Top Ten Episodes of Doctor Who (According to Me) #6-10

[fauxkaren]

My top five episodes were really easy to choose, but numbers 6-10 were a LOT harder, so here's a list of some episodes that almost made the final cut.

Honorable mentions: School Reunion. I REALLY enjoy this episode and I cannot understand people who use this episode to hate on Rose. She was not the only one acting petty and immature in this

Comments

[breathingbooks]

I'd agree there was definitely the element of Rose facing what her life would've been (would be?) like sans Doctor. That part worked for me. I actually wish that instead of Rose and the Doctor in wuv twu wuv we'd gotten Rose attempting to deliberately up her skill set while with Ten. I think I might have loved her if after this episode she'd drawn up an educational chart or something. It also would've made that inane tripe in S4 a hell of a lot more believable (and it could've been, but it needed considerably more set-up.

There were other vibes though - not so much in the straightforward cafeteria scenes as in her bitch-fights with Sarah Jane - that did set off vibes of a different sort. Fairly or not, I think comparison to a romantic scene is inevitable for a lot of people when faced with two women who are arguing basically about (1) who's had the cooler time with a man (2) who the man likes more. The Sarah Jane and Rose bonding scene also has strong parallels to the sorts of romantic comedy stories where 2 women (often the ex and the current significant other) end up unexpectedly bonding and then the guy comes in and is afraid of their combined power, etc. To someone who's read a lot of romances and watched them it was a very close match, so close that I'd find it very hard to believe it was coincidental on the part of the writers.

Also, for new!Who fans, this was the first time we'd seen Sarah Jane. From that pov I read her as quite likely pining over the Doctor (because, let's be honest, at that point what companion reference do we have? pining Rose and - since I'd skipped ahead - pining Martha).

I can't find the quote I referenced, but it's not the one you mentioned (I have no problem with that end line - or with Reinette's really since adventures and the Doctor are an inseparable package deal). I think the one I want happens after Rose and Sarah Jane are trying to one-up each other, and Sarah Jane says something moronic like how Rose is just as smart as the doctor, blah blah blah.

No. No. No. Rose is not an idiot, but she's not as smart as the Doctor (I'm not either). And that is ok. Sometimes being smart is not the most important thing! Sometimes it actually screws you over! Rose has strengths! But it was just so condescendingly stupid on the part of SJ and then it made Rose look stupid to accept it. :/