Doctor Who Recap -- 08/30

Today I'm starting a new segment in which I give a synopsis of this week's Doctor Who for those who missed it. Spoiler alert!

In tonight's episode "Into the Dalek," the Doctor saves an outer space soldier named Journey Blue from dying. He takes her back to her ship Aristotle to find it was a medical vessel but has now been militarized to battle the Daleks. The commander takes the Doctor to see the one remaining patient, and he finds it's a Dalek. However, the prisoner gives a surprising declaration: "Daleks must be destroyed." Somehow this one has realized the rest of its kind is evil. Intrigued, the Doctor and Clara, along with several soldiers including Journey, shrink themselves down and go inside its head, whereupon the Doctor names it Rusty. Rusty explains that even after many years of Dalek destruction, it witnessed the birth of a star and realized life would always prevail. The Doctor, excited about finally finding a good Dalek, proceeds to repair Rusty's radiation leak. Unfortunately, this causes Rusty to go back to normal, and it breaks free of its confinement and starts killing everyone on board the Aristotle.

In order to help the others escape, one of the soldiers named Gretchen sacrifices herself and ends up meeting Missy, the mysterious woman from the season premier. Meanwhile, the Doctor laments that all Daleks are irreversibly evil. However, Clara convinces him otherwise. She believes that Rusty has the potential to be good, and together they journey to its brain to retrieve its suppressed memories and remind it of what it has lost. They succeed, but Rusty looks inside the Doctor's mind and sees his hatred for the Daleks, which it then adopts. Once again convinced that all Daleks are evil, Rusty helps them fight off a Dalek boarding party which arrived when it sent a signal after being repaired by the Doctor. The Daleks are defeated, but the Doctor doesn't consider it a victory; it was achieved through hatred and not goodness. They go to leave, and Journey asks to accompany them on their journey. But the Doctor is through with soldiers after this experience, and refuses.

Afterwards, the Doctor and Clara discuss the question he posed earlier: "Am I a good man?" She replies she doesn't know, but he wants to be, and that's what matters.

I feel this week's episode is solid. It's always enjoyable when the Daleks come to visit, and we got a little more insight into their nature. Peter Capaldi continues to impress as the new Doctor and I think he's going to do repeat. Also, the continuing mystery of Missy is keeping me intrigued, and I can't wait to see where they're going with this.