fajrdrako | Doctor Who: The Fires of Pompeii (4x02)

I really liked James Moran's script for the series 2 Torchwood episode, "Sleeper". I hesitated to have high hopes for something similarly good with Doctor Who - but there were some bits that were exceptionally satisfying, that put that little chill up my back such as Doctor Who does at its best.

There is something about seeing characters whose body parts - especially their arms - were turning to stone that gets to me. Because having one's body 'turning to stone' is often the way scleroderma is described - a disease I acquired in childhood. My left arm was affected rather like Evelina's - though I'm happy to say it never turned into real stone, or turned grey, or gave me the curse of prophecy. It just seems weird to see something happening to characters in a fantasy that echoes what happened to me.
I loved it that the Prophecies referred to a future that wasn't going to happen - that was circumvented by the acts of the Doctor and the events of the episode. That really set up the sense of a turning point.
Interesting that Donna thought she could evacuate the city - even if they would listen to her, doesn't she know the old dictum I learned in Superman comics of my childhood, that you can't change the past? But this set up an interesting exploration of what and who the Doctor can save and what and who he cannot. Of course, even when he does 'save' a situation, it can be a disaster - such as the events of "The Long Game" leading to a new Dalek invasion.

Moreover, why should anyone believe her?

Donna's attempts to help the Pompeians seemed both naive and brave.
There are moments when I don't like Donna and moments when I like her very much indeed. But she makes me miss Martha and even Rose.
I loved the visual image of the priestesses putting their hands over their eyes with the eyes painted on their hands.
When the Doctor called it "Volcano Day" I felt a pang of memory for Captain Jack, pulling off his con jobs in Pompeii as "Volcano Day" approaches. He must have just left. Is it true that the Romans did not have the world "volcanus" before Pomepeii erupted? They certainly had the concept; there are all sorts of volcanoes in the Mediterranean. The Greeks called it ηφαίστειο or ifaisteio - I bet the Etruscans had a word for it, too. It always bothers me etymologically when dictionaries act as if language began with Latin.
I loved the visual effect of circuitry mixed up with Roman marbles.
Attempts to explain the TARDIS' translation techniques were fun. I loved it that Doctor kept using Latin phrases and everyone kept thinking he was talking Celtic.
Caecilius reminded me a little of Falco's father in the Lindsey Davis novels. He and his family didn't ring very true as ancient Romans, and where were the family slaves? But the anachronisms made for a certain amusement.
Loved the oracles' references to Gallifrey, the Time Lord, the thing on Donna's back (what?), and the ominous "she is returning".
Medusa Cascade? Should I understand that? There was a significant Medusa theme in The Sarah Jane Adventures> episode "The Eye of the Gorgon".
I liked the Doctor more than I did in "Partners in Crime", I think, though it's still missing something I have come to expect and look for - probably because his rapport with Donna is quite unlike that with Rose or Martha or Astrid. I'm not complaining; I know I just have to live with it.
I liked it Caecilius made the Doctor and Donna his household gods - yet another example of the deification of of our heroes.

I realize as I talk about it that I am more or less expecting not to particularly like series 4 - I'm already missing aspects of Doctor Who that existed in the past few years and are gone now. I'm like some sort of old fogey viewer, and really, it's only my fourth series. But in the first and second episodes of Doctor Who last year, I was just so excited about Martha and how much I loved her. It's quite a contrast in my reactions.

Part of it is that I am assured that the aspect I like most in the show - developing affection between Doctor and companion - cannot and will not happen; it's guaranteed to be static. So all I have left is the development of revelations about the Doctor's character and psychology. Is that enough to hold my interest? If it continues to be as well written as this episode from James Moran, yes, probably it is.

But I still have the sense of "my show" slipping away.