Doctor Who for Dummies: Series 2

Doctor Who - Series 2 (2006)

I finished Series 2! I'm super excited and proud of myself. The more I watch, the more into it I'm getting and the more I just want to plow forward. That's not something I ever thought I would say about "Doctor Who."

I have a lot of feelings about Series 2 that I've trying to get sorted out. I think overall, I liked it, but I liked Series 1 a little more. Sacrilege! I know! I think that your overall enjoyment of series 2 is based on how emotionally invested you are in the relationship between Rose and the Doctor. As someone who is not super into it, that definitely could have colored my opinion, but I don't think that's totally it. There are a handful of great episodes, but I don't think any of them stack up to the highs of series 1. Let's go into that a little more in depth.

Series 2 begins with the first Christmas episode! Titled "The Christmas Invasion" it picks up where "The Parting of the Ways" left off with Rose and the newly regenerated Doctor taking the TARDIS back to the present. It turns out that regenerating takes a lot out of the Doctor so he's out of commission when the Sycorax show up and demand that Prime Minister Harriet Jones hand over half the world's population as slaves.

Heave ho.

One thing I will say right off the bat. I totally get why people prefer Tennant to Eccleston. He's fun and fancy free no longer burdened with the baggage that the Ninth Doctor carried throughout series 1. He's re-learned how to be a Time Lord and he's loving every minute of it. There is an undercurrent of malice though. The Doctor doesn't hesitate to threaten Harriet Jones at the end of the episode leading to the first mention of Torchwood, the through line for this series. 

Because the Doctor is sidelined for much of the episode, a lot of the burden of carrying the narrative falls on Rose, which should be all good, but this Rose doesn't really resemble the self-assured Rose we saw in "The Parting of the Ways." She fumbles and cries and is kind of a mess. She doesn't really pull herself together until the mid point where she confronts the Sycorax and lies a lot to try to stall them. But then the Doctor shows up and saves the day.

"New Earth" is pretty standard. The Doctor and Rose visit the future and a hospital ran by cat nuns who are using infected patients to eradicate disease. It's most notable for the return of the Lady Cassandra and the Doctor receives his second (of three) messages from the Face of Boe. 

"Tooth and Claw" is next and I can understand why it's a divisive episode in the fandom. The Doctor and Rose meet Queen Victoria and help stop a werewolf that's terrorizing a local castle. My main issue with the episode is that Rose and the Doctor are total assholes. They don't seem to care at all about the people dying, treating them like ants in a jar rather than human beings. It's especially jarring to see Rose act this way seeing as how her compassion was highlighted in the last episode. This episode is also notable for the Queen calling the Doctor and Rose out for this behavior after commending them. She names them enemies of the Crown and decides to form Torchwood after they leave.

Companions are doing it for themselves.

I wanted to like "School Reunion" more than I actually did. I like the idea of the Doctor reuniting with past companions, especially one as beloved as Sarah Jane Smith. Elisabeth Sladen does a killer job, but her first few scenes with Rose are the worst. Rose immediately becomes a catty jealous mess and they quickly devolve into a "No, the Doctor likes me more!" whine fest. Luckily, it resolves itself pretty quickly but it was still enough to kind of sour me on the episode. This is also the first episode where the Doctor first breaches the notion that his companion slot is a limited time offer. The Doctor realizes this and wants his companions to live happy lives after their time is up. Sarah Jane has learned this lesson, rejecting the Doctor's offer to join him, but Rose is oblivious.

"The Girl in the Fireplace" is the first really great episode of the second series. Using various time windows, the Doctor is able to meet Madame de Pompadour multiple times during different points in her life. He also saves her from clockwork androids, but that almost seems besides the point. Madame de Pompadour falls in love with the Doctor and it's heavily intimated that he loves her too. That is interesting when you think about his relationship with Rose. If the Doctor can catch feelings for Madame de Pompadour, is he able to really love Rose?

EXTERMI... wait.

"Rise of the Cybermen" and "The Age of Steel" take the Doctor and Rose to a parallel Earth. On this Earth, Pete Tyler is alive and well and his get rich quick schemes have paid off. He's married to Jackie, but Rose was never born. The story kicks into high gear, when Cybus Industries starts turning people into one of the Doctor's oldest foes, the Cybermen.

These episodes are fun, but kind of average overall. The Cybermen's creator, John Lumic, is too over the top in his villainy to really be taken seriously. It sometimes feels like we are watching a B sci-fi movie, which isn't a compliment. The smaller moments are what work. Rose meeting her not-father. Jackie's conversion to a Cyberman. And most of all, Mickey's farewell. Noel Clarke has kind of gotten the short end of the stick in his appearances so far, but these episodes really give him some nice material to sink his teeth into. I especially loved the scene where Mickey is reunited with his grandmother, who is dead on his Earth. Clarke plays the scene perfectly and it's not a surprise when Mickey elects to stay on the parallel Earth rather than continue traveling with Rose and the Doctor. 

"The Idiot's Lantern" is kind of a placeholder episode. It's not awful but it's not great. I feel like the concept, an alien takes over the airwaves to feed on energy right as Queen Elizabeth is getting coronated. It sort of fizzles though. There's a lot of manic running around and it feels like they are working overtime to sell it all, but I'm not buying.

The Devil and the Doctor

"The Impossible Planet/The Satan Pit" are probably my two favorite episodes of series 2. The Doctor and Rose land on a planet that orbits a black hole. They also meet the alien servants of the people who live and work on the station, the Ood. When the drilling they are doing threatens to unleash possibly the ultimate evil, it's up to the Doctor and Rose to help set things right.

Whereas the Cybermen two-parter was like a B sci-fi movie in a bad way, these two episodes are like a really good sci-fi action movie. The ancillary characters are developed enough to make you care about and root for them. This is also the first "Doctor Who" episode that deals with religion ( that I remember, anyways.) It's exciting. The climax is great. It doesn't quite hit the highs of "The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances" but they are two of the best episodes series 2.

The less said about "Love & Monsters" and "Fear Her" the better. "Love & Monsters" tries to tell a story that is about the Doctor but also gives it stars a bit of a break due to the shows crazy production schedule. You can tell good stories that focus on the people that the Doctor impacts but this is not it. And if we can keep implied fellatio between a dude and a girl trapped in a pavement brick out of the show entirely that would be great. "Fear Her" was directed towards children and it shows. It's bad. Real bad.

Byyyeeeeeeeee!!!!

"Army of Ghosts/Doomsday" is the finale for series 2 and the finale for Rose's time with the Doctor. The Doctor and Rose turn back up in the present so Rose can have Jackie do her laundry. While they are there, Jackie nonchalantly mentions that Rose's dead grandfather is going to be showing up soon. Apparently, "ghosts" have been showing up all over London. This leads the Doctor and Rose to Torchwood where they soon learn that the Cybermen from the alternate Earth are the ghosts and there is going to be an invasion of Daleks. Mickey and alternate Pete join the fight and in the end, Rose is trapped in the alternate world, ending her time with the Doctor.

"Doomsday" is a great episode. I'm sure it is best known for that final scene with the Doctor and Rose, which is a tearjerker to be sure. For me, it's all about the reunion between Jackie and Pete Tyler. It's played so well. You feel this sense of history between them even though they aren't the Jackie and Pete the other is familiar with. When they embrace at the end of the scene, I might have cheered and gotten a little choked up.

We are now at what this series was really all about. After months of being in the alterna-Earth, the Doctor calls Rose to a beach in Norway. Rose finally tells the Doctor she loves him more than a friend. The Doctor replies, "Quite right, too, and, I suppose, if this is my last chance to say it: Rose Tyler—" and then he disappears. It's my belief that the Doctor was not going to reciprocate Rose's feelings. And here's why:

Earlier in the episode, the Doctor was ready to shunt Rose off to the alterna-Earth. He put the necklace on her, triggered the button and didn't seem to be all that torn up about it. In "School Reunion," the Doctor  had already told Rose why staying with him forever was a poor idea. She would grow old and fragile. She would die. He would not. The Doctor accepts this. Let's also not forget his relationship with Madame de Pompadour. That felt more like a love story than anything the show has shown us between the Doctor and Rose.

I'm not completely sure that Rose does love the Doctor. I don't want to bring up Stockholm Syndrome, because Rose isn't the Doctor's hostage, but I feel like it's more of an intense infatuation. He took her from a life she perceived as lackluster and showed her the extraordinary. He helped her I've up to her full potential. It's not surprising that she would latch onto the Doctor and assign love to the feelings that she felt. Let's look at it this way. Rose knew very little about the Doctor. The Doctor was familiar with all aspects of Rose's life. He's met her mother multiple times, spent Christmas with her, traveled with her boyfriend. He met her father for Pete's (see what I did there?) sake and he was dead! Rose knows zero about him. He's an alien. He's a Time Lord. He's the last of his kind. She doesn't know about his history. If he ever had a family. What planet he is from. How could Rose really love someone that she doesn't even know?

In the end, I think I liked series 1 better because I felt that it told a whole, complete story. The Ninth Doctor had a compelling arc, with a clear beginning, middle and end. It also featured a lot more compelling episodes even with it's relatively slow start. I can totally understand why people love Tennant and why this series is enjoyed by fans, but a love story between the Doctor and their companion just isn't my bag. 

I'm super psyched to get into series 3. I've heard great things about Donna Noble so I'm excited to get my first taste of her and it'll be nice to see the Doctor's interactions with a new companion.

Small digression: I have a feeling I'll like Martha a lot, because I already have some exposure to her. I watched all of "Torchwood" without watching any "Doctor Who" and was a big fan when she joined for a few episodes in series 2. Speaking of "Torchwood", I started re-watching the first series to see if it changed my perspective now that I've watched the "Doctor Who" series that preceded it.

I'd love to hear thoughts from my fellow Whovians. Did you love series 2? Am I totally off base? Was the Doctor in love with Rose? Would you be interested in some "Torchwood" reactions once I finish series 1? Make your voices heard in the comments.