V10 - Escape Switch

After taking the last few episodes off, Mavic Chen returns with a flourish in this episode. I love the scene in which he angrily bats aside a Dalek's eyestalk in order to end an argument. But what I love more is that the Dalek lets him do it. The scene is not so much a sign of how powerful Chen has become in the alliance, but how much the Daleks are aware of that power. In very rare circumstances after this story will a non-Dalek carry such weight in an alliance with those metallic pepperpots.

The Monk is, again, a hoot in his final appearance in the show. The fact that The Doctor negotiates his release, along with that of Steven and Sara, shows that, even then, he was more protective of his own kind than he was willing to admit.

The fact that The Doctor is finally forced to hand over the genuine taranium core in order to save his friends sets up what should be a tense and interesting finale after the basic thrust of the story has wavered over the second half of this mammoth story.