Truth be told, I ended up being a bit disappointed in this year's Dalek outing. By the opening of its second part, "Evolution", it was already clear what trajectory the story was on. There would indeed be no evolution, and a slippery Dalek would escape once more to fight another day. All in all, an uninspired story with a lavish production.

Not unlike this week's offering, "The Lazarus Experiment", which is so predictable in a sort of paint-by-numbers kind of way. It wouldn't be difficult to imagine this kind of story being aired during the 60's and 70's hey day of mad scientist stories on Doctor Who. The only redeeming qualities are a good performance by writer/performer Mark Gatiss (author of Series One's "The Unquiet Dead"), some fun with the Joneses, and the menacing presence (off-camera) of Mr. Saxon. Harold Saxon is the Doctor's nemesis for the year, and unless you've been living under a rock, he's clearly __________ returned to wreak more mischief.

He's fire and ice and rage. He's like the night and the storm and the heart of the sun.

That about sums the evil that is __________ up quite nicely.

The trailer that was shown at the end of "The Lazarus Experiment" offers a promising glimpse of the rest of the series. Following the sure to be dreadful Eurovision song contest, Doctor Who returns on the 19th with "42", and then the eagerly anticipated two-parter that begins with "Human Nature".