Girl in the Fireplace

[saiyako]

Making a few things clear upfront:

I adore Reinette. I love Ten/Reinette. And this is my second favourite episode, hands-down.
I'm still stunned that any of these positions are considered controversial (and kinda hurt, in the case of the first and third, cos I was so looking forward to discussing this ep, and now I'm really not), but if anyone

Comments

[sterre]

this is my favourite series 2 episode, always loved it, loved it, loved it.

love your write-up! great job :)

[saiyako]

Thankyou! I'm glad you enjoyed it! XD

[goldy_dollar]

I'm still stunned that any of these positions are considered controversial (and kinda hurt, in the case of the first and third, cos I was so looking forward to discussing this ep, and now I'm really not),

I meant controversial in the sense that the whole episode tends to garner a bit of a love it/hate it divide. I think a lot of people are with you in really loving the episode and Ten/Reinette. Please feel completely free to talk about whatever bits of the episode you want and why you love it, but I also ask that you remember that many of us are also free to disagree and... get very angry about the episode whenever it's brought up into conversation. :D

[captaintish]

I like this episode, too. Love your synopsis!

"It's so realistic!" It should be, Mickey, it's... real.

LOL, I love that bit.

I just watch this episode from a POV of it sort of being a stand-alone ep. Like if I was watching some time travel romance movie. 'Cause it really is beautiful when you look at it like that. (I hope I don't offend anyone by saying that)

Oh, and thanks for telling us about those deleted scenes -- I love it. The horse one -- Aww, Doctor! :)

[saiyako]

Thanks so much!

Thing is, I don't see why it should need to be standalone. I just don't get what there even is in it for anyone to get angry about, beyond the "Ten being an oblivious douche" thing, and, well, he's oblivious and douchey a lot, so... (And I'm still reeling, actually, cos apart from a couple of mentions on that "what hated eps do you like?" poll on the other comm a couple of weeks ago, I'd never even heard a bad word said about GitF and suddenly there's all this hate, and I'm not the slightest bit prepared for it.)

Well, I love hearing about cut lines and deleted stuff too, so I figure it just makes sense to pass on whatever I find. And I already loved the horse stuff, but I love it even more now. XD

[housemaid79]

See now, that deleted scene would have made me like this episode so much more. I will have to check that out...

Now, while I confess that there are things about this episode that I really don't like, there is something that I really do. In "School Reunion" we see the consequences (and potential heartbreak) of the Doctor/companion relationship from the companion's perspective - via Sarah Jane Smith. It's like a window into what Rose is going to go through someday if/when the Doctor leaves her.

I feel like GitF shows the flipside - the consequences and potential heartbreak for the Doctor if he keeps Rose with him. Human lives are so brief comapared to a Time Lord's. We see Reinette go from a little girl , to a young woman, and finally her death in such a short amount of time - I always feel like we are being given a taste of how short Rose's life (and the life of any human he has cared about) will seem to him. It always makes me think back to the line he has in "School Reunion" about how "humans decay" and "imagine watching

[redknightalex]

I feel like GitF shows the flipside - the consequences and potential heartbreak for the Doctor if he keeps Rose with him.

As I went through the last episode, reading the commentaries, I kept thinking of how, if taken as a dynamic-duo, School Reunion and GitF could be seen as the Doctor at two extremes and you have pretty much summed up what I was thinking about GitF. School Reunion shows him in a vulnerable state, how he can't decide whether it's better to live in pain but feel love or push it all away and be alone. GitF, on the other hand, shows him embracing it, almost to the point of forgetting his earlier relationships. In a way, it felt like a boyish rebellion on the Doctor's part, as if he wanted to say to the universe that he could have it all. Or at least attempt to have it all (which for Ten never does happen).

However, this doesn't mean I like the episode in the context of S2 as a whole. If this were a Christmas special (ie "Voyage of the Damned"), I probably would have embraced it yet I can't endorse it as it stands. I

[shadowturquoise]

Thank you so much for this! All the GitF hate that was going on yesterday was really getting me down, because this is by FAR my favorite episode of Series 2. I was almost afraid to read this because I was afraid it was going to be another hate-fest

[saiyako]

Thank you! It's comforting, actually, to see a few fans of it coming out of the woodwork, after most of the more active people seem to be - well, you know.

And, yeah, I did try to be thorough with this one, for obvious reasons.

slapping the sonic out of the Doctor's hand scares the crap out of me every time!

Mm, it's the moment of proof that there really is something under the bed and it can touch you. *shudders*

I adore little Reinette in the same way that I adore little Amelia - they are afraid and fearless all at the same time.

Yes, absolutely. And it's funny, cos the first thing my best friend said about TEH was that it was very like GitF. Which we're meant to think, so far as I can tell, else why repeat the "cowboys" line?

I think the natural electricity that existed between David and Sophia just added an extra layer of deliciousness to most of the scenes.

Oh yeah, definitely. I wasn't at all surprised when I found out they were a couple - best thing is, they met while filming this episode, so, yes... XD

I'm of two