Bad Wolf/The Parting of the Ways

Genre: SF
Series: Doctor Who

Initial reactions by Kathryn A 14-08-2005

Oh my oh my oh my! Talk about ending with a bang! I am going to miss the 9th Doctor terribly!

Transendence! Self-sacrifice! Everyman! Even though I'd been slightly spoiled for some bits of it, I was still sitting on the edge of my seat during "Parting of the Ways"

Cool things about Bad Wolf:

  • the sinking feeling when we find out that the actions in "The Long Game" actually made things worse.
  • "Where did you hide that?"\ "You don't want to know."
  • The Doctor's complete unresponsiveness when he thought Rose was dead. Angst!
  • "My masters fear the Doctor" -- and that she dies happy because the Daleks are going to be destroyed because the Doctor is here.
  • The Doctor saying "No" at the end! (Yes!)

Cool things about Parting of the Ways:

  • The Daleks backing away from the Doctor because they feared him.
  • The "Weakest Link" android zapping three Daleks
  • "If I am god, what does that make you?"
  • Both the Doctor and Rose were willing to give up their life to save the other.
  • The Doctor chose not to "say the Deplorable Word"
  • The whole scene where Rose was saying that the Doctor had taught her how to stand up for what's right, say "no", take a stand.
  • The real reason for "Bad Wolf". I'm glad to say that that took me by surprise. When the Emperor Dalek said that "It was not of my design," it was a shivver down the spine: what, there's someone else out there?

There was a lot of fittingness here. That the Time War was ended through the intervention of Time. That transcendence occurs but briefly and has a huge cost. That "greater love hath no man than to lay down his life for a friend". And that it was mutual, and that it was that that saved the day. That it was the ordinary people who made a difference, not just the "professional heros". That all the losers were on Floor Zero. That actions have consequences. That the end doesn't justify the means.

And the trancendence... Deus-Ex-Machina literally! Was it Rose or the TARDIS together with Rose? Because there were some bits where it felt like both of them. But they better not ever use that again, because, like, it would get old, and that would spoil everything. Though it was fascinating with the "I can feel the past, future, all that could be" and "I can too!" for three reasons: (1) it harks back to the bit in "Rose" where the Doctor says he can see the world turning; (2) it's another odd-and-alien thing about the Doctor (which they can't give us too many of, because then one gets into the problem of "he's a superhero, why doesn't he use his powers?", and we don't want the Doctor to be a superhero, just a slightly trancendent hero; (3) one wonders if Rose will retain anything from the experience, whether she will become more the Doctor's equal.

I'm gonna miss the 9th Doctor!

I wonder if the Dalek in "Dalek" was a new-style Dalek or an original? Actually I think it was an original, because (a) it wasn't afraid of the Doctor (b) it used the customary Dalek greeting ("You are the Doctor! You are an enemy of the Daleks! You must be exterminated!") (c) it didn't know what had happened to the Dalek fleet at the end of the Time War.

Further discussion on my livejournal.