The Shadow Squad

The War Doctor Begins #1.3

Released: 22 June 2021

Listened: 8/23/22

This story seems to take place some time after the last one, as there's no direct connection. The Doctor butts in on yet another mission, this one featuring Tamasan. It seems the Daleks have started getting pretty reckless with the “time” part of the Time War, going back and erasing people from existence before they can do whatever the Daleks don’t want them doing. But that requires an extra-double-secret weapon, one so secret not even Tamasan knows what it is. Unfortunately, the Doctor and Tamasan end up getting more involved than they really should have, and lots of temporal chaos ensues. The Dalek Time Strategist, his purple self, is here and behind most of the temporal nonsense. As usual, it’s enigmatic and insufferable. We’re still not seeing a lot of the “warrior” persona. This Doctor may be a hair quicker to accept someone else’s sacrifice play, and maybe a touch more willing to accept the deaths of innocents, but his morality is still there. In fact, his supposed “do whatever it takes” attitude may actually make him more stubborn and reckless when it comes to saving people he thinks need to be saved, favoring the direct approach over the clever plan. For the first box, that’s probably fine – name changes aside, this is still the same Doctor.