Into the Dalek: Is the Doctor a good man?

For my review of "Into the Dalek," click here.This post contains minor spoilers, and is intended for those who have watched the episode.

Doctor Who Logo Wikimedia

"Into the Dalek" was framed around the question of "Is the Doctor a good man?" Not that this question is anything new. Since the Doctor Who reboot in 2005, this question has been asked over and over again, but never fully answered.  Although in this episode, the question was asked much more directly than ever before. One of the first things the Doctor asks Clara when she enters the TARDIS is if she thinks he is a good man. To which she stutters around before saying she doesn’t know.

The episode ends with Clara saying that she still doesn’t know if the Doctor is a good man, but he tries to be and that’s what is important. While I somewhat agree with Clara’s answer, I would like to explore the Doctor’s morality a bit more.

The Doctor has never shied away from destruction if it was for the greater good. However, different Doctors have taken this to different lengths. In “The Parting of Ways,” Chris Eccleston’s Ninth Doctor faces the decision of killing all the Daleks, but destroying half the earth, or letting the Daleks live. The Dalek emperor asks the Doctor if he will be a coward or a killer. To this the Doctor responds, “Coward any day.” And decides to die fighting the Daleks.

By Benjamin Ellis. The Ninth Doctor, Chris Eccleston. Wikimedia

This trend continues with David Tennant’s Tenth Doctor.  The Tenth Doctor makes a name for himself as “The Man who Never Would” in the episode, “The Doctor’s Daughter.” In this episode, he shows mercy to the man who committed genocide and ‘killed’ his ‘daughter’ Jenny.

This begins to change later in the Tenth Doctor’s run. For example, in “Waters of Mars” Tennant’s Doctor creates the idea of ‘Timelord Victorious’ which encompasses the idea that since the Doctor is the last Timelord, he can do whatever he wants without consequence. This idea seemed to be used throughout Matt Smith’s time as the Eleventh Doctor.  

The Tenth Doctor, David Tennant. Wikimedia

I think “Waters of Mars” was a real shift for the overall character of the Doctor, and one of the first times his overall morality was questioned. He may have had dark moments before, but he always tried to do the right thing.  It is obvious throughout the show that the Doctor doesn’t think he is a good man. The Eleventh Doctor often said things like, “Good men don’t need rules. Today is not the day to find out why I have so many.”  He never seemed to question if he was a good man, he just decided he wasn’t.

By: Gage Skidmore. The Eleventh Doctor, Matt Smith. Wikimedia

So far, Capaldi’s Doctor seems more preoccupied about his morality. While the Doctor has had moral lapses in the past, I think that Capaldi’s Doctor truly wants to be good and correct mistakes he has made. To me, the self-awareness shows that he usually is good. He is very conscious of his bad decisions and wants to fix the mistakes he has made. Similarly to what Clara said, the important thing is that Doctor wants to be a good man.

While it’s still too early in Capaldi’s run to really know what sort of Doctor he will be, I find the fact that he is considering this question very encouraging. While I know he will have hard decisions to make in future episodes, I hope that we soon can say for certain , that yes, the Doctor is a good man.