Into the Dalek ( TV story ) Featuring the Doctor and Clara leading a miniaturised team inside a Dalek , this story originated as a pitch by Steven Moffat for a " Doctor Who " video game before deciding to save the idea for an episode , handing it over to Phil Ford . ( DOC : " Into the Dalek " ) The episode explores the Doctor questioning whether or not he is a " good man " , which would be a recurring theme addressed in Series 8 . The episode also shows the Doctor ' s first encounter with the Daleks three weeks after he regenerated , but more importantly from the Doctor ' s point of view after the 900 - year siege on Trenzalore , as the Doctor ' s hatred for the Daleks is shown to have intensified because of Trenzalore . This marks the third time that a Dalek has seen the truth about its species . In " Evolution of the Daleks " , Dalek Sec realised the Daleks needed to return the flesh and " heart " to ensure the survival of their species . In " Journey ' s End " , it ' s revealed that after being driven insane by breaking through a time lock , Dalek Caan also saw the evil of the Daleks and manipulated events to allow the Meta - Crisis Tenth Doctor to be born to kill the New Dalek Empire , and granting Donna Noble the Doctor ' s knowledge . Much like Caan , Rusty shows an intense hatred of the Daleks because he saw life will continue despite their attempts to wipe it out . Synopsis . Surrounded by his greatest enemies , the newest Doctor will journey into the most dangerous place in all of the universe . With the limits of his compassion being tested , the Doctor will be forced to ask a question about himself that he doesn ' t know : " Am I a good man ? " Plot . Journey Blue ' s ship is being shot at by a Dalek ship , and her brother Kai is unconscious . She tries calling for help , but gets no response from the rest of her team as the Dalek ship closes in . Inside it ' s saucer , the Dalek orders maximum extermination and the ship fires a powerful blast at Journey ' s vessel . She screams in terror as everything begins blowing up around her . She awakens , finding herself in the TARDIS console room . The Doctor stares at her silently , holding coffee . Grabbing her gun , Journey demands to know what is going on , as she examines the control room to see if anyone else is there . The Doctor explains that he materialised his time capsule around her the moment of the explosion , saving her . Journey tells him her brother just died ; the Doctor retorts that Kai ' s sister didn ' t , so she should take some peace in that . Angered , Journey points her gun at the Doctor . He asks her to put her weapon away , because she might shoot him . When Journey says it will put her in control of his vessel , the Doctor laughs " you ' d starve to death looking for the light - switch . " She demands to be brought back to her command ship , the " Aristotle , " beginning to tell him where it ' s located However , the Doctor stops her and tells her " not like that . " She demands to be brought back to her base . The Doctor tells her to get it right ; taking his hint , Journey puts down the gun and politely asks to be taken back . Asking if it ' s the " big fella " behind the asteroid , the Doctor pilots the TARDIS . It lands inside the ship and they depart . Journey is surprised the ship is smaller on the outside . The Doctor notes it ' s more amusing when said the other way around ; he also makes note that they ' re in a space hospital . The other soldiers are grateful for the Doctor for saving Journey , but plan to kill him regardless , to maintain the security of their location ( out of paranoia that he may be a Dalek spy ) . Journey points out that they have need of a physician , however . Journey ' s uncle , Colonel Morgan Blue shows the Doctor to a medical wing . The Doctor asks why a hospital needs a doctor , to which Morgan explains that the Aristotle wasn ' t always hidden ; the Daleks got to it first . Since the Daleks had already killed every living thing in the place , the Combined Galactic Resistance thought it was the best place to turn into their hideout . Passing a capsule , the Doctor immediately recognises it as shrinking technology . Morgan confirms that the Doctor will be shrunk down and inserted into the patient . " Fantastic idea for a movie . Terrible idea for a proctologist . " the Doctor laughs . Morgan then brings the Doctor to a set of doors , introducing the Doctor to his patient : a Dalek ! Meanwhile , at Coal Hill School , a new Maths teacher , Danny Pink , a war veteran , meets with some students , the Coal Hill Cadet Squad , in the courtyard . Clara Oswald and he briefly catch each other ' s eye . Later , Danny is ending a class when one of his students asks if he has ever killed anyone . The rest of the students groan , and Danny implies that as a soldier , he may have killed enemy soldiers . The student persists by asking if he ever killed anyone who was not a soldier . Danny does not answer , but a lone tear appears in his eye as he dismisses class . Sometime later , Danny is introduced to Clara , one of his fellow teachers . She recalls having seen him in the yard earlier . She then asks if he is going to another colleague ' s event later , which he indicates that he is not . Having awkwardly turned down her subsequent invitation for a drink , he verbally berates himself later once he has returned to his classroom . Unbeknownst to him , Clara has overheard him . Given another chance , he now accepts her invitation to have a drink . Returning to her office , Clara discovers the Doctor standing there with the takeaway coffee she sent him for three weeks ago " in Glasgow . That ' s dead in a ditch . " The Doctor apologises , telling Clara that he got distracted . She asks by what , to which he says they can always find something and heads to the TARDIS . Clara tries to stop him , but the Doctor grimly says he needs her help . They enter the TARDIS , with the Doctor muttering to himself ; he sits on the stairs . Clara sits with him , noticing that he ' s scared ; the Doctor tells her that he ' s " terrified " . When asked by what , the Doctor tells her it ' s the answer to the question he ' s about to ask ; it needs to be well - thought , considered and without restraint . Sipping her coffee , Clara hears the Doctor ' s question " Am I a good man ? " Stunned , Clara tells him that she doesn ' t know . Sighing , the Doctor admits that he doesn ' t even know anymore since his centuries on Trenzalore . He heads to the controls , telling Clara that he needs , desperately , for what he ' s about to do next . When asked where they ' re going , the Doctor replys " into darkness " and activates the fast return switch . Flashback . The Doctor asks how the Dalek knows who he is ( as he ' s yet to run into them in his current incarnation ) . Morgan tells the Doctor that the Dalek doesn ' t know who he is ; they promised it medical assistance . The Daleks asks if he ' s it ' s doctor . Journey explains they found the Dalek floating in space , deactivated ; they didn ' t know there was a living thing inside until they tried to open it up . The Doctor asks the Dalek why he should help it . It states that Daleks will die ; the Doctor tells it to die all it wants and heads to leave . The Dalek then states that it ' s own kind must be destroyed . Annoyed , the Doctor turns around to mock it , but realises what it just said and asks the Dalek to repeat itself . The Dalek declares that it ' s kind is evil and must be destroyed . Back in the TARDIS Clara finishes her coffee , considering the idea of a moral Dalek . The Doctor tells her that there is no such thing . Clara notes that ' s very inflexible thinking for him , even prejudice . Smiling to himself , the Doctor asks if he pays Clara for being his companion , noting that she deserves a raise . Clara smiles broadly , telling the Doctor that he ' s not her boss ; he ' s one of her hobbies . Back on the " Aristotle " The Doctor returns with Clara , mere moments when he last left . He introduces Clara to Journey and Morgan , but has forgotten their names . He introduces Clara as his " carer " ; she cares so he doesn ' t have to . The Doctor greets the Dalek again , telling it he will do his best to help him ; a Dalek so damaged that it ' s developed a conscience , how could any resist such a chance to see what caused this ? Clara wonders how they are going to do that , to which the Doctor tells her ; they are LITERALLY getting inside it ' s head . The group , consisting of the Doctor , Clara , Journey and two other rebel soldiers ( Ross and Gretchen ) are to be shrunken down and inserted into the Dalek ' s head . The Doctor is against having armed babysitter s with them , but calms down when he ' s informed they ' re only there to kill him and Clara if they turn out to spies . When warned not to hold her breath when being shrunk , Clara asks why ; the Doctor explains it ' s like microwaving lasagna without pricking the top : it explodes . He encourages her with " don ' t be lasagna . " Everyone is safely shrunk down and inserted into the Dalek through its eyestalk and begin exploring the upper levels . The Doctor takes the liberty of introducing the group to the Dalek ' s artificial memory drive which filters out good memories and reinforces bad ones , calling it " evil refined and turned into a machine " . The Dalek calls for the Doctor , to which he responds with a kind greeting and names him Rusty . Wondering what they ' re going to do , the Doctor tells them that they can ' t do a medical examination from there . Ross sets up a zip line , causing the Dalek to scream in agony . The Doctor yells at the idiot ; the Dalek is a cyborg , a complete living thing . And what happens when a living thing is wounded ? Antibodies arrive , with the Doctor telling everyone to remain still or they will be tagged as other invading infections . The Doctor tosses Ross a pill , telling him to swallow ; however , Ross is still reduced to dust by the antibodies and hoovered up . Journey asks what Ross swallowed , to which the Doctor answers was a spare power cell . He traces it with the sonic screwdriver , running after the eye that swallowed the ash . This leads everyone to a hole , where the Dalek ' s victims end up . The Doctor tells them that the antibodies won ' t stop until they ' re inside , and it ' s better going in alive than dead . Everyone jumps in , screaming in terror ; except the Doctor , who enjoys the slide . They end up in green goo , which is actually protein made of the victims ; the Daleks harvest sometimes to make sure they are nourished . Ross is on the top layer , so the Doctor tells them to say a few words if they like . Journey pins him against a wall , upset at his indifference towards Ross being killed . The Doctor tells her that this is the weakest point in the Dalek ' s defence system ; " nobody guards the dead . " He mutters that mortuaries and larders are the easiest places to break out of , noting that he ' s lived a life . Journey informs Morgan of Ross ' s death . The Doctor finds a bolt with a screen in it , undoing the bolt with his sonic . Clara tells Journey and Gretchen that the Doctor will get them out of this , if they listen to his instructions ; the hardest part is not killing him before he can do so . They enter the passage , which the Doctor says is a decontamination tube , so it ' s a bit hot . Clara tells him not to make any remarks about her hips ; he responds that there is nothing wrong with them , she ' s built like man . They exit the passage , as the Doctor hears a Geiger counter crackle ; it ' s coming from Gretchen , who hands the scanner to the Doctor . The Doctor explains that he ' s figured out what ' s wrong with Rusty , leading them further in . Clara wonders what caused Rusty to change his point of view , to which the Doctor asks it . Rusty explains it saw beauty , endless divine perfection ; the birth of a star . The Daleks try wiping out all life in the universe , but " life returns , life prevails . Resistance is futile . " They get to the batteries , which the Doctor says are leaking radiation ; it ' s scrambled the casing ' s memory core , allowing Rusty ' s morality . The Doctor seals it off , accidentally causing Rusty to revert back to a normal Dalek and begin genocide . Clara notes , however , that some part of the Doctor is actually pleased . She says that this has justified his belief that there is no such thing as a " good " Dalek . Journey and Clara are furious with the Doctor ' s apathy , causing Clara to slap him hard — and points out to him that what they have learned is " not " that there is no such thing as a good Dalek , but that it is " possible " . Inspired by Clara ' s words , the Doctor instructs her , Gretchen , and Journey to make their way back to the memory drive and try to restore Rusty ' s memories of the star while he tries to reason with Rusty . Gretchen sacrifices herself to set up a zipline to get Clara and Journey to the memory core while she fends off the antibodies coming after them . Dying from the antibodies , Gretchen finds herself in Heaven , where introduces herself and offers her tea . Meanwhile , Rusty calls for backup from the Dalek fleet and plots to join in their slaughter of the rebels . Clara is able to deduce how Rusty ' s memory core works and reactivates all of his suppressed memories about the star and his realisation about life . The Doctor , meanwhile , is able to form a psychic link with Rusty and transfer memories to him . The beauty of the universe is shown to Rusty , who is in awe . However , soon , the Doctor ' s hatred of the Daleks manifests and Rusty sees all the mass - murders the Doctor committed towards the Daleks . Despite the Doctor pleading with Rusty to see beyond that , Rusty is more drawn to the hatred towards Daleks and partially reverts back to its enlightened self . Rusty destroys the rest of the Daleks on the station and the Doctor , Clara and Journey are returned to their proper size . Rusty has broadcast a retreat signal to the rest of the Daleks , falsely indicating the humans intention to set the station to self - destruct . Rusty leaves to rejoin its kind , stating it will continue to work against them . Before it goes Rusty disagrees with the Doctor ' s assessment that there is no such thing as a good Dalek : it says that the Doctor himself is a good Dalek . The Doctor also views it as something of a hollow victory : the Dalek looked into his soul and saw nothing but hatred . Journey attempts to see the Doctor off when he abruptly begins to depart . She wishes to join him on the TARDIS as a companion , but the Doctor turns her down . While he recognises the good in her under the battle - hardened exterior , he just wishes that she wasn ' t a soldier . Journey watches with a subdued smile as the Doctor and Clara leave . Clara is returned to Coal Hill School 30 seconds after the Doctor had picked her up , changing into new clothes in the meantime for her evening with Danny . As she leaves , she at last answers the Doctor ' s question about whether or not he is a good man — while she cannot say for sure that he " is " a good man , he tries to be one , which is the important thing . This somewhat reassures the Doctor . She joins Danny for their date , trying not to adopt the Doctor ' s policy against soldiers .