The one where Davros becomes an entrepreneur, the Daleks run a funeral home, and the Doctor barely shows up for his own show until it’s almost over.
Short Synopsis
The Doctor and Peri arrive at Tranquil Repose, a funeral home where the dead don’t stay dead and Davros is secretly turning corpses into Daleks. Things go downhill from there — unless you’re in the funeral catering business.
Extended Storyline
The story begins with the Doctor and Peri wandering through the countryside on Necros, a planet that’s essentially space Switzerland with a fondness for death-themed architecture. The Doctor wears a huge blue cloak that makes him look like he’s auditioning for Doctor Dracula and the Velvet Capes of Doom, while Peri trudges along complaining about the cold. Spoiler: this “journey” eats up a good half of the runtime.
Meanwhile, inside Tranquil Repose — a massive funeral home with all the subtlety of a Bond villain’s lair — we meet a host of oddballs. There’s Jobel, the smarmy funeral director with the hair of a 70s game show host and the ego to match. Tasambeker, his lovesick assistant, simpers and swoons until she gets a spine (briefly). And then there’s Orcini and Bostock, a pair of mercenaries hired to assassinate Davros. Orcini has a metal leg, a tragic backstory, and a sword fetish; Bostock looks like he wandered in from a different, much cheaper show.
But the star of the enterprise is Davros himself. Instead of wasting time on universal domination (for now), he’s reinvented himself as an intergalactic Gordon Ramsay, running a catering empire called “Soylent Green is Totally Not People, Honest.” The gimmick? The bodies stored in Tranquil Repose are being “recycled” into Daleks, while some are used to create protein-rich food for the galaxy. Yes, Davros is literally trying to conquer the universe via ready meals. Martha Stewart never aimed this high.
Naturally, the plan doesn’t sit well with everyone. The Great Healer (Davros’s alias — because he’s subtle like that) has political enemies, and his little funeral-side hustle attracts the wrong kind of attention. The mercenaries sneak in, Jobel smarms his way around, and Tasambeker, in a fit of frustrated affection, stabs her boss before promptly being exterminated herself. Workplace romance never ends well in Doctor Who.
Meanwhile, the Doctor and Peri continue their hiking expedition until they’re attacked by a mutant who basically screams, “Help me, I’m a metaphor for Davros’s lunch menu.” The Doctor defeats him and finally arrives at Tranquil Repose, where he discovers Davros mid-infomercial pitch. Davros gloats about his grand scheme, showing off his new Dalek army and even throwing in a free set of steak knives (probably).
But Davros has overplayed his hand. His original Daleks (the ones loyal to the Dalek Supreme) show up, furious that he’s been cooking up a side project without their permission. Cue a Dalek civil war: Davros’s new Daleks versus the old guard. It’s basically corporate restructuring with lasers.
Orcini, mortally wounded, pulls a heroic move by blowing up the entire base...taking Davros’s Daleks with it. Davros himself is captured by the old-school Daleks, who haul him away like a naughty employee caught stealing office supplies. The Doctor? He mostly stands around making speeches and occasionally looking dramatic under his giant cloak.
Peri, unsurprisingly, is fed up with the whole thing. She spends most of her time watching funeral politics unfold while muttering, “Why couldn’t I have joined a normal show?”
And so it ends: the funeral home is rubble, Davros is in custody (again), and the Doctor and Peri wander off into the distance — presumably toward the next bad decision.