2x12 Army of Ghosts and 2x13 Doomsday
2x12 “Army of Ghosts”
Grade: A
Rose Tyler: Planet Earth. This is where I was born. And this is where I died. For the first nineteen years of my life nothing happened. Nothing at all. Not ever. And then I met a man called The Doctor. A man who could change his face. And he took me away from home in his magical machine. He showed me the whole of time and space. I thought it would never end. That's what I thought. But then came the Army of Ghosts, then came Torchwood and the war. And that's when it all ended. This is the story of how I died.
This episode starts out by showing us how happy the Doctor and Rose are together, how well their lives have meshed and how well they work together. This is so that our hearts can be broken at maximum impact at the end of the next episode.
Rose sees the Doctor as the man who rescued her from a boring life where nothing happened. Now she’s a part of this wonderful life on the Tardis and she never wants to leave. She plans to stay with the Doctor forever, and the Doctor grins back at her, happy to be secure in the fact that he’s not alone anymore.
The Doctor: How long are you going to stay with me?
Rose: Forever.
Throughout this episode we see how she and the Doctor just WORK together. They just fit. Rose even laughs at the Doctor’s stupid jokes.
The Doctor: Who ya gonna call!
Rose Tyler: Ghostbusters!
The Doctor: I ain’t afraid of no ghost!
I love Rose in these two episodes. I love that she comes home with loads of washing for Jackie. Haha. I totally do that too. I’ve been known to put off laundry for a couple of days when I know that I’m going home soon just so that my mom will do it.
When Rose is separated from the Doctor, she puts her investigative abilities to work. She takes the psychic paper and does her best to infiltrate Torchwood and get information. That’s my Rose!
Jackie is afraid that Rose is becoming something other than human. And maybe she is. Rose will always come back to see her mum, but once Jackie’s gone, there isn’t really anything left on Earth for her. Is that so bad? Rose has found a new life and in her eyes, it’s a better life than the one she had.
The Doctor, of course, is great in this episode, especially in his interactions with Jackie. The Doctor’s totally gone domestic. Haha. Nine would have run as fast as he could, back to the Tardis at the idea of meeting Grandad Prentiss, but Ten smiles at the prospect.
Jackie planting a big old smooch on the Doctor is comedy gold. Haha. Oh Jackie. Then the Doctor and Jackie are thrown together at Torchwood and it leads to some classic Doctor and Jackie banter. Also the look on the Doctor's face when he realized Jackie is still in the Tardis is priceless.
The Doctor: Oh, well there goes the advantage of surprise. Still! Cuts to the chase. Stay in here, look after Jackie.
Rose Tyler: I'm not looking after my mum!
The Doctor: Well you brought her!
Jackie Tyler: I was kidnapped!
Rose Tyler: Doctor, they've got guns.
The Doctor: And I haven't. Which makes me the better person, don't you think? They can shoot me dead, but the moral high-ground is mine.
Yvonne Hartman: According to the records, you're not one for traveling alone. The Doctor and his companion - that's a pattern, isn't that right? There's no point in hiding anything, not from us. So where is she?
The Doctor: Yes, sorry, good point. She's a bit shy that's all.
[the Doctor opens the door to the TARDIS, where Rose and Jackie are hiding and grabs Jackie, pulling her out]
The Doctor: But here she is, Rose Tyler. She's not the best I've ever had. Bit too blonde. Not too steady on her pins. A lot of that
[the Doctor makes a movement with his hand to indicate she talks too much]
The Doctor: . And just last week she stared into the heart of the time vortex and aged 57 years. But she'll do.
Jackie Tyler: I'm 40!
The Doctor: Deluded. Bless. I'll have to trade her in. Do you need anyone? She's very good at tea. Well, when I say "very good" I mean not bad. Well, I say "not bad" - anyway, lead on. Allons-y - but not too fast. Her ankle's going.
Jackie Tyler: I'll show you were my ankle's going!
I'm not gonna lie. I'm just posting this picture because I think Ten's face is precious in it.
Yvonne Hartman: [pointing to Rose's image on the laptop] So this is?
The Doctor: That's Rose Tyler.
Yvonne Hartman: [looking confusedly at Jackie] Then she is?
Jackie Tyler: I'm her mother.
Yvonne Hartman: [laughing] You travel with her mother?
Jackie Tyler: I was kidnapped!
The Doctor: Please, when you come to write my official biography, please don't say I traveled with her mother.
[Jackie looks at him accusingly]
The Doctor: Well I have a reputation to uphold.
Yvonne (That’s a French-ass name, Yvonne) is a great character. She’s not BAD, exactly. She’s just trying to do her job, finding ways to use alien technology for the good of the British empire. Of course, from the audience perspective, we’re going to sympathize with the Doctor and anyone who is against the Doctor is “bad”. But she redeems herself in the next episode. She realizes that she was wrong and even after she is converted by the Cybermen, she somehow maintains some shred of humanity and stops the Cybermen in the stairwell.
Mickey! The triumphant return of Mickey Smith! I don’t really have much to say about his appearance in this episode other than the fact that I love him.
Dr. Rajesh Singh: Samuel, what the hell are you doing?
Mickey Smith: The name's Mickey. Mickey Smith, defending the earth!
As far as the plot for this episode goes, it’s a decent set up. I like the idea of “a foot print doesn’t look like a boot”. The first time I watched this, I did not pick up on the fact that the ghosts were Cybermen. The reveal and exposition of Torchwood is interesting as well. And of course, surprise!Daleks at the end.
Also, hi, not!Martha! Excuse me, “Martha’s identical cousin”. Too bad you got hijacked by Cybermen.
2x13 “Doomsday”
Grade: A
“Doomsday” aka the episode that broke my heart. I’ll save the heart breaking stuff for the end. To start with, I’m going to focus more on the happy making parts of this episode.
So last we saw, Daleks were emerging from the sphere. And in this episode we get to meet the Cult of Skarro! To be honest, I kind of really love the idea of a few Daleks that were set aside to have imagination so that they could invent new ways of killing. It’s so perfectly Dalek, but as we see in the Manhattan episodes, it could also result in a smidgen of humanity. Also the idea of using Time Lord technology (the Genesis Ark) to bring about the return of the Daleks is nice and poetic. I also love the cleverness of the only way to open the Genesis Ark is to touch it, the one thing Daleks can’t do. I like that the beginning of this episode sets up how terrifying the Cybermen are, but then we see that they’re really nothing compared to the destructive power of the Daleks. But really the best part of the Dalek and Cybermen plot is the Dalek vs Cybermen verbal smackdown.
Cyberman: Our technology is compatible; although your design is less elegant.
Dalek: Daleks have no concept of elegance!
Cyberman: This is obvious.
Cyberman: Daleks and cybermen; together we can upgrade the universe.
Dalek: You propose an alliance?
Cyberman: That is correct.
Dalek: Request denied!
[…]
Cyber Leader: Daleks, be warned. You have declared war upon the Cybermen.
Dalek Leader: This is not war - this is pest control!
Cyber Leader: We have five million Cybermen. How many are you?
Dalek Leader: Four.
Cyber Leader: You would destroy the Cybermen with four Daleks?
Dalek Leader: We would destroy the Cybermen with one Dalek! You superior in only one respect.
Cyber Leader: What is that?
Dalek Leader: You are better at dying. Raise communications barrier!
The Jackie and Pete reunion is so very Jackie, and it never fails to put a smile on my face.
Jackie Tyler: I said there were ghosts, but that's not fair. Why him?
Pete Tyler: I'm not a ghost.
Jackie Tyler: But you're dead. You died 20 years ago Pete.
The Doctor: It's Pete from a different universe. There are parallel worlds, Jackie. Every single decision you make creates a parallel existence, a different dimension where...
Jackie Tyler: Oh you can shut up.
[to Pete]
Jackie Tyler: You look old.
Pete Tyler: You don't.
Jackie Tyler: How could you be standing there?
Pete Tyler: I just got lucky. I lived my life. You were left on your own. You didn't marry again, or...?
Jackie Tyler: There was never anyone else. Twenty years though, look at me, I never left that flat. Did nothing with myself.
Pete Tyler: You brought her up. Rose Tyler. It's not bad.
Jackie Tyler: Yeah.
Pete Tyler: In my world it worked. All those daft little plans of mine, it worked. Made me rich.
Jackie Tyler: I don't care about that.
[pause]
Jackie Tyler: How rich?
Pete Tyler: Very.
Jackie Tyler: I don't care about that.
[pause]
Jackie Tyler: How very?
Pete Tyler: Thing is though, Jacks, you're not my wife, I'm sorry but you're not. I mean, we both, it's just sort of... oh come here!
[They run toward each other and embrace]
A brief moment that makes me smile that I didn’t notice the first billion times I watched this episode, but noticed this time around, is that when the Doctor sees Mickey, he greets him with a fist bump. Haha. How far these two have come. Unfortunately, that's pretty much where the smile inducing parts of this episode end.
Rose, of course, is brilliant. She sees the Daleks and thinks fast. She knows that the Daleks might perceive her information about the Time War etc as useful so she uses that as a bartering chip for her life. And then she takes what might very well be her last moment on Earth to stick one to the Daleks.
Rose Tyler: If you... survived the Time War, don't you want to know what happened...?
Dalek Leader: Place your hand...
Rose Tyler: [interrupting] ... what happened to the Emperor?
Dalek Leader: [pause] The Emperor survived?
Rose Tyler: [staring into the Dalek's eyestalk] Well, until he met ME. Because if these are gonna be my last words, then you're gonna listen. I met the Emperor, and I took the Time Vortex and poured it into his head, and turned him into dust. D'you get that? The God of all Daleks, and I destroyed him! HA!
The Doctor in this episode is his wonderful Doctor-y self. Wearing amusing 3-D glasses, figuring out how to save the world, making decisions for other people. Oh Doctor. He’s especially great in his interactions with Jackie.
The Doctor: [Over the phone] Jackie! Where are you?
Jackie Tyler: I don't know! Staircase!
The Doctor: Can you see anything that can tell us where you are? Anything at all?
Jackie Tyler: OOH! FIRE EXTINGUISHER!
The Doctor: [Sarcastically] Yeah, that helps!
The way the Doctor and Rose work together and play off of each other is just fantastic. Just like in the previous episode, Rose totally plays along with the Doctor’s schtick.
Doctor: Isn’t anybody going to ask me “what is it with the glasses?”?
Rose: [smiling] What is it with the glasses?
But this is when the Doctor sends Rose to Pete’s world and Rose and the Doctor’s world starts to collapse.
Doctor: That’s why you’ve got to go. Back to Pete’s world. Hey! We should call it that. Pete’s World. I’m opening the void, but only on this side. You’ll be safe on that side.
[…]
Rose: But you stay on this side? […] I’m supposed to go to another world and then it gets sealed off? Forever. That’s not gonna happen.
Pete: We don’t have time to argue.The plan works. We’re going. You two, all of us. [leading his men off to the center of the room]
Rose: I’m not leaving him.
Jackie: I’m not going without her! […] I’ve had 20 years without you, so button it! I’m not leavin’ her!
Rose: You’ve got to.
Jackie: Well that’s tough!
Rose: Mum, I’ve had a life with you for nineteen years, but then I met the Doctor, and all the things I’ve seen him do for me, for you, for all of us, the whole stupid planet and every planet out there. He does it alone, Mum. But not anymore. ‘Cause now he’s got me. [the Doctor slips one of the transporter necklaces over Rose’s neck and Pete activates the transporters]
Oh geez. The look on the Doctor’s face as he sends Rose away is heartbreaking. And you know, I can see how some might read this scene as Rose being clingy or something, but that’s not what it’s about. It’s like Rose says in “The Impossible Planet”, everyone leaves home in the end. Rose has made her choice. The Doctor isn’t sending Rose away because he wants to get rid of her (seriously, just check out the look on his face). But he’s making decisions for her (just like in The Parting of the Ways). He’s set up this nice little family for Rose where he thinks he can put her and make her happy. After all, that’s what happens with so many of his companions. They find some person or reason to leave and then he’s alone again. The Doctor has handed Rose those things on a silver platter. But that’s not who Rose is. She’s not traveling with the Doctor as some sort of lark. She’s committed to him. She wants to keep traveling. She meant it when she said “forever”.
The Doctor: You're never gonna see her again, your own mother!
Rose Tyler: I made my choice a long time ago. I'm never leaving you. So what can I do to help?
The Doctor isn’t going to fight it anymore. I think he’s finally accepting that Rose meant it when she said forever. He’s finally on board with Rose’s choice to leave her family and stay with him, and just as he’s at that point, he loses her.
The way that the Doctor screams Rose’s name is enough to rip your heart out. You can hear all the pain and terror of loosing her in his voice.
The scene with the Doctor and Rose on opposite side of the wall is just plain iconic. They can feel each other across the void. And then as Rose slides down the wall, collapsing in tears, the Doctor walks away, a broken man. They shot a version of this scene where the Doctor walks away sobbing, but I think I prefer the quiet pain. But the Doctor just can’t leave it like that. He has to see her again. He has to say good-bye. So he calls her to Bad Wolf Bay and pushes an image of himself through a tiny little gap in the universe. There’s so much I can write about this scene, but I’m just going to touch on my favorite bits.
Rose: Can’t you come for me properly?
Doctor: The whole thing would fracture. The two universes would collapse.
Rose: So? [with a bitter laugh to her voice]
Dear Rose-haters, Rose is not actually being serious her. She is not suggesting that the Doctor destroy two universes for her.
Doctor: What about you?
Rose: Yeah, I’m back working in the shop.
Doctor: Oh, good for you.
Rose: Shut up. No I’m not. There’s still a Torchwood on this planet, open for business. I think I know a thing or two about Aliens.
Doctor [grinning with pride]: Rose Tyler: Defender of the Earth.
Haha. I love that Rose messes with him for a bit. She lets him believe that she's just gone back to be a shop girl, but of course that's not true. Rose is a different person now. Of course she's working at Torchwood and is bringing her special brand of awesomeness to Pete's World! (She also messes with him with the whole pregnancy bit which... LOL. I still don't know what to make of that or what we're supposed to read into it, but it's still funny.)
The Doctor: Here you are, living a life day after day. The one adventure I can never have.
Rose Tyler: [crying] Am I ever going to see you again?
The Doctor: You can't.
Rose Tyler: What are you going to do?
The Doctor: I've got the TARDIS. Same old life. The last of the Time Lords.
Rose Tyler: On your own?
[the Doctor nods]
Rose Tyler: I... I... I love you.
The Doctor: Quite right, too. And I suppose... if this is the last chance I'll ever have to say it... Rose Tyler...
[he fades away before he can finish]
The Doctor is so fail at relationships, but he finally is working up the nerve to tell Rose he loves her and the image fades, leaving him on the Tardis with a single, perfect tear and leaving Rose back on the back, running to her mum for comfort. I also love that at the end, Rose isn’t just sad for herself, she’s also concerned for the Doctor, being alone again.
And thus ends one of my all time favorite Team Tardises. Rose and the Doctor were great together. They made each other better people and played to each other’s strengths. They had fun just traveling and being together. They understood each other. And they wouldn’t be separated. It took being trapped in different universes to split them up.
And finally…
Donna! I know that some people hate this end because it’s jarring after the heart wrenching emotion of the previous scene. And I kind of agree. But… DONNA!!! I love her! I loved her like 5 minutes into The Runway Bride and never looked back.
Grade: A
Rose Tyler: Planet Earth. This is where I was born. And this is where I died. For the first nineteen years of my life nothing happened. Nothing at all. Not ever. And then I met a man called The Doctor. A man who could change his face. And he took me away from home in his magical machine. He showed me the whole of time and space. I thought it would never end. That's what I thought. But then came the Army of Ghosts, then came Torchwood and the war. And that's when it all ended. This is the story of how I died.
This episode starts out by showing us how happy the Doctor and Rose are together, how well their lives have meshed and how well they work together. This is so that our hearts can be broken at maximum impact at the end of the next episode.
Rose sees the Doctor as the man who rescued her from a boring life where nothing happened. Now she’s a part of this wonderful life on the Tardis and she never wants to leave. She plans to stay with the Doctor forever, and the Doctor grins back at her, happy to be secure in the fact that he’s not alone anymore.
The Doctor: How long are you going to stay with me?
Rose: Forever.
Throughout this episode we see how she and the Doctor just WORK together. They just fit. Rose even laughs at the Doctor’s stupid jokes.
The Doctor: Who ya gonna call!
Rose Tyler: Ghostbusters!
The Doctor: I ain’t afraid of no ghost!
I love Rose in these two episodes. I love that she comes home with loads of washing for Jackie. Haha. I totally do that too. I’ve been known to put off laundry for a couple of days when I know that I’m going home soon just so that my mom will do it.
When Rose is separated from the Doctor, she puts her investigative abilities to work. She takes the psychic paper and does her best to infiltrate Torchwood and get information. That’s my Rose!
Jackie is afraid that Rose is becoming something other than human. And maybe she is. Rose will always come back to see her mum, but once Jackie’s gone, there isn’t really anything left on Earth for her. Is that so bad? Rose has found a new life and in her eyes, it’s a better life than the one she had.
The Doctor, of course, is great in this episode, especially in his interactions with Jackie. The Doctor’s totally gone domestic. Haha. Nine would have run as fast as he could, back to the Tardis at the idea of meeting Grandad Prentiss, but Ten smiles at the prospect.
Jackie planting a big old smooch on the Doctor is comedy gold. Haha. Oh Jackie. Then the Doctor and Jackie are thrown together at Torchwood and it leads to some classic Doctor and Jackie banter. Also the look on the Doctor's face when he realized Jackie is still in the Tardis is priceless.
The Doctor: Oh, well there goes the advantage of surprise. Still! Cuts to the chase. Stay in here, look after Jackie.
Rose Tyler: I'm not looking after my mum!
The Doctor: Well you brought her!
Jackie Tyler: I was kidnapped!
Rose Tyler: Doctor, they've got guns.
The Doctor: And I haven't. Which makes me the better person, don't you think? They can shoot me dead, but the moral high-ground is mine.
Yvonne Hartman: According to the records, you're not one for traveling alone. The Doctor and his companion - that's a pattern, isn't that right? There's no point in hiding anything, not from us. So where is she?
The Doctor: Yes, sorry, good point. She's a bit shy that's all.
[the Doctor opens the door to the TARDIS, where Rose and Jackie are hiding and grabs Jackie, pulling her out]
The Doctor: But here she is, Rose Tyler. She's not the best I've ever had. Bit too blonde. Not too steady on her pins. A lot of that
[the Doctor makes a movement with his hand to indicate she talks too much]
The Doctor: . And just last week she stared into the heart of the time vortex and aged 57 years. But she'll do.
Jackie Tyler: I'm 40!
The Doctor: Deluded. Bless. I'll have to trade her in. Do you need anyone? She's very good at tea. Well, when I say "very good" I mean not bad. Well, I say "not bad" - anyway, lead on. Allons-y - but not too fast. Her ankle's going.
Jackie Tyler: I'll show you were my ankle's going!
I'm not gonna lie. I'm just posting this picture because I think Ten's face is precious in it.
Yvonne Hartman: [pointing to Rose's image on the laptop] So this is?
The Doctor: That's Rose Tyler.
Yvonne Hartman: [looking confusedly at Jackie] Then she is?
Jackie Tyler: I'm her mother.
Yvonne Hartman: [laughing] You travel with her mother?
Jackie Tyler: I was kidnapped!
The Doctor: Please, when you come to write my official biography, please don't say I traveled with her mother.
[Jackie looks at him accusingly]
The Doctor: Well I have a reputation to uphold.
Yvonne (That’s a French-ass name, Yvonne) is a great character. She’s not BAD, exactly. She’s just trying to do her job, finding ways to use alien technology for the good of the British empire. Of course, from the audience perspective, we’re going to sympathize with the Doctor and anyone who is against the Doctor is “bad”. But she redeems herself in the next episode. She realizes that she was wrong and even after she is converted by the Cybermen, she somehow maintains some shred of humanity and stops the Cybermen in the stairwell.
Mickey! The triumphant return of Mickey Smith! I don’t really have much to say about his appearance in this episode other than the fact that I love him.
Dr. Rajesh Singh: Samuel, what the hell are you doing?
Mickey Smith: The name's Mickey. Mickey Smith, defending the earth!
As far as the plot for this episode goes, it’s a decent set up. I like the idea of “a foot print doesn’t look like a boot”. The first time I watched this, I did not pick up on the fact that the ghosts were Cybermen. The reveal and exposition of Torchwood is interesting as well. And of course, surprise!Daleks at the end.
Also, hi, not!Martha! Excuse me, “Martha’s identical cousin”. Too bad you got hijacked by Cybermen.
2x13 “Doomsday”
Grade: A
“Doomsday” aka the episode that broke my heart. I’ll save the heart breaking stuff for the end. To start with, I’m going to focus more on the happy making parts of this episode.
So last we saw, Daleks were emerging from the sphere. And in this episode we get to meet the Cult of Skarro! To be honest, I kind of really love the idea of a few Daleks that were set aside to have imagination so that they could invent new ways of killing. It’s so perfectly Dalek, but as we see in the Manhattan episodes, it could also result in a smidgen of humanity. Also the idea of using Time Lord technology (the Genesis Ark) to bring about the return of the Daleks is nice and poetic. I also love the cleverness of the only way to open the Genesis Ark is to touch it, the one thing Daleks can’t do. I like that the beginning of this episode sets up how terrifying the Cybermen are, but then we see that they’re really nothing compared to the destructive power of the Daleks. But really the best part of the Dalek and Cybermen plot is the Dalek vs Cybermen verbal smackdown.
Cyberman: Our technology is compatible; although your design is less elegant.
Dalek: Daleks have no concept of elegance!
Cyberman: This is obvious.
Cyberman: Daleks and cybermen; together we can upgrade the universe.
Dalek: You propose an alliance?
Cyberman: That is correct.
Dalek: Request denied!
[…]
Cyber Leader: Daleks, be warned. You have declared war upon the Cybermen.
Dalek Leader: This is not war - this is pest control!
Cyber Leader: We have five million Cybermen. How many are you?
Dalek Leader: Four.
Cyber Leader: You would destroy the Cybermen with four Daleks?
Dalek Leader: We would destroy the Cybermen with one Dalek! You superior in only one respect.
Cyber Leader: What is that?
Dalek Leader: You are better at dying. Raise communications barrier!
The Jackie and Pete reunion is so very Jackie, and it never fails to put a smile on my face.
Jackie Tyler: I said there were ghosts, but that's not fair. Why him?
Pete Tyler: I'm not a ghost.
Jackie Tyler: But you're dead. You died 20 years ago Pete.
The Doctor: It's Pete from a different universe. There are parallel worlds, Jackie. Every single decision you make creates a parallel existence, a different dimension where...
Jackie Tyler: Oh you can shut up.
[to Pete]
Jackie Tyler: You look old.
Pete Tyler: You don't.
Jackie Tyler: How could you be standing there?
Pete Tyler: I just got lucky. I lived my life. You were left on your own. You didn't marry again, or...?
Jackie Tyler: There was never anyone else. Twenty years though, look at me, I never left that flat. Did nothing with myself.
Pete Tyler: You brought her up. Rose Tyler. It's not bad.
Jackie Tyler: Yeah.
Pete Tyler: In my world it worked. All those daft little plans of mine, it worked. Made me rich.
Jackie Tyler: I don't care about that.
[pause]
Jackie Tyler: How rich?
Pete Tyler: Very.
Jackie Tyler: I don't care about that.
[pause]
Jackie Tyler: How very?
Pete Tyler: Thing is though, Jacks, you're not my wife, I'm sorry but you're not. I mean, we both, it's just sort of... oh come here!
[They run toward each other and embrace]
A brief moment that makes me smile that I didn’t notice the first billion times I watched this episode, but noticed this time around, is that when the Doctor sees Mickey, he greets him with a fist bump. Haha. How far these two have come. Unfortunately, that's pretty much where the smile inducing parts of this episode end.
Rose, of course, is brilliant. She sees the Daleks and thinks fast. She knows that the Daleks might perceive her information about the Time War etc as useful so she uses that as a bartering chip for her life. And then she takes what might very well be her last moment on Earth to stick one to the Daleks.
Rose Tyler: If you... survived the Time War, don't you want to know what happened...?
Dalek Leader: Place your hand...
Rose Tyler: [interrupting] ... what happened to the Emperor?
Dalek Leader: [pause] The Emperor survived?
Rose Tyler: [staring into the Dalek's eyestalk] Well, until he met ME. Because if these are gonna be my last words, then you're gonna listen. I met the Emperor, and I took the Time Vortex and poured it into his head, and turned him into dust. D'you get that? The God of all Daleks, and I destroyed him! HA!
The Doctor in this episode is his wonderful Doctor-y self. Wearing amusing 3-D glasses, figuring out how to save the world, making decisions for other people. Oh Doctor. He’s especially great in his interactions with Jackie.
The Doctor: [Over the phone] Jackie! Where are you?
Jackie Tyler: I don't know! Staircase!
The Doctor: Can you see anything that can tell us where you are? Anything at all?
Jackie Tyler: OOH! FIRE EXTINGUISHER!
The Doctor: [Sarcastically] Yeah, that helps!
The way the Doctor and Rose work together and play off of each other is just fantastic. Just like in the previous episode, Rose totally plays along with the Doctor’s schtick.
Doctor: Isn’t anybody going to ask me “what is it with the glasses?”?
Rose: [smiling] What is it with the glasses?
But this is when the Doctor sends Rose to Pete’s world and Rose and the Doctor’s world starts to collapse.
Doctor: That’s why you’ve got to go. Back to Pete’s world. Hey! We should call it that. Pete’s World. I’m opening the void, but only on this side. You’ll be safe on that side.
[…]
Rose: But you stay on this side? […] I’m supposed to go to another world and then it gets sealed off? Forever. That’s not gonna happen.
Pete: We don’t have time to argue.The plan works. We’re going. You two, all of us. [leading his men off to the center of the room]
Rose: I’m not leaving him.
Jackie: I’m not going without her! […] I’ve had 20 years without you, so button it! I’m not leavin’ her!
Rose: You’ve got to.
Jackie: Well that’s tough!
Rose: Mum, I’ve had a life with you for nineteen years, but then I met the Doctor, and all the things I’ve seen him do for me, for you, for all of us, the whole stupid planet and every planet out there. He does it alone, Mum. But not anymore. ‘Cause now he’s got me. [the Doctor slips one of the transporter necklaces over Rose’s neck and Pete activates the transporters]
Oh geez. The look on the Doctor’s face as he sends Rose away is heartbreaking. And you know, I can see how some might read this scene as Rose being clingy or something, but that’s not what it’s about. It’s like Rose says in “The Impossible Planet”, everyone leaves home in the end. Rose has made her choice. The Doctor isn’t sending Rose away because he wants to get rid of her (seriously, just check out the look on his face). But he’s making decisions for her (just like in The Parting of the Ways). He’s set up this nice little family for Rose where he thinks he can put her and make her happy. After all, that’s what happens with so many of his companions. They find some person or reason to leave and then he’s alone again. The Doctor has handed Rose those things on a silver platter. But that’s not who Rose is. She’s not traveling with the Doctor as some sort of lark. She’s committed to him. She wants to keep traveling. She meant it when she said “forever”.
The Doctor: You're never gonna see her again, your own mother!
Rose Tyler: I made my choice a long time ago. I'm never leaving you. So what can I do to help?
The Doctor isn’t going to fight it anymore. I think he’s finally accepting that Rose meant it when she said forever. He’s finally on board with Rose’s choice to leave her family and stay with him, and just as he’s at that point, he loses her.
The way that the Doctor screams Rose’s name is enough to rip your heart out. You can hear all the pain and terror of loosing her in his voice.
The scene with the Doctor and Rose on opposite side of the wall is just plain iconic. They can feel each other across the void. And then as Rose slides down the wall, collapsing in tears, the Doctor walks away, a broken man. They shot a version of this scene where the Doctor walks away sobbing, but I think I prefer the quiet pain. But the Doctor just can’t leave it like that. He has to see her again. He has to say good-bye. So he calls her to Bad Wolf Bay and pushes an image of himself through a tiny little gap in the universe. There’s so much I can write about this scene, but I’m just going to touch on my favorite bits.
Rose: Can’t you come for me properly?
Doctor: The whole thing would fracture. The two universes would collapse.
Rose: So? [with a bitter laugh to her voice]
Dear Rose-haters, Rose is not actually being serious her. She is not suggesting that the Doctor destroy two universes for her.
Doctor: What about you?
Rose: Yeah, I’m back working in the shop.
Doctor: Oh, good for you.
Rose: Shut up. No I’m not. There’s still a Torchwood on this planet, open for business. I think I know a thing or two about Aliens.
Doctor [grinning with pride]: Rose Tyler: Defender of the Earth.
Haha. I love that Rose messes with him for a bit. She lets him believe that she's just gone back to be a shop girl, but of course that's not true. Rose is a different person now. Of course she's working at Torchwood and is bringing her special brand of awesomeness to Pete's World! (She also messes with him with the whole pregnancy bit which... LOL. I still don't know what to make of that or what we're supposed to read into it, but it's still funny.)
The Doctor: Here you are, living a life day after day. The one adventure I can never have.
Rose Tyler: [crying] Am I ever going to see you again?
The Doctor: You can't.
Rose Tyler: What are you going to do?
The Doctor: I've got the TARDIS. Same old life. The last of the Time Lords.
Rose Tyler: On your own?
[the Doctor nods]
Rose Tyler: I... I... I love you.
The Doctor: Quite right, too. And I suppose... if this is the last chance I'll ever have to say it... Rose Tyler...
[he fades away before he can finish]
The Doctor is so fail at relationships, but he finally is working up the nerve to tell Rose he loves her and the image fades, leaving him on the Tardis with a single, perfect tear and leaving Rose back on the back, running to her mum for comfort. I also love that at the end, Rose isn’t just sad for herself, she’s also concerned for the Doctor, being alone again.
And thus ends one of my all time favorite Team Tardises. Rose and the Doctor were great together. They made each other better people and played to each other’s strengths. They had fun just traveling and being together. They understood each other. And they wouldn’t be separated. It took being trapped in different universes to split them up.
And finally…
Donna! I know that some people hate this end because it’s jarring after the heart wrenching emotion of the previous scene. And I kind of agree. But… DONNA!!! I love her! I loved her like 5 minutes into The Runway Bride and never looked back.