The Monthly Adventures #048 - “Davros" by Lance Parkin

Getting into the second instalment of the villain’s trilogy and getting away from what is definitely the third most iconic Doctor Who villain (totally), we are now diving into what would most certainly constitute as the Doctor’s two biggest rivals and, in a way, his two equals. We’ll get to the obvious next story, but now, it’s time for an old foe: a distillation of evil, a being of guile and hate and rage. It’s time to learn all about Davros.

Called to investigate megacorporation TIA and their affairs, the Doctor finds himself hired as their new head of R&D, along with an old enemy - Davros. But it seems Davros has turned over a new leaf. Can evil really change?

(CONTAINS SPOILERS)

Davros has always been a bit of a strange concept for me; on one hand, is it more interesting to have Daleks be a product of themselves, the natural route when hate and fascism takes over, slowly poisoning their minds and bodies (in the most literal sense) with their ridiculous ideals until it consumes them or have them be the product of a mad scientist’s experiment, like something out of a 1950s pulp sci-fi novella? When put like that, the answer may seem obvious, but then you actually watch the stories with Davros and it turns out he’s always the best part of whatever episode he’s in. I actually consider Genesis of the Daleks the most overrated episode of Doctor Who ever (I mean, come on guys, it’s a 7/10 if we’re being generous) but I can’t deny the absolute masterwork Nation did writing the scenes between the Doctor and Davros. But what about here? In the story named after the scarred tyrant. Well, I think this is the absolute best he’s ever been. And in no small part because of Terry Molloy, whose maniacal, crazed performance is captivating from start to finish, delivering some of the best dialogue I’ve heard in The Monthly Adventures so far. Parkin gives Davros several monologues here but easily the best is when he describes his dwindling sanity during his cryostasis, every regret, night terror, hate and guilt running through his head, bringing him to the point of madness, only for his heart to beat, along with the realisation it had been a single second. It’s a moment that makes the blood run cold and from the sharp stringed music to Molloy’s viscous delivery, it’s easily my favourite part of this whole 150 minutes audio. And that’s saying something, the story here is great. The Doctor and Davros have both been hired by a megacorporation to develop new tools for human benefit, and Davros sees it as a chance at redemption, whilst the Doctor fears Davros will inevitably slip back into his old ways, just now with the largest company in the galaxy backing him up. Not only is it a great concept, it's endlessly fun watching these two bicker in a lab and honestly, I wished there were more of them stuck working together, constantly sabotaging each other’s projects. It would’ve been a very different tone but it would’ve been fun. But that’s the thing, this audio isn’t fun, it’s as grim as can be. It’s about change and inherent evil, it’s about redemption and the point at which your past wrongs become too great. We get to see bits and pieces of Davros’ backstory here, showing how he stole the idea for the Daleks from a female colleague he was in love with before, being driven mad by jealousy over her idea, eventually killing her when she confronted him about it. For a moment, it looked like it was trying to make Davros a sympathetic villain but then, much akin to the characters in the story, the rug is pulled out from under you as you realise just how sick and twisted Davros truly is. It’s a twist you know is coming; like the Doctor, you know Davros, and you know he’ll inevitably change. And that’s the other thing, through its examination of evil, Davros also manages to fit in a nice little criticism of neo-nazism. I mean, the main plot is basically what if Tesla revived Hitler and got him to work alongside Churchill, so you just know that there’s some nice mockery of modern fascism, mainly through the CEO of TIA’s Dalek-sympathising wife. It’s not the focus, but it’s always a nice addition to a story.

However, Davros is a character-piece first and a story second it would seem because I have a couple complaints. My main one is that the first and second halves don’t really flow into one another. Davros feels like he’s becoming better one second and then is back to murdering thousands of people the next. He seems to flip mindsets within the space of a scene and it can be somewhat jarring, especially when everything leading up to it had been so subtly done. And then there’s TIA itself, the megacorporation who hires the Doctor and Davros. They’re odd because it feels like Parkin tried to make some anticapitalist comment but then just stopped short of going all the way. The CEO - Arnold Baynes - and his wife, Lorraine, are both oddly sympathetic characters. You’d think they’d be money-making sociopaths, akin to Rochester and Miriam from Jubilee, but on the whole they’re just normal characters, and perfectly reasonable people. But then you have Lorraine being a published neo-nazi and Arnold murdering a character in the third act only for it to never be brought up again. It’s weird because the fact that this story did nothing with the giant capitalist money making farm and even showed them as somewhat likeable was just a strange choice to me.

Davros is as distilled as a character piece can get, insightful, twisted and intelligent, it’s filled with great performances and even better characters. A few hiccups in the story don’t impact what is an incredible entry into the villains trilogy and a brilliant portrayal of one of Who’s oldest enemies.

9/10

Pros:

+ Davros has never been more terrifying, cruel and fascinating

+ Terry Molloy’s performance is sickeningly mesmerising

+ Amazing dialogue that fuels some all time great monologues

+ Chilling portrayal of evil and insanity

+ Brilliant take down of neo-nazism

Cons:

- The switch from recovering megalomaniac to tyrannic ruler of all in Davros’ behaviour feels unnatural

- Confusingly sympathetic portrayal of a megacorporation