History Recap / DoctorWho2019NYSResolution

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[[caption-width-right:350:Happy New Year.]]

New Year's Day, 2019. Archaeologists Lin and Mitch come in to their dig site underneath Sheffield City Hall, since they don't have anything else to do that day. They're digging up the body of the third custodian. Mitch has heard of the now half-mythical battle that the custodians survived, but Lin doesn't believe that it happened. And when the third piece of the creature is placed under a UV light, it begins to awaken, calling the other two pieces to it from across the world, making it whole again so it can proceed on its mission: the subjugation of Earth. When the "artifact" disappears, Lin goes to look for it while Mitch stays at the workstation, and in the tunnel stumbles upon a grey squid-like creature on the wall, which she reaches for out of a disgusted curiosity...

Onboard the TARDIS, the Doctor and her companions have been repeatedly celebrating the New Year in various times and places when the ship detects something going on back in Sheffield, something dangerous. The Doctor duly steers the ship back to Earth, where Mitch gets a surprise when the time machine lands right in front of him. Mitch and Lin explain that one of the artifacts is missing, and Lin mentions the squid-like thing she saw on the wall. The Doctor collects some of the slime left behind on the wall to figure out what she's dealing with, and they think the creature has gone into the water of the nearby sewers, so it could be anywhere. They disperse, with Lin and Mitch sent back home since the Doctor declares the dig site quarantined, as the time travellers go to Ryan and Graham's house.

Unfortunately the creature is ''not'' in the sewers — it's attached itself to Lin, and when she gets home, she tries to get rid of it, but it starts to control her, and forces her to use her computer to look up information on the current state of the Earth, data it can use to destroy the world. The creature eventually forces Lin to take to the road, eventually stealing a police car and uniform, to steal weapons and alien technology, specifically its ''own'' technology, the remnants at least. The Doctor and company only realize what they're dealing with after it's already started, however, when the TARDIS informs her via a DNA test that their foe is the most dangerous creature in the universe: a Dalek.

In the middle of all of this, Ryan has to deal with his estranged dad Aaron turning up, trying to repair their relationship. Oh, and UNIT's operations have been disabled pending a financial review, so there's no help from that angle. And this isn't a normal Dalek they're facing: the Doctor, analyzing what the mutant is doing with its hostage, Lin, deduces it's an even ''more'' dangerous type, a reconnaissance scout, the first Daleks to leave Skaro and search for new worlds to conquer. The Dalek eventually uses Lin's body to construct a makeshift new casing for itself, and after the Doctor confronts it, it gets away and sets off to contact the Dalek fleet so the Earth will be ''annexed'' into their empire. When oblivious soldiers confront what they assume to be a mysterious new drone, they are slaughtered as they try to flee — not even a tank has any effect.

* CallBack: When the Dalek is using Lin's laptop to research Earth's defenses and what it's up against, the words "The Black Archive" pop up on screen. It was last referenced in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS35E8TheZygonInversion "The Zygon Inversion"]], with some of the action taking place there. The actual alien weapons facility made its original debut in ''Series/TheSarahJaneAdventures'' episode [[Recap/TheSarahJaneAdventuresS2E11E12EnemyOfTheBane "Enemy of the Bane"]]. It is implied that the Dalek material at MDZ may have come from there.

* NewMediaAreEvil: Amusingly inverted - When the Dalek commandeers all of the UK's communications bandwidth to contact the fleet, shutting down the Internet, we get a brief scene of a family shocked to find the Internet and Netflix do not work on New Year's Day; the family come to the conclusion that they'll have to actually ''talk'' to each other and the two children especially seem positively mortified.

* SuperPrototype: The Dalek featured in this episode is a recon scout, one of the first wave of Daleks to leave Skaro in search of worlds to conquer, and has capabilities not seen in standard Dalek soldiers. Due to it being from Skaro's early days, however, [[DeconstructedTrope it lacks many of the modern capabilities of Daleks]] (especially the Time War era Daleks), such as shielding technology. This results in its immobilization and the subsequent destruction of its casing twice.

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[[caption-width-right:350:''"What do you call this look, junkyard chic?"'']]

** The Doctor is... less than pleased... at the sight of Ryan's dad, Aaron, bluntly mentioning: "You weren't at Grace's funeral. Ryan waited for you. You let him down." She later refers to him making up for his "parenting deficit", thus showing that she is ''incredibly'' displeased...
** Graham is also very blunt when he tells Aaron that "you haven't done enough" in regards to being a parent and is more than a little smug at Aaron when he expresses shock at Ryan calling Graham "gramps".

* BittersweetEnding: Sure, the Dalek scout is defeated and the Earth is saved, while Ryan renews his relationship with his father (formerly a DisappearedDad), and Lin and Mitch both survive to pursue their RelationshipUpgrade. On the other hand, the Dalek exterminated dozens, if not hundreds, of humans while on its brief rampage across the UK.

** In the [[Recap/DoctorWhoS37E1TheWomanWhoFellToEarth first episode]] of Series 11, the Doctor forged her new sonic screwdriver out of refuse and spoons. In this special, a coda to S11, the recon Dalek forges a new casing out of farm equipment.

* BuryYourGays: Richard the security guard at MDZ gets killed after about a single line, in which he refers to his boyfriend.

* CallBack: When the Dalek is using Lin's laptop to research Earth's defences and what it's up against, the words "The Black Archive" pop up on screen. It was last referenced in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS35E8TheZygonInversion "The Zygon Inversion"]], with some of the action taking place there. The actual alien weapons facility made its original debut in ''Series/TheSarahJaneAdventures'' episode [[Recap/TheSarahJaneAdventuresS2E11E12EnemyOfTheBane "Enemy of the Bane"]]. It is implied that the Dalek material at MDZ may have come from there.

* CutawayGag: Rather unusually for ''Doctor Who''. After realising that the Dalek has caused a communications outage, we cut to a random family who finds that their Internet is down. The children and mother are horrified that they might have to actually talk to each other. The scene never gets brought up again.

* DoubleMeaningTitle: Aaron's New Year's resolution to try and repair his relationship with his son, and the Dalek's resolution to try and conquer the Earth for the Dalek empire. It could also apply to Lin and Mitch resolving to act on their feelings for one another.

* HandshakeRefusal: Aaron attempts a handshake when first meeting the Doctor, only to withdraw it when she calls him out for missing his mother's funeral.

* ImprovisedArmour: Using Lin, the Dalek builds itself a new casing out of local materials. It's fully functional, but is definitely rather more scavenged-looking and cobbled-together than normal Dalek armour. The Doctor calls it "junkyard chic".

** The Doctor then straight-up dumps the Dalek in a supernova to finally get rid of it.

* NewMediaAreEvil: When the Dalek commandeers all of the UK's communications bandwidth to contact the fleet, shutting down the Internet, we get a brief scene of a family shocked to find the Internet and Netflix do not work on New Year's Day; the family come to the conclusion that they'll have to actually ''talk'' to each other and the two children especially seem positively mortified.

* NewYearHasCome: Naturally, since it's a New Year's special set on its airdate.

* RealityEnsues: In our current political climate where tensions in both the US and UK governments are threatening the foundations of traditional alliances with other nations, it unfortunately makes too much sense that UNIT would never thrive in the midst of it. And said lack of recent alien invasions is largely down to the fact that they usually ''cover up'' said incidents to keep them out of the public eye, which does no favours for their show of being an essential organization.

* SuperPrototype: The Dalek featured in this episode is a recon scout, one of the first wave of Daleks to leave Skaro in search of worlds to conquer, and has capabilities not seen in standard Dalek soldiers. Due to it being from Skaro's early days, however, it lacks many of the modern capabilities of Daleks, especially the Time War era Daleks, such as shielding technology. This results in its imobilisation and the subsequent destruction of its casing twice.

** The ObstructiveBureaucrat at the call centre seems to be one against call centres in general, treating with almost complete unconcern the pending alien invasion of Earth.

* UnderestimatingBadassery: Likely due to the lengthy period it's spent out of commission, the Dalek, although clearly having heard of the Doctor as an enemy of the Daleks, doesn't regard her as seriously as Daleks usually do, which plays a factor in its defeat.
* UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom: Had the bandits not attacked the third custodian, there's a good chance Mitch and Lin would not have inadvertently brought a Dalek back to life.

* XtremeKoolLetterz: The Doctor announces that she has "skillz. With a Z."

The one with the Dalek cop.

The one where we start the new year with an old "friend".

** The Doctor is... less than pleased... at the sight of Ryan's dad, Aaron, bluntly mentioning: "You weren'tt at Grace's funeral. Ryan waited for you. You let him down." She later refers to him making up for his "parenting deficit", thus showing that she is ''incredibly'' displeased...

* BewareTheNiceOnes: The Doctor is... less than pleased... at the sight of Ryan's dad, Aaron, bluntly mentioning: "You weren'tt at Grace's funeral. Ryan waited for you. You let him down." She later refers to him making up for his "parenting deficit", thus showing that she is ''incredibly'' displeased...

* CallBack: When the Dalek is using Lin's laptop to research Earth's defences and what it's up against, the words "The Black Archive" pop up on screen. It was last referenced in [[Recap/DoctorWho50thASTheDayOfTheDoctor "The Day of the Doctor"]], with some of the action taking place there. The actual alien weapons facility made its original debut in ''Series/TheSarahJaneAdventures'' episode [[Recap/TheSarahJaneAdventuresS2E11E12EnemyOfTheBane "Enemy of the Bane"]]. It is implied that the Dalek material at MDZ may have come from there.

* TakeThat: UNIT being suspended due to “budgeting issues” seems to be a major one against Brexit and the SkewedPriorities of the UK government’s budgeting.

* ArchEnemy: This incarnation of The Doctor comes into contact with her age-old enemy, who she calls the most dangerous creature in the universe. Likewise, once the Dalek learns her identity, it shoots blindly at her as The Doctor is the enemy of all Daleks.

* MythologyGag: The last three Dalek stories in the classic series all had titles of the form "[Vaguely Religious Noun Beginning With R] of the Daleks" ([[Recap/DoctorWhoS21E4ResurrectionOfTheDaleks "Resurrection"]], [[Recap/DoctorWhoS22E6RevelationOfTheDaleks "Revelation"]], [[Recap/DcotorWhoS25E1RemembranceOfTheDaleks "Remembrance"]]). This story would have restarted the pattern if the Dalek had been mentioned in the title.

* MythologyGag: The last three Dalek stories in the pre-1989 TV series all had titles of the form "[Vaguely Religious Noun Beginning With R] of the Daleks" (Resurrection, Revelation, Remembrance). This story would have restarted the pattern if the Dalek had been mentioned in the title.

* UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom: Had the bandit not attack the third custodian, there's a good chance Mitch and Lin would not have inadvertently brought a Dalek back to life.

* IWillFightSomeMoreForever: Averted. As soon as the commander of the soldiers realizes that the "unknown drone" is heavily armed and their weapons are useless, he orders his troops to run. It doesn't do them much good, but credit for making the right call under the circumstances.

* CallBack: When the Dalek is using Lin's laptop to research Earth's defences and what it's up against, the words "The Black Archive" pops up on screen. It was last referenced in [[Recap/DoctorWho50thASTheDayOfTheDoctor "The Day of the Doctor"]], with some of the action taking place there. The actual alien weapons facility made its original debut in ''Series/TheSarahJaneAdventures'' episode [[Recap/TheSarahJaneAdventuresS2E11E12EnemyOfTheBane "Enemy of the Bane"]]. It is implied that the Dalek material at MDZ may have come from there.

* MuggedForDisguise: The Dalek, while controlling Lin, kills two police officers who pull over her car, then steals the female officer's uniform and their patrol car to get around unhindered.

* NewMediaAreEvil: When the Dalek commandeers all of the UK's communications bandwidth to contact the fleet, shutting down the Internet, we get a brief scene of a family shocked to find the Internet and Netflix do not work on New Year's Day; the family come to the conclusion that they'll have to actually ''talk'' to each other and the two children especially seem positively mortified.

* BorrowedBiometricBypass: After killing Richard the security guard, the Dalek controlling Lin drags his whole body over to the door to open the lock with his fingerprint.