2.4 – “The Girl In The Fireplace”

STORY
The TARDIS lands on what appears to be a derelict space ship. Rose, Mickey and The Doctor set off to explore their new surroundings and stumble upon a fireplace, which The Doctor recognises as being from the 18th century and almost certainly French. This fireplace turns out to be a time window, leading to the bedroom of a young Reinette Poisson, the future Madame De Pompadour. The Doctor has to work out why these time windows are following her life and defeat some pretty scary clockwork droids in the process.

REVIEW
Real-life events are always exciting in Doctor Who because we know they’ll be given a fascinating twist. The true story of Jeanne Antionette Poisson (better known as Reinette), who really did become the official mistress of King Louis XV, is no different. We first meet Reinette as a young girl, after The Doctor crosses into her room from a derelict space ship via a “time window” in her fireplace. Stepping back into the space ship, The Doctor returns moments later only to discover that months have passed since his last visit. Before he has time to process much of what’s going on, he hears a ticking noise. In a room with no clocks.

The clockwork droids are, for my money, bloody scary. There’s something very unnerving about their jester mask faces and jerking movements. Of course, I suppose you could argue that they aren’t really monsters; after all, their primary function was simply to repair their stricken space ship. Still, any repair droid that cheerfully kills the crew in order to use their organs for spare parts is pretty damned scary to me. I wouldn’t fancy being left in a room by myself with one! That said, they’re clockwork and not indestructible. We know The Doctor will find a way to defeat them and, indeed, he issues a warning to one: “I’m not winding you up.”

Gotta love a pun!

When he’s not rehearsing his stand up routine (is it just me who’d really like to see that?!), The Doctor shows a lot of his many other sides in this episode. We see what we think is a drunk Doctor, fresh from a party, only to discover he’s faking his merry state as he quickly saves Mickey and Rose from becoming spare parts. He shows his intelligence (okay, so that’s nothing new) when he works out that the clockwork droids are waiting for Reinette’s 37th birthday, so that they can remove her brain and use it to power their space ship, which is 37 years old. Later, once The Doctor, Mickey and Rose discover that there’s only one time window remaining and that if The Doctor crosses back into 18th century France he’ll be stuck there forever, we see the Doctor’s courageous side as he bravely – and rather bombastically – rides into battle. Literally. On a white horse. All that was missing was the shining armour but Tennant’s chivalrous performance more than makes up for that.

Of course, “The Girl In The Fireplace” is more than just a history lesson for Whovians. It’s a love story for The Doctor. He and Reinette openly flirt (and indeed “snog”) and they appear to be fairly well-matched; Sophia Myles’ Reinette is intelligent, brave and strong. You can see why The Doctor is excited to meet her. Meanwhile, Rose is less than impressed that The Doctor has eyes for someone other than her and gets a bit sulky, wondering what’s so special about Reinette. Come on Rose; don’t go all Martha on me…

Still, there clearly is something special about Madame De Pompadour. Indeed, The Doctor is so intrigued by Reinette that he’s even prepared to take “the slow path” with her, suggesting that he’ll stay in eighteenth century France after the last time window has closed behind him and the clockwork droids have shut down, knowing they have no way of returning to their ship. The Doctor’s feelings for Reinette are definitely mutual, too; she refers to him as her “lonely angel,” having found herself able to read his mind as well as vice versa and she appears to understand him in a way that unnerves The Doctor, yet leaves him keen to spend more time with her. When he finds that the fireplace from the start of the episode is still an active time window, The Doctor is quick to tell Reinette to pack a bag and pick a star, promising to come back for her. His excitement at the thought of showing her the wonders of the universe is evident as he rushes back through the fireplace just moments later, only to discover that six years have passed. The poignancy of the episode’s final moments is beautifully played, as we realise that Reinette spent the final six years of her life wondering whether her beautiful angel would ever return for her, only to pass away at the age of just 42.

As The Doctor watches her coffin leave the palace for the final time, we’re reminded yet again that this is a man who has known pain and loss far too many times. A man who will always be alone at heart, no matter how many people surround him. It’s a touching moment and one which is brought into even greater focus when The Doctor returns to the space ship without Reinette. The TARDIS leaves and as the derelict ship drifts alone, aimlessly through space, we finally see its name: SS Madame De Pompadour.

RATING
My only major quibble with this episode is the lack of continuity; at the end of “School Reunion”, Rose has a strop at the thought of Mickey joining her and The Doctor in the TARDIS. In “The Girl In The Fireplace”, Rose can’t wait to show him the ropes. Okay, so this episode was moved in the season running order, but still…Anyway, I’m being picky, really. This episode gives us a scary villain, a space ship and a history lesson, plus it ends in a rather beautiful, yet emotive fashion. It gets 8/10 from me.

Written and edited by Emma Tofi

2.3 – “School Reunion”

 

STORY
After a tip-off from Mickey, The Doctor and Rose head undercover to investigate a school in which pupils are displaying intelligence far beyond their capabilities. With the help of former companion Sarah Jane Smith and sidekick K-9, the gang discover that several teachers, including the school’s headmaster Mr Finch, aren’t as human as they appear…

REVIEW
It’s always good to see The Doctor in a “normal” setting; in many ways, he’s never more alien than when posing as a human and although we don’t see as much of him pretending to be regular John Smith in this episode as we do in others, the glimpses we get are enjoyable. There’s something additionally unsettling about the action taking place in a school too. Alien planets and trips back in time are fantastic, but when the show takes a location that is familiar to everyone watching and manages to make it scary and unfamiliar, it only serves to remind the viewer just how clever Doctor Who can be.

The concept of the episode is a good one; the idea of a school where the pupils are unnervingly well-behaved and impossibly bright, rather than being “happy slapping hoodies with ASBOs and ringtones” is eerily sinister. Of course the clues are there right from the start, when a dinner lady informs the Doctor and Rose that the school’s menu “has been designed by the headmaster to improve concentration and performance” and later, when a barrel of cooking oil is spilt, it appears that one of the dinner ladies is a goner after getting splashed by the stuff. There’s enough intrigue at play to keep you guessing for a while as to what’s really going on. Whilst there may not be the horror of a Dalek Fleet to have you hiding behind the sofa, there are certainly plenty of tense moments and the sight of dozens of children plugged into their school computers, tapping away like zombies, is genuinely unnerving.

Of course, the episode’s emotional heart is found with the return of Sarah Jane Smith. Ever the inquisitive journalist, Sarah Jane is also investigating the goings-on at Deffry Vale and Lis Sladen’s reappearance in the show is enough to delight any fan. The Doctor’s reaction as Mr Finch introduces Sarah Jane in the staff room is beautifully understated from David Tennant, who manages to convey a whole range of emotions without speaking a single word. As he and Sarah Jane shake hands, The Doctor is clearly delighted to see his former companion and the way Tennant’s voice cracks with barely disguised feeling is lovely. Lis, always a great actress as well as a much-loved companion, portrays Sarah Jane’s shock at seeing the TARDIS and realising that “John Smith” is The Doctor wonderfully. There appears to be a genuine chemistry between Sladen and Tennant, which fits the tone of the episode perfectly. Although The Doctor has regenerated since Sarah Jane last saw him, their interactions show that, at his heart(s), he’s the same man he has always been.

Having such a popular classic companion appear in the modern incarnation of the show gives us the chance to answer questions that many Whovians have long asked themselves; what happens to the companions once their time with the Doctor is through? Does he remember them? What would happen if two of them were to meet? Rose and Sarah Jane take an immediate dislike to one another, providing some comic relief to the deep emotional content. The scene in which The Doctor’s former companion and his current sidekick attempt to outdo each other in terms of the adventures they’ve had is a great piece of writing and, indeed, a brilliant bit of acting from Lis Sladen and Billie Piper. When the two women finally realise their common bond, the friendship they forge appears genuine, albeit occasionally at The Doctor’s expense.

Meeting Sarah Jane also gives Rose a chance to analyse her own relationship with The Doctor. This leads to an exchange between the two that has become an almost immediate classic, The Doctor telling her that she can spend her whole life travelling with him, but he can’t do the same with her. It’s loaded with emotion and offers us a glimpse of what life is like for The Doctor; often surrounded by people but, ultimately, always alone.

K-9’s appearance in the episode is yet another nod to the classic era and it’s hard not to be touched when our favourite tin dog sacrifices himself for his master (but don’t phone the RSPCA just yet, The Doctor does fix him at the end of the episode).

While the emotional content takes centre stage, the drama doesn’t suffer for it. Once The Doctor realises that he’s dealing with Krillitanes, he gets straight down to the business of stopping them in their tracks. The Krillitanes are using the pupils of Deffrey Vale in an effort to solve the “Skasis Paradigm” – the theory of everything. Cracking the code will allow them to become Gods and we get an interesting confrontation between Mr Finch and The Doctor, in which Finch tries to tempt The Doctor into joining the Krillitanes with the promise of saving the Time Lords and eradicating human mortality. We see that The Doctor is tempted and, yet again, Tennant shows us a flash of his loneliness and the difficulty he faces being the last of his kind. Sarah Jane’s pleas to him are bittersweet – she’s begging him not to do something that would enable her to be young and to travel with him forever.

Again, the emotion is tempered with several minutes of high-tempo action as the Krillitane are defeated, saving the episode from ever becoming schmaltzy. Even Sarah Jane’s final goodbye to The Doctor, as she turns down his invitation to join him, Rose and Mickey aboard the TARDIS is played perfectly – sad, beautiful, but never OTT. A fitting farewell to a much-loved companion and the ideal starting point for the hugely successful Sarah Jane Adventures. We also get a nice touch of foreshadowing for the end of the season, when Sarah Jane tells Rose to stay with The Doctor, because “some things are worth getting your heart broken for.”

RATING
This episode was about more than just scary monsters and The Doctor swooping in to save the day. It was a poignant reference to The Doctor’s past and indeed his future, with two companions examining their relationship with him and accepting how he has changed their lives. The balance between emotion and drama was just about spot on too. For that reason alone, it deserves a high score. I’m giving it a solid 8/10.

Written and edited by Emma Tofi