Synopsis
New Year’s Eve. Sarah is working – again. Nick is her only customer – again. Same old same old. Except this year, their countdown to midnight will be the strangest and deadliest they have ever known. Why is an executioner Dalek targeting these two people, in this place, on this night? Why are they having to live through the same moments again? Can the Doctor, Yaz and Dan save them and survive into the New Year?
After the frantic, chaotic nature of Flux, it only seems right to return to a more standard, self-contained format again. And this year’s Festive Special, “Eve of the Daleks” is nothing if not standard Doctor Who fare. Written by Chris Chibnall and directed by Annetta Laufer, “Eve of the Daleks” finds the Doctor (Jodie Whittaker), Yaz (Mandip Gill), and Dan (John Bishop) trapped in a time loop, facing off against a revenge-seeking Dalek. As a stand-alone story, it’s fine. Nothing remarkable, nothing terrible. It makes for a fun watch, but it’s not the kind of episode that’ll stick with you long after it ends – despite some genuinely enjoyable moments.
NOTE: This review features spoilers for Doctor Who: Eve of the Daleks.
A Base-Under-Siege Story with a Timey-Wimey Twist
“Eve of the Daleks” plays like a standard base-under-siege story. Frustrated ELF Storage employee, Sarah (Aisling Bea), finds herself stuck at work again on New Year’s Eve. And to make matters worse, her only patron is Nick (Adjani Salmon), who’s hopelessly in love with her. Before long, the pair ends up embroiled in a trap for the Doctor laid by the Daleks. For you see, the Daleks aren’t too happy about that whole genocide-by-inaction thing from Flux‘s finale. So, an executioner Dalek’s been sent to exterminate the Doctor once and for all. And speaking of the Doctor, she’s in the process of rebooting her TARDIS (to hopefully undo all the damage caused to it by the Flux) and lands right in the Daleks’ trap. A solid set-up for a good romp if I’ve ever heard one. Doubly good since it revolves around the Doctor facing consequences for her actions.
But there’s a twist. The Doctor, Yaz, Dan, Sarah, Nick, and the Daleks are all caught in a time loop. And each time the loop resets, the entire loop shrinks by a minute. Meaning everyone is a minute closer to death with each reset. Because, of course, each loop ends with the deaths of the entire cast. (The first time this happens, it’s quite shocking. But it loses its impact with each reset). It’s a very fun twist on a well-worn sci-fi trope. And I really enjoyed the way it worked both as a plot device and as a conduit to get all of these characters to open up to each other. For all of my complaints about Doctor Who never slowing down to focus on character beats, this time loop gimmick offered a lot of chances to do just that – especially for the Doctor and her companions.
The Time Loop Gimmick is Both a Pro and a Con
The idea of a Doctor Who time loop story is great. And “Eve of the Daleks” mostly gets it right. The Daleks may not feel particularly frightening (nor is their plan ever really explained). And you might not entirely buy that the characters are ever in any real danger. But it’s still a lot of fun watching Doctor Who really lean into the idea of time loops. All of the characters catch onto what’s going on pretty quickly, so there’s a lot of time for some delightful time loop jokes. And the ticking timer works as an effective deadline for the characters. This isn’t a time loop that can go on forever, so the gang’s gotta figure out what’s going on – and quickly. That sense of impending danger gives the story a nice amount of tension, especially as the characters come closer and close to running out of time.
It’s only in the latter half of the story, where the logic of the loop starts to fall apart under one contrivance after another, that things get dicey. There’s a moment about 2/3 into the episode where everyone has an obvious chance to break free from the loop, yet they choose not to. For hand-wavey “we have to destroy the Daleks” reasons. And that’s really frustrating. Then, the Doctor’s ultimate plan to stop the Daleks and free the gang from the time loop feels ridiculously overcomplicated and collapses under any real thought. (I mean, there’s no way anyone could actually pull that plan off in sixty seconds.) But it’s hard to argue there’s not a lot of fun to be had here. The time loop stuff never really pushes the episode outside of standard base-under-siege territory, despite its potential. But it also remains a deeply enjoyable watch.
More of a Rom-Com than a Thriller
“Eve of the Daleks” is more of a rom-com than it is a thriller. The episode features not one, but two romantic subplots. There’s Nick and Sarah, two “good-hearted weirdoes” who end up falling for each other after Nick confesses his crush to her during one of the time loops. Unfortunately, I never bought into their romance. The episode just doesn’t do enough to show why the two of them would gravitate toward one another. Their early interactions are beyond painfully awkward, and it doesn’t seem like Sarah likes him all that much. Plus, there’s a scene about halfway through where Nick comes across as such a red flag that the episode even (jokingly) acknowledges it. Salmon and Bea do the best they can to sell Nick and Sarah’s relationship. And Bea genuinely steals almost every scene she’s in. But I just don’t think their dynamic quite clicked.
On the other hand, the episode finally confirms what many have long suspected – Yaz and the Doctor have feelings for each other. Amidst all this chaos, Dan gets Yaz to finally admit her feelings about the Doctor. And it’s such a genuinely sweet scene that shows just how close Yaz and Dan have gotten over the past seven episodes. And Dan, not content to stop there, even confronts the Doctor about her feelings toward Yaz, basically telling her that she’s not as blind to emotions as she pretends to be. Honestly, Dan playing matchmaker for his new time-traveling friends is absolutely hilarious. While we don’t get a moment where the Doctor and Yaz talk to each other about their feelings (yet), the way that Doctor Who is starting to explore their relationship is an absolute delight and I hope the remaining specials follow up on it.
Final Thoughts
At the end of the day, “Eve of the Daleks’ is about as average an episode of Doctor Who as you can find. There’s plenty of stuff to like, and plenty of stuff to dislike. It feels like the definition of a safe episode. Which, to be fair, is pretty welcome after the chaotic, boundaries-pushing roller-coaster that was Flux. I just wish some of the individual elements worked a little better. The time loop concept was great on paper, but the execution never quite hit the mark for me. And the same is true for Nick and Sarah’s relationship. I definitely see what Chibnall was going for, I’m just not sure he ever got there. But then the way the episode further develops the various relationships between Yaz, Dan, and the Doctor work really well. And I wouldn’t trade those scenes for the world.
Overall, “Eve of the Daleks” just isn’t really an episode I see myself rewatching. It’s inoffensive, and enjoyable for what it is. But it’s also not particularly memorable. And to be honest, there’s nothing really wrong with that. There are far worse things to be than enjoyingly average.
Rating: 3.5/5
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Part-time writer, part-time theatre nerd, full-time dork.
