Doctor Who: "Human Nature"

[fajrdrako]

The Journal of Impossible Things.

I loved this episode thoroughly. Maybe my favourite so far this season, though considering how much I've loved some of the other episodes, that's saying a lot - and maybe hard to judge, since it's only the first half of this story. The best line was: "...With a girl in every fireplace."

Good things about it:
- It's so different. Now, one could rightly argue that no episode of Doctor Who is quite like another, and that's a good part of its high quality. Yes.¹ But this... was more different than usual, partly because, I think, it so completely evokes the atmosphere of 1913. This too is suitable because if we're thinking with the Doctor's point of view, his immersion is complete. We aren't on the outside looking in. Unless we're Martha.

- I loved the way Martha bore servitude with dignity, and without losing her sense of self. I love Martha more with each episode.

- I wonder if one of these days we'll get an episode in which the Doctor is scrubbing floors and Martha is a Grande Dame. I'd like to see that, to balance things.

- It has one of the best opening scenes I've ever seen.

- The scarecrows and the Family creep me out - but not too much, just enough. Scary, scary and interesting.

- Tim Lattimer is good. The actors playing the Family are all beautifully creepy.

- I have the feeling I should like Nurse Joan more than I do. I find her bland. Ilike her role, though. And she did have that "girl in every fireplace" line which more than justifies her existence. My heart bled for Martha when she saw them kissing. Aaargh!

- Love the watch as a prop, or a mcguffin, or whatever it is. Loved the way the Doctor could produce a convincing piece of 1913 technology for his use in a split second. Did the TARDIS just cough it up for him? Maybe. She's good that way.

- I absolutely, totally and completely loved "The Journal of Impossible Things". It reminds me of my friend Larry's notebooks, and I love it that the Doctor can draw (though his handwriting is a mess), and that he admitted to having learned to draw on Gallifrey, which is not in Ireland. The wonderful lixa_turner screencaped the pages of the journal. I wish they'd publish a facsimile.

- How many weeks till next Saturday?

~ ~ ~
¹ Last week's episode would belie that, but not in any way I disliked. Playing on a theme is not the same as descending into repetition.

Comments

[shadowcircus.livejournal.com]

"I too support the theory that the little boy grows up to be saxon."

But Saxon looks to be in his thirties in 2007... If the kid in 1913 grows up to be Saxon he would be about... 104 by the time we caught up to him in present day. Pity that Lazarus experiment failed.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

But Saxon looks to be in his thirties in 2007... If the kid in 1913 grows up to be Saxon he would be about... 104 by the time we caught up to him in present day.

Works for me. David Tennant doesn't look 900 either. Time Lords (or people with the properties of Time Lords, however acquired) don't show their age.