Doctor Who: Resolution (2019) - Review
Expectations is probably a key reason as to why 'Resolution' just didn't do much for me. The episode doesn't feature a traditional Doctor Who title sequence...for no reason whatsoever. Seriously, why not guys? At least in 'The Woman Who Fell to Earth' it made narrative sense to introduce the characters before the alien element, but in 'Resolution'? I was expecting there to be a pre-credits scene, reveal the Dalek and then unveil the full title as 'Resolution of the Daleks'. Sure, I don't have a problem with the title, but if there wasn't any reason to omit the title sequence, why do it?
Anyway, let's cut to the chase here - that reconnaissance Dalek (as its been dubbed) didn't really look great. It's big reveal moment was ultimately when the episode lost me. It just looked really poor, and not necessarily in an intentional way. The Dalek continues to be an incredible threat, but it just looks a bit silly. I think from looking at the official photos of it since viewing the episode, the strange proportions are what kills the look. It almost reminds me of a Funko Pop toy, designed to look cute and cuddly as opposed to a menacing war machine. I had hoped for a new design of Dalek, and while this is clearly a one-off, I just couldn't help but feel disappointed in the end result. I think I initially overreacted as to how bad the design was, but its not great. I think the fact that we never really got to see a proper Dalek made it all the worse, because to someone new to Doctor Who - that's a really bad first impression of the series' greatest foes.
Whilst I think it was a very scary twist, the Dalek mutant possessing Lin was also a slightly questionable plot-point for me. On the one hand, it's really freaky and makes the Dalek an instantly intimidating threat. On the other hand...can Daleks do that? How does that really work? The excuse appears to be that because its a reconnaissance Dalek, it has specific abilities to make it ideal for exploring new worlds for potential conquest. I could probably excuse that better though if it had actually exterminated Lin after moving into its casing, as it just seemed strange for it to leave Lin alive at all. Actually, I think Chibnall missed a trick in not having the mutant kill Ryan's dad, but perhaps that would've left the episode on too dour a note. We never got to see Dalek high command though, which seemed like perfect cliffhanger material to bring people back next year.
The thing is, 'Resolution' hangs together very well - in theory. There's a nice variety in locations, the story has a lot of scope, the villain is (on paper) really intimidating and there's a fair bit of character stuff thrown in there too for Graham and Ryan. Not Yaz though. Why does no one want to give Yaz some character development? Anyway, I thought the supporting cast were very good, and while the TARDIS seemed very crowded towards the end, each character felt defined - unlike Chibnall's 'Arachnids in the UK' earlier in Series 11. 'Resolution' is a potentially strong episode, if nothing particularly great. The gags about U.N.I.T and the internet were...quite frankly terrible and a waste of time, while the drama between Ryan and his dad was quite strong, if a little separate from the rest of the episode.
I guess I just felt disappointed by 'Resolution'. Sure, there's tension, but that gets killed once the dustbin Dalek is unveiled. Sure, there's defined characters but there are definitely too many. And sure, Jodie's performance is her best all year but...could she not have a proper Dalek to face-off against? This is our last episode of Doctor Who for an entire year and this just suffered from a lot of the same monster-of-the-week issues everyone had with 'The Battle of Ranskoor Av Kolos' a few weeks ago. This had a laughable monster, no real sense of conclusion for the season and an overstuffed cast. It tried something new, yes, but this episode mishandled what could've been a brilliant reintroduction for the Daleks, and considering they're my favourite Who monster, I'm pretty disappointed. Sorry Chibnall. 6/10
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