"Waters of Mars" reaction post.
First reaction: BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA! OMG YAY DARK!DOC FTMFW! *flails*
Second reaction: Well, *that's* a generation of Doctor-adoring little kids traumatized for life. This isn't like finding out Santa isn't real -- this is like finding out Santa is a raving psychotic with shaky definitions of "good" and "bad" who can get into your house whenever he wants while you sleep.
Ahem. Anyway . . .
Oh, yes, I knew Ten was going off the rails, I've been saying it for weeks now, and he did it spectacularly.
He even had an extraordinary human to be the moral compass he needed, someone who ultimately did everything within her own power in an attempt to fix what the Doctor had broken . . . but he was so far gone, he'd stopped listening, and now it looks like we're heading pell-mell toward VENGEFUL GOD-mode. W00t! Should be quite the ride.
Ten's always had that core of appalling darkness under the happy chatter and desire for "fun," and that need for his human companion(s) to temper his actions; RTD has taken his time developing this, so it feels like a genuine payoff. It even (almost) redeems VOTD, which was a foundation block in setting up this final structure.
Admittedly, there are the usual Uncle Rusty plot holes one could drive a truck through (f'rinstance, why didn't the Mars crew assume Ten was guilty of some bizarre bioterrorist sabotage plot and chuck him in the brig . . . or out an airlock? Why didn't Ten's Old High Martian elicit more of a WTF response? Why didn't Adelaide, rather than offing herself, instead take her remaining crew members and go into a life of hiding? It would be hard, yes, but if it kept intact the lie that everyone died on Mars, wouldn't that still save the future, whereas a showy suicide in one's own home would be bound to change things . . .?) but RTD plays on his exceptional gift for writing stories that contain perfect emotional logic, even while he plays fast and loose with the rational side of things.
<3 the Ice Warriors reference, and the attempt (throwaway line though it was) to integrate this story shakily with previous canon.
Also, the expected props to David Tennant. He's always had the ability to flip effortlessly between being innocuous and OMG!CRAZY!EVIL and that stands him in brilliant stead here. That bit at the end where he's looking all flirty and chirpy and waiting for people to thank him, but his eyes are so cold and black at the same time . .. brr! As countessaleska said, "He's going all Barty [Crouch]!"
One interesting thing -- when the vision-Ood appeared, the Doctor almost sounded hopeful about being at the end of his life. I wonder if some of his final descent here isn't partly the result of a latent death wish (something Ten has been shown to have time and again), and he's *hoping* to finally do something that will have a fatal backlash. Wow.
For the Long-Suffering Roommate reaction, countessaleska had this to say (and added that I could quote her in my reaction post): "It was a good episode, but I'm really getting tired of the relentlessly dark stuff. We need some more fun, something lighthearted and silly -- more Slitheen or something. Yeah, that sums it up: this show needs more farting and less suicide."
"This show needs more farting and less suicide." Y'know, that could be a sig line. XD
I'm definitely going to be interested in where this goes. After the tame/lame bit of nothing much that was POTD, I'm enthused again! :D