The End of Time, pt. 2

[rm]

If given what we were given in part 1, this was pretty close to what I would have done with part 2. That's a little goddamn weird.

1. The redemption of the Master was AWESOME. I do have to confess I was disappointed we didn't get any Harold SAxon-esque musical numbers this time though. I LOVED that.

2. Also, yes, thank you for dialing back on the cracky.

3. The performances were great. Just people's eyes. The Doctor (more bondage for the win!) and the Master specifically.

4. The Doctor's utter love and admiration for the Master.

5. Rose, returned, again -- in a way that didn't suck or lessen the impact of the Rose narrative. Win.

6. Jesus fucking Christ the Weeping Angels reference. Oh god, they are something horrible related to the Time Lords. Oh god oh god oh god. These things get WORSE AND WORSE and I'm writing a story about them EATING JACK'S EYES.

7. So let's talk about this Jack thing.

I think it was adorable and interesting and thorny and I loved it. We don't know how long it's been since CoE. We don't know if he's still grieving or is having a bad night after he's mostly over it or what.

We don't know if the Doctor is getting Jack laid or if the Doctor is telling Jack something bigger with "His name is Alonso." What does the pronoun stand for? "The guy who's about to sit down next to you" or "the guy that's going to help you heal" or "the next person you're going to fall in love with"?

It's wonderfully open-ended, and because Alonso is young and has a lot of similar features to Ianto (personality and facial), it creates a lot of potential issues for the fannish mind to consider -- does Jack fuck him then freak out? Do they get into a several week fling and Alonso can see that Jack is broken about something and asks? Do they get into a relationship and Jack eventually explains and then hey have lots of fights because Jack isn't seeing Alonso but Ianto?

These are all MARVELOUS questions, but they also don't address the way this moment also speaks wonderfully to the Jack/Doctor relationship. Is this an apology from Ten? Or a recognition that Jack is in pain? Is he telling Jack to get on with things? Is he giving him permission? How much knowledge is this gesture made with? And look at Jack, after everything, taking it and latching on to it.

I know a lot of people don't like Barrowman's performance in this moment or the way the direction was handled, but I loved it -- it was like someone using muscles they are out of practice with -- look at Jack, nervous and overcompensating and unsure and a little queasy -- we haven't seen this since he asks Ianto on a date in Kiss Kiss Bang Bang and those were different wounds.

Look, people, I thought it was AWESOME.

8. Time Lords blow.

9. Wilf! We all love Wilf, but I also love the function Wilf serves. Doctor Who does a lot of romanticizing of war, but it also spends a lot of time trying to de-romanticize it in various ways. Wilf is the quietest of these ways, the most ordinary, and I think the writing there is consistently spectacular.

10. Ten saying goodbye to all those companions. And them sensing it, somehow. Great great great.

11. Martha & Mickey -- WTF? I'm so WTF the on this. We liked Tom; Martha liked Tom, and I like Mickey (and he looks GREAT with the facial hair) but I'm Just Not Getting that. WHAT THE FUCK? WHAT THE FUCK? WHAT THE FUCK FUCK FUCK WAS THAT? Also what were they doing? Are they rogue Torchwood agents now? WHAT WAS THAT ABOUT? AAAAAAAARGH!!!

12. The Ood. The Ood may be one of the best things the new series has brought us. So lovely, so elegant. And the line about the story. ALL TIMES ARE NOW, MOTHERFUCKERS. Ood!

13. So, Matt Smith, eh? I don't even watch old Who and I feel like we're in for a real throwback with Eleven. Very mad and wacky. It could work. But it's the human interactions that make this show go for me, so until he's saving the world, until he's sad, until he's running from himself, I won't really have a verdict.

Comments

[laufeyette.livejournal.com]

4. OTP.

6. *shudders*

7. So cute! Also, the Doctor already knew Alonso (Voyage of the Damned).

11. I assume Martha hooked him up with a UNIT position, and that this scene was a healthy bit (possibly years) removed from where we left them in Journey's End.

All of my thoughts (and some pics) are here. Tl;dr: I LOVED IT!

*happy sigh*

[rm.livejournal.com]

I'm now going to have to re-watch Voyage of the Damned, which I don't like that much, just to get a better handle on Alonso. We can assume this was after that, because Alonso looks like he needs a drink -- but hadn't he been shot? I gotta figure out the recovery time of the future.

[laufeyette.livejournal.com]

I don't remember exactly what happened to him. Can Jack travel in time now, or just space? I certainly hope he doesn't get shot in Jack's future...

[rm.livejournal.com]

Word. Which is the other worrying possibility there, but I assume the Doctor wouldn't do that to what I thought was an obviously grieving Jack.

[laufeyette.livejournal.com]

LOL - no. He couldn't! That would just be awful.

My immediate thought was that this was post CoE Jack, which would be well post VotD, so hopefully Alonso is safe. :)

[rm.livejournal.com]

Well, Jack and time... god knows. But yeah, it's gotta be post-VotD. Someone else can write the fic of grimness where it's not, but that ain't gonna be me.

[natf.livejournal.com]

RTD did say in DW Confidential that it was post-CoE-Jack.

[moljn.livejournal.com]

I don't think Alonso is from the future. I'd have to rewatch VotD, but I don't recall any mentions of time travel and I *think* they treat Earth as an alien planet, not the home world of old. Not sure, though, and most of the characters looking human does throw one off. Heck, maybe they're technically human, just not Earth humans.

[beck-liz.livejournal.com]

Wandering through on friendsfriends, and VotD is definitely contemporary; more, it's contemporary from Christmas 2007, so Alonso should be all healed up by now. With maybe an interesting scar. :-)

[shadesong.livejournal.com]

11. She made a reference to him convincing her to "go freelance".

[laufeyette.livejournal.com]

Ah! Re-watch still needed, lol.

[shadesong.livejournal.com]

Me too - there was a lot there!