Have you ever had an evening where you are supposed to be writing a blog post, but you wind up futzing around with an acoustic cover of Cum On Feel the Noize instead? Or is that just me? Anyway, I should write this thing so that I can go to bed.

So let's talk about the major positive course-correction that is the Twelfth Doctor's second season.

The Magician's Apprentice

(TARDIS Data Core recap)

The big problems with Peter Capaldi's first season as the Doctor were that a) the writing, with very few exceptions, was sub-par and b) the Doctor was written as being extremely alien and off-putting. Both things got fixed over the break. When I say the Doctor is much more personable this go-around, well... just check out his grand entrance to a Twelfth Century combat ring riding on an armored tank and playing electric guitar:

That's really Peter Capaldi playing guitar, by the way. In his college days he was the lead singer and guitar player in the punk band The Dreamboys (which also featured a young Craig Ferguson as drummer). 

So the gist of the story is that Davros is dying, and is searching for the Doctor for one final parlay before his ultimate demise. There is no explanation for how Davros didn't die at the end of Journey's End, but it really doesn't need one. He just kind of always comes back from the dead, so it's par for the course. Anyway, it also turns out that Missy is still alive, with no explanation on how she survived the end of Death in Heaven, but it doesn't really need one. S/he just kind of always comes back from the dead, so it's par for the course.

There's a bit of hopping around until the story takes the Doctor, Clara, and Missy to Skaro, with a bit of misdirection along the way. There on the Daleks' home world we get to see a couple of the very early Dalek models for the first time in color, and the always-awesome Special Weapons Dalek also makes an appearance.

Oh, and both Missy and Clara are disintegrated by Daleks, and the TARDIS is destroyed. So there's that. By the cliffhanger ending things are looking pretty grim for the Doctor.

I love this episode so much, it just comes right out of the gate making up for all of the sins of the previous season. In fact, this entire season (bar one episode) is just fantastic. As for that "bar one", let's just say I am going to be very cranky next Thursday.

Doctor Who is back in top form, and I couldn't be happier.

STATS:

Doctor(s): Twelfth
Companion(s): Clara Oswald, Kate Stewart
Episode(s): The Magician's Apprentice
Steps Walked: 7,571 today, 3,435,483 total
Distance Walked: 4.06 miles today, 1,795.70 miles total
Push-ups Completed: 0 today, 6,579 total
Sit-ups Completed: 0 today, 929 total
Weight: 247.06 lbs (five day moving average), net change -60.24 lbs