This would be repeated in Series 2 and 4.
...but not in 3. No, for that one, Russell would concoct something even more ridiculous. But that's another finale for another time.
The Parting of the Ways begins with a recap of Bad Wolf before picking up right where that episode left off - with the Doctor's promise to come and save Rose. The Daleks demand that Rose predict what the Doctor will do. The Doctor and Jack, meanwhile, ride up to the Dalek mothership in the TARDIS like the absolute bosses that they are, shielded by Blon Fel-Fotch's surfboard.
This kind of flies in the face of how the TARDIS - being dimensionally transcendental - is supposed to work...but it's not the most egregious form of done in the whole show and, in fact, not even in the Russell T. Davies era. More on that much later. At the moment, the TARDIS materializes around Rose and a Dalek, the latter of which is taken out by Jack's BFG. Happy reunions are had, the Doctor exposits about the Time War, and they go out to meet the neighbors.
And who are the neighbors? The Daleks, naturally...but the Doctor wants to pump them for information. After some intimidation, he finds out far, far more than he ever wanted to know. The Dalek Emperor survived, falling out of the Time War and using the bodies of humans harvested from Earth to create a new Dalek race.
If you don't really care for this plot device and you're only watching the episodes as I post reviews for them (which you definitely should not be doing, feel free to watch ahead and then come back and snark along with me), then buckle up: it isn't going away any time soon.
And while I know that the Daleks have done puppet mastering before in the Classic show and will do it again in the New Series, but I'm just trying to figure out the Dalek Emperor's line about how the Daleks "quietly infiltrated the systems of Earth". Daleks are known for many things. Long term subtlety is not even in the top five hundred of that list.
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| He's smiling because he never has to do another Russell script. |
...because the Daleks before were clearly such a loveable bunch.
But the TARDIS crew escapes back to the GameStation, where the situation has not improved. The Doctor orders all the transmitters to full power to disrupt transmats, chastises Lynda for not evacuating, and we see Rose's eyes flash with sheer jealousy at the mere sight of the woman and her expression of an emotion toward the Doctor.
Rose Tyler is Awful Count: 5,055,636,208
The GameStation has no help from Earth, however, and there are about 100 redshirts stranded on the bottom floor of the facility. Why redshirts? Because it's a Dalek episode and a body count of just the Controller is hilariously underwhelming.
The Daleks move into position, and the Doctor plans to make the GameStation into a technobabble weapon to blow the Daleks to Kingdom Come. He begins his work at jiggery-pokery to jury rig something together so they can pull out a win. Jack gets his group together and works out a battle plan, heading down to the bottom floor to pick out a few more from the redshirts so that they can die a little later and have a few more scenes in the background.
Yeah, they're not exactly the Magnificent Seven. Literally all of them are going to die. But, luckily for us, one of them won't be staying dead.
Lynda bids the Doctor a farewell and they have a totally not forced almost kiss. Rose's eyes burn with jealousy yet again...but before she can get too upset, Jack interjects to kiss her goodbye...and the Doctor as well, saying he'll see them both in Hell.
...and that Rose is worth fighting for, but I won't hold that against him, because he's Jack.
...I mean, you wouldn't hold that against him, would you? Of course not.
But the redshirts are gathered, Lynda is given a low budget Oracle set up to monitor the Dalek attack, and the killing begins...though not before a short scene where the Doctor has to explain the show's logic of not having the Doctor just go back to last week and warn them about what's happening...which becomes immensely hilarious if you think about any other instance where the Doctor has done just that...and where the Doctor makes the suggestion that they could just leave and go off to somewhere else. When Rose says he'd never do that, he mentions that she could have asked, though remarks that it never even occurred to her. Her response?
"I'm just too good."
Hahahahahaha! Russell, I have 5,055,636,208 reasons and counting why your logic here is completely full of crap.
But the Doctor tricks her into the TARDIS and sends her back to 2006, her screaming in protest the whole time. A hologram activates - Emergency Program One. The Doctor, in hologram form, tells Rose that he's facing an enemy that should never get their hands on the TARDIS. He wants her to go back home, lock the TARDIS, and walk away. Forever. And he tells her that she can do one thing for him - that's all, one thing. Have a good life.
But the TARDIS lands and a distraught Rose is met by Mickey...who has apparently completely gotten over the events of Boom Town.
Back on the GameStation, Jack learns about Rose being gone and the Dalek Emperor calls to taunt the Doctor about the inability to focus the technobabble weapon - which will kill everything, human or Dalek. As Jack points it out, the range would cover the entire Earth. The Doctor argues that the human race will continue thanks to colonies and what not, and that he has to make the choice.
...and Jack tells him that Rose is safe, so he should keep working.
Because, y'know...fuck the entire population of Earth. Their lives don't matter in the least.
And no, that isn't me saying that the Doctor shouldn't do that - death is preferable to the things the Daleks would do to humanity. What I'm saying is that the implication with that line is that the Doctor is completely justified because Rose is okay.
Seriously, this is one of Russell T. Davies' more ridiculous moments and I've been ranting for the equivalent of a paragraph over one line of dialogue. And the worst part is, we aren't even yet into the worst of Russell and his really, really terrible judgments and moralizing. But don't worry...it's coming. Like a bad review of an M. Night Shamalyan film, it's a-comin'!
And now...we get another rant entirely. The Doctor questions about Bad Wolf, asking how the Dalek Emperor did it...and the Emperor denies any knowledge of it, much to the Doctor's shock. He insists that the words were drawing him in...to a place that he had no prior knowledge of in this period of history and, in fact, didn't know that he was even in that place after being transmatted into it before he escaped from the Big Brother House.
The phrase "Bad Wolf" is utterly and completely meaningless. I'm skipping ahead a bit, but Rose as the Bad Wolf entity (as it's been dubbed for lack of a better term) states that the words Bad Wolf are "a message to bring [her] here." So, naturally, the assumption is that it's some sort of predestination paradox. The only problem, however, is that it in no way leads into itself. The words "Bad Wolf" are scattered about through all of Series One as though they mean something...and they don't mean anything. Rose doesn't become a giant wolf to defeat the Daleks and save the Doctor, Fenric isn't involved in any way, and there are in no way anything with wolves or anything even wolf-like involved in the ending of this story.
It's as if Russell thought the words just sounded cool. Also, for a message that was spread out into time and space specifically for Rose to find, it's shown up in a bunch of other places that Rose either never went to or went to at a different time. For example, in two of the reconstructions of Second Doctor stories The Invasion and The Power of the Daleks, "Bad Wolf" appears...and Rose wasn't even around them. Hell, Billie Piper wasn't even around then. Russell T. Davies barely even existed back then! And certainly was not involved in television!
...now, obviously, those are animated examples and are put in as tongue in cheek jokes, but there are instances within the actual physical show itself post Series 2 where it makes absolutely no sense for the words to be showing up. And a majorly ridiculous example in an episode in Series 4. More on that much, much later.
The basic problem with the whole thing is that it's literally just two repeated words. They don't lead into anything, they aren't a clue to the solution of the problem, they're just words and both the Doctor and Rose make assumptions about why they exist. That's it, that's all there is. It only has meaning that they assign to it, if even that counts. It's like me saying the words "Ornery Caterpillar" and insisting that there was some deep weight and significance to it...and there isn't.
Here is the first big example of Russell T. Davies doing something and then refusing the explain what the Hell he just did. Unfortunately for us, the few times he tries to explain things...they're really, really stupid.
Back in the present of 2006, Jackie and Mickey both try to help Rose to readjust to normal life. Something that someone's love ones would try to do following a traumatic experience such as Rose has been through, forever separated from the Doctor with the knowledge that she'll never see him again and that he's probably going to die horrifically at the hands...tentacles of the Daleks. Rose insists that she can't just sit there, go to work, eat chips, and go to bed knowing everything that she knows about the world beyond their little scope.
Mickey calls her out on what he assumes to be a superior attitude from Rose. She denies it...but very poorly and trying to pull a "he taught me how to live better" and saying it's not all about the travel. Of course, the upcoming "The Christmas Invasion" will prove this to be untrue, so...
Rose Tyler is Awful Count: 5,055,636,209
...yeah, I really don't care at this point if she's traumatized. Jackie and Mickey are trying to help, and she's being an asshole. Yes, it wouldn't do for Rose to just do as the Doctor asks and abandon the TARDIS. It's another thing entirely to not even try to rationalize it to the people who are actually trying to help you.
Also, shout out to Jackie for the first nice thing she's said about the Doctor...ever, really. I'd count her trying to seduce him in Rose...but yeah, no. That really should never be counted ever.
Back in the year 200,100, we see the killing begin as the fleet arrives. The Daleks invade physically rather than using their hundreds of ships to blast the GameStation out of the sky (yes, earlier Jack says the surfboard is protecting the top six floors of the station...but not literally every other one, and I'm fairly certainly blowing apart the other 494 floors of the station would hinder their defense efforts immensely).
In the present, Mickey makes a stab at trying to convince Rose to stay...and she sees Bad Wolf grafitti'd all over and assumes it's a message that she can get back to the Doctor. Somehow. Again, Russell could have made this really neat and even gone to explain Rose's rather sociopathic behavior by insisting that she's one of the wolves of Fenric. Admittedly, it wouldn't work...but it would at least be something. But Rose just assumes the words mean something and runs off back to the TARDIS, confident that she'll be able to save the Doctor.
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| "Hey, have I got something in my eye?" |
After a short scene of the Daleks entering the station to remind us that they are - in fact - still in the story, Rose and Mickey are in the TARDIS. Rose brings up the events of Boom Town and mentions that the TARDIS is alive and can hear them...they just have to figure out how to communicate with it. Rose insists that she has to try - even if it means her death - because there's nothing for her on Earth...much to Mickey being distraught.
Rose Tyler is Awful Count: 5,055,636,211
...what's that? You're wondering why that one got two? Simple. Crushing Mickey yet again while also being hilariously suicidal and stupid. Mickey, on the other hand, shows himself to be a far more noble person and agrees to help Rose in spite of all of that.
Bless you, Mickey Smith. One of the few awesome things in the Russell T. Davies era.
Cut back to 200,100. The Daleks attack Jack's first line of defense and, despite them using bullets that should be capable of "blow[ing] a Dalek wide open" as Jack put it...they all get slaughtered and don't manage to kill a single one. Oops!
Mickey hooks up his car to open the TARDIS console. This fails, much to Rose's irritation.
Back on the GameStation, the Anne-Droid takes out several Daleks before being itself taken out. Why exactly it wasn't repurposed as another weapon, I will never understand. By, predictably, the Daleks go down to the bottom floor and kill everyone. The cast (and literally no one else) is shocked by this sudden and unforeseen turn of events.
Back in the present, we have a scene where Jackie tries to convince Rose to walk away...and Rose references "Father's Day". I'm resisting the urge to double the count just on that basis...
Rose Tyler is Awful Count: 5,055,636,212
...I'm nothing if not generous.
But Jackie won't hear of it and storms off. I know we're supposed to feel bad for Rose...but well, you see the running tally.
The Daleks, meanwhile, are making quite a bit of traction in bombing the crap out of the Earth...all off-screen, of course. We don't have the budget in Series 1 for that. Jack and his group are mounting their final defense, him being very confident that their weapons will be effective. Spoiler alert: they are not.
Rose and Mickey, elsewhere, are bemoaning their inability to break into the TARDIS. Rose is about to finally give into sanity, but Mickey is determined to get rid of the brainwashing parasite she's infected him with and won't let her just quit. Then Jackie shows up with a rescue truck.
But, alas, Rose's messiah powers will not be saving the people of the GameStation. The Daleks tear through them easily despite the bullets. A single one of them gets its eyestalk deactivated, though...so...point for the humans? Except not really. Also, for maximum depressing, Lynda dies in the vacuum of space, screaming ineffectually as she's shot to death by the Daleks following the belief that they were breaking through the sealed door behind her. Jack, too, gets his bucket kicked by the Daleks after being cornered by three of them...but, it's just a flesh wound.
...an admittedly lethal flesh wound, but still.
In the present, Mickey's efforts succeed and the TARDIS is broken into. Light floods into Rose's eyes and the TARDIS vanishes to the shock and worry of Mickey and Jackie.
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| "Mary Sue powers! Activate!!!" |
The Daleks prepare to finally take him out...when the TARDIS materializes and out comes Rose amidst a bunch of sparkly Time Vortex glowing. Her powers of "the showrunner loves me" having fully manifested, Rose reverts a Dalek's laser back into it and creates the Bad Wolf paradox - which, as previously established, does not make one Rassilon-damned bit of sense - while the Doctor insists that she's absorbed the Time Vortex and that it will burn her. Rose then atomizes the Daleks and brings Jack back to life...something which will be covered quite a bit in Torchwood and in Series 3 of this show.
But the power becomes too much and the Doctor kisses Rose, draining the energy of the Vortex from her. Jack finds the dusted Daleks and rushes into the room just in time to see the TARDIS disappear...something which will be covered in Series 3. In the TARDIS, Rose awakens with seemingly no memory of what just happened. The Doctor, however, witnesses his hand beginning to glow. The time has come.
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| Good night, sweet Doctor. |
He tells Rose of all the places he wanted to take her, particularly Barcelona - the planet, not the city. When she asks why they can't go, he tells her that maybe he will...but not like this. She is naturally confused, but the Doctor doesn't have quite enough time to explain the full process of regeneration before it begins to happen. He lurches back, warning her to stay away, telling her that before he goes...
"Before I go, I just want to tell you, you were fantastic. Absolutely fantastic. And you know what? [she shakes her head] So was I!"
...a great moment. He shares one last, big grin with his companion before his entire body bursts out with the regeneration energy effect. The Ninth Doctor is gone and he went out with a smile, happy that he was able to save his companion even if it costed him his life. Not, shall we say, mewling pathetically about how he could do so much more and how he was definitely worth much more and SHUT THE HELL UP, DAVID TENNANT!
...oh, sorry, my notes for The End of Time, Part Two got jumbled up in here. I'll edit this out later.
Speaking of which, as Christopher Eccleston leaves the TARDIS, David Tennant enters it. He comments on his new teeth, and then reaffirms his desire to go to Barcelona to a very distraught and confused Rose - ending The Parting of the Ways and Series 1 with a promise that Doctor Who will return in "The Christmas Invasion".
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| It is said, the night this episode aired, the streets of the UK overflowed with the glee of the fangirls. If you know what I mean... |
Christopher Eccleston is and was a magnificent Doctor. As we've seen over the past thirteen reviews, though, he hasn't had the best of stories. For every Dalek and The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances, we have...well, everything else. Most of his episodes are sadly either meh or just outright bad, and I think that's really reflected poorly on him as the Doctor. I find this to be unfair, really. Eccleston is a fantastic actor and, if he'd been given more time, we would have seen an incarnation that would have rivaled some of the classic Doctors.
Instead...we get David Tennant's Tenth Doctor.
But we'll get into my thoughts on the Tenth Doctor as we dig into Series 2, starting with "The Christmas Invasion". For the time being, however, I'm taking a break from Doctor Who, at least the New Series. Maybe I'll hit up the Classic Series, or maybe I'll throw out something completely different. If you're waiting for just New Who, then come back around July for "The Christmas Invasion" and the start of Series 2. If you're just around for the long haul...well, I'll try to have something fun up for next time. See you then!
Doctor Who is the property of the British Broadcasting Corporation.
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