Reaction Post: The Impossible Planet/The Satan Pit
I apologize for the lateness.
There’s a lot of showing instead of telling in this episode. Up until now, there’s been a lot of people remarking on the bond between the Doctor and Rose-Pete, Jackie, recently Mickey. But here we get to see their faith and belief in each other, and how it makes them stronger.
In some ways, I think of TIP/TSP as the climax of the Doctor/Rose relationship. We see them tested-first when the Doctor loses the TARDIS, and then again when the Beast tries to use Rose against the Doctor-and they defy both challenges and come out stronger than ever. I like to think that they had hundreds of adventures between the end of TSP and the beginning of AoG, all of them resembling the giddy joy and fun of Fear Her. Oh, it’s not that they don’t still have issues or that their co-dependence is the healthiest thing ever, but I think these episodes solidify that the Doctor and Rose are in a committed relationship, even if it doesn’t necessarily resemble our pre-conceived notions of what a romantic relationship is supposed to look like. Personally, I would have loved to see the Doctor slowly transition to that headspace-our TARDIS instead of his TARDIS, our life instead of his life, and not to mention the whole “taking the relationship to a physical level” thing. There definitely could have been more stories to tell with these two instead of Doomsday.
-It really amuses me that the Doctor pulls out the sonic screwdriver against the Ood. What’s he going to do? Blink them to death? Make them play fetch?
-I love how they’ve reached a stage where Rose feels perfectly comfortable using the Doctor as an armrest, even with all these people around.
-I think TIP has my favourite hug. Well, maybe. :D It’s hard to decide!
“Yeah, I’ve changed my mind, start worrying about me.”
I love that Rose changes from trying to be strong, to letting the Doctor comfort her because she knows that he needs it just as much as she does.
-The awkward mortgage conversation: I know some people have pointed to it as proof that Rose’s feelings for the Doctor were one-sided, but that’s difficult for me to see, considering that “oh, she knows” and “I believe in her” pretty much follow on the heels of this moment.
I think that sharing a mortgage hit a bit too close to home, for both of them. Suddenly they’re giving word to the realness of their partnership where once it had all gone unsaid. Rose looks away, too. Not just the Doctor. It’s hardly proof that she’s busy plotting evil schemes to domesticate him. Had they never found the TARDIS, it’s hard for me to imagine the Doctor acting like a commitment-phobic jerk. In fact, he’d probably cling to Rose like a five-year-old with a lollipop.
Besides, “stuck with you, that’s not so bad” says it all. There is no doubt that Rose loves her life on the TARDIS, but she’d go with the Doctor to the ends of the universe, whether or not he has a cool time machine. I’m also thinking that this is a bit of a new thing for the Doctor. He’s so used to drawing companions in with the promise of adventure, but that’s not Rose’s main reason for staying anymore. It’s probably why he still tried sending her away in Doomsday. The whole “partnership” thing is still so new to him.
-Things worth noting: David’s hair is so adorably floppy in this episode.
I think it’s attempting to recover from what he did to it in The Idiot’s Lantern. Or it misses the TARDIS. Hard to say.
-Also, he wears the black Chucks in this episode, and the black Chucks happy me.
-TSP is one of my favourite Rose episodes. I love the way she takes control of things on the base. She’s obviously sick with worry for the Doctor, but that doesn’t stop her from doing what needs to be done. And it parallels what the Doctor is doing. “I’ll get back. Rose is up there.” But Ida’s right. They have to go into the pit and figure out what’s down there if the Doctor is going to have any shot of making good on that promise.
-It’s interesting to see the Doctor question his belief’s system. I have a feeling that’s something he doesn’t do much after 900 years of time and space. Campy CGI devil aside, he’s come up against a foe that he can’t quite understand because according to what he knows, it’s supposed to be impossible. (Doctor, you keep using that word “impossible.” Maybe it doesn’t mean what you think it means.)
-“Oh, she knows.”
Okay, I think Rose does know. I mean, she’s pretty perceptive like that, and it’s way, way too depressing to think that she’s stuck in her parallel earth thinking the Doctor doesn’t love her, but I would still like the Doctor to say it. The Doctor is clearly someone capable of love, and I think it might do him a lot of good to finally have out with it. Maybe if he’d been able to get it out, we wouldn’t have seen such self-destructive tendencies from him in S3.
-The Doctor asks the Beast if he has to compete some sort of ritual or incantation to beg an audience. This is one of those times where I feel like the writers really let me down. They could have had the Doctor hop around on one foot while trying to lick his nose. Shame.
-Does anyone else start sniffing when the Doctor falls on the TARDIS?
Because I kind of do.
-I sort of wish we had left all the Doomsday foreshadowing for the end of Fear Her because it makes me so sad.
Rose: It said I was going to die in battle.
Doctor: Then it lied.
The small smile she gives him shows that she believes him, and I wonder if that’s enough for the Doctor to believe it himself. He probably needed to. Doomsday is chock full of sad and woe, but I still think it’s better than Rose dying. After the Time War, I really can’t think of anything that would be worse for the Doctor. *sniffles*
Bah. Depressed now. Have some hug of glee:
And then they had crazy reunion sex on the floor! :D :D
There’s a lot of showing instead of telling in this episode. Up until now, there’s been a lot of people remarking on the bond between the Doctor and Rose-Pete, Jackie, recently Mickey. But here we get to see their faith and belief in each other, and how it makes them stronger.
In some ways, I think of TIP/TSP as the climax of the Doctor/Rose relationship. We see them tested-first when the Doctor loses the TARDIS, and then again when the Beast tries to use Rose against the Doctor-and they defy both challenges and come out stronger than ever. I like to think that they had hundreds of adventures between the end of TSP and the beginning of AoG, all of them resembling the giddy joy and fun of Fear Her. Oh, it’s not that they don’t still have issues or that their co-dependence is the healthiest thing ever, but I think these episodes solidify that the Doctor and Rose are in a committed relationship, even if it doesn’t necessarily resemble our pre-conceived notions of what a romantic relationship is supposed to look like. Personally, I would have loved to see the Doctor slowly transition to that headspace-our TARDIS instead of his TARDIS, our life instead of his life, and not to mention the whole “taking the relationship to a physical level” thing. There definitely could have been more stories to tell with these two instead of Doomsday.
-It really amuses me that the Doctor pulls out the sonic screwdriver against the Ood. What’s he going to do? Blink them to death? Make them play fetch?
-I love how they’ve reached a stage where Rose feels perfectly comfortable using the Doctor as an armrest, even with all these people around.
-I think TIP has my favourite hug. Well, maybe. :D It’s hard to decide!
“Yeah, I’ve changed my mind, start worrying about me.”
I love that Rose changes from trying to be strong, to letting the Doctor comfort her because she knows that he needs it just as much as she does.
-The awkward mortgage conversation: I know some people have pointed to it as proof that Rose’s feelings for the Doctor were one-sided, but that’s difficult for me to see, considering that “oh, she knows” and “I believe in her” pretty much follow on the heels of this moment.
I think that sharing a mortgage hit a bit too close to home, for both of them. Suddenly they’re giving word to the realness of their partnership where once it had all gone unsaid. Rose looks away, too. Not just the Doctor. It’s hardly proof that she’s busy plotting evil schemes to domesticate him. Had they never found the TARDIS, it’s hard for me to imagine the Doctor acting like a commitment-phobic jerk. In fact, he’d probably cling to Rose like a five-year-old with a lollipop.
Besides, “stuck with you, that’s not so bad” says it all. There is no doubt that Rose loves her life on the TARDIS, but she’d go with the Doctor to the ends of the universe, whether or not he has a cool time machine. I’m also thinking that this is a bit of a new thing for the Doctor. He’s so used to drawing companions in with the promise of adventure, but that’s not Rose’s main reason for staying anymore. It’s probably why he still tried sending her away in Doomsday. The whole “partnership” thing is still so new to him.
-Things worth noting: David’s hair is so adorably floppy in this episode.
I think it’s attempting to recover from what he did to it in The Idiot’s Lantern. Or it misses the TARDIS. Hard to say.
-Also, he wears the black Chucks in this episode, and the black Chucks happy me.
-TSP is one of my favourite Rose episodes. I love the way she takes control of things on the base. She’s obviously sick with worry for the Doctor, but that doesn’t stop her from doing what needs to be done. And it parallels what the Doctor is doing. “I’ll get back. Rose is up there.” But Ida’s right. They have to go into the pit and figure out what’s down there if the Doctor is going to have any shot of making good on that promise.
-It’s interesting to see the Doctor question his belief’s system. I have a feeling that’s something he doesn’t do much after 900 years of time and space. Campy CGI devil aside, he’s come up against a foe that he can’t quite understand because according to what he knows, it’s supposed to be impossible. (Doctor, you keep using that word “impossible.” Maybe it doesn’t mean what you think it means.)
-“Oh, she knows.”
Okay, I think Rose does know. I mean, she’s pretty perceptive like that, and it’s way, way too depressing to think that she’s stuck in her parallel earth thinking the Doctor doesn’t love her, but I would still like the Doctor to say it. The Doctor is clearly someone capable of love, and I think it might do him a lot of good to finally have out with it. Maybe if he’d been able to get it out, we wouldn’t have seen such self-destructive tendencies from him in S3.
-The Doctor asks the Beast if he has to compete some sort of ritual or incantation to beg an audience. This is one of those times where I feel like the writers really let me down. They could have had the Doctor hop around on one foot while trying to lick his nose. Shame.
-Does anyone else start sniffing when the Doctor falls on the TARDIS?
Because I kind of do.
-I sort of wish we had left all the Doomsday foreshadowing for the end of Fear Her because it makes me so sad.
Rose: It said I was going to die in battle.
Doctor: Then it lied.
The small smile she gives him shows that she believes him, and I wonder if that’s enough for the Doctor to believe it himself. He probably needed to. Doomsday is chock full of sad and woe, but I still think it’s better than Rose dying. After the Time War, I really can’t think of anything that would be worse for the Doctor. *sniffles*
Bah. Depressed now. Have some hug of glee:
And then they had crazy reunion sex on the floor! :D :D