YMMV / Doctor Who S35 E2 "The Witch's Familiar"

• Alternate Character Interpretation:
  • Was Davros's tearful speech about how a man should have a people to call his own just him manipulating the Doctor, or was it honest regret over wiping out the Kaled race? Or heck, was it both?
  • Hell, was he even manipulating the Doctor at all, or was his almost-Heel Realization genuine as long as he thought he was dying, only for him to reject it and claim he was pulling the strings all along when he found out he had a way to survive? The episode goes out of its way to show that the Doctor and Missy literally think faster than regular humans, and can form complex plans in a few seconds. If Davros is the Doctor's intellectual equal, it's not absurd he could have done the same thing in the small time between the Doctor's announcement and coming to touch the cables. Then retroactively act like that was the plan all along because he doesn't want to admit he was ever that close to reforming.^note Yes, Davros refers to "ensnaring a Time Lord" earlier when talking to Sarf, but it could easily be that he was referring to his attempt to have a moral victory on the Doctor by getting him to give in and attempt cold-blooded genocide on the Daleks. Sarf's hiding among the cables would have been so he could instantly shut down the system, and restrain the Doctor, if and when he gave in.
• Broken Base: Not immediately, but when the next two-parter established that the Doctor is keeping his "sonic sunglasses" from this episode, a lot of fans began complaining about them and calling for the screwdriver's return. Others, who'd felt the sonic was overplayed in the Matt Smith era, were content to let Twelve buck tradition in this respect, at least for a season.
• Harsher in Hindsight: Clara at one point threatens Missy, telling her "she won't survive turning her back." Getting shot in the back is precisely how Missy dies in "The Doctor Falls."
• Heartwarming in Hindsight: Given what we know now about Dalek speech limitations, perhaps Rusty's "You are a good Dalek" meant something much kinder, but that was the only way he could express it?
• Like You Would Really Do It: Kill Davros? Have him admit he's made a terrible mistake creating the Daleks? No way!
• Take That, Scrappy!: Some fans really enjoyed seeing Clara be repeatedly humiliated.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot:
  • Davros facing his end was fraught with possibility — a Heel Realization or the Doctor mourning Davros's death were just the most obvious options. Status Quo Is God, however, and Davros shows his true nature at the end. ^note  Though admittedly, even if the plot had happened, it is still highly likely that some future showrunner would find a way to bring him back. Of course, because the audience is rooting to see Davros's tragic death, they feel the same betrayal as the Doctor when it turns out it's a trick.
  • Missy off-handedly mentions that she had a daughter. No incarnation of the Master has ever mentioned having offspring of any kind and it's never mentioned again.
• Villain Decay: The Daleks. Once again they are subservient and overshadowed by their creator with very little to do in the story. Also Missy kills one of them using a broach.
• The Woobie: It's hard not to pity the decaying Daleks in the sewers after seeing them in so much pain.

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