CHARLES MOTHERFUCKING DICKENS

 

That’s right, this episode has CHARLES MOTHERFUCKING DICKENS in it.

Oh, and? The Doctor is a fanboy! Few things give me pleasure as much as this gives me pleasure.

That said, while this episode is entertaining enough, it took me a couple of tries to like it as I do now.

Cardiff just isn’t that interesting. Well, it didn’t used to be interesting—now I’ve made it a life goal to go there someday. Yes, I’m a dork. We’ve established this, we are moving on.

The thing I like most about this episode (besides Charles Motherfucking Dickens, that is) is that Rose and the Doctor clash over how to deal with the situation at hand (which is dead people walking ‘cause there are aliens inside them, of course) and it totally makes sense that they should, and neither of them is wrong!

Well, not until we find out that the Gelth are lying liars full of lies.

NO. NO, I AM FINE THANK YOU.

*ahem*

The Doctor just lost his entire planet, and all his people—presumably family, too. I totally get why he’d want to save the Gelth at all costs. Especially since they lost their home in the same war he lost his. I don’t think Rose fully understands this, and hell, how could she?

But she does have a point. There’s something fundamentally squicky about using dead people like this. I don’t believe in souls or anything like that, but I can put myself in the shoes of the stiffs’ loved ones. The very reason we have funerals and burials and cremation ceremonies is for closure.

…Not for the dead people, they’re dead and have more closure than they can handle, but us. The living need these things in order to start the process of moving on. It’s a very human thing to do.

But say you have a funeral, you’re all ready to begin the process of starting over and oh, look! There’s grandma, screeching and glowing blue, walking purposefully toward you in the square.

Now you not only have to deal with Nana being “alive,” you have to deal with her being some sort of glow-worm monster.

…Maybe it’s just easier for Rose to see it that way.

 

There’s also Gwyneth. Sure, Gwyneth ends up volunteering, but the Doctor was looking at her as a means to an end for a minute there, and that way lies badness. Not that Rose did any better, what with the condescension (love that Gwyneth calls her out on that, by the way). So the Doctor has a habit of making the decisions he feels are best for everyone, and Rose forgets that in pushing back against that arrogance, she’s also forgetting that other people that are not her get a say.

And the most surprising thing: the Doctor ends up making a mistake. The Doctor is capable of making a mistake! And I can’t even blame him for it, poor thing. I like that he recognizes it, and he sort of apologizes to Rose! For making a mistake he can’t be blamed for making! What?! Oh, Doctor, sweetheart… I—I’m speechless and sad.

And then—if I’m not mistaken—there’s this thing where they’re both grateful to each other (my heart) and then CHARLES MOTHERFUCKING DICKENS IN LIKE A BOSS TO SAVE THE DAY.

Look, I don’t know what Charles Dickens was really like—obviously—but in my mind, he will forever be this.

And then… Gwyneth’s gone.

I should be mad for being made to care about someone and then having them die senselessly (shades of Joss Whedon), but it was… sweet. That may be the wrong word. What I mean to say is that it hurt, but I was proud of (dead?) her for saving the world. She sacrificed herself twice to do so on her own terms, and it seems I kinda like that in a woman.

I… wasn’t expecting any of this at all. Here’s a list, I gotta think for a while:

• I was wondering how they’d deal with Rose’s modern dress in past times. The TARDIS has walk-in closets full of period dress? DOCTOR, I AM FREE AND WILL BRING YOU JOY AND SASS!
• “You look beautiful! Considering.” Whee! And hey!
• CHARLES MOTHERFUCKING DICKENS
• Points for use of the word “phantasmagoria.”
• *scream* “That’s more like it!” Hehe.
• “Navvy”? Look, British people, stop making up words I don’t know.
• “The dead don’t die on schedule!” Charlie, you are awesome.
• By the way, love that Charles Dickens is a skeptic. Hearts forever.
• Is this gonna be a habit of Rose’s; befriending the help?
• Why is Rose thinking more about her father lately?
• “I love a happy medium.” That smile—Doctor, how can I not love you?
• “Time can be rewritten”? I thought that was a no-no. Hmm.
• “She saved the world. A servant girl. No one will ever know.” We’ll know, Rose… We’ll know.
• “My books, Doctor… Do they last?” Aww! I wanna kiss Dickens on the cheek.
• It feels strange wanting someone not to die who’s already been dead for ages. What are you doing to me, Doctor Who?!

 

Next up: Aliens of London!