Rose Tyler: Girl Adventurer
It’s tough to be a Rose fan these days. After reading some posts labeling Rose Tyler as “a dumb blonde”, a “chavvy dumb blonde shopgirl”, or arguing that Rosefen don’t love Rose as a character and view her only as an appendage to the Doctor, I decided to write this to offer a different viewpoint. One of the fun (or not so fun, depending on your viewpoint) things about fandom is that everyone’s interpretation of the show is different. Some people see Romeo and Juliet as a tragic love story of star-crossed lovers and others see it as two stupid kids who didn’t really know each other at all and ended up dead for no good reason. The important thing to remember is that no one’s interpretation is right or wrong. I love Rose Tyler, and this is why I do.
I’ve decided to leave this unlocked because I’d love to hear from fellow Rose fans and if someone honestly hates a fictional character so much that they look this up, read it, and attempt to troll it, well, really, do I even need to finish this sentence?
Foreword: I love just about each and every companion. Each companion offers something special and impacts the Doctor in some way. I’m not trying to say that Rose is the most special person to the Doctor. In fact, this isn’t about any relationship at all. This is my way of saying that Rose Tyler is not a “dumb useless shop girl” or a “love interest.” She’s so much more than that.
Let’s start from the beginning: before Rose met the Doctor. In the Doctor Who Annual 2006, Russell T. Davies wrote some exposition on Rose Tyler:
Rose (whose middle name is given as Marion) began seeing Mickey at the age of 14, and at 15 she was suspended from her school, Jericho Street Comprehensive, for persuading the choir to go on strike. After doing well in her GCSE exams, she left school to live with a 20 year-old musician, Jimmy Stone, but the affair ended in tears and with Rose £800 in debt. She subsequently returned to Jackie and Mickey, and her mother called in a favour from an ex-boyfriend to get her the job at Henrik's Department Store.
People in fandom are probably not the first people who have dismissed Rose Tyler as a “dumb blonde chav.” I’d wager to say that she’s heard it all her life. People have probably always underestimated Rose. No matter how strong Rose appears to be, I’m sure she’s been hurt by criticism in the past. I’m also sure Rose has been told all her life that she should be happy with her place - that she has a good life and she should be content with what she has. This is demonstrated by Jackie’s line in Rose about how Rose is “getting uppity” about working in a shop. I’m not saying Jackie is a bad mother - just that it’s clear she hasn’t exactly been encouraging Rose to pursue greener pastures or even to go back to school. After all, those who have abandoned their dreams will usually discourage yours.
If her own mother says things like that to Rose, it’s a strong indicator to me that other people she knows likely hold similar opinions. I’m also willing to bet that some of those people probably said it in ways that were much less kind than Jackie’s words.
One of the things I adore about Rose is that she inspires people: whether it’s getting the school choir to revolt or organizing the ship’s crew in TIP/TSP, Rose Tyler will certainly get you motivated. She inspires change and that’s not an easy thing to do. You have to have charisma, the ability to get people to see your viewpoint, and the guts to take a stand in the first place, regardless of the consequences. Rose Tyler had that at 15 years old.
Another point I want to emphasize is the fact that she did well on her GCSE exams, proving that she’s not “dumb.” Yes, Rose did not get her A-levels, but not having a degree doesn’t mean you’re inherently stupid. It means you didn’t further your academic education, not that you don’t know how to take care of yourself.
The most controversial part of Rose’s past that I want to address is Rose’s affair with Jimmy Stone. I’ve read that people criticize her choice, saying she threw away her education and future for a man. Now, I’m not supporting her decision, but I’d like to look past the surface of her actions and show that while this may have been a crappy situation, the lasting effects of dealing with it actually benefited Rose in the long run.
We see people tell her that she has a good life, but it is clear that Rose wants more. I’ve read some meta in which the authors feel Rose could earn their respect if she had tried to have a fantastic life on her own instead of waiting for the Doctor to give it to her. To me, Rose knew something was missing from her life, but didn’t know where to look for it. It’s easy for people to tell you to go on a vacation to find adventure, but it’s much harder when you don’t have any money. I think she did try to do this on her own - maybe she didn’t fly to Morocco and become an ace pilot or earn a degree in archaeology and travel the world, but I do think she tried to escape from an ordinary life by running away with Jimmy Stone.
Yes, she did leave school to be with her boyfriend, but she also took a huge risk by going to live with him. Even though Rose had probably always been told that the safe path was the smart path, she instead chose the dangerous path: to leave her home, live with the person she probably thought she was going to be with forever (as most teenagers believe at that age) and enjoy her life on her own terms. Was this a wise choice? Seeing how it ended in tears and in debt, probably not. But at least she took a chance instead of wondering what might have been.
I know the show preaches the message “the Doctor is worth the monsters,” but I feel that life is worth the monsters. Yes, Rose made a stupid decision. But that’s what life is all about: trying to find yourself, taking chances, making choices about what kind of person you’re going to be, getting hurt, and learning from it. When things took a turn for the worse between her and Jimmy, what did Rose do? Did she turn to drugs or self-destructive behavior? Did she try to work things out with Jimmy even though she was probably treated badly? No, when things ended in tears, she got out. She went back home to the people she had abandoned, severely in debt, and heartbroken. But at the end of the day, she took responsibility for her actions and did what she had to do to survive. Jackie got her a job, and I like to think she was working off her debt.
I’m always impressed that even though Rose had her heart ripped out by her deadbeat boyfriend, she never let it break her. She picked herself up, got a job, and was even able to have a stable relationship again. Even though the Jimmy Stone situation wasn’t Rose’s smartest decision, it demonstrates that she has inner strength and that she learns from her mistakes.
Once the Doctor does show up, Rose blows that “dumb blonde shopgirl” stereotype right out of the water. From the moment she meets the Doctor, she asks insightful questions and even does some investigating to find out more information about him. She isn’t impressed or in awe of him, but she is interested in learning more about him. In one of the funniest moments of the episode, she points out the huge Ferris Wheel as being a transmitter while the Doctor flails about. She also breaks down when she thinks Mickey’s dead and the first thing she does when she finds out about the Autons is to call her mother and warn her to seek safety.
And then came the crowning moment - the moment I really fell for Rose Tyler.
You know, it’s really easy when someone is super-smart or has a handy skill that allows them to save the day. We come to expect it of such characters - after all, they’re qualified. It’s fun to watch the Doctor single-handedly save the day because he knows an alien’s weakness or because he waves his sonic screwdriver. But when an ordinary person with no special world-saving skills and no advanced degree attempts to save the day, it’s truly a joy to watch. Seeing someone know they have a small chance of defeating the enemy, that the enemy is faster, stronger, and smarter than they are, and still stepping up and choosing to save the day is inspiring.
At 19 years old and with no A-Levels, Rose Tyler couldn't tell you what the Shadow Proclamation was or calculate how to create a bomb in under 5 seconds to kill the Autons. Rose could've run away. She could've saved herself and Mickey and gotten the hell out of there. That certainly would’ve been the smart, rational thing to do in her situation. The safe and easy path.
But as Rose has been demonstrating since her choral strike, she doesn’t take the safe and easy path. When something’s wrong, no matter the consequences, she steps up. She utilizes what skills she does have. Oh, yes, Rose Tyler has no A-levels, but she does have a bronze medal in gymnastics and she is going to use it. Using her intelligence (as being uneducated doesn't make you not smart), she comes up with a plan of her own volition, saves the Doctor's life and saves the planet on her first day. That takes courage. That is what I love about Rose Tyler. She may not be a Nobel Prize Winner, but if something is wrong then she's going to do what she can to fix it. An ordinary young girl lacking any specialized skills or an advanced education swung on a chain and saved the world.
In the final scene of the episode, the Doctor asks Rose to join him on the Tardis. She clearly wants to do this, but what I found interesting was how Mickey physically holds her back from going, while Jackie tells her to “go home.” Here Rose is presented with a similar choice to the one she faced with Jimmy Stone. Rose has seen that traveling in the Tardis can be terrifying; she’s seen what the Autons are capable of and saw how the entire planet was almost destroyed. But this is also the chance of a lifetime - a chance to have a real adventure. She can choose to take the safe path and go back to the life she’s dissatisfied with, or she can take this huge gamble and go with this man she hardly knows to unknown and faraway places and possibly be killed - or possibly become better for it. And at first, Rose does choose the safe path, probably because it is the sane and rational thing to do: to not go with the weird alien and have possibly life-threatening adventures in a blue box-shaped spaceship. But it is clear she regrets this decision, and the second she gets another chance, Rose knows she can’t let it go and makes the choice to have her own adventures. And again, that takes guts - to leave behind everything you know and to face the unknown is no easy choice, and certainly no safe path. But Rose chooses her path with her eyes open and with a smile on her face. Whatever happens, she knows that life is worth the monsters.
In the second episode, TEOTW, the Doctor chooses to take Rose to see the destruction of her planet on her first trip with him in the Tardis - pretty intense for your first trip, but Rose handles it well.
What I love about this episode is how Rose connects to people. Being far away from home and feeling culture-shock can be unnerving. People have to find something to connect some sense of familiarity. When I went to Japan and barely knew the language, I did this by interacting with all the people that could speak English so I didn’t feel so lonely. Rose acts in a similar way: she strikes up conversations with people and Aliens alike and connects their experiences to things on Earth. She asks Ruffalo about her home planet, discusses her profession of plumbing, and suddenly Rose isn’t feeling so overwhelmed. She does this throughout the series, and it makes for lovely scenes where we get to know the supporting characters.
In addition to this, Rose treats Aliens with respect. When that creature actually spits on her, she doesn’t slap him in the face or get pissy. She recognizes that it was technically a gift and wipes her face. She treats Ruffalo with more kindness than anyone else on the ship does, and she even attempts to make friends with the little tree plant. She sees beings who are usually invisible to others (Ruffalo and Gwyneth, for instance) and reaches out to them. She doesn’t do this to impress the Doctor, or to see what these people are capable of, or because she’s bored. I like to think she acts this way because she genuinely enjoys people. She meets someone, asks them questions, connects to them, and it makes whatever Alien world (or Earth time period) she’s visiting feel that much more like home. She’s extremely adaptable.
Rose is also shown to not be a pushover by the fact that she doesn’t kiss Cassandra’s behind just because she’s a Very Big Deal. When Cassandra insults her and talks down to her, Rose dishes it right back. Rose knows her worth and doesn’t allow herself to be demeaned. On that same note, when Cassandra is in agony, Rose pleads with the Doctor to help her. This woman almost killed everyone on the ship for the sole purpose of paying for her plastic surgery (and some, like Jabe and Ruffalo, end up dead because of her actions), but Rose doesn’t care about that. She cares that Cassandra is a being in extreme agony, crying out for mercy, and Rose tells the Doctor to help her. That takes class. Rose also doesn’t act jealous when the Doctor leaves with Jabe. This proves that Rose didn’t decide to travel with the Doctor just because she had a crush on him - after all, she barely knew him. Rose went with the Doctor because she wanted adventure, first and foremost.
The scenes I really love in this episode are when Rose is watching her planet burn, the following confrontation with the Doctor, and her scene at the end of the episode. Yes, Rose was trapped for most of this episode, but those moments cemented me in my utmost respect for Rose.
She’s known the Doctor for about a day. He might as well be walking around with a sign that says I HAVE SEVERE EMOTIONAL BAGGAGE. All Rose knows is that he was in a war and all his people are dead. She was almost killed today and the only reason he brought her to see her planet burn was so that he could get her to understand his grief, which is more than a little selfish. When he tells her about the war, Rose has some options. She could leave, go back home, and accept the fact that this guy is way too damaged for her to deal with - that she’s just a 19 year-old girl and that she’s not sure she can handle it. She could’ve done the safe thing and said something like, “I’m sorry. That must suck for you,” and never ask him any other questions about himself.
But Rose Tyler, being the fantastic girl we all know she is - knowing that this Alien has known tremendous pain of which she can only dream of, knowing that she could die or be injured if she chooses to travel with him, even though she’s only known him for a day - says, “You have me.” And my heart melted. Because all Rose sees is someone in pain. Right there, in that moment, she’s letting the Doctor know that she cares and will help in any way she can. Not because she loves the Doctor or because she wants something in return, but because there’s someone whose life is spiraling out of control and is in desperate need of a friend. Rose met the Doctor in one of his worst states of mind, and she was soft enough to help him heal and strong enough to push him forward.
In The Unquiet Dead we get to see more of Rose’s interactions with people, this time on earth but in a time period different from her own. She yells at Sneed when he kidnaps her and cops a feel, even though that’s probably not the proper Victorian thing to do. She gossips with Gwyneth about boys and ultimately is called a wild thing. Rose doesn’t get offended, but embraces that title: she likes the fact that she’s different, that she doesn’t do what she’s expected to do. Rose also continues to challenge the Doctor by standing up for what she believes in. Whether or not you agreed with her argument about the Gelth, in the end she was correct about their intentions.
A lot of people talk about Rose’s emotional strength, or her heart, but what really impresses me about Rose is her courage. In the scene where she’s about to die with the Doctor in the morgue, with zombies about to kill her, she doesn’t panic or cry or whine at the Doctor to fix it. She says that if this is the way they’re going to die, they’ll go down fighting together. It takes courage to face death with dignity and Rose repeatedly expresses this character trait throughout both series.
In WW3/AOL, Rose gets to shine alongside the also magnificent Harriet Jones. Every time I read someone saying Rose is useless or selfish, I think back to these episodes. Not only does Rose come up with the cupboard plan, and significantly contribute to the conversation that led to the revelation of the Slitheen’s weakness, she also sacrifices herself as bait to save the world.
The Doctor: That's the thing. If I don't dare, everyone dies.
Rose Tyler: Do it.
The Doctor: You don't even know what it is. You'd just let me?
Rose Tyler: Yeah.
Jackie Tyler: Please, Doctor, please, she's my daughter, she's just a kid.
The Doctor: Do you think I don't know that? 'Cause this is my life, Jackie - it's not fun, it's not smart, and it’s just standing up and making a decision because nobody else will.
Rose Tyler: Then what are you waiting for?
Jackie is correct - Rose is only a kid. There are so many experiences that she’ll never have if she’s killed. But Rose knows that the planet is in danger and she doesn’t care if the plan is dangerous; she recognizes that she could be killed and her response of “Then what are you waiting for?” is so moving. Rose Tyler knows she could die, but as the Doctor said, she’s standing up and taking the risk because no one else will.
Rose’s tendency to comfort others leads to devastating consequences in Dalek. I confess, the first series of new Who was the first time I had ever seen Doctor Who, so just like Rose I had no idea what a Dalek was. Seeing it tortured and speaking pitifully to Rose compelled me to want her to touch it and offer it some comfort. Unfortunately, neither Rose nor I had any idea what would happen once she did. The point is, Rose again tried to comfort someone who was in terrible pain and that comfort came instinctively. That’s why it boggles my mind when people say she’s not kind or compassionate. Throughout both series she demonstrates these traits with people and Aliens alike.
The theme of Rose facing death with dignity occurs again in Dalek, when Rose has been trapped inside a hallway with a Dalek fast approaching she knows that she is going to die, that this Alien does not negotiate, that she’s seen people electrocuted even when they cease firing at it. She knows that this is the end and that these are her final moments of her short life and what does she do?
She comforts the Doctor because she knows he will blame himself.
When I see that people say Rose is stupid or useless or worthless, I like to think back to this scene. Even though Rose knows that she’s going to die, she turns back and faces the Dalek head on. When you face down an enemy that even the Doctor is terrified of, and not bawl like a baby or scream with fright but try to negotiate or at least stare at death in the face with your head held high, then damnit, you have guts. I also know that some people are surprised that Rose joined Torchwood in the Alt!Verse. No, she doesn’t have formal training or a PhD. But when push comes to shove, Rose Tyler has balls of steel.
I know I’ve been focusing a lot on the death and intensity of S1, but another thing I love about Rose is how much fun she has while traveling the Universe. We see how dangerous and dark it is traveling with the Doctor, but through Rose we also see the wonder of it all. The Doctor showed her a whole new universe and she loved every aspect of it. This is demonstrated during quiet moments: Rose putting her foot in the snow, getting excited that she was able to pronounce Raxacoricofallapatorius, making friends, cracking jokes, living her life. It was a joy for me to watch Rose discovering the wonders of the Universe and that’s such a part of the charm of Rose - watching someone start to use their untapped potential and saving the day in their own way, without needing to be the most educated, the strongest or the fastest is inspirational.
In Father’s Day, we start seeing the not-so-sunny side of Rose’s personality when she makes a huge mistake because she chooses to follow her heart without considering the consequences. It’s a very human thing, to want your loved one back and maybe it’s because I’ve lost my father, but the idea that I could see him again is a tempting one. Rose didn’t know that her actions of saving her father would lead to Reapers or that the Doctor would wind up being eaten. This episode also marks the first time I was really angry at Rose for that ugly fight between her and the Doctor: the one where she flaunts the fact that he’s damaged and how much he means to her and then smirks in triumph when he comes running back to her.
To me, a real character needs flaws. Watching a character always say the right thing, always doing the right thing, never changing or growing or learning from their mistakes isn’t just boring. It’s a cardboard cut-out. One of the reasons I resonated with Rose so strongly is that we did see her at her worst. We saw her do and say some not-so-noble things (or at least, in contrast to what we expect from a lead character on a children’s television show), but that made all of her good moments even better for me. To see a character choosing to be good, instead of just being good is more powerful to me.
For instance, when Rose realizes how grave the situation in Father’s Day is and just how badly she’s messed up, she apologizes. She learns from this mistake and grows as a person. She’s able to say goodbye to her dad, pick herself up, and she never messes with time again. That’s life: making mistakes, taking chances, getting burned, and learning from it. This is also shown in TEC/TDD when she makes the incredibly stupid decision to grab onto the barrage balloon. Yeah, dumb mistake. But I think what some people forget is that she was trying to rescue a child who was up on a roof during a German air raid. She wasn’t doing it for fun or to see if she could. Although she tried to save the day in a messy way, she saw someone in trouble and tried to help. I’d also like to point out that in TEC/TDD, when Jack and the Doctor were too busy trying to prove who was the bigger man and bickering like five year-olds, Rose saved both of their lives by using Jack's Sonic Blaster to teleport them below to safety.
Rose also demonstrates her ability to reach out and comfort people when she talks to Nancy. Though they barely know each other, Rose is able to comfort Nancy when she sees that Nancy is in danger of giving up hope. That’s why that scene touched me so much - Rose doesn’t use weapons or invents contraptions or have superpowers, but she uses what she does have (in this case, knowledge of the future) to comfort someone who needs to find the strength to go on and keep fighting. And even though Rose and Nancy had less than 15 minutes of screen time together, it’s Rose’s name Nancy calls out when she’s scared.
In Boom Town we see how Rose’s traveling affects Mickey. Rose realizes that she’s been treating Mickey with less respect than he deserves - she recognizes that she’s hurt Mickey and that “he deserves better.” Yes, it’s true that sometimes Rose can act selfishly and treat the people she loves carelessly. But again, I give her props for recognizing that she messed up and attempting to make things right. Without these moments of weakness to contrast with the moments of strength, Rose wouldn’t be a well-written character and would instead be a flawless caricature. And unfortunately without a conflict or some internal drive, the story would come across as dull.
Finally, we come to BW and PotW, where we see Rose achieve what we knew she was capable of from the start. When I look at Rose, I see an ordinary girl who doesn’t realize how extraordinary her potential is. But before I delve into that, I want to bring up this wonderful scene, where the Doctor tells Rose how they could escape but we see that Rose had never even thought about it. This is important because Rose, as I’ve mentioned time and time again, doesn’t run away. It never even crossed her mind. She’s about to go into battle with an enemy so deadly that it cost the life of every Time Lord to stop them before and it never once crossed her mind that she should go back to her own time period and not fight the good fight. That’s because Rose Tyler has an extraordinary amount of bravery in her.
Then we come to what the crux of what Rose Tyler’s character is to me: how important the ability to choose her fate is to her. Rose is constantly doing things on her own terms. She chooses to run away with Jimmy. She chooses to travel with the Doctor. She chooses to wander off. Rose’s fury upon finding out that she’s been tricked and the decision of whether or not to take the safe path has been taken away from her is heartbreaking. She’s sent home during a grave situation that could result in the Doctor’s death and she can’t fly the Tardis to go back. Despite all of this, Rose comes up with a plan to get back by opening the heart of the Tardis. I acknowledge the fact that Rose gives up and Mickey and Jackie are the ones who opened the ship with the big yellow truck. But it’s Rose’s idea to look into the heart of the Tardis. The gravity of this choice was stunning. The only time Rose had ever seen this done was in Boom Town, when the same action literally turns Margaret into an egg. Rose doesn’t know what it will do to her - if she’ll live or die or turn into something horrific. She makes her own choice and decides to take a chance and risk her life to save the Doctor.
And thus, she becomes the Bad Wolf.
It’s beautiful to me because when you look at how she was from the first episode up until now, you can see just how far she’s come. You can see how far she’s willing to go to make a stand and do the right thing. Although she’s been demonstrating that trait since childhood, seeing her wipe out the Daleks, save the Universe and the Doctor’s life, bring Jack back to life, and end the Time War (to our knowledge) is awe-inspiring. She is Rose Tyler and she creates herself. She made a choice to end the Time War so the Doctor wouldn’t have to and essentially becomes his hero. The fact that she was willing to burn up and die just to save the person she cared about demonstrated to me just how much Rose Tyler kicks ass. Because when something’s wrong, you can either run from it or face it. Rose Tyler faced it every time.
Now I’d like to move on to S2; unfortunately, S2 was plagued with some problems: a New Doctor, weaker continuity between episodes and, according do some, the tarnishing of certain characters. Sometimes when I read people’s thoughts on Rose’s characterization in the second series, I stumble across the words “clingy, selfish cow” or “pathetic, useless girl” and other descriptions that make Rose out to be some kind of monster. Obviously, we were watching two different interpretations of the same show, because my heart ached for her in S2.
I’d like to start by addressing Rose’s jealousy. It’s true that Rose demonstrates jealousy in Series 2. She does this exactly twice; 3 times if you count her actions regarding Lynda in Series 1. Three times in 27 episodes. I’m not excusing her behavior or saying it’s right. There were times I slapped my head in annoyance at the way she behaved towards Sarah Jane. It's true Sarah Jane started it, but that’s not the point because both of them exhibited jealous behavior.
When I looked at it from Rose’s perspective, I saw why she was behaving in the way that she did. Rose has done many things for the Doctor - she's taken care of him, saved his life, and even gone so far as to absorb the entire time vortex into her head for his sake. It's obvious that she thinks he cares for her. Now imagine what that must have been like to find out that not only are you in danger of being thrown away for something “new and shiny” or simply because the Doctor gets bored of you, but that he doesn’t even mention any of the previous special people that were in his lives. I consider this a big deal, because if you don't talk about someone then it seems to others that they and their impact on your life never occurred. The fact that Rose finds all of this out - that Sarah Jane Smith was just dumped off in Aberdeen, that the Doctor never even came back, and then that Sarah Jane wasted her life waiting for him - must have been like a slap in the face. Suddenly Rose is shown the costs of traveling with the Doctor and is given a glimpse of what could happen to her.
So of course Rose is jealous and full of anger. But what I think some people forget is that Rose is the one who offers Sarah Jane the Olive Branch (by saying, "Listen to us. It's like me and my mate Shireen. The only time we fell out was over a man, and... we're arguing over the Doctor.") and she and Sarah Jane bond. They laugh at the Doctor, they laugh at themselves and it’s Rose who tells the Doctor to invite Sarah Jane on board. Again, I’m not excusing Rose’s jealousy in this episode. But I’d like to point out that Rose’s flaw at the beginning of the episode causes Rose to grow and change by the end. She makes a mistake, apologizes for it, and grows from it. The way Rose dealt with that situation made her feel very human to me. She was able to overcome her jealousy of Sarah Jane, become fast friends with her, and even respect her (and her role in the Doctor’s life) in less than forty minutes. And I respect Rose for that.
In Girl in the Fireplace, Rose is slapped in the face again with the fact that traveling with the Doctor can be painful. But note how Rose doesn’t express jealousy over Reinette - she tries to help her, empathizes with her, and attempts to explain the situation to her when the Doctor can’t. This moment is painful for me, because I know what Rose is feeling, standing there in jeans and a t-shirt, no A-levels, seemingly so ordinary next to “one of the most accomplished women in history.” That has to hurt. I can imagine at this point that Rose is starting to wonder if she’s not enough - if she isn’t worth enough to travel with someone like the Doctor. I always say that Rose has faith in herself, but I think GitF is one of the first times she questions her own self-worth and what she means to the Doctor. In New Earth and Tooth and Claw, Rose is distracted by the shiny and new worlds around her, but I think by the time we get to School Reunion and Girl in the Fireplace she's begun to realize that things have changed, that while the Doctor is essentially still the same person, he's also inherently different from the one she met in Rose. He's no longer the same person she started this journey with, the person she made a connection with. That version of the Doctor was so much more intense and he really needed her, because he was suffering and damaged. I think that when she realizes this might not be the case anymore, it hurts. And so she treats Reinette with kindness and understanding and even when Reinette refers to her as a child, and even when Rose knows that the Doctor has feelings for her, she doesn’t get jealous. That shows me that Rose has grown since School Reunion; of course she’s probably envious on the inside, but she doesn’t engage in cattiness with Reinette, who is arguably more of a “threat” than Sarah Jane was. Her reaction to Mickey joining the Tardis “crew” in School Reunion also reflects this: while she was momentarily upset that Mickey was coming along, probably because she was already feeling insecure with her place in the Doctor’s life and having Mickey on board would complicate things further, she immediately gets over it in Girl in the Fireplace and the two of them work together. Sure, it’s probably because Moffat didn’t read the SR script, but I’m sticking to canon!
Rose demonstrates jealousy one other time in Return of the Cybermen, when Ten mentions Lucy and Rose gets in a huff. I blame this bizarre occurrence on the writer's lack of continuity, but if I had to explain it in terms of canon, I'd chalk it up to realism. I have a bad habit where sometimes I lose contact with people. I know it’s bad and I try to stop myself. Sometimes I manage to stay in contact for a while, but every so often I'll slip up and lose touch again. I know this is an inherent flaw, but I am not always able to overcome it. My point is, flaws make the characters more realistic. Once Rose realized in School Reunion that her jealousy was unfounded and saw how silly she was being, she changed, and you can see that contrast in her behavior in GitF. It’s almost as though she's a different character. But sometimes people slip up and bad habits crop up again. That doesn’t make it right, but it's natural and when a character does it, it's equally as natural. That little slip-up in Return of the Cybermen showed me that Rose was trying to change from the inside, and that these changes weren’t easy for her. To be fair, if the Doctor had left me to die on a spaceship with murderous clockwork people who harvest people’s organs to become parts of their ship and had tried to kill me once before, I think I’d be a little tetchy with Ten too. And if you notice, Rose never expresses jealousy again. As a final point, I'd also like to point out that not once did Rose push the Doctor into returning her feelings. She allowed him to go at his own pace and always accepted and appreciated the affection he showed her, no matter how small or large the gesture.
I’d next like to address the belief that Rose was completely selfish.
Sometimes I don’t understand what people want out of a fictional character. Do they want a character that always says the right thing, does the right thing, and never makes a mistake? That’s so boring and predictable. I want to see my characters flawed and watch them work through their shortcomings to become a stronger character. I want to see my characters grow from their interactions with others and become better people the hard way. I feel Rose Tyler accomplished this.
Even when Rose is probably at one of her lowest points in GitF, doubting herself and what she means to the Doctor, she remains stoic. She’s just been abandoned by a person she considers a close friend, and left to die on a ship with murderous clockwork robots. When the Doctor comes back after five and a half hours, what does Rose do? She hugs him and asks him how he is. Every time I see someone call Rose selfish and heartless, I think back to this scene.
I also think of the scene in which Rose is yelling at Elton for hurting her mother. Even as she's doing this, she realizes that Elton is in pain over Ursula and goes over to him and comforts him in the same sentence. I think of the scene in Idiot's Lantern when Rose stands up and comforts the wife without saying anything, or the scene in (episode name here) when she comforts Cassandra, who's dying - the very woman who tried to kill everyone again and violated Rose's mind to steal her body. I think of when Rose comforts Flora in Tooth and Claw; when she tried to comfort her alt!mother and got smacked down for it in Return of the Cybermen; when she told Tommy to go after his father because Tommy has the strength and character to be the better person to reform his dad, rather than shutting him out in The Idiot’s Lantern. I think of TIP/TSP when Rose empathized with the Ood and noticed that they were slaves (apparently Ten wasn’t paying attention, according to PotO), and when she hugs Toby, who has just been possessed by Satan.
I know it seems like I’m making it sound like Rose Tyler is amazing for being a decent person and caring about the people around her. But it’s so easy to forget other people’s suffering in real life, not to mention when you live the lifestyle the Doctor lives. When you’re living so close to death all the time, barely making it out alive, it’s so easy to forget the simple act of human kindness in favor of focusing on your own safety or problems. The fact that Rose has been through so many trials and tribulations and still makes every effort to comfort people she doesn’t even know speaks volumes to me about how selfless she can be. It doesn’t matter if Rose knows you for a minute or for a year; if you’re in distress, Rose is going to give you a hug and words of encouragement, whether you ask her to or not.
On the other hand, I agree that Rose could be pretty selfish in regards to her family, particularly Mickey and Jackie. The scene in Age of Steel when Rose and the Doctor make fun of Mickey is hard for me to watch. But people make mistakes. Sometimes we don’t treat people as well as we should. Sometimes we take people for granted, thinking they’ll always be there. Sometimes we don’t even realize we’re doing it until something happens that makes us realize it.
But also notice how distraught Rose is when Mickey decides to seize his own destiny; some people say that she made that scene all about her, saying, “What if I need you?” and then crying on Jackie’s shoulder. I don’t see it that way. I see someone saying goodbye to a childhood friend, an old lover, someone who has always been there for her and she will never see him again. I believe Rose knows that she didn’t treat Mickey as well as he deserved - she even admits this in Boomtown. Once Mickey is gone, she realizes that she has strung him along and made him feel bad, and I’m sure that’s hurting her. Rose crying on her mother’s shoulder shows me that she cares about him and misses him terribly. Considering we don’t get any follow-up on GitF, I think this scene at the end of RotC is a way to show that she is affected by Mickey's departure and the loss of her friend. AoS/RotC also makes Rose realize that she takes Jackie for granted as well. Seeing Alt!Jackie’s coldness makes Rose realize how special and warm her mother really is. I believe that’s another reason she wanted to go home - seeing your mother act so hostile towards you and then to find that she was converted into a machine is devastating for her.
My point is that yes, Rose made a mistake by taking Jackie and Mickey for granted. But why doesn’t anyone take notice of how she is after these episodes? When she sees Mickey again, she treats him with respect. She calls him the bravest human she’s ever known. She doesn’t treat him badly when he makes mistakes (i.e., touching the Dalek) and they work together. Their relationship appears to be mended in AoG/DD, and they seem closer than ever in these episodes. Her behavior towards Jackie also gets better. In Love and Monsters, Rose goes off to kick Elton’s ass for hurting her and brings presents that she thinks Jackie will enjoy.
So of course Rose gets into arguments with her family and doesn’t always treat them as well as maybe she should - but who doesn’t? The important fact is that Rose learns from her mistakes and tries to make it right. Rose seems to be an impulsive person, often jumping into action without thinking of the consequences. Sometimes she slips up and reacts to things negatively, but when she does she almost immediately deals with it and attempts to fix it. In my opinion, that's a sign of maturity.
I’d also like to focus on one of the very controversial points of whether or not Rose was smug in S2. Most people cite Tooth and Claw and Rose’s treatment of Queen Victoria as an example of Rose acting smug. I agree that the bet she made with the Doctor was taken way too far and she should've dropped the subject as soon as people started dying. However, after watching WW3/AOL, this scene occurred:
ROSE: Wish I had a compression field; I could fit a size smaller.
HARRIET JONES: Excuse me, people are dead. This is not the time for making jokes.
ROSE: Sorry. You get used to this stuff when you're friends with him.
And that’s when I understood - every day for over a year, Rose Tyler has probably seen death. She's seen people killed in horrible ways; she's seen death hit people she knew and people she'd never met. That takes a toll on a person, especially on a 19 year-old girl. She’s seen a Dalek electrocute an entire warehouse of people, Gelth zombies suck Gwyneth’s soul out, people suffering simultaneously from every disease imaginable nearly infect a hospital full of people, Reapers killing and eating innocent people, and much more. People cope with horror in different ways. Some people keep it inside until it erupts. Tegan in Remembrance of the Daleks eventually cannot stand seeing the death and destruction around her and leaves the Doctor in tears because she can’t take it anymore. And some people cope with horror using humor, like Rose. Rose makes the bet with the Doctor - who encouraged it - at the beginning of the episode. They repeat the joke four times. When Queen Victoria calls her out, in very much the same way as Harriet Jones does, Rose says, “No, Ma'am, I'm sorry.”
Rose realizes she hasn’t been treating Queen Victoria with the respect she deserves and that she shouldn’t have made the joke and she apologizes for it. She knows that she’s been caught up in her own world and not taking anyone else's feelings into consideration. No, that doesn’t make it right, but at least Rose is stepping up and taking responsibility for her mistake. Throughout the rest of the series, Rose never makes a bet or teases historical figures again. I believe that shows that Rose has learned from her mistakes and is trying to rectify her character flaw.
I’d also like to point out what happens in that “Werewolf!”, “I know!” sequence. Rose stands in a trance, looking dazed while the man is killed by the werewolf. As the werewolf advances on her, the Doctor drags her away. She breathes a sigh of relief and hugs the Doctor. Maybe she doesn’t cry or look horrified, but it's clear that she was so shocked by the incident that she couldn’t even move. She was probably so relieved by her escape from death that she did the first thing that came to mind: breathe a sigh of relief and seek comfort. It may not have been the most admirable thing to do, but if Rose Tyler didn’t do things like that, the moments when she exhibits extreme bravery wouldn’t be nearly as powerful.
Another issue I've come across is the opinion that Rose was “useless” in S2 and became “all about the Doctor and lost her will.”
Rose Tyler may have had an attitude, gotten jealous, and taken her family for granted, but she was most certainly not useless. She killed Satan, organized the crew in TIP/TSP to get them to safety even though she was young and they hardly knew her; she saved the Doctor in Fear Her by figuring out how to save the day, convinced the women to pull their chain to get away from the werewolf in Tooth and Claw, and she discovered the monsters' weakness in School Reunion. And that's only scratching the surface of Rose's independence and self-sufficiency. Rose was able to take care of herself when she was with and without the Doctor. It’s not like she sat around and ate chips and watched television all day.
As far as losing her will or becoming “all about the Doctor”, I didn’t see Series 2 like that. Rose wandered off on her own in every episode except for Love and Monsters. She went off investigating Cassandra in New Earth instead of returning to Ward 26, figured out the plot of Idiot’s Lantern before the Doctor did, went to see her father against the Doctor’s wishes in AoS and explored the spaceship in GitF, even though the Doctor warned against it. Even though they laughed and had a good time, when Rose wanted to do something she did it with or without the Doctor’s permission.
I can agree that Rose does ask the Doctor how he is, shows concern over his loneliness, and supports him when she needs to. She manages to find him an edible ball bearing cake to present him with when he comes back in Fear Her, just because she heard him rambling at the beginning of the episode that he loved them. But I don’t call that becoming “all about the Doctor”. I call that friendship. When you live with someone, and especially when you face danger on a daily basis with them, it’s only natural for you to get attached the longer you’re with them. As far as their “happy adventures” go, I’d like to offer a quote from Kino’s Journey: “The world is not beautiful, therefore it is.” The life the Doctor leads, as we hear from Elton, is a dark and wonderful place; and notice that every place Rose visits has a dark side. In some worlds the populace is subjugated, such as when the Ood are enslaved, or a tragedy may occur, such as when Lady Isobel loses her husband. There’s rarely a day where everyone lives. To me, Rose’s carefree attitude symbolizes how the dark aspects of life, such as oppression and tyranny, make the good parts of life all the more precious and wonderful. No, treating tragedy with humor is not always the right thing to do and sometimes, such as in Tooth and Claw, it backfires on her. But to me, watching Rose say, “I love this, traveling with you, I love it!” and enjoying the little things like apple grass contrasts beautifully with the zombie story we’re treated to later because it reminds me of the fragility of those moments. Maybe Rose wasn’t at her best in Tooth and Claw when she took a silly bet too far, but she shone for me when she attempted to bond with the werewolf and later rescued herself by motivating the ladies to break their chains. Yes, Rose was horrible in the first five minutes of AoS, but the scene in Doomsday where she kept Mickey alive by buying time and threatening the Daleks - who usually kill on sight - showed me just how much she overcomes her shortcomings in order to become a hero.
Rose Tyler is special to me because she took risks and made decisions on her own terms, whether or not it was the “safe” thing for her to do. So many times I see characters choose to ignore their dreams to be sensible or because they’re afraid they’ll fail. Rose took risks regardless of the outcome. There’s a great quote that sums up my Rose love: “It takes a supreme effort of will to put aside what the rest of the species takes on faith, in favor of one's own path towards one's own truth.” So many times on television, females are cast as the love interest, the support for the male character, the character that acts as the catalyst for the male hero to grow. Very rarely do we see a female character ever get the hero arc: the process of growing up and becoming a hero and leaving home for adventure. Rose Tyler, Girl Adventurer, did not want timebabies with the Doctor. She didn’t decide to settle down or get married or return to her boring shop job. Rose Tyler discovered her own truth: she chose a life of extraordinary adventure over normalcy. She found her purpose in life: saving the Universe, one planet at a time.
In Doomsday, she decided that she wanted to travel with the Doctor “forever”. My viewpoint on the use of this phrase isn’t that she meant forever as in all eternity, as that would be impossible, but that she said it to let the Doctor know that she enjoyed this life and intended to keep it up for as long as they had together. I feel it was her way of saying that she wasn’t going anywhere. Jackie’s speech about how Rose shouldn’t go hit close to home for me. I’m currently applying to Graduate Schools and my mom frequently tells me to choose a school in our state so I can stay close, even though one of my dream schools is far away. She’s not doing this because she wants me to stay with her forever; she just wants to be able to protect me in case something horrible happens. She’s worried that if I go far from home, I’ll hate it; I might not make friends, I could hate the cold, I could be miserable, and want to come home. My mom doesn’t want me to get hurt because she loves me. That’s how I interpret Jackie’s speech. She knows that if Rose chooses to stay with the Doctor, Jackie will never see her again. Jackie’s worried that Rose and the Doctor could be happy for a while, but what if they aren’t happy in the long run? What if he leaves her, or she tires of him, or she gets hurt? Jackie won’t be able to help her daughter because she’ll be in another universe. Most mothers don’t want their daughters to suffer, after all, and Jackie’s no different.
But Rose chooses to go back to the Doctor, even when he tries to take the choice away from her. I admire Rose for knowing that the choices she makes may not always work out the way she wants them to, but she nonetheless reaches for her dreams even if they might not be the best thing for her. The Doctor’s life is not an easy one, but she considers the adventures and her friendship with the Doctor well worth the inherent risks.
Choice comes up again in the very next scene in Doomsday: something hits the lever on Rose’s side and it starts to move back. Rose chooses to risk her life - not for the Doctor, who’s safe on the other side, not for her family, who is safe in their parallel world, but for the sake of the entire Earth. She hangs on to the lever, knowing full well that she could plummet to her death in the Void. And in the end she pays the price: she ends up trapped in the parallel world against her will. That’s the tragedy of Doomsday for me - Rose has found her purpose in life, but she’s forbidden to have it. Rose can’t get out of the situation she’s gotten into, that she has no choice in the matter and that she’s stuck in a place she doesn’t want to be, just as she was in the first episode of the show. And this time, there is no one coming to take her away. Yet she's the one comforting the Doctor in their final scene together, even though she's the one who can never see the stars again.
Luckily, Rose Tyler can rescue herself and it seems like she’s found a way back into our universe somehow. I don’t know what’s going to happen, but all I want is for Rose is to be happy, regardless of whatever choice she makes. I want to see her thriving in her new world (preferably flying a Zeppelin), making a difference and living her life or working to change her circumstances. I most certainly don’t want her to die or to see her as a shell of her former self. When Rose says, “This is the story of how I died” I viewed it as the death of that chapter of her life. She believes that she can’t ever see the Doctor again, but I also feel she has the tools to still lead a bountiful life.
When I look at Rose, I see an ordinary girl who rose above her shortcomings to become the hero of her own story. Throughout her journey, I felt and saw a full range of emotions: longing, happiness, exhilaration, fear, jealousy, anger, joy, sorrow and finally hope. If there’s one thing I learned from Rose Tyler, it’s that life is for living and I love her for that, flaws and all.
Thanks for reading!
I'd also like to give a personal thank you to ad_exia for being a great beta who helped me and encouraged me to keep going. This poor girl had to read through over 35 pages of meta multiple times before we finally got to trim it down to a more acceptable number. She's been amazing and I couldn't have done it without her! Thanks, Alison! =D
I’ve decided to leave this unlocked because I’d love to hear from fellow Rose fans and if someone honestly hates a fictional character so much that they look this up, read it, and attempt to troll it, well, really, do I even need to finish this sentence?
Foreword: I love just about each and every companion. Each companion offers something special and impacts the Doctor in some way. I’m not trying to say that Rose is the most special person to the Doctor. In fact, this isn’t about any relationship at all. This is my way of saying that Rose Tyler is not a “dumb useless shop girl” or a “love interest.” She’s so much more than that.
Let’s start from the beginning: before Rose met the Doctor. In the Doctor Who Annual 2006, Russell T. Davies wrote some exposition on Rose Tyler:
Rose (whose middle name is given as Marion) began seeing Mickey at the age of 14, and at 15 she was suspended from her school, Jericho Street Comprehensive, for persuading the choir to go on strike. After doing well in her GCSE exams, she left school to live with a 20 year-old musician, Jimmy Stone, but the affair ended in tears and with Rose £800 in debt. She subsequently returned to Jackie and Mickey, and her mother called in a favour from an ex-boyfriend to get her the job at Henrik's Department Store.
People in fandom are probably not the first people who have dismissed Rose Tyler as a “dumb blonde chav.” I’d wager to say that she’s heard it all her life. People have probably always underestimated Rose. No matter how strong Rose appears to be, I’m sure she’s been hurt by criticism in the past. I’m also sure Rose has been told all her life that she should be happy with her place - that she has a good life and she should be content with what she has. This is demonstrated by Jackie’s line in Rose about how Rose is “getting uppity” about working in a shop. I’m not saying Jackie is a bad mother - just that it’s clear she hasn’t exactly been encouraging Rose to pursue greener pastures or even to go back to school. After all, those who have abandoned their dreams will usually discourage yours.
If her own mother says things like that to Rose, it’s a strong indicator to me that other people she knows likely hold similar opinions. I’m also willing to bet that some of those people probably said it in ways that were much less kind than Jackie’s words.
One of the things I adore about Rose is that she inspires people: whether it’s getting the school choir to revolt or organizing the ship’s crew in TIP/TSP, Rose Tyler will certainly get you motivated. She inspires change and that’s not an easy thing to do. You have to have charisma, the ability to get people to see your viewpoint, and the guts to take a stand in the first place, regardless of the consequences. Rose Tyler had that at 15 years old.
Another point I want to emphasize is the fact that she did well on her GCSE exams, proving that she’s not “dumb.” Yes, Rose did not get her A-levels, but not having a degree doesn’t mean you’re inherently stupid. It means you didn’t further your academic education, not that you don’t know how to take care of yourself.
The most controversial part of Rose’s past that I want to address is Rose’s affair with Jimmy Stone. I’ve read that people criticize her choice, saying she threw away her education and future for a man. Now, I’m not supporting her decision, but I’d like to look past the surface of her actions and show that while this may have been a crappy situation, the lasting effects of dealing with it actually benefited Rose in the long run.
We see people tell her that she has a good life, but it is clear that Rose wants more. I’ve read some meta in which the authors feel Rose could earn their respect if she had tried to have a fantastic life on her own instead of waiting for the Doctor to give it to her. To me, Rose knew something was missing from her life, but didn’t know where to look for it. It’s easy for people to tell you to go on a vacation to find adventure, but it’s much harder when you don’t have any money. I think she did try to do this on her own - maybe she didn’t fly to Morocco and become an ace pilot or earn a degree in archaeology and travel the world, but I do think she tried to escape from an ordinary life by running away with Jimmy Stone.
Yes, she did leave school to be with her boyfriend, but she also took a huge risk by going to live with him. Even though Rose had probably always been told that the safe path was the smart path, she instead chose the dangerous path: to leave her home, live with the person she probably thought she was going to be with forever (as most teenagers believe at that age) and enjoy her life on her own terms. Was this a wise choice? Seeing how it ended in tears and in debt, probably not. But at least she took a chance instead of wondering what might have been.
I know the show preaches the message “the Doctor is worth the monsters,” but I feel that life is worth the monsters. Yes, Rose made a stupid decision. But that’s what life is all about: trying to find yourself, taking chances, making choices about what kind of person you’re going to be, getting hurt, and learning from it. When things took a turn for the worse between her and Jimmy, what did Rose do? Did she turn to drugs or self-destructive behavior? Did she try to work things out with Jimmy even though she was probably treated badly? No, when things ended in tears, she got out. She went back home to the people she had abandoned, severely in debt, and heartbroken. But at the end of the day, she took responsibility for her actions and did what she had to do to survive. Jackie got her a job, and I like to think she was working off her debt.
I’m always impressed that even though Rose had her heart ripped out by her deadbeat boyfriend, she never let it break her. She picked herself up, got a job, and was even able to have a stable relationship again. Even though the Jimmy Stone situation wasn’t Rose’s smartest decision, it demonstrates that she has inner strength and that she learns from her mistakes.
Once the Doctor does show up, Rose blows that “dumb blonde shopgirl” stereotype right out of the water. From the moment she meets the Doctor, she asks insightful questions and even does some investigating to find out more information about him. She isn’t impressed or in awe of him, but she is interested in learning more about him. In one of the funniest moments of the episode, she points out the huge Ferris Wheel as being a transmitter while the Doctor flails about. She also breaks down when she thinks Mickey’s dead and the first thing she does when she finds out about the Autons is to call her mother and warn her to seek safety.
And then came the crowning moment - the moment I really fell for Rose Tyler.
You know, it’s really easy when someone is super-smart or has a handy skill that allows them to save the day. We come to expect it of such characters - after all, they’re qualified. It’s fun to watch the Doctor single-handedly save the day because he knows an alien’s weakness or because he waves his sonic screwdriver. But when an ordinary person with no special world-saving skills and no advanced degree attempts to save the day, it’s truly a joy to watch. Seeing someone know they have a small chance of defeating the enemy, that the enemy is faster, stronger, and smarter than they are, and still stepping up and choosing to save the day is inspiring.
At 19 years old and with no A-Levels, Rose Tyler couldn't tell you what the Shadow Proclamation was or calculate how to create a bomb in under 5 seconds to kill the Autons. Rose could've run away. She could've saved herself and Mickey and gotten the hell out of there. That certainly would’ve been the smart, rational thing to do in her situation. The safe and easy path.
But as Rose has been demonstrating since her choral strike, she doesn’t take the safe and easy path. When something’s wrong, no matter the consequences, she steps up. She utilizes what skills she does have. Oh, yes, Rose Tyler has no A-levels, but she does have a bronze medal in gymnastics and she is going to use it. Using her intelligence (as being uneducated doesn't make you not smart), she comes up with a plan of her own volition, saves the Doctor's life and saves the planet on her first day. That takes courage. That is what I love about Rose Tyler. She may not be a Nobel Prize Winner, but if something is wrong then she's going to do what she can to fix it. An ordinary young girl lacking any specialized skills or an advanced education swung on a chain and saved the world.
In the final scene of the episode, the Doctor asks Rose to join him on the Tardis. She clearly wants to do this, but what I found interesting was how Mickey physically holds her back from going, while Jackie tells her to “go home.” Here Rose is presented with a similar choice to the one she faced with Jimmy Stone. Rose has seen that traveling in the Tardis can be terrifying; she’s seen what the Autons are capable of and saw how the entire planet was almost destroyed. But this is also the chance of a lifetime - a chance to have a real adventure. She can choose to take the safe path and go back to the life she’s dissatisfied with, or she can take this huge gamble and go with this man she hardly knows to unknown and faraway places and possibly be killed - or possibly become better for it. And at first, Rose does choose the safe path, probably because it is the sane and rational thing to do: to not go with the weird alien and have possibly life-threatening adventures in a blue box-shaped spaceship. But it is clear she regrets this decision, and the second she gets another chance, Rose knows she can’t let it go and makes the choice to have her own adventures. And again, that takes guts - to leave behind everything you know and to face the unknown is no easy choice, and certainly no safe path. But Rose chooses her path with her eyes open and with a smile on her face. Whatever happens, she knows that life is worth the monsters.
In the second episode, TEOTW, the Doctor chooses to take Rose to see the destruction of her planet on her first trip with him in the Tardis - pretty intense for your first trip, but Rose handles it well.
What I love about this episode is how Rose connects to people. Being far away from home and feeling culture-shock can be unnerving. People have to find something to connect some sense of familiarity. When I went to Japan and barely knew the language, I did this by interacting with all the people that could speak English so I didn’t feel so lonely. Rose acts in a similar way: she strikes up conversations with people and Aliens alike and connects their experiences to things on Earth. She asks Ruffalo about her home planet, discusses her profession of plumbing, and suddenly Rose isn’t feeling so overwhelmed. She does this throughout the series, and it makes for lovely scenes where we get to know the supporting characters.
In addition to this, Rose treats Aliens with respect. When that creature actually spits on her, she doesn’t slap him in the face or get pissy. She recognizes that it was technically a gift and wipes her face. She treats Ruffalo with more kindness than anyone else on the ship does, and she even attempts to make friends with the little tree plant. She sees beings who are usually invisible to others (Ruffalo and Gwyneth, for instance) and reaches out to them. She doesn’t do this to impress the Doctor, or to see what these people are capable of, or because she’s bored. I like to think she acts this way because she genuinely enjoys people. She meets someone, asks them questions, connects to them, and it makes whatever Alien world (or Earth time period) she’s visiting feel that much more like home. She’s extremely adaptable.
Rose is also shown to not be a pushover by the fact that she doesn’t kiss Cassandra’s behind just because she’s a Very Big Deal. When Cassandra insults her and talks down to her, Rose dishes it right back. Rose knows her worth and doesn’t allow herself to be demeaned. On that same note, when Cassandra is in agony, Rose pleads with the Doctor to help her. This woman almost killed everyone on the ship for the sole purpose of paying for her plastic surgery (and some, like Jabe and Ruffalo, end up dead because of her actions), but Rose doesn’t care about that. She cares that Cassandra is a being in extreme agony, crying out for mercy, and Rose tells the Doctor to help her. That takes class. Rose also doesn’t act jealous when the Doctor leaves with Jabe. This proves that Rose didn’t decide to travel with the Doctor just because she had a crush on him - after all, she barely knew him. Rose went with the Doctor because she wanted adventure, first and foremost.
The scenes I really love in this episode are when Rose is watching her planet burn, the following confrontation with the Doctor, and her scene at the end of the episode. Yes, Rose was trapped for most of this episode, but those moments cemented me in my utmost respect for Rose.
She’s known the Doctor for about a day. He might as well be walking around with a sign that says I HAVE SEVERE EMOTIONAL BAGGAGE. All Rose knows is that he was in a war and all his people are dead. She was almost killed today and the only reason he brought her to see her planet burn was so that he could get her to understand his grief, which is more than a little selfish. When he tells her about the war, Rose has some options. She could leave, go back home, and accept the fact that this guy is way too damaged for her to deal with - that she’s just a 19 year-old girl and that she’s not sure she can handle it. She could’ve done the safe thing and said something like, “I’m sorry. That must suck for you,” and never ask him any other questions about himself.
But Rose Tyler, being the fantastic girl we all know she is - knowing that this Alien has known tremendous pain of which she can only dream of, knowing that she could die or be injured if she chooses to travel with him, even though she’s only known him for a day - says, “You have me.” And my heart melted. Because all Rose sees is someone in pain. Right there, in that moment, she’s letting the Doctor know that she cares and will help in any way she can. Not because she loves the Doctor or because she wants something in return, but because there’s someone whose life is spiraling out of control and is in desperate need of a friend. Rose met the Doctor in one of his worst states of mind, and she was soft enough to help him heal and strong enough to push him forward.
In The Unquiet Dead we get to see more of Rose’s interactions with people, this time on earth but in a time period different from her own. She yells at Sneed when he kidnaps her and cops a feel, even though that’s probably not the proper Victorian thing to do. She gossips with Gwyneth about boys and ultimately is called a wild thing. Rose doesn’t get offended, but embraces that title: she likes the fact that she’s different, that she doesn’t do what she’s expected to do. Rose also continues to challenge the Doctor by standing up for what she believes in. Whether or not you agreed with her argument about the Gelth, in the end she was correct about their intentions.
A lot of people talk about Rose’s emotional strength, or her heart, but what really impresses me about Rose is her courage. In the scene where she’s about to die with the Doctor in the morgue, with zombies about to kill her, she doesn’t panic or cry or whine at the Doctor to fix it. She says that if this is the way they’re going to die, they’ll go down fighting together. It takes courage to face death with dignity and Rose repeatedly expresses this character trait throughout both series.
In WW3/AOL, Rose gets to shine alongside the also magnificent Harriet Jones. Every time I read someone saying Rose is useless or selfish, I think back to these episodes. Not only does Rose come up with the cupboard plan, and significantly contribute to the conversation that led to the revelation of the Slitheen’s weakness, she also sacrifices herself as bait to save the world.
The Doctor: That's the thing. If I don't dare, everyone dies.
Rose Tyler: Do it.
The Doctor: You don't even know what it is. You'd just let me?
Rose Tyler: Yeah.
Jackie Tyler: Please, Doctor, please, she's my daughter, she's just a kid.
The Doctor: Do you think I don't know that? 'Cause this is my life, Jackie - it's not fun, it's not smart, and it’s just standing up and making a decision because nobody else will.
Rose Tyler: Then what are you waiting for?
Jackie is correct - Rose is only a kid. There are so many experiences that she’ll never have if she’s killed. But Rose knows that the planet is in danger and she doesn’t care if the plan is dangerous; she recognizes that she could be killed and her response of “Then what are you waiting for?” is so moving. Rose Tyler knows she could die, but as the Doctor said, she’s standing up and taking the risk because no one else will.
Rose’s tendency to comfort others leads to devastating consequences in Dalek. I confess, the first series of new Who was the first time I had ever seen Doctor Who, so just like Rose I had no idea what a Dalek was. Seeing it tortured and speaking pitifully to Rose compelled me to want her to touch it and offer it some comfort. Unfortunately, neither Rose nor I had any idea what would happen once she did. The point is, Rose again tried to comfort someone who was in terrible pain and that comfort came instinctively. That’s why it boggles my mind when people say she’s not kind or compassionate. Throughout both series she demonstrates these traits with people and Aliens alike.
The theme of Rose facing death with dignity occurs again in Dalek, when Rose has been trapped inside a hallway with a Dalek fast approaching she knows that she is going to die, that this Alien does not negotiate, that she’s seen people electrocuted even when they cease firing at it. She knows that this is the end and that these are her final moments of her short life and what does she do?
She comforts the Doctor because she knows he will blame himself.
When I see that people say Rose is stupid or useless or worthless, I like to think back to this scene. Even though Rose knows that she’s going to die, she turns back and faces the Dalek head on. When you face down an enemy that even the Doctor is terrified of, and not bawl like a baby or scream with fright but try to negotiate or at least stare at death in the face with your head held high, then damnit, you have guts. I also know that some people are surprised that Rose joined Torchwood in the Alt!Verse. No, she doesn’t have formal training or a PhD. But when push comes to shove, Rose Tyler has balls of steel.
I know I’ve been focusing a lot on the death and intensity of S1, but another thing I love about Rose is how much fun she has while traveling the Universe. We see how dangerous and dark it is traveling with the Doctor, but through Rose we also see the wonder of it all. The Doctor showed her a whole new universe and she loved every aspect of it. This is demonstrated during quiet moments: Rose putting her foot in the snow, getting excited that she was able to pronounce Raxacoricofallapatorius, making friends, cracking jokes, living her life. It was a joy for me to watch Rose discovering the wonders of the Universe and that’s such a part of the charm of Rose - watching someone start to use their untapped potential and saving the day in their own way, without needing to be the most educated, the strongest or the fastest is inspirational.
In Father’s Day, we start seeing the not-so-sunny side of Rose’s personality when she makes a huge mistake because she chooses to follow her heart without considering the consequences. It’s a very human thing, to want your loved one back and maybe it’s because I’ve lost my father, but the idea that I could see him again is a tempting one. Rose didn’t know that her actions of saving her father would lead to Reapers or that the Doctor would wind up being eaten. This episode also marks the first time I was really angry at Rose for that ugly fight between her and the Doctor: the one where she flaunts the fact that he’s damaged and how much he means to her and then smirks in triumph when he comes running back to her.
To me, a real character needs flaws. Watching a character always say the right thing, always doing the right thing, never changing or growing or learning from their mistakes isn’t just boring. It’s a cardboard cut-out. One of the reasons I resonated with Rose so strongly is that we did see her at her worst. We saw her do and say some not-so-noble things (or at least, in contrast to what we expect from a lead character on a children’s television show), but that made all of her good moments even better for me. To see a character choosing to be good, instead of just being good is more powerful to me.
For instance, when Rose realizes how grave the situation in Father’s Day is and just how badly she’s messed up, she apologizes. She learns from this mistake and grows as a person. She’s able to say goodbye to her dad, pick herself up, and she never messes with time again. That’s life: making mistakes, taking chances, getting burned, and learning from it. This is also shown in TEC/TDD when she makes the incredibly stupid decision to grab onto the barrage balloon. Yeah, dumb mistake. But I think what some people forget is that she was trying to rescue a child who was up on a roof during a German air raid. She wasn’t doing it for fun or to see if she could. Although she tried to save the day in a messy way, she saw someone in trouble and tried to help. I’d also like to point out that in TEC/TDD, when Jack and the Doctor were too busy trying to prove who was the bigger man and bickering like five year-olds, Rose saved both of their lives by using Jack's Sonic Blaster to teleport them below to safety.
Rose also demonstrates her ability to reach out and comfort people when she talks to Nancy. Though they barely know each other, Rose is able to comfort Nancy when she sees that Nancy is in danger of giving up hope. That’s why that scene touched me so much - Rose doesn’t use weapons or invents contraptions or have superpowers, but she uses what she does have (in this case, knowledge of the future) to comfort someone who needs to find the strength to go on and keep fighting. And even though Rose and Nancy had less than 15 minutes of screen time together, it’s Rose’s name Nancy calls out when she’s scared.
In Boom Town we see how Rose’s traveling affects Mickey. Rose realizes that she’s been treating Mickey with less respect than he deserves - she recognizes that she’s hurt Mickey and that “he deserves better.” Yes, it’s true that sometimes Rose can act selfishly and treat the people she loves carelessly. But again, I give her props for recognizing that she messed up and attempting to make things right. Without these moments of weakness to contrast with the moments of strength, Rose wouldn’t be a well-written character and would instead be a flawless caricature. And unfortunately without a conflict or some internal drive, the story would come across as dull.
Finally, we come to BW and PotW, where we see Rose achieve what we knew she was capable of from the start. When I look at Rose, I see an ordinary girl who doesn’t realize how extraordinary her potential is. But before I delve into that, I want to bring up this wonderful scene, where the Doctor tells Rose how they could escape but we see that Rose had never even thought about it. This is important because Rose, as I’ve mentioned time and time again, doesn’t run away. It never even crossed her mind. She’s about to go into battle with an enemy so deadly that it cost the life of every Time Lord to stop them before and it never once crossed her mind that she should go back to her own time period and not fight the good fight. That’s because Rose Tyler has an extraordinary amount of bravery in her.
Then we come to what the crux of what Rose Tyler’s character is to me: how important the ability to choose her fate is to her. Rose is constantly doing things on her own terms. She chooses to run away with Jimmy. She chooses to travel with the Doctor. She chooses to wander off. Rose’s fury upon finding out that she’s been tricked and the decision of whether or not to take the safe path has been taken away from her is heartbreaking. She’s sent home during a grave situation that could result in the Doctor’s death and she can’t fly the Tardis to go back. Despite all of this, Rose comes up with a plan to get back by opening the heart of the Tardis. I acknowledge the fact that Rose gives up and Mickey and Jackie are the ones who opened the ship with the big yellow truck. But it’s Rose’s idea to look into the heart of the Tardis. The gravity of this choice was stunning. The only time Rose had ever seen this done was in Boom Town, when the same action literally turns Margaret into an egg. Rose doesn’t know what it will do to her - if she’ll live or die or turn into something horrific. She makes her own choice and decides to take a chance and risk her life to save the Doctor.
And thus, she becomes the Bad Wolf.
It’s beautiful to me because when you look at how she was from the first episode up until now, you can see just how far she’s come. You can see how far she’s willing to go to make a stand and do the right thing. Although she’s been demonstrating that trait since childhood, seeing her wipe out the Daleks, save the Universe and the Doctor’s life, bring Jack back to life, and end the Time War (to our knowledge) is awe-inspiring. She is Rose Tyler and she creates herself. She made a choice to end the Time War so the Doctor wouldn’t have to and essentially becomes his hero. The fact that she was willing to burn up and die just to save the person she cared about demonstrated to me just how much Rose Tyler kicks ass. Because when something’s wrong, you can either run from it or face it. Rose Tyler faced it every time.
Now I’d like to move on to S2; unfortunately, S2 was plagued with some problems: a New Doctor, weaker continuity between episodes and, according do some, the tarnishing of certain characters. Sometimes when I read people’s thoughts on Rose’s characterization in the second series, I stumble across the words “clingy, selfish cow” or “pathetic, useless girl” and other descriptions that make Rose out to be some kind of monster. Obviously, we were watching two different interpretations of the same show, because my heart ached for her in S2.
I’d like to start by addressing Rose’s jealousy. It’s true that Rose demonstrates jealousy in Series 2. She does this exactly twice; 3 times if you count her actions regarding Lynda in Series 1. Three times in 27 episodes. I’m not excusing her behavior or saying it’s right. There were times I slapped my head in annoyance at the way she behaved towards Sarah Jane. It's true Sarah Jane started it, but that’s not the point because both of them exhibited jealous behavior.
When I looked at it from Rose’s perspective, I saw why she was behaving in the way that she did. Rose has done many things for the Doctor - she's taken care of him, saved his life, and even gone so far as to absorb the entire time vortex into her head for his sake. It's obvious that she thinks he cares for her. Now imagine what that must have been like to find out that not only are you in danger of being thrown away for something “new and shiny” or simply because the Doctor gets bored of you, but that he doesn’t even mention any of the previous special people that were in his lives. I consider this a big deal, because if you don't talk about someone then it seems to others that they and their impact on your life never occurred. The fact that Rose finds all of this out - that Sarah Jane Smith was just dumped off in Aberdeen, that the Doctor never even came back, and then that Sarah Jane wasted her life waiting for him - must have been like a slap in the face. Suddenly Rose is shown the costs of traveling with the Doctor and is given a glimpse of what could happen to her.
So of course Rose is jealous and full of anger. But what I think some people forget is that Rose is the one who offers Sarah Jane the Olive Branch (by saying, "Listen to us. It's like me and my mate Shireen. The only time we fell out was over a man, and... we're arguing over the Doctor.") and she and Sarah Jane bond. They laugh at the Doctor, they laugh at themselves and it’s Rose who tells the Doctor to invite Sarah Jane on board. Again, I’m not excusing Rose’s jealousy in this episode. But I’d like to point out that Rose’s flaw at the beginning of the episode causes Rose to grow and change by the end. She makes a mistake, apologizes for it, and grows from it. The way Rose dealt with that situation made her feel very human to me. She was able to overcome her jealousy of Sarah Jane, become fast friends with her, and even respect her (and her role in the Doctor’s life) in less than forty minutes. And I respect Rose for that.
In Girl in the Fireplace, Rose is slapped in the face again with the fact that traveling with the Doctor can be painful. But note how Rose doesn’t express jealousy over Reinette - she tries to help her, empathizes with her, and attempts to explain the situation to her when the Doctor can’t. This moment is painful for me, because I know what Rose is feeling, standing there in jeans and a t-shirt, no A-levels, seemingly so ordinary next to “one of the most accomplished women in history.” That has to hurt. I can imagine at this point that Rose is starting to wonder if she’s not enough - if she isn’t worth enough to travel with someone like the Doctor. I always say that Rose has faith in herself, but I think GitF is one of the first times she questions her own self-worth and what she means to the Doctor. In New Earth and Tooth and Claw, Rose is distracted by the shiny and new worlds around her, but I think by the time we get to School Reunion and Girl in the Fireplace she's begun to realize that things have changed, that while the Doctor is essentially still the same person, he's also inherently different from the one she met in Rose. He's no longer the same person she started this journey with, the person she made a connection with. That version of the Doctor was so much more intense and he really needed her, because he was suffering and damaged. I think that when she realizes this might not be the case anymore, it hurts. And so she treats Reinette with kindness and understanding and even when Reinette refers to her as a child, and even when Rose knows that the Doctor has feelings for her, she doesn’t get jealous. That shows me that Rose has grown since School Reunion; of course she’s probably envious on the inside, but she doesn’t engage in cattiness with Reinette, who is arguably more of a “threat” than Sarah Jane was. Her reaction to Mickey joining the Tardis “crew” in School Reunion also reflects this: while she was momentarily upset that Mickey was coming along, probably because she was already feeling insecure with her place in the Doctor’s life and having Mickey on board would complicate things further, she immediately gets over it in Girl in the Fireplace and the two of them work together. Sure, it’s probably because Moffat didn’t read the SR script, but I’m sticking to canon!
Rose demonstrates jealousy one other time in Return of the Cybermen, when Ten mentions Lucy and Rose gets in a huff. I blame this bizarre occurrence on the writer's lack of continuity, but if I had to explain it in terms of canon, I'd chalk it up to realism. I have a bad habit where sometimes I lose contact with people. I know it’s bad and I try to stop myself. Sometimes I manage to stay in contact for a while, but every so often I'll slip up and lose touch again. I know this is an inherent flaw, but I am not always able to overcome it. My point is, flaws make the characters more realistic. Once Rose realized in School Reunion that her jealousy was unfounded and saw how silly she was being, she changed, and you can see that contrast in her behavior in GitF. It’s almost as though she's a different character. But sometimes people slip up and bad habits crop up again. That doesn’t make it right, but it's natural and when a character does it, it's equally as natural. That little slip-up in Return of the Cybermen showed me that Rose was trying to change from the inside, and that these changes weren’t easy for her. To be fair, if the Doctor had left me to die on a spaceship with murderous clockwork people who harvest people’s organs to become parts of their ship and had tried to kill me once before, I think I’d be a little tetchy with Ten too. And if you notice, Rose never expresses jealousy again. As a final point, I'd also like to point out that not once did Rose push the Doctor into returning her feelings. She allowed him to go at his own pace and always accepted and appreciated the affection he showed her, no matter how small or large the gesture.
I’d next like to address the belief that Rose was completely selfish.
Sometimes I don’t understand what people want out of a fictional character. Do they want a character that always says the right thing, does the right thing, and never makes a mistake? That’s so boring and predictable. I want to see my characters flawed and watch them work through their shortcomings to become a stronger character. I want to see my characters grow from their interactions with others and become better people the hard way. I feel Rose Tyler accomplished this.
Even when Rose is probably at one of her lowest points in GitF, doubting herself and what she means to the Doctor, she remains stoic. She’s just been abandoned by a person she considers a close friend, and left to die on a ship with murderous clockwork robots. When the Doctor comes back after five and a half hours, what does Rose do? She hugs him and asks him how he is. Every time I see someone call Rose selfish and heartless, I think back to this scene.
I also think of the scene in which Rose is yelling at Elton for hurting her mother. Even as she's doing this, she realizes that Elton is in pain over Ursula and goes over to him and comforts him in the same sentence. I think of the scene in Idiot's Lantern when Rose stands up and comforts the wife without saying anything, or the scene in (episode name here) when she comforts Cassandra, who's dying - the very woman who tried to kill everyone again and violated Rose's mind to steal her body. I think of when Rose comforts Flora in Tooth and Claw; when she tried to comfort her alt!mother and got smacked down for it in Return of the Cybermen; when she told Tommy to go after his father because Tommy has the strength and character to be the better person to reform his dad, rather than shutting him out in The Idiot’s Lantern. I think of TIP/TSP when Rose empathized with the Ood and noticed that they were slaves (apparently Ten wasn’t paying attention, according to PotO), and when she hugs Toby, who has just been possessed by Satan.
I know it seems like I’m making it sound like Rose Tyler is amazing for being a decent person and caring about the people around her. But it’s so easy to forget other people’s suffering in real life, not to mention when you live the lifestyle the Doctor lives. When you’re living so close to death all the time, barely making it out alive, it’s so easy to forget the simple act of human kindness in favor of focusing on your own safety or problems. The fact that Rose has been through so many trials and tribulations and still makes every effort to comfort people she doesn’t even know speaks volumes to me about how selfless she can be. It doesn’t matter if Rose knows you for a minute or for a year; if you’re in distress, Rose is going to give you a hug and words of encouragement, whether you ask her to or not.
On the other hand, I agree that Rose could be pretty selfish in regards to her family, particularly Mickey and Jackie. The scene in Age of Steel when Rose and the Doctor make fun of Mickey is hard for me to watch. But people make mistakes. Sometimes we don’t treat people as well as we should. Sometimes we take people for granted, thinking they’ll always be there. Sometimes we don’t even realize we’re doing it until something happens that makes us realize it.
But also notice how distraught Rose is when Mickey decides to seize his own destiny; some people say that she made that scene all about her, saying, “What if I need you?” and then crying on Jackie’s shoulder. I don’t see it that way. I see someone saying goodbye to a childhood friend, an old lover, someone who has always been there for her and she will never see him again. I believe Rose knows that she didn’t treat Mickey as well as he deserved - she even admits this in Boomtown. Once Mickey is gone, she realizes that she has strung him along and made him feel bad, and I’m sure that’s hurting her. Rose crying on her mother’s shoulder shows me that she cares about him and misses him terribly. Considering we don’t get any follow-up on GitF, I think this scene at the end of RotC is a way to show that she is affected by Mickey's departure and the loss of her friend. AoS/RotC also makes Rose realize that she takes Jackie for granted as well. Seeing Alt!Jackie’s coldness makes Rose realize how special and warm her mother really is. I believe that’s another reason she wanted to go home - seeing your mother act so hostile towards you and then to find that she was converted into a machine is devastating for her.
My point is that yes, Rose made a mistake by taking Jackie and Mickey for granted. But why doesn’t anyone take notice of how she is after these episodes? When she sees Mickey again, she treats him with respect. She calls him the bravest human she’s ever known. She doesn’t treat him badly when he makes mistakes (i.e., touching the Dalek) and they work together. Their relationship appears to be mended in AoG/DD, and they seem closer than ever in these episodes. Her behavior towards Jackie also gets better. In Love and Monsters, Rose goes off to kick Elton’s ass for hurting her and brings presents that she thinks Jackie will enjoy.
So of course Rose gets into arguments with her family and doesn’t always treat them as well as maybe she should - but who doesn’t? The important fact is that Rose learns from her mistakes and tries to make it right. Rose seems to be an impulsive person, often jumping into action without thinking of the consequences. Sometimes she slips up and reacts to things negatively, but when she does she almost immediately deals with it and attempts to fix it. In my opinion, that's a sign of maturity.
I’d also like to focus on one of the very controversial points of whether or not Rose was smug in S2. Most people cite Tooth and Claw and Rose’s treatment of Queen Victoria as an example of Rose acting smug. I agree that the bet she made with the Doctor was taken way too far and she should've dropped the subject as soon as people started dying. However, after watching WW3/AOL, this scene occurred:
ROSE: Wish I had a compression field; I could fit a size smaller.
HARRIET JONES: Excuse me, people are dead. This is not the time for making jokes.
ROSE: Sorry. You get used to this stuff when you're friends with him.
And that’s when I understood - every day for over a year, Rose Tyler has probably seen death. She's seen people killed in horrible ways; she's seen death hit people she knew and people she'd never met. That takes a toll on a person, especially on a 19 year-old girl. She’s seen a Dalek electrocute an entire warehouse of people, Gelth zombies suck Gwyneth’s soul out, people suffering simultaneously from every disease imaginable nearly infect a hospital full of people, Reapers killing and eating innocent people, and much more. People cope with horror in different ways. Some people keep it inside until it erupts. Tegan in Remembrance of the Daleks eventually cannot stand seeing the death and destruction around her and leaves the Doctor in tears because she can’t take it anymore. And some people cope with horror using humor, like Rose. Rose makes the bet with the Doctor - who encouraged it - at the beginning of the episode. They repeat the joke four times. When Queen Victoria calls her out, in very much the same way as Harriet Jones does, Rose says, “No, Ma'am, I'm sorry.”
Rose realizes she hasn’t been treating Queen Victoria with the respect she deserves and that she shouldn’t have made the joke and she apologizes for it. She knows that she’s been caught up in her own world and not taking anyone else's feelings into consideration. No, that doesn’t make it right, but at least Rose is stepping up and taking responsibility for her mistake. Throughout the rest of the series, Rose never makes a bet or teases historical figures again. I believe that shows that Rose has learned from her mistakes and is trying to rectify her character flaw.
I’d also like to point out what happens in that “Werewolf!”, “I know!” sequence. Rose stands in a trance, looking dazed while the man is killed by the werewolf. As the werewolf advances on her, the Doctor drags her away. She breathes a sigh of relief and hugs the Doctor. Maybe she doesn’t cry or look horrified, but it's clear that she was so shocked by the incident that she couldn’t even move. She was probably so relieved by her escape from death that she did the first thing that came to mind: breathe a sigh of relief and seek comfort. It may not have been the most admirable thing to do, but if Rose Tyler didn’t do things like that, the moments when she exhibits extreme bravery wouldn’t be nearly as powerful.
Another issue I've come across is the opinion that Rose was “useless” in S2 and became “all about the Doctor and lost her will.”
Rose Tyler may have had an attitude, gotten jealous, and taken her family for granted, but she was most certainly not useless. She killed Satan, organized the crew in TIP/TSP to get them to safety even though she was young and they hardly knew her; she saved the Doctor in Fear Her by figuring out how to save the day, convinced the women to pull their chain to get away from the werewolf in Tooth and Claw, and she discovered the monsters' weakness in School Reunion. And that's only scratching the surface of Rose's independence and self-sufficiency. Rose was able to take care of herself when she was with and without the Doctor. It’s not like she sat around and ate chips and watched television all day.
As far as losing her will or becoming “all about the Doctor”, I didn’t see Series 2 like that. Rose wandered off on her own in every episode except for Love and Monsters. She went off investigating Cassandra in New Earth instead of returning to Ward 26, figured out the plot of Idiot’s Lantern before the Doctor did, went to see her father against the Doctor’s wishes in AoS and explored the spaceship in GitF, even though the Doctor warned against it. Even though they laughed and had a good time, when Rose wanted to do something she did it with or without the Doctor’s permission.
I can agree that Rose does ask the Doctor how he is, shows concern over his loneliness, and supports him when she needs to. She manages to find him an edible ball bearing cake to present him with when he comes back in Fear Her, just because she heard him rambling at the beginning of the episode that he loved them. But I don’t call that becoming “all about the Doctor”. I call that friendship. When you live with someone, and especially when you face danger on a daily basis with them, it’s only natural for you to get attached the longer you’re with them. As far as their “happy adventures” go, I’d like to offer a quote from Kino’s Journey: “The world is not beautiful, therefore it is.” The life the Doctor leads, as we hear from Elton, is a dark and wonderful place; and notice that every place Rose visits has a dark side. In some worlds the populace is subjugated, such as when the Ood are enslaved, or a tragedy may occur, such as when Lady Isobel loses her husband. There’s rarely a day where everyone lives. To me, Rose’s carefree attitude symbolizes how the dark aspects of life, such as oppression and tyranny, make the good parts of life all the more precious and wonderful. No, treating tragedy with humor is not always the right thing to do and sometimes, such as in Tooth and Claw, it backfires on her. But to me, watching Rose say, “I love this, traveling with you, I love it!” and enjoying the little things like apple grass contrasts beautifully with the zombie story we’re treated to later because it reminds me of the fragility of those moments. Maybe Rose wasn’t at her best in Tooth and Claw when she took a silly bet too far, but she shone for me when she attempted to bond with the werewolf and later rescued herself by motivating the ladies to break their chains. Yes, Rose was horrible in the first five minutes of AoS, but the scene in Doomsday where she kept Mickey alive by buying time and threatening the Daleks - who usually kill on sight - showed me just how much she overcomes her shortcomings in order to become a hero.
Rose Tyler is special to me because she took risks and made decisions on her own terms, whether or not it was the “safe” thing for her to do. So many times I see characters choose to ignore their dreams to be sensible or because they’re afraid they’ll fail. Rose took risks regardless of the outcome. There’s a great quote that sums up my Rose love: “It takes a supreme effort of will to put aside what the rest of the species takes on faith, in favor of one's own path towards one's own truth.” So many times on television, females are cast as the love interest, the support for the male character, the character that acts as the catalyst for the male hero to grow. Very rarely do we see a female character ever get the hero arc: the process of growing up and becoming a hero and leaving home for adventure. Rose Tyler, Girl Adventurer, did not want timebabies with the Doctor. She didn’t decide to settle down or get married or return to her boring shop job. Rose Tyler discovered her own truth: she chose a life of extraordinary adventure over normalcy. She found her purpose in life: saving the Universe, one planet at a time.
In Doomsday, she decided that she wanted to travel with the Doctor “forever”. My viewpoint on the use of this phrase isn’t that she meant forever as in all eternity, as that would be impossible, but that she said it to let the Doctor know that she enjoyed this life and intended to keep it up for as long as they had together. I feel it was her way of saying that she wasn’t going anywhere. Jackie’s speech about how Rose shouldn’t go hit close to home for me. I’m currently applying to Graduate Schools and my mom frequently tells me to choose a school in our state so I can stay close, even though one of my dream schools is far away. She’s not doing this because she wants me to stay with her forever; she just wants to be able to protect me in case something horrible happens. She’s worried that if I go far from home, I’ll hate it; I might not make friends, I could hate the cold, I could be miserable, and want to come home. My mom doesn’t want me to get hurt because she loves me. That’s how I interpret Jackie’s speech. She knows that if Rose chooses to stay with the Doctor, Jackie will never see her again. Jackie’s worried that Rose and the Doctor could be happy for a while, but what if they aren’t happy in the long run? What if he leaves her, or she tires of him, or she gets hurt? Jackie won’t be able to help her daughter because she’ll be in another universe. Most mothers don’t want their daughters to suffer, after all, and Jackie’s no different.
But Rose chooses to go back to the Doctor, even when he tries to take the choice away from her. I admire Rose for knowing that the choices she makes may not always work out the way she wants them to, but she nonetheless reaches for her dreams even if they might not be the best thing for her. The Doctor’s life is not an easy one, but she considers the adventures and her friendship with the Doctor well worth the inherent risks.
Choice comes up again in the very next scene in Doomsday: something hits the lever on Rose’s side and it starts to move back. Rose chooses to risk her life - not for the Doctor, who’s safe on the other side, not for her family, who is safe in their parallel world, but for the sake of the entire Earth. She hangs on to the lever, knowing full well that she could plummet to her death in the Void. And in the end she pays the price: she ends up trapped in the parallel world against her will. That’s the tragedy of Doomsday for me - Rose has found her purpose in life, but she’s forbidden to have it. Rose can’t get out of the situation she’s gotten into, that she has no choice in the matter and that she’s stuck in a place she doesn’t want to be, just as she was in the first episode of the show. And this time, there is no one coming to take her away. Yet she's the one comforting the Doctor in their final scene together, even though she's the one who can never see the stars again.
Luckily, Rose Tyler can rescue herself and it seems like she’s found a way back into our universe somehow. I don’t know what’s going to happen, but all I want is for Rose is to be happy, regardless of whatever choice she makes. I want to see her thriving in her new world (preferably flying a Zeppelin), making a difference and living her life or working to change her circumstances. I most certainly don’t want her to die or to see her as a shell of her former self. When Rose says, “This is the story of how I died” I viewed it as the death of that chapter of her life. She believes that she can’t ever see the Doctor again, but I also feel she has the tools to still lead a bountiful life.
When I look at Rose, I see an ordinary girl who rose above her shortcomings to become the hero of her own story. Throughout her journey, I felt and saw a full range of emotions: longing, happiness, exhilaration, fear, jealousy, anger, joy, sorrow and finally hope. If there’s one thing I learned from Rose Tyler, it’s that life is for living and I love her for that, flaws and all.
Thanks for reading!
I'd also like to give a personal thank you to ad_exia for being a great beta who helped me and encouraged me to keep going. This poor girl had to read through over 35 pages of meta multiple times before we finally got to trim it down to a more acceptable number. She's been amazing and I couldn't have done it without her! Thanks, Alison! =D