Doctor Who: The Family of Blood...

[fajrdrako]

"The Family of Blood" was a suitable ending to the "Human Nature" story. Or, rather, a suitable series of endings, layered on top of each other.

The part I liked best was the scenes of the Doctor's wrath. I love all scenes of the Doctor in his vengeful mode, all power and judgement and anger. I loved it that the events of the story all happened because he wanted to be merciful, to let the Family live out their natural (short) lifespans. So instead... he gives them immortality. Chilling.

Other notes:

1. Wonderful the way it was all an anti-war story - pacifist in tone but with understanding and sympathy for those who go to war. No accident, then, that it was set in 1913 - if it was 1903 it just wouldn't be the same.



2. I adored Martha throughout. Loved the scene where she holds a gun on the Family - she made me think of Jack, and that's a high compliment!



3. The relationship between the Doctor and Martha remains interesting on numerous levels. I liked the way Martha was embarrassed about the thought that he remembered her saying she loved him - as if he doesn't know exactly how she feels! There are so many references (from Martha's point of view) to how she loves the Doctor and he doesn't love her that I see no room to squeeze in hetfic, worse luck, but I also love the way it's playing out. I have no doubt that the Doctor loves her, whatever comes of it.



4. In terms of the story, I liked the relationship between Nurse Joan and John Smith, but I really never came to love Joan or even to like her much. I loved it that the Doctor didn't just say "good-bye", that he offered her a place on the TARDIS to "see what happens", because that's his way of dealing with life, and people. Perhaps he hoped that she would come to love him as a totality, not just the John Smith part of him; or perhaps he felt it was a way of doing tribute to the part of him that as John Smith, giving him a little life still.
   
   Of course I equally loved it that she turned him down: she'd be a really bad fit on the TARDIS, a fish out of water. As far as I could see, she had very little sense of curiosity or adventure.



5. I loved the way Martha was not jealous of Nurse Joan, but sympathetic to her. They were, after all, in the same boat, in different ways. Martha knew she would still have the man she loved afterwards, and that the man Joan loved would be so totally subsumed he would disappear.



6. The scenes of John Smith's future: besides just the psychological satisfaction of the scene from his point of view, I'd like to think that this is an alternate future that actually happens in some reality. But how? Perhaps the Family do die a natural death, and the Doctor doesn't need to return, and Tim never showed the watch to the Doctor. Or perhaps the symbolic psychological reality is enough. I felt sorry for the Martha in that reality - trapped in a time that would always be difficult for her. However happy her life with John and Joan would be, she would always be a servant, and remember how things once had been.



7. I loved it that John Smith didn't want to die, and fought for his own existence.



8. I was glad to be wrong about Tim being sinister. Just a precognitive kid who gave into temptation to steal the teacher's special watch. His war scene was good.



9. Martha gets more heroic all the time. So did Rose - I loved that, too - but I feel an interest and identification with Martha that I didn't feel with Rose. Here, I loved not only her ongoing heroism, but the way she never really kowtowed to the racism of 1913 or let it get to her.



10. I also liked the heroic end of the Headmaster, who couldn't bring himself to be anything but protective of a little girl.



11. It was particularly scary to me that Sister of Mine was trapped in a mirror, as I have a bit of a mirror phobia. Chilling! I loved it that the Brother narrated that part of the story. I liked his fate.



12. I thought the battle scenes at the beginning perhaps went on too long. They were the least interesting part of the story.

Comments

[damalan.livejournal.com]

After I watched this episode the first time I was in tears. I reckoned it might have been the best Doctor Who episode ever. I watched it again, and though I downrate it slightly, it was still way above anything else this season so far (I have high hopes for Jack's return).

It had some extremely fine acting, particularly David Tennant as John Smith. He truly made me feel for the character, made him distinct from the Doctor and yet still related. And quite rightly he fights tooth and nail not to die, to keep the future he deserves. Which may be why I did feel for Joan, who was also extremely brave and loyal, by persuading the man she loved to sacrifice himself in a worthy cause (as so many mothers, wives and daughters would do during the Great War).

The pacifistic message was satisfying as it was couched in a way that didn't denigrate those who choose to fight. Time Latimer was allowed to say that it was necessary to fight without being gainsayed by the Doctor or Martha. Likewise the headmaster was respected for having had the courage to fight and struggle, and though he was slain, he died standing for a common decency which the Family of Blood had subverted.

Martha came into her own this episode. At least she stopped mooning and was honet about how she felt. She showed courage and resourcefulness, traits that the Doctor admires enormously. And she kept faith when others would have given up. I rather liked the fact that she couldn't feel pity for John Smith; after all, he was just a work of fiction to her, a temporary mask.

The punishment of the Family of Blood was the part I actually enjoyed the least. It came across as silly sentimentality. He expended great resources pretending to be a god, and nothing on finding a way of offering any reward to the people who actually helped him. How about trying to spin out John Smith? How about offering something meaningful for Joan?

And I confess, after going to a lot of trouble setting up Tim Latimer, well he got a resolution but not much purpose. I wish they could have made more use of him, perhaps in a future story.

Still negatives aside - a magnificent story.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

I have high hopes for Jack's return

So do I, for aobvious reasons. I'm trying not to set my hopes beyond what they can deliver. Still, even an episode that's almost this good would be excellent.

Joan had many wonderful points, but I couldn't warm to her - possibly because I love the Doctor so much, and it was John Smith she loved, not the Doctor, which put us in opposite camps (so to speak). But I also found her role and her personality rather passive. Nothing wrong with that - particularly in terms of this story - but I tend to prefer stronger characters. It's a mark of her importance to the story (and good acting and writing) that I view her with the judgement I reserve for a protagonist, not a temporary minor character.

The pacifistic message was satisfying as it was couched in a way that didn't denigrate those who choose to fight.

Exactly! Extremely well done, and insightful. Even though the young soldiers going to fight for freedom weren't wrong the message of the expisode was still pacifist and I loved that. They found exactly the right balance and tone without sacrificing the integrity of the theme.

At least she stopped mooning and was honest about how she felt.

I think she's been fairly honest all along, but isn't sure how to handle the many paradoxes she sees in the Doctor - a man who isn't a man. I liked her honest too, and her resourcefulness.

I rather liked the fact that she couldn't feel pity for John Smith; after all, he was just a work of fiction to her, a temporary mask.

Yes, and one that got in the way of her purposes - after all, John Smith couldn't save the day, couldn't see the reality she knew, and wasn't the person she loved and knew.

How about offering something meaningful for Joan?

Perhaps he felt it would be wisest and kindest to meddle in her life as little as possible? Clearly at the end the Doctor was doling out punishment rather than reward - except for giving the watch to Tim.

after going to a lot of trouble setting up Tim Latimer, well he got a resolution but not much purpose.

Yes. I'd have liked more meaning to that as well. His 'heroic journey' didn't have enough screen time to be a focus, so the impact of it's outcome was a sort of sidebar, interesting enough but not really emotionally powerful. But still... it added something. Another shade of meaning to the overall picture.

[damalan.livejournal.com]

On Joan:

I would say she's a woman of her era. She isn't forward, because women are not meant to be, especially widows. I suppose that's the paradox: to know the Doctor is to be able to break constraints. But she didn't, she knew the decent and safe John Smith. Still I would say she was extremely courageous. She stood up for what was right throughout, and she not only didn't stand in the way of John Smith's act of bravery, but she actively encouraged him, supported him in making the last and most terrible decision of his life.


On the Doctor:

In fairness Tim did give us that superb description of the Doctor, almost poetical. Good enough to bear repeating? Yeah I reckon so:

He's like fire, and ice, and rage.
He's like the night, and the storm in the heart of the Sun.
He's ancient and forever;
He burns at the centre of Time
And he can see the turn of the Universe.

And he's wonderful.

:-) Makes me happy.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

She isn't forward, because women are not meant to be, especially widows.

But I thought she was forward - hinting that she wanted him to take her to the dance, telling him what to do on various occasions, taking charge.

Still I would say she was extremely courageous.

I'll grant her courage, especially at the end when she showed her anger towards the Doctor. I didn't like her for it, but I could see it was courageous!

she not only didn't stand in the way of John Smith's act of bravery, but she actively encouraged him, supported him in making the last and most terrible decision of his life.

I liked that very much, in terms of plot. I also liked it that she encouraged him in his pacifist impulses.

Tim's description of the Doctor was wonderful, and encapsulates what I love about him. That was a great moment - one of the best moments of the episode, to my mind, though not the only great scene. I think I might put it up in my sidebar, just so I can easily reread it from time to time.