Doctor Who 4×01: Partners in Crime
Apr. 6th, 2008 06:11 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rusty_haloI adored it completely.
It's such a wonderful change to watch a show and actually feel like my interpretations match the writers' intentions. And to actually like the lead characters! (I'm so used to enduring them until the supporting characters I really care about show up.)
Let's see... more specific thoughts about the episode:
* I just love Donna so much. It is so rare and wonderful to see a lead female character of Donna's age who is on a journey of self-discovery, and who knows she wants to experience the universe and is actively pursuing the opportunity to do so. And it's NOT ABOUT SEX OR ROMANCE. I just love this show beyond words. When do you ever get a sympathetic lead female character like Donna? And she's normal looking. And she's compassionate and kind and really really funny.
I was out with friends last night and one friend referred to Donna as "the companion everyone hates" and it turns out the "everyone" he meant was a bunch of blogs he reads that are written by straight guys. And it's like... yeah, straight guys are used to women existing for the sole purpose of entertaining them, aren't they? The whole entertainment industry is set up that way. And here's a woman who exists for herself, who has her own story and it isn't about them, and of course they're threatened and horrified and want her to go away because any woman who doesn't exist to please men ought to just be invisible. It really brings out a lot of underlying cultural misogyny, doesn't it? (Not that everyone who dislikes Donna is a misogynist. I'm sure there are plenty of people who just happen to not like her. But a whole lot of the justifications from people who hate her are really blatantly misogynist.)
And I LOVE THAT THEY CAST HER ANYWAY. She's the co-lead. And she's awesome.
* I love the parallels between the Doctor and Donna. Yay for them being partners! Yay for equality! And yay for a companion who challenges the Doctor as much as he challenges her.
* I love the farcical nature of the comedy, and of the music. They hit the perfect note of humor with the Doctor and Donna constantly missing each other. And I loved the mimed conversation--Tennant and Tate are brilliant together, and it's awesome that both actors are skilled enough to pull that off. What a great way to begin a season.
And then the parallel at the end--the episode begins with the comedy of the Doctor and Donna missing each other, and concludes with the tragedy of the Doctor and Rose missing each other. And the parallel between Rose and the Doctor, both looking older and sadder. (OMG ROSE!)
* The Doctor is so uncomfortable when the call center woman flirts with him. This is not someone who "manipulates" through the devious power of flirting. He's so oblivious and clueless, and so awkward once he realizes what's on her mind. A nice parallel to what happened with Martha--he just so doesn't know how to do deal with it.
* Donna tries to smash the window in with a wrench. I love her so much. Just, because she doesn't care when she looks ridiculous, and she always tries, even when she doesn't have a chance in hell of succeeding. (Like "dinosaurs!" in "Runaway Bride." It's adorable.)
* I love that the Doctor doesn't coddle Penny. What? He sets her free, that's enough. Why does fandom want him to be so goody-goody boring? I love that he isn't--that he's so often impatient and oblivious and off in his own world, too busy with saving the universe to bother with the niceties of human social interaction.
* Shadow Proclamation? Galactic law? Shout outs to the past or will these things come into play later in the season? There was a lot of talk here about legality and I wonder if that's going to be a recurring theme...
* "Destroyed half her life"? "It got complicated, and that was all my fault"? Oh, poor Doctor. He's got such a guilt complex. I'm sure Martha will show up later on being AWESOME and telling him how she wouldn't have traded the experience for the world, and then hopefully he'll get over it. For now, though, I just want to hug him. It's not his fault she developed that idiotic crush.
It's a nice way to handle it in terms of fandom, though--it'll make the Marthafen feel validated, but since it's the Doctor's subjective POV we can also just read it as more of his guilt complex. And it kind of works as a metatextual apology to Freema Agyeman--they know they screwed up with her, they're sorry, time to move on. (THANK GOD.)
* Donna notices that the Doctor looks older, and is concerned about him being on his own. She's not just compassionate; she's intuitive. Like Rose, she "gets" him in a way Martha never did. She sees more than a heroic savior or an object to crush on--she sees the person hurting beneath the facade, and she understands how much he needs not to be alone.
* God, the Doctor looks so sad when he says Rose is "still lost." I do love that he still thinks of it as having "lost" her, and that he's able to admit it now instead of pretending everything's fine. I was delighted by this Rose mention, which was more than I expected, and couldn't believe when they followed it up with ACTUAL ROSE (!!!).
* Donna's mom is yet another nagging mother--I'd like them to stop with that stereotype, please. But at least she's got more personality than Francine. I hope they do something different with her as the story continues.
* Donna has the matching capsule to solve the Doctor's problem! What a wonderful follow-through on Voyage of the Damned, with its theme that the Doctor needs people not just because he's lonely, but because he literally needs help to save the world/universe/etc. He's always trying to do everything on his own, and here Donna manages to get him to explain what he needs, and she helps him save a million people. (It does make me worry for Donna, though, since she's being paralleled with Astrid, and we all know the consequences of Astrid's decision to help the Doctor save the earth! Will Donna end up in a similar self-sacrificial situation?)
* "They're just children; they can't help where they came from." "That makes a change from last time." Well, except the Racnoss children were about to DEVOUR THE EARTH and had to be immediately stopped. The Adipose children were just leaving and posed no threat to anyone. But it does seem that the time that's gone by has helped the Doctor heal--he's in more of a "Fear Her" mindstate, where he sympathizes with the aliens. The Doctor was in such a dark place with the Racnoss that he killed them in a very cold way, whereas here, yes, his compassion is much more apparent.
* And I love that Doctor tries to save Miss Foster, even though she just nearly killed a million people. He's got such wonderful capacity for compassion and forgiveness; it's nice to see it again here. This is one of those things that separates Doctor Who from pretty much every other show I've been into--the rest all have this underlying ideology that compassion is a weakness, that to make tough decisions you have to close off your heart and be hard and cold, and Doctor Who explicitly rejects that. Compassion and forgiveness are treated as virtues here, not trite remnants of childhood morality that have no application in the real world. (And they don't take the easy route and have it always work out, either, but they always have the Doctor try the compassionate route.)
* ROSE!!!!! I want to hug her. I hate hate hate seeing her looking so much older and sadder. And they played the "Doomsday" music, just to tear out our hearts that little bit more. I'm so curious what they're setting up. They're starting out sad, so maybe they'll conclude with something happy? [/crazy hopes] I doubt it, though--seems more likely that they're setting a tone that this is going to be a tragic story. BUT. I know enough about drama to know that there will be some sort of emotional payoff. The Doctor and Rose are definitely going to meet again and AFTER A SEASON OF BUILD-UP, IT'S GOING TO BE AMAZING, even if the end isn't "happy." (And I'm unspoiled so DON'T TELL ME ANYTHING.)
I love that the writers know what a huge deal Rose's return is, and managed to keep it a secret that she shows up in the first episode. I love being surprised. And what an amazing surprise!
I just totally feel like I've been reading against the text in every other fandom--I wanted it to be about Wes/Lilah, but they made it about Wes/Fred; or I wanted it to be about Spike/Anya, but they made it about Spike/Buffy; or I wanted it to be about Methos and Joe, but stupid old Duncan Macleod kept showing up and stealing everyone else's thunder. But here I am TOTALLY ON THE SAME PAGE with nearly everything that the text is telling me is important. I LOVE THIS SHOW SO MUCH.
* I love that Donna's grandfather was actually happy for her! Have we ever seen that before? A supportive family member who is glad that their loved one is getting to experience the universe? Yay!
* I mostly haven't read other fannish reactions, but the ones I've glanced at have had me *headdesk*ing as usual. No, fandom, this episode was not an attack on fat people. If anything it was anti-diet fad! (I shall now seek out response posts from people who I know are sane, because leaping into the unfiltered morass of DW fandom is just asking for trouble.)
Anyway, so, yeah. My overall conclusion was that it was AMAZING and I CAN'T WAIT UNTIL NEXT WEEK and OMG ROSE!
Originally published at rusty-halo.com. You can comment here or there.
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(no subject)
Date: 2008-04-07 01:18 am (UTC)The Shadow Proclamation stuff is definitely new series.
(no subject)
Date: 2008-04-07 02:36 am (UTC)Yeah, I figured they were referencing earlier new series stuff, I'm just wondering if they're actually going to go somewhere with it. *so curious* I'm so glad I'm unspoiled!
(no subject)
Date: 2008-04-07 02:28 am (UTC)LOVE your review. :D But I must say, if the Doctor/Rose thing ends with more tragedy, I will probably still be in bed in mid-August.
(no subject)
Date: 2008-04-07 02:38 am (UTC)if the Doctor/Rose thing ends with more tragedy, I will probably still be in bed in mid-August.
Oh, man, I know. Russell T. Davies has the power to rip out our hearts and I HOPE HE USES IT RESPONSIBLY.
I'm just so happy this episode turned out so well! It's a good sign that, whatever happens, the story will at least be emotionally satisfying. :)
(no subject)
Date: 2008-04-07 03:52 am (UTC)One nitpick :D
""They're just children; they can't help where they came from." "That makes a change from last time." Well, except the Racnoss children were about to DEVOUR THE EARTH and had to be immediately stopped."
I don't think Donna was referring to Racnoss children - she wouldn't have known about it at all, since she wasn't immune to the rest.
I don't know where this season is going, with arcs, plots, or anything. I've only seen a few spoiler pics, but have stayed away from all ACTUAL spoilers, so am set up to be entirely surprised. :D
(no subject)
Date: 2008-04-07 04:06 am (UTC)I thought it was a reference to the end of "The Runaway Bride," when the Doctor drains the Thames to drown the newborn Racnoss babies that are coming up from the center of the earth to devour the world. Donna's in that scene and tells him "you can stop now" when he gets all scary genocidal, with the cold look and the water running down his face, while the Racnoss Empress shrieks for her dying children. I thought that coldness was why Donna called him a "stranger" and chose not to travel with him the first time. I think what they were going for here was showing (a bit awkwardly, because the metaphors didn't quite match up) that she was pleased to see him showing compassion in place of his previous harshness.
Isn't it great to be unspoiled? I've never done online fandom the unspoiled way before. It's so much better! (And avoiding spoilers gives me motivation to avoid the major DW discussion places, which is good because it also prevents those places from harshing my squee.)
(no subject)
Date: 2008-04-07 04:16 am (UTC)JUST IGNORE ME OK? I got my aliens confused.
:D :D :D
(that'd make a great icon, though, right? "I got my aliens confused")
"And avoiding spoilers gives me motivation to avoid the major DW discussion places, which is good because it also prevents those places from harshing my squee."
TOTALLY. I just read my friends' impressions. Much more fun.
I can't do this with Lost or Heroes, since modding requires that you read submitted posts with spoilers to make sure that they're not 1) full of shit or 2) not LJ-cut properly. So I really enjoy being spoiler-free for my other shows :D
(no subject)
Date: 2008-04-07 04:22 am (UTC)Heee, yes. Which ones did you think I was talking about?
I just read my friends' impressions.
I'm starting to figure out that's the best way to do it. I don't want to be too insular, but it's more about reading people who I know aren't crazy and hateful than it is about having everyone agree. I like to hear the other opinions, I just get so bogged down by the negativity of so much of the wider fandom.
I never thought I COULD be spoiler free. I literally didn't think I had the willpower. But I've managed to NOT CLICK on so many things lately. And that moment of utter squee when Rose reappeared was SO WORTH IT. And I love that the show runners put so much effort into keeping secrets--it's not like Buffy where we had entire scripts months in advance. :)
(no subject)
Date: 2008-04-07 04:27 am (UTC)The ones from the Doctor/Master arc. *embarrassed*
One day, you too will get older and do this stuff. I promise not to laugh at you :D Hell, I'll be lucky if, by then, I'll have enough memory to even notice ;) (unless this really IS all menopause memory crap and I'll have a reprieve once I'm through it!)
I don't get too insular - I'm lucky, with my large flist. I get a lot of input :D
In fact, remind me to post a "NO SQUEE HARSHING!" notice in my next "as it happens" post - I have to remind people that I don't have a hate on for ANY of the characters, and don't enjoy them being based in my LJ :D
"I never thought I COULD be spoiler free. I literally didn't think I had the willpower. But I've managed to NOT CLICK on so many things lately."
DITTO.
Although, I don't think ANYONE knew that Rose appeared in the first ep! It was realllly out there that she was coming back (like on front page of bbc.co.uk, etc) but not IN THE FIRST EP :D
That was a goosebumps moment for me. I LOVED IT. Now, if I get tempted again, I'll remember that moment and gain strength!
(no subject)
Date: 2008-04-07 04:37 am (UTC)Ohh, that makes sense. We've had a lot of semi-innocent/childlike monsters, haven't we? Kind of a running theme... the Toclafane and the Racnoss babies and the flower thing in "Fear Her" and the little boy who wants his mummy...
I kind of get an evil glee out of bashing certain characters, but I promise not to do it in your journal. *tries to look innocent*
I don't think ANYONE knew that Rose appeared in the first ep
I know! They did such an amazing job of keeping it secret! But when I went to download the episode, the reaction posts were already appearing on my FL, and I was SO TEMPTED.
(no subject)
Date: 2008-04-07 04:22 am (UTC)AND I WANT MORE DW! NOW!
(no subject)
Date: 2008-04-07 04:24 am (UTC)I KNOW. I CAN'T BELIEVE WE GET A NEW EPISODE EVERY SINGLE WEEK. *squee!!!!*
(no subject)
Date: 2008-04-07 04:26 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-04-08 08:38 am (UTC)I bet he was glad to be back!