Doctor Who: 42..

[fajrdrako]

I loved it for a lot of reasons.

Loved the way Martha did her bit. I like her scenes with the Doctor better, always, than the scenes she has without him, but here I thought her scenes with him were so strong that the balance was well kept - she didn't need to be with him all the time.

Of course it was reminiscent, over and over, of the storyline of "The Impossible Planet" and "The Satan Pit" - not a bad thing, since I loved both of those, though I didn't love the secondary characters here nearly as much. This too was not a bad thing, since I wouldn't have wanted Zachary Cross Flane to suffer a fate like that of Kath McDonnell - which was, in the context of this story, perfect: a heroic act to atone for a thoughtless crime.

So many parallels. The Doctor's hug and his smile, in the space suit. Martha's take-charge heroism, very like Rose's. The space ship/space station setting, near a star or black hole they are falling into. The sense of time being short.

This time, though, Martha could and did phone home. Her mother seems even more bitchy, but I like the relationship between them - more troubled than warm, but meaningful to them both, and Francine comes across as oddly vulnerable. The sinister blonde woman who was her guest - who was using her on Mr. Saxon's behalf against the Doctor - was chilling and fascinating and reminded me of the role Laurie Holden played on X-Files.

Martha's friendship with Riley Vashtee was interesting... a nice theme in a minor key.

And this time it was the Doctor possessed by the alien being. I loved it, both his strength and his vulnerability, and particularly his loss of control.

Wonderful small bits: that he didn't know the answer to the question about Elvis and the Beatles, and testily said so. That he promised Martha he'd save her, and then did. And then she saved him. Everything balances.

And he gave her a TARDIS key. This makes me a happy fan.