owl | Review for Girl in the Fireplace (Reply)

I missed the pre-credits bit at the start because I was trying to get our stubborn VCR to record; what happened in it?

This episode, like the previous, was all about the Angst of the Time Lord(s). It's just the same as the Elves in LotR; human lives + comparatively immortal race = Teh Woe. Doctor, never tell people you'll be back in ten seconds. The TARDIS will malfunction or something and you'll end up on Alpha Centauri IV, or else you'll come back ten years after you meant to. The last scenes were heartbreaking, as he dashed back to Renette, so excited, only to be in time to see her cortège leave. Mind you, with a time machine, he should have gone back to her and let her see some stars before she died. That was totally what he did after the credits went up, lalalala. Totally.

The telepathy scene was so sad, too. 'Such a lonely little boy...and lonelier now.' *sniff* I loved that looking into Renette's mind left the Doctor's own vulnerable—although I get the impression that that hadn't happened before. He said he didn't read people's minds 'often', which implies that he does do it on occasion. She evidently has an uncommon perception, but then she was presented as intelligent, among other things. I bet her Wikipedia entry has had a sudden upturn in hits tonight.

I loved the idea of the Doctor as someone's imaginary friend. The way she said she'd known him 'since I was seven' suggests the possibility of other visits in between seven and twenty-three, doesn't it? Oh, and everywhere Ten goes, women jump him :) Is it pheromones or something, or is Mme du Pompadour just a female Jack?

Even monsters have nightmares, and they dream of the Doctor. I like it. And Renette's right; the are monsters everywhere the Doctor goes, but he's worth the monsters.
Rose's mind is evidently on the same wavelength as the Doctor's; while he's talking about being the monsters' nightmare, she's telling them all about her friend the Oncoming Storm. And then he rolls in, looking less than impressive. There's a definite vibe of 'hubby came home drunk' there. But even half-sloshed, he can still take out robots. Where did he get sunglasses in 18th century France? And his tie around his head like a schoolboy at the Junior Disco!

Another Beautiful Baddie this week. I loved the line about counting his hearts, and that he would still destroy the robots all the same, even though it was vandalism.

Mickey loves to wind up Rose about the Doctor's women (Cleo!). I liked him this week: his delight at getting a spaceship, saying that the galaxy was 'so realistic', and his sympathy with the robots over the chronic lack of spare parts. But the Doctor didn't let Rose keep him; he came along of his own accord, and she wasn't best pleased. They seem to be getting on better this week; they have a more comfortable vibe than she had with Jack or even the Doctor. And now they wander off together, and doesn't it exasperate the Doctor!

The Doctor really is a knight-errant, and this week he even had the horse to go with it. He really was enamoured of Renette, to risk being trapped there to save her. Not very nice for Rose and Mickey, to be stranded on that derelict spaceship.

I liked the twist at the end; it fitted very well with the Doctor telling the robots how stupid they were (and let's face it, space-age clockwork is pretty dumb.). I note, also, that Jack came from the fifty-first century. Are there clockwork robots all over the place in his backstory?

Aaand we're back on earth again, even if it seems to be an alternative universe. Hopefully, in this one, the Powell Estate has been destroyed by a freak asteroid impact. I hope we don't lose Mickey too soon; I like him better when he's a companion.