What exactly was it that shocked you so much in that episode?
I've been trying to analyze it, or to find a way to explain why it bothered me so much.
It has to do with my interpretation of the characters and what brought me into the show - which was primarily the relationships between the Doctor and his companions, and specifically between the Doctor and Jack: I loved the slash, but it went a little beyond that, to the live-journey Jack was undertaking, and the way he went from rootlessness to discipleship. I also loved the notion of the Doctor as champion of earth, crusty protector and lover of humans. I had a certain mindset of how I wanted the characters to be, how I wanted things to go.
"The Last of the Time Lords" shattered my hopes and illusions for these reasons:
- the Doctor did not love Jack, but treated him coldly. This was okay in "Utopia", I liked that a lot - I thought it was a story of the Doctor overcoming his prejudice. But at the end of TLOTTL I don't think that really happened - the situation between them was left ambigiuous, not resolved. I wanted to see a 'thank you' from the Doctor to Jack, or a sense that he understood or appreciated all Jack had done for him - dying on the Game Station, waiting/searching for him for 138 years, living for a year in bondage because the Doctor wanted to keep the Master alive.
I would have been happy with a smile or a hug or an assurance (however tenuous) that Jack still loved the Doctor. But the focus of the episode was entirely on the Doctor's love of the Master. He is indifferent (or callous) to Jack's repeated death and discomfort, but full of concern for the Professor's headache. He is distrustful and brusque with Jack. If Jack was returning to do his duty at the end (which I like a lot, just as I liked it at the end of "Captain Jack Harkness") I wanted a hint that it wasn't a casual choice, that he wasn't doing it because he was indifferent to the Doctor.
- I loved Martha, and wanted the Doctor to love her, too; in fact, I am convinced he did love her, but couldn't express it, or allow himself to acknowledge it, for various reasons, including his love of Rose and what happened to Rose. At the end, again, it was all about the Doctor's love of the Master, which didn't satisfy my sense of romance with regard to Martha and Jack. Instead, the Doctor talks about how he is eternally alone and has *no one* - with Jack and Martha standing right there.
- I wanted the Doctor to be protector of earth, but in TLOTTL he was the protector of the Master at Earth's expense. He set in motion a series of disasters for humans - the return of the Master to Earth (because he had the TARDIS), the subjugation of earth (because the Doctor wouldn't let Jack kill the Master), the creation of the Toclafane, the return of the Master to our time, the decimation of Earth, etc. - but the Doctor's level of responsibility was not addressed at all. And he didn't save the day: it was the faith of the people of Earth who saved the day, with Martha's heroic help. And the Doctor forgave the Master, which he had no right to do on behalf of Earth, however much he meant it personally. That the Doctor loved the Master, I can understand. But as a moral choice, to my eyes, he betrayed his friends and the people of Earth to a madman who was making them suffer.
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timeasmymeasure
Re: Red bicycle... first wheel
Date: 2007-11-23 09:18 pm (UTC)I've been trying to analyze it, or to find a way to explain why it bothered me so much.
It has to do with my interpretation of the characters and what brought me into the show - which was primarily the relationships between the Doctor and his companions, and specifically between the Doctor and Jack: I loved the slash, but it went a little beyond that, to the live-journey Jack was undertaking, and the way he went from rootlessness to discipleship. I also loved the notion of the Doctor as champion of earth, crusty protector and lover of humans. I had a certain mindset of how I wanted the characters to be, how I wanted things to go.
"The Last of the Time Lords" shattered my hopes and illusions for these reasons:
- the Doctor did not love Jack, but treated him coldly. This was okay in "Utopia", I liked that a lot - I thought it was a story of the Doctor overcoming his prejudice. But at the end of TLOTTL I don't think that really happened - the situation between them was left ambigiuous, not resolved. I wanted to see a 'thank you' from the Doctor to Jack, or a sense that he understood or appreciated all Jack had done for him - dying on the Game Station, waiting/searching for him for 138 years, living for a year in bondage because the Doctor wanted to keep the Master alive.
I would have been happy with a smile or a hug or an assurance (however tenuous) that Jack still loved the Doctor. But the focus of the episode was entirely on the Doctor's love of the Master. He is indifferent (or callous) to Jack's repeated death and discomfort, but full of concern for the Professor's headache. He is distrustful and brusque with Jack. If Jack was returning to do his duty at the end (which I like a lot, just as I liked it at the end of "Captain Jack Harkness") I wanted a hint that it wasn't a casual choice, that he wasn't doing it because he was indifferent to the Doctor.
- I loved Martha, and wanted the Doctor to love her, too; in fact, I am convinced he did love her, but couldn't express it, or allow himself to acknowledge it, for various reasons, including his love of Rose and what happened to Rose. At the end, again, it was all about the Doctor's love of the Master, which didn't satisfy my sense of romance with regard to Martha and Jack. Instead, the Doctor talks about how he is eternally alone and has *no one* - with Jack and Martha standing right there.
- I wanted the Doctor to be protector of earth, but in TLOTTL he was the protector of the Master at Earth's expense. He set in motion a series of disasters for humans - the return of the Master to Earth (because he had the TARDIS), the subjugation of earth (because the Doctor wouldn't let Jack kill the Master), the creation of the Toclafane, the return of the Master to our time, the decimation of Earth, etc. - but the Doctor's level of responsibility was not addressed at all. And he didn't save the day: it was the faith of the people of Earth who saved the day, with Martha's heroic help. And the Doctor forgave the Master, which he had no right to do on behalf of Earth, however much he meant it personally. That the Doctor loved the Master, I can understand. But as a moral choice, to my eyes, he betrayed his friends and the people of Earth to a madman who was making them suffer.
to be continued...