Leading the supporting cast of "Victory of the Daleks", Bill Paterson is magnificent as Edwin Bracewell, whether it's his humble absent-minded genius or his desolation at discovering the fabrication of his life. Gatiss gives Paterson great lines, and Paterson doesn't let him down, but the plot holes are big enough to pilot one of the new paradigm Daleks through - how does talking about forbidden love deactivate "walking, talking, exploding bomb"? How was Bracewell able to merge his (at the time) purely theoretical hypersonic flight and gravity bubble designs with World War II Spitfires in under ten minutes? It's a distraction from what would otherwise have been a unique and powerful character that Paterson did very well in bringing to life.   

Ian McNeice delivers an expectedly bullish (or bulldog-ish)performance as Prime Minister Winston Churchill. The Churchill we see here is driven underground by the Blitz, and McNeice wonderfully brings together the man's determination and strained resolve together. It's a shame that we can't see more of the man, and Churchill is reduced to a background character once the Dalek action picks up.

Notwithstanding the instant science fiction (just add water), there are so many great moments and lines in "Victory of the Daleks"(the dramatic reveal of the new paradigm Daleks; the Doctor punching Bracewell; Churchill's jowls shaking with every word he says; Amy's "There's always a blue wire you have to cut…or a red one") that it feels like this episode would have worked better as a two-parter. The revelation of Bracewell as an android would have been more effective had we gotten to know him more, and the Doctor and Amy talking the bomb out of detonating would have made more sense because his human side would have been better established. As it is, Bracewell spends most of the episode with his android nature discovered, so the Doctor and Amy appealing to his humanity doesn't resonate as much. 

At the end of the day, I can't help but think that the story at large (and the characters) were written with the main intention of reintroducing the Daleks. Larger concepts - Churchill using evil against evil in the war against the Nazis, Bracewell's battle of man vs. machine - are regrettably condensed. It's not a complete write-off, since the stories of the Doctor and the Daleks are advanced, and the mystery surrounding Amy is made deeper (even if you forgive the gratuitous close-up of the crack pattern from "The Eleventh Hour"). Had "Victory of the Daleks" been allowed to breathe and develop across two episodes, I think I would have been an altogether more satisfying story. But crunching Churchill, Daleks, new Daleks, the Doctor, Amy, the London Blitz, Bracewell and Spitfires in space into 42 minutes does everyone involved a disservice. 

As such, I'm left thinking that this episode could have been great. The "very good" came from the guest stars (McNeice and Paterson) and the advancement of the relationship between the Doctor and the Daleks (because they really did get their "victory", in the end), but everything felt so rushed (and consequently, left quite gaping holes) that the "great" tag will have to wait.