I was very curious to rewatch this episode, since I listened to Jubilee recently, but I’m sad to say that I didn’t like it that much. I don’t remember loving it, but I expected to like it more as I’ve enjoyed every episode more this rewatch.

I haven’t quite worked out what didn’t work for me yet, but I think the change of setting was part of it. I loved the alternative timelines aspect of Jubilee, and the part I found scariest about that story was the people’s treatment of the Daleks, rather than the lone Dalek itself. By this I mean the trivialising of them, putting them in adverts, films etc. I also think Jubilee did a great job of bringing out the Nazi aspect of the Daleks.

However, in this story, I just don’t see the Dalek as scary or threatening, and I find Van Statten and Adam annoying.

The underground vault setting does create some tension because all the characters are trapped alongside the Dalek, but apart from all the soldiers getting murdered, I didn’t feel a real threat from the Dalek, precisely because it’s contained.

I also find the ‘soldiers don’t listen and shoot the Dalek and all die’ trope to be a bit tiresome now, I feel like it’s been in a lot of episodes.
The Doctor is amazing here, especially the scene where he tells the Dalek to kill itself.
I think I’m just generally a bit bored of the Daleks by now. And I’m not a fan of ‘The Last of the Time Lords’ stuff, which was expanded on in this story.

I think that this episode would work well as an introduction to the Daleks for a new audience, and some of the themes from the original story make the episode more compelling, but it didn’t work for me because I prefer the way it is executed in Jubilee.