Waters of Mars

[rm]

"You're only 27-years-old."

Yes, Torchwood fans, that's when I started crying. Tell me I wasn't alone.

"Oh this bloody job never gave me a chance." Oh HAI THERE TORCHWOOD REFERENCE.

...

Oh CRAZY CRAZY TEN HUBRIS. NOW YOU ARE THE MASTER's PERFECT BOYFRIEND.

Also, seriously... CoE parallels. Once again Doctor Who making what happened there much, much easier to live with, because it provides the act and the context for Jack's actions and the consequences of him having chosen differently. And wow, the Doctor so can't deal with Jack because he hates himself.

I love the degree to which we feel the Doctor really needs to regenerate soon, because he's become dangerous.

There are so many echoes of so many weird things in here... including the Ood.

Also, who else is utterly, completely, totally convinced, like from the second the Doctor start monologue-ing about about how Adelaide inspires her daughter that Jack is absolutely, definitely, descended from her.

Hey, close up of the TARDIS central column -- that's a goddamn film spool in the middle moving up and down. HOW GREAT IS THAT AS META? FUCK ME THIS SHOW IS RAD.

Oh, Doctor, you've done a very bad thing.

Also, hello, channeling Nine. That's some rad acting there, DT.

I know cannon will never tell us but is this why the Doctor couldn't step in re: CoE or is CoE why he went and did something dumb like this or did CoE happen because he did this shit? Because I really feel like while TW addresses Doctor Who explicitly, Doctor Who can only address Torchwood implicitly, and IT'S RIGHT HERE, KIDS.

Ood! I called it, Ood! (they really are the best fucking thing the new series has brought us). Ood!

Also, not only had Jack better be there for the regeneration, I have to say, that while we'll never (we hope) get a permanent Doctor death in canon, in fanon, my feeling after this episode is that Jack _must_ be there when the Doctor does finally truly die, because it is the only way to resolve the control/comfort/time dramarama shit between them.

OH MY FUCKING GOD, PEOPLE THIS IS WHY I WATCH THIS SHOW.

Comments

[penguineggs.livejournal.com]

I have to say I went into this one with dread, having seen the trailers and taken away the idea that it was another case of RTD being about to air his Issues with older women generally and with women in positions of authority in particular. Every time Ten comes out with his stuff about guns it rubs me up the wrong way anyway (double genocidaires don't get to do pointless self-righteousness about the choice of weapon of their opponents, in my view, and anyway, bringing off a genocide single-handed with a handgun would be quite a feat) and then when we got the immediate flash to Brookes' obituary I found myself yelling at the screen, "Fucking Finchley! You just had to have her born in Finchley, didn't you, RTD?"

After that, though, matters improved no end; the climactic moment Adelaide looked at Ten with sheer, naked contempt made up for three seasons of Ten getting away with murder and mind-wiping and apparently having authorial approval to do it. I have to say, I'd still have been happier if Adelaide had shot the Doctor (on stun) and hijacked the TARDIS so things could play out properly, but she did the best she could in the circumstances: I particularly liked the fact that Ten said in the middle of the crisis, "If I have to fight you as well, I will" and she just made no response and went on arming the reactor. And he did fight her, and she won. Harriet Jones is avenged at last (though I'm waiting for the Christmas specials to see if Donna gets her apology, too).