Random Thoughts: Gridlock
So I know I'm behind on my episode recaps, but "42" hit right in the middle of finals, and all I want to say right now about "Human Nature" is THANK YOU, PAUL CORNELL, FOR BEING THE FIRST WRITER THIS YEAR NOT TO DISAPPOINT ME.
Anyway, I've just finished transcribing "Gridlock" for allthat-hopping, and I've got a few scattered, random thoughts.
1. This has probably occurred to many other people and/or is very stupid, but the "You are not alone" announcement from the Face of Boe really didn't hit me with much force. Mostly because ... I know the Doctor's not alone, and I know it's not because there's another Time Lord out there. But there's another time traveller. Who's lived FAR longer than he should have and is none too happy about it. Who knows of Rose and thus will know the Rose Grief.
Yeah. I mean, how is it not Jack Harkness? I know there's this big to-do about Saxon and everything, but we KNOW Jack comes back and meets the Doctor again (I've seen pictures) and we KNOW he's also a lone, depressed prisoner of time / fighter of evil / incredibly sexy man with no love partner. So it seems obvious to me.
Sure, perhaps they're trying to be creative (bless them) and it'll be something totally different, but I just wanted to throw that out there because I haven't heard anyone said it and people are always like, "OMG, IT'S THE MASTER / OMEGA / RASSILON!" To which I reply, "... ... ..."
Seriously, kids. If any Time Lord's gonna come back, it's gonna be Romana. LOVE that woman.
2. Thinking that Russell T. Davies wrote them specifically for "Gridlock," I was about to complain about how lame the text of the hymns was, but apparently they are actual hymns (or at least one of them is; the other is just a "Christian song"? Difference, anyone?). HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. OOPS. I'M REALLY SORRY, GOD. (So awkward.)
3. What is lame is the big Gallifrey speech at the end. No one talks like that. And David pulled it off mightily well, making me want to cry and everything, but seriously ... I could have written a better Reminiscing Thing. The Doctor doesn't have to be all faux-poetic. He's so much deeper than that. Whatever happened to evoking emotion with concise language? (And, you know, natural dialogue? Hello? They ALWAYS tell you that people don't say, "Hello, Mary. I am going to the bank. Would you like to come along?" They say, "Mary! Going to the bank. Wanna come?")
4. When Martha suggests that the Face of Boe might have meant that the Doctor wasn't alone because he had Martha, Ten just looks at her with this horrible amused expression of pity on his face like he is trying not to snort out loud with laughter at how insignificant she is. That is so awful. I mean, I don't totally mind it because (a) it is stupid and totally devaluing of Martha's character to portray her as someone who would instantly assume that a thousand-year-old Time Lord has the hots for her (like she did in "Smith and Jones") and I have CONSTANTLY railed against it, as it makes me hate her and I should like her (b) my inner Rose!shipper loves the fact that when she told the Doctor he wasn't alone, he seemed way more ready to agree.
BUT. Still. I think if David Tennant / the Doctor ever looked at me as if he were trying not to laugh at how insignificant I am, I would die. I wouldn't even have to kill myself. I would just die FROM IT HAPPENING.
It's things like Tennant's ability to make that face -- and his performance in Secret Smile -- that make me really, really afraid of him. OH, WHY CAN'T BOYS BE SWEET, SMOOSHY NERDS ALL THE TIME?!
5. I still adore Lenora Crichlow and Travis Oliver and I wish Milo and Cheen would, I dunno, have their own spinoff series or something. With that hot kid from "Daleks in Manhattan"/"Evolution of the Daleks." AND THE KID FROM LOVE ACTUALLY WHO IS MY FAVORITE PERSON IN LIFE.
Anyway, I've just finished transcribing "Gridlock" for allthat-hopping, and I've got a few scattered, random thoughts.
1. This has probably occurred to many other people and/or is very stupid, but the "You are not alone" announcement from the Face of Boe really didn't hit me with much force. Mostly because ... I know the Doctor's not alone, and I know it's not because there's another Time Lord out there. But there's another time traveller. Who's lived FAR longer than he should have and is none too happy about it. Who knows of Rose and thus will know the Rose Grief.
Yeah. I mean, how is it not Jack Harkness? I know there's this big to-do about Saxon and everything, but we KNOW Jack comes back and meets the Doctor again (I've seen pictures) and we KNOW he's also a lone, depressed prisoner of time / fighter of evil / incredibly sexy man with no love partner. So it seems obvious to me.
Sure, perhaps they're trying to be creative (bless them) and it'll be something totally different, but I just wanted to throw that out there because I haven't heard anyone said it and people are always like, "OMG, IT'S THE MASTER / OMEGA / RASSILON!" To which I reply, "... ... ..."
Seriously, kids. If any Time Lord's gonna come back, it's gonna be Romana. LOVE that woman.
2. Thinking that Russell T. Davies wrote them specifically for "Gridlock," I was about to complain about how lame the text of the hymns was, but apparently they are actual hymns (or at least one of them is; the other is just a "Christian song"? Difference, anyone?). HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. OOPS. I'M REALLY SORRY, GOD. (So awkward.)
3. What is lame is the big Gallifrey speech at the end. No one talks like that. And David pulled it off mightily well, making me want to cry and everything, but seriously ... I could have written a better Reminiscing Thing. The Doctor doesn't have to be all faux-poetic. He's so much deeper than that. Whatever happened to evoking emotion with concise language? (And, you know, natural dialogue? Hello? They ALWAYS tell you that people don't say, "Hello, Mary. I am going to the bank. Would you like to come along?" They say, "Mary! Going to the bank. Wanna come?")
4. When Martha suggests that the Face of Boe might have meant that the Doctor wasn't alone because he had Martha, Ten just looks at her with this horrible amused expression of pity on his face like he is trying not to snort out loud with laughter at how insignificant she is. That is so awful. I mean, I don't totally mind it because (a) it is stupid and totally devaluing of Martha's character to portray her as someone who would instantly assume that a thousand-year-old Time Lord has the hots for her (like she did in "Smith and Jones") and I have CONSTANTLY railed against it, as it makes me hate her and I should like her (b) my inner Rose!shipper loves the fact that when she told the Doctor he wasn't alone, he seemed way more ready to agree.
BUT. Still. I think if David Tennant / the Doctor ever looked at me as if he were trying not to laugh at how insignificant I am, I would die. I wouldn't even have to kill myself. I would just die FROM IT HAPPENING.
It's things like Tennant's ability to make that face -- and his performance in Secret Smile -- that make me really, really afraid of him. OH, WHY CAN'T BOYS BE SWEET, SMOOSHY NERDS ALL THE TIME?!
5. I still adore Lenora Crichlow and Travis Oliver and I wish Milo and Cheen would, I dunno, have their own spinoff series or something. With that hot kid from "Daleks in Manhattan"/"Evolution of the Daleks." AND THE KID FROM LOVE ACTUALLY WHO IS MY FAVORITE PERSON IN LIFE.