, Clara and Missy see the Daleks mobilizing. Missy looks around and spots what they need.
The Daleks detect Davros approaching the command center. The door opens, revealing the Doctor in Davros' travel pod.
Colony Sarff enters the infirmary in response to Davros' calls.
The Daleks open fire on the Doctor and there's a burst of light.
Missy takes Clara to a nearby Dalek sewer, and shoves her into the shaft.
The Doctor calmly sips tea and points out that Davros equipped his travel chair with a personal force field. He takes out the Dalek weapon and aims it at them.
Clara recovers and grabs Missy's discarded stick, and Missy is unimpressed. She turns her back on Clara, who does nothing, and then disarms her. Missy points out that the sewer is filled with decaying Daleks, and they begin shrieking.
The Daleks assure the Doctor that he won't succeed at whatever he intends, and he demands over the loudspeaker that he wants Clara safe and alive.
In the sewers, Missy and Clara hear the Doctor.
The Daleks insist that they actually killed Clara. Missy, listening, warns that the Doctor has no hope now and no one is safe. Davros comes on the monitor and Sarff releases his snakes into the travel chair, grabbing the Doctor. In the infirmary, Davros tells Sarff to be subtle because they are going to entrap the Doctor.
Missy directs Clara to a scanner and the Daleks detect her. She then handcuffs Clara to the scanner and explains that she's the bait so that they can trap and kill a Dalek. She takes out a broach made out of dark star material and tells Clara to keep talking. When a Dalek emerges from a nearby lift, it prepares to exterminate her. Missy punches holes in it repeatedly. It dismisses the damage as insignificant, but the Dalek remains swarm over it trying to get inside. Missy frees Clara and they get clear just in time as the Dalek explodes.
In the past, a young Davros realizes that he's alone and demands that the Doctor help him.
The Doctor wakes up and finds himself in a chamber with the restored Davros. He warns that the chamber is sealed and that it is time to conclude their business together. Davros directs the Doctor's attention to the cables in the center of the chamber and invites him to step closer. The Doctor is unaware that some of the cables are Sarff in his snake forms.
Missy opens the Dalek travel machine and tosses away the creature within. She then tells Clara to get inside.
The Doctor points out that the Daleks don’t care much for Davros, and figures that the cables are a hyperspace relay with a genetic component. Davros explains that he's connected to the life force of every Dalek on Skaro, keeping him alive. The Daleks have no choice because they are afflicted with a genetic defect: respect for him. The Doctor realizes that he can use the cables to destroy every Dalek, and Davros asks if he's ready to commit genocide. He takes the Doctor's hand and holds it up to the cables, and asks if he's ready to be a god. The Doctor hesitates and Davros points out that no one would know, and asks if it's his conscience or his shame. Pacing, the Doctor says that he came because Davros is sick and he asked for the Doctor to come, and on a good day... he's the Doctor.
Once Clara is inside the Dalek casing, Missy hooks up the telepathic contacts to her. Once Clara is hooked up, she takes control of the unit and Missy seals her in. When Clara recites her name, the Dalek translates for her, saying “I am a Dalek.” It translates everything that she says into Dalek, and Missy explains that Daleks focus their emotions into their weaponry. They then head off the for the Dalek city.
Davros asks the Doctor why he left Gallifrey. When he says he was bored, Davros says that he’s lying. He shows him the confession dial that Sarff confiscated and starts to open it. The Doctor tells him not to touch him and snatches up... his glasses.
Clara leads Missy into the city and a Dalek asks why she hasn’t exterminated Missy. When Clara doesn’t have an answer, Missy says that she has special significance and the Dalek confirms that she is a Time Lord.
Davros repeats his question, pointing out that he has slaughtered billions of Daleks and Time Lords. The Doctor says that he has brought Gallifrey back and it’s safe from both of them. Surprised, Davros congratulates him and says that every man should have a race and an allegiance. He insists that he is happy for the Doctor, and asks the Doctor to approach him. Davros manages to open his own eyes, and then says that the Doctor managed to redeem the Time Lords. He tells him to protect his own as he has sought to protect his, gently touches the Doctor’s hand, and asks if he was right and he was a good man. The Doctor realizes that he is truly dying, and Davros says that they have established is that the Doctor is not a good Doctor. They both laugh for a moment, and then Davros says that he will die before sunset.
Clara ushers Missy into the command center, who demands to see Missy. She says that she has a gift for them--Clara--in return for complete control of the Doctor.
Davros looks out on Skaro, while the Doctor hooks him up to the cables. He warns that the Daleks on Skaro aren’t enough to keep Davros alive anymore, and that he’s not helping Davros: he’s helping the boy he abandoned on a battlefield. The sun starts to come up, and Davros wishes that at least once they had been on the same side. The Doctor tells him that they’re on the same side now, looking at the sun, and the Doctor summons a bit of his regeneration energy and grabs the cable. Davros laughs in triumph as he draws on the Doctor’s energy, and the Daleks will feed on it.
In the command center, the Daleks glow with regeneration energy. Missy realizes what is happening and walks out, leaving Clara behind.
Davros says that there was a prophecy on Gallifrey of a hybrid creature: half Dalek and half Time Lord. As the energy drain continues, Missy runs in, pulls a Dalek weapon from one of the Daleks, and shoots the cables.
Throughout the city, the Daleks come back to life and realize that the experiment succeeded. They chant in praise of Davros.
Missy wakes up the Doctor, who demands to know where Clara is. Davros boasts that thanks to the Doctor, his life is prolonged and the Daleks will rule supreme. The Doctor starts counting down from three and grabs the confessional dial. When he reaches 1, the city starts shaking. The Doctor says that he knew what Davros had planned and let him do it, knowing the energy would revive the Dalek remains in the sewers. He runs out and Missy goes with him as Davros begs him for help.
A Dalek confronts the Doctor and he asks it where Clara is. Clara is trapped inside, and everything she says identifies herself as a Dalek. Missy runs up and tells the Doctor that the Dalek is the one that killed Clara as they left the city. She tells the Doctor to indulge himself and kill the Dalek, and Clara finally begs him to stop. The Dalek recites “mercy,” and the Doctor realizes that the word shouldn’t exist in its vocabulary. He lowers the Dalek weapon and tells Clara to think the word “open.” She does and the casing opens. Furious, the Doctor tells Missy to run, and she says that it’s the Doctor who has always run as she leaves.
As the Dalek remains shatter the city, the Doctor and Clara run to the command center. They go to the center of the room and the Daleks open fire... and their energy bolts bounce off of the TARDIS force field. The Doctor explains that it dispersed momentarily and puts on his sunglasses--which contain his sonic technology--to reassemble the TARDIS around them
Several Daleks corner Missy and prepares to exterminate her. Surrounded and outgunned, Missy says that she’s just had a very clever idea.
Outside the city, Clara and the Doctor watch the city collapse. She wonders what’s in the confession dial, and the Doctor merely pockets it without a word. He then wonders how the Dalek could have said the word “mercy.” The Doctor wonders how a tiny bit of mercy got into the DNA of the Daleks, and then runs to the TARDIS.
The TARDIS departs and the young Davros turns to see the Doctor with a Dalek weapon. The Doctor says that he’s from the future, aims the weapon at Davros... and shoots the hand mines. He tells the boy that he’s taking him home, and the boy wonders if he’s the enemy. The Doctor says that none of it matters... as long as there is mercy. After a moment, the boy takes the Doctor’s hand and they go home.
Written by Gadfly on Sep 27, 2015