Jan. 6th, 2015

purplecat: The Tardis against a sunset (or possibly sunrise) (Doctor Who)
What particularly struck me on rewatching this was its compassion towards the over-bearing and obnoxious Eddie Connelly. Doctor Who is not, in general, particular compassionate towards the small-minded and belligerent (and it has a fair collection of these) so it was interesting to see the Doctor and Rose encouraging Tommy to maintain ties with his father. NLSS Child could not see why they would do this - some discussion ensued.

I'm surprised this episode has its comparatively poor reputation. It's not a Doctor Who classic, but the period is invoked well with its technology nicely integral to the plot and the resolution. The drama within the Connelly family is well presented and, for Doctor Who, treated with a certain amount of nuance and subtlety. That said, it is annoying that Rose must act as a damsel in distress, and Detective Inspector Bishop's actions, at least until the Doctor intervenes, do not make a great deal of sense. However I would say the episode's crimes are to be somewhat insubstantial and that may be at the heart of its problem. Up until this point I think every episode of NuWho had served some purpose in the telling of the larger story, be it introducing the audience to the concepts and consequence of time travel, time lords and the Doctor, tieing into the arc plotting of the Bad Wolf or Torchwood institute, or moving forward the inter-relationships between the Doctor, Rose, Mickey and Rose's family. This is, I think, the first episode of NuWho that really is just a standalone episode and I think it suffers for it.

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