6. Dalek

Beneath the Salt Plains of Utah, the billionaire Henry Van Statten holds the last relic of an alien race.  When the Doctor and Rose investigate, they discover that they Doctor's oldest and most deadly enemy is about to break free.  It's a fight to the death, with Rose caught in the middle.

- DR. WHO COLLECTORS' EDITION EPISODE GUIDE

Henry Van Statten has a pet Dalek.  Cool! That is, until it recharges from one touch of Rose's hand. Whoops. Two hundred of his guards die thanks to the little blighter, and Henry still gives the order not to damage his possible money making patent.

Our first look at Henry is that he's a man who doesn't like to be challenged (thankfully the Doc is there to do it for us).  When one of his employees recommends that they don't get rid of the President of the United States for a new one, he orders not only to have the employee fired, but to also have his memory wiped and left by the road side of a town like Memphis, or something else beginning with M.  When he meets the Doctor, he locks our hero in the room with his pet who is chained down to try to get a reaction out of his finding.  Henry doesn't know what a Dalek is, the Dalek hasn't spoken to him, and Henry has even taken to calling it "Metatron" with his employees all agreeing on this name of course (wanting to keep their memories intact).

The Dalek recognizes the Doctor first, and through the darkness of the room calls out 'exterminate!' as the Doctor's eyes widen in horror.  And then the Doctor realizes the Dalek hasn't exterminated him because the Dalek is weakened. When the Dalek tells the Doctor it's waiting on instructions, the Doctor yells at the Dalek that those instructions are never coming, as its race has been wiped out.  The Doctor tells the Dalek that he saw 10 million ships on fire… "the whole Dalek race wiped out in one second." Then to the Doctors disgust, the Dalek tells the Doctor, "we are the same", alluding to the fact that they are both the last of their kind.

After the Doctor is taken away, Rose requests of Adam, one of Van Statten's employees to see the Dalek.  Adam is young and English and gets along with Rose, and is happy to fulfill her request.  He takes her down, using his clearance to let Rose in.  Big Mistake.  As Rose feels sorry for the wounded Dalek, her magic touch (residue from time travel on her skin) wakens the beast inside.  The Dalek regenerates, breaks its chains and starts to come after the Doctor and Henry Van Statten for his torturous experiments on it.

There has always been a long running joke among Dr. Who fans of 'how do you outrun a Dalek? You run up some stairs.' These sci-fi terrors have always been scary by their seemingly invincibility as it rolls over the flat surfaces, but what would a Dalek do if it came across some un-flat surfaces… or even stairs?  This episode addresses this scenario as Rose and Adam run up some stairs and Adam believes that they'll be safe, as there is no way the Dalek can go after them this way.  That is until the Dalek initiates its hover mode and flies up after them instead.

The Dalek kills two hundred of Van Statten's employees and when the security doors lock Rose inside with the Dalek, the Doctor is afraid he has lost his friend.  But with Rose's touch she did more than energize the Dalek, she also passed on some of her emotions like loneliness, fear and sadness.  The Dalek asks Rose about these emotions, and Rose comes to feel sorry for it yet again.  Just as the Doctor runs up with a gun that can destroy the Dalek, yelling at Rose to get out of the way, Rose refuses.  The Dalek is sad and says it cannot continue, but it cannot order itself to self destruct.  The Dalek commands Rose to order it to die, which after a moment of pity, she does.

The supposedly last of the Daleks is gone.  Henry Van Statten gets his comeuppance when he is overthrown by his employees to have his memories wiped and left by the wayside of a town that begins with S. The Doctor and Rose prepare to travel onwards, with Rose asking the Doctor if they can take Adam along for the ride.