Just beautiful.

I can't stop crying.

I'm not shedding tears, but it was a good episode. And damn, you do not want to fuck with the Doctor, like, ever. "You want eternal life? Great...I'll give you fuckers eternal life!"

Also, don't mess with Martha. When Joan (that was the matron's name, right) brought up her skin color, I think I actually muttered, "Oh, shit."

And damn, the Family was creepy. I think the lesson is that you don't need CGI to make monsters. All you need is actors to make with the creepy, and extras dressed like scarecrows to shamble around.

Oh, the angst! I admit I crush on the character of the Doctor, and have for years, but I can't recall ever crying so darned much during a DW episode! Either I'm turning into a sentimental old fool or this was just a really well done emotional episode. I'm still too stunned to really analyze the best/worst moments of the show. I feel completely spent...and completely satisfied!

I have now cried at DW more than any other show. What the hell? I had no idea I would have such a gut reaction.

But I'm fascinated by WWI anyway. I was a mess by the end.

Also: I adore angsty, dark Doctor.

"What are you going to do?" Oh, I don't know. Sacrifice my last hope of personal happiness to save humanity? Or WATCH A COMMERCIAL FOR 'MANEATER'?

Fucking Sci-Fi channel absolutely excels at finding the worst possible moment to break for a commercial.

On the plus side, this is the first episode that has actually made me cry. More than once. Tennant was heartbreaking. If you give him something to work with, he can actually do more than bare his teeth and shout.

Best ep(s) of the year.

edited because it's 'bare' not 'bear'. That would be the Colbert Report. hee.

The rewatch made me realize an important thing the Doctor and John Smith have in common.

For some reason, I didn't get the first time that John Smith is heartbreakingly lonely. It's not just that he loved Joan for herself--which he did--it's that he really wanted community and intimacy with somebody...anybody. That flash through his potential future really drove it home to me for some reason. But John Smith didn't have any trouble at least trying to do something about it, reaching out to Joan being the most obvious example. And he didn't have any trouble expressing despain at the thought of losing the intimacy he had so recently gained, or anguish at the potential of that loneliness returning if he were to become the Doctor. Though I thought, in general, you couldn't really see the Doctor in John Smith, I wonder if that was him leaking through the same way he leaked through in Smith's dreams, expressing what the Doctor wanted to express but can't.

Yeah, I totally cried. A little bit when the Doctor was trying to get Joan to go with him and then the full on water works when Tim was being honored all those years later. How old was Tim supposed to be anyways? He looked so so young, too young to have joined the military in time for World War I.

Also, interesting how the Doctor didn't consult with Martha, at least that we saw, when he pleaded with Joan to come with him, and for all intensive purposes when speaking to Joan, acted as if Martha wasn't even his current companion.

One of the things I didn't like was the writer's characterization of Martha as this love sick girl. I like the character and I like the actress, and I think Martha has more sense than to be pining away for some Timelord. I'd be much happier if their relationship was one of mutual respect and trust, slowly earned over time and adventure.

On the other hand, I loved the John Smith/Doctor/Joan dynamic. Also thought the lingering shot of Joan in the empty house was masterful, the way it suggested her dreams of a life and family with John Smith were totally over.

And finally... so that's what I've been seeing everytime I look into a mirror!

This episode was just heartbreaking. John's unwillingness to give up his life to become a lonely stranger, his eventual acceptance of what he had to do, Joan's rejection of the Doctor's offer to travel with him. Her strength in pointing out that he brought death to their town, the her quiet dismissal. Just... amazing. When we saw what became of the Family, I was reminded of the Doctor's conversation in School Reunion with Finch (that was ASH's character name, right?): "I used to have so much mercy." You can see how this Doctor is different. Weary, lonely, a little veangeful. He's angry, but in such a quiet, scary way. And the epilogue with Tim and the ceremony. The tears just flowed. I sort of wished we could see more of Tim, maybe they run into him in his teens or 20s and he travels with them for a while.

This was my favorite episode of the season so far.

And they seem to make the cuts to insert commercials using a chainsaw.

Yeah, I cried, too. I'm not even going to try to pretend it's ragweed.

And upon a rewatch (so glad I taped this), I noticed that not only is there a distinct difference in body language, voice, accent and facial expression between John Smith and the Doctor, but there's a subtle difference in body language, voice, accent and facial expression between John Smith and the Doctor pretending to be John Smith on the Family's ship. It's like there's a slight Doctorish gleam in his eyes, even as he's pretending to be this terrified human (though I think one clue is that Smith was never quite that bad a bumbler, except perhaps when women were involved).

And after the smackdown on the Family, I'm thinking we have a strong candidate for Best Badass in next year's Tubeys.

My heart, it is broken.

When The Doctor begged Joan to go with him I was shouting, NO NO NO. I thought that was a selfish dick move on his part. Joan is too good for the Doctor. Joan and John, on the other hand, made an awesome couple and would have had may nerdy kids (which is good).




I thought the Nena song had be following me around all these years.

That was creepy, scary and awesome all at the same time.

I honestly marveled at DT's acting range in this one episode. I can't possibly say enough about it, as well as the entire cast in this episode. There's much elsr to praise in this episode as well, but I think they've all been mentioned already.

As to Tim and his age in 1913/14 -- World War I did not end until 1918, so Tim could have gone into the British military being of age for service and still fought in that war; and it wasn't uncommon for underage boys to enlist in the military during WWI. As to when the epilogue took place, in very well could be the present, as some WWI vets have lived that long in the U.S., and I suppose that is the case in the U.K. as well. But it was a nice touch to have Ten and Martha there, and appropriately wearing the red poppy in the lapel as a sign of rememberance of the casualties from WWI. But it was definitely a nice closing touch.

Agreed. I was listening to the Podshock podcast on iTunes this week, and Paul Cornell was the guest. He made particular mention of the fact that, at the first table read for 'Human Nature', David Tennant introduced himself as playing John Smith, not the Doctor. That says a tremendous amount about his approach to the material, and why he was so successful with it. 'Successful' is not really the word I'm looking for, but it will do.

Also, I don't know the name of the actress playing Joan, but she was fantastic. I want to see 'Joan' return some day.

Yes, this is definitely my favorite two-parter to date of the new series.

I loved seeing the John Smith Montage and was pleased that sciffy didn't cut the Tim montage either at the end. In an episode that seemed to be partially about things coming to an end, it was fitting to keep it in.

There was so much "fright" in Smith when he knew he had to step up to the plate and become the Doctor again. It's as if he knew that not only would he be losing the woman he loved, he'd be hurting her as well, and he wasn't willing to do that. He just wanted to be John Smith. While the writers did not fully bring out his empathy towards Joan, it was hinted at throughout that montage with everything.

The episode in general seemed to be about people stepping up to what they were meant to do. Smith was meant to become the Doctor, Joan was meant to love again, and Tim was meant to save his friend. I have a weakness for seeing a person's youth in their age - byproduct of work - and seeing that so well portrayed here is what actually brought me to tears.

And my mom was touched by Smith's death in the montage and quality of DT's acting and makeup there. So, that's really saying something for her to actaully watch a TV show that isn't Dr. Phil or Who Wants to be a Millionaire.

I like how they showed the Doctor's fury indirectly. Listening to a matter-of-fact recitation from Son-Of-Mine on what he did to them brings home how powerful a Timelord truly is, more so than seeing his actions would have been. You think that the family has all the time in the universe to rue how they underestimated the doctor.

I wished Martha would have ripped Matron for her racist comment, or point out that, in a few years time, they wouldn't find much glory in war. Watching those fearful boys take on the army of scarecrows takes on a new poignancy when you realize that soon they would be chewed up in the trenches.

The fact that they're literally fighting straw men is interesting as well, from a literary point of view...

Yes. Sometimes the silence can be golden. And what's strange is that when he does get that furious, he seems to bottle it within himself as well, almost as if he is afraid of what he is truly capable of if he lets it out.


But Joan didn't find glory in war at all - in the first half she commented on how she was a widow at a young age because of war, and in fact, disproved of the boys training with the guns.


Yes, word. I think what got to me most with the scene was the music - it was meant to reflect that these were just boys, and here they were firing rifles at alien beings. Fighting aliens is something the Doctor normally does, not the boys taught by his human doppelganger.

Murray Gold deserves much praise for this two parter, especially for tonight's chapter. The score in Family of Blood - the gruesomely, cheerfully martial bars playing behind the scarecrows as they marched to the school, the boys' hymn playing behind the volleys that brought the creatures down, the staccato tune playing as the students scattered into and away from the building after Smith told them to retreat - it seems to me to be some of his best, most vigorous and intelligent stuff this season, and probably last season as well.

It's odd: I was so very impressed with DT tonight; touched and saddened by his John Smith, impressed by the way he brought the Doctor back and doubly impressed by the scene between Joan and the Doctor - but I did not cry. I was too intent on watching him, and her (You Are Dismissed, Doctor. And Diminished. Good Woman!) and perhaps too surprised by how good I found it all, to waste energy on crying, if that doesn't sound too hard or dry.

But when I heard the minister say "Age Shall Not Weary Them" and watched Tim recognize the couple across the green, I lost it. Completely lost it, and I'm tearing up right now.

Even hearing you describe it makes mine well up with pride and sadness a bit.

And I agree with the music as well - so much intensity and yet it never overpowered the scene. You knew it was there if you listened for it, and if you didn't, then the music just heightened the emotional awareness. Brilliant in general.

I think I heard someplace that the minister was played by Paul Cornell's wife, who is an Anglican minister in real life.

How bad were the commercial cuts, if I can dare ask? I had to TiVo the episode and I want to know how much cringing I have to do beforehand as to what was lost (and I finally need to sit the Beloved Hubby down to see HN, so hello double-shot!).

question -- How did son-of-mine know the fates of the others? He may have been the last to have sentence carried out and so saw what happened to the others, but how did he know that the the Doctor visited his sister once a year, every year? I suppose the Doctor might have told him before the suspension in time that he would do so. Still..

However, that said I liked it very much. And so glad that others have too. I ususally come here to find out why I shouldn't have liked an episode as much as I did. (With the exception of Daleks in Manhattan. No way I could have liked that one.)

That was powerful stuff. I was a little worried for myself for crying so much at the end, so imagine my relief to come here and find I'm not the only one.

On a more lighthearted note,

After watching this, I flipped to USA and watched Psych. Imagine my surprise when they mentioned The Red Balloon Nanny Agency and start playing the Nena song in the background. It was funny, and I needed a laugh after the Doctor Who angst, but I was a little freaked out by red balloons making appearances in both shows. The red balloons really were following me!

Oh, dear. I'm a wreck - Paul Cornell writes a script that pushes all my buttons, and David Tennant acts the hell out of it (the rest of the cast were also quite strong). I have to say, though, was anybody else hating Ten a little at the end?

I'm not one to get all misty over a TV show, as a rule, but: "I just want to be John Smith! With his life, and his job, and his love - why can't I be him? Isn't he a good man?"

...I think I got something in my eye...

I loved this episode. The Doctor revealing he was just acting like John Smith when handing the watch over to the family was a definite "Hell Yeah!" moment.

Flipote,

*raises hand*
Yes, here. Not surprising, I suppose; he's so fucking alien.

Yeah, that's the part that got me. Actually, it was the repeating of, "Isn't he a good man? Aren't I a good man?" that pushed me over the edge. It was like the thing that mattered most to him was being good, and that he had done his best, but it wasn't good enough and now he was being punished for it. I kept wanting to pat him on the hand like a little boy and say, "Yes, dear, you are good. You are!"

Hard to believe John Smith was only three months old, though we got enough hints of that last week.

We'll have to remember that for the 2008 Tubeys.

ETA - as for getting misty-eyed over John Smith, I think that partially shows DT's talents as an actor. He can take this character that has a limited backstory (and it's written to be that way) and make something so memorable out of him in only two episodes. Now THAT takes talent. So many actors would fall back on the script and try to make the character a lesser version of their primary character. Not DT.

And I have to agree with seeing Smith frightened, as well as realizing that the boys were kids firing guns, were two other distinct spots that were very emotional for me.

Inspired by, but not played by. Female vicars turn up a lot in Cornell's work.

You can read Cornell's original novel, and his account of adapting it for TV, here:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/classic/ebooks/human_nature/

This was just an amazingly well done episode (until the denouncement, when they suddenly started throwing four or five different endings at us one right after the other; as someone else said somewhere, this ep. has more damm endings than Return Of The King).

That scene of the schoolboys shooting their guns with tears in their eyes always gets me, that entire sequence is just devastating; the hope raised that the invaders they slayed seemed to be lifeless automatons, that "[they] killed no one" and so their innocence is preserved (at least not for another year or so), only to then have to confront an innocent looking little girl who kills the headmaster right in front of them. They know (on some level) she's no innocent little girl, she's an evil monster, but how the hell could John Smith, or the Doctor, or anyone else, order these children to shoot this thing in the shape of a little girl after what they'd just been through? It's just an unbearably cruel, impossible situation.

And yet..., as much of an anti-war, anti-violence message it is, as much as Baines/SonOfMine sledgehammers the point home by reminding us beforehand that this school has been drilling these kids in preparation for being slaughtered in the most stupid, pointless, unjustifiable war in human history, I can't help also seeing another side to that whole scene: that when the wolf is at their door, they're cut off from help, and their school is under attack, these kids are not helpless victims. They're prepared to defend themselves from a very real, very grave threat. The Headmaster could have easily been portrayed as a monster, sending his students to slaughter, but instead he ends up looking rather heroic, rallying the students to their defense, trying to save their lives. At the very least he's certainly more useful here than John Smith is. I can't help but suspect that, if this episode took place not in 1913 but in 1938, when Hitler was annexing half of Europe unopposed and Neville Chamberlain was waving around pieces of paper containing empty promises of Peace In Our Time, there would have been a very different, more ambivalent tone to these scenes. The horror of schoolboys being thrust into war too early would have been there as strong as ever, but the scene of them being trained at the machine gun, preparing themselves for the inevitable conflict, and of them all rallying to defend themselves and their school from the very real wolf at their door, turning their home into an armed fortress, well I think there would have been something almost reassuring about those scenes then. And yet, in the end, the whole thing would still have been horrifying, and sickening, and heartbreaking.

And then, of course, there's just about everyting else in this episode. Way too much to cover right now, but I've got to at least mention Tennent's performance. He was also great in Part One, but it's really here that I think he earns a BAFTA, (British version of Emmys/Oscars) and whatever the hell other acting award he might be eligible for.



Believe it or not, the actor, Thomas Sangster is 17 years old, so if his character is the same age as him he would indeed almost certianly join the Army when the war starts in a year's time, even though he barely looks 14 here. (Actually, I think he's only supposed to be about 15-16 here, and will probably indeed lie about his age to join up (even though he knows full well what hell awaits him; sense of duty, can't stand to sit idly by while all his classmates are fighting & dying for their country and all that). BTW, when I first saw the ep, I didn't realize that the soilder whose life Tim saves at the end was Hutchinson, the one who last week bullied him, beat him and was an utter racist prick towards Martha, and that by the end of the war Tim not only saves him anyway but apparently outranks him.




There was actually nothing at all cut from this episode (well, maybe a scene or two of people walking up to a building was trimmed down somewhat), but I noticed that Sci-Fi had a way of placing their commercial breaks right at abrupt cuts from one scene to another, so that the effect wound up looking like scenes were cut off/picked up right in the middle to make room for commercial breaks. So you missed nothing, but the commercials screwed up the pacing but good.



Apparently the number of WWI vets still alive worldwide is just barely in the double digits, but it would seem that that scene has to be sometime very close to the present because it's only been in the past couple of years the Anglican Church has had female ministers.

Something I alluded to in the previous episode thread: in the UK, the teaser for this ep, shown during the closing credits of Human Nature, included quick flashes of the images of John Smith & Joan at their wedding, of them holding their firstborn child, and of them walking with their family. There was no context to indicate whether these were dream images or if perhaps they were real, and this episode was going to get into alternate realities, changing the timeline, or if John Smith would simply get to enjoy his life for a few good years before finally eventually having to open the watch. This led to all sorts of wild speculations (one of my favorites was when someone noted that Susan, the first Doctor's initial companion, who was described as his seventeen year old "granddaughter" back in 1963 although this supposed family history was never since explained or followed up on, would actually have been the perfect age to be the daughter of one of John Smith's children).

If David Tennant was a baseball player he would have just crushed it so hard it landed in the parking lot across the street from the stadium. I had no idea he was that good.


My only question is how did the Family get the Tardis from out in the woods back to the school? Can two scarecrows carry it? I just assumed it would be much heavier. After all "its much bigger on the inside".

Was anyone else really thinking The Last Temptation of Christ when the Doctor was having his flashforward to the normal life he could have? The memory of that film made it even more powerful.

Wow. Just, wow.

I think this two-parter may be my new favorite DW story. Amazing. DT's acting has never impressed me as much as it did here - and I already thought very highly of him as an actor. But when John Smith breaks down at being told he needs to be the Doctor? That was just beautiful. Hugely tragic, of course, but beautiful.

The punishment of the Family was chilling. I guess we really are being assured that wanting to live forever is the great sin, all throughout this season.

Martha totally redeemed herself from any annoyance I felt at her last time. She was awesome. And I wasn't even bothered too much by her Declaration of Love, just because both of their reactions to it later were so funny.

Lincolnave...it's been established that the TARDIS's biggest weakness is that anybody can carry it around. For instance, it got confisicated by Torchwood in "Army Of Ghosts" last season. A few animated scarecrows and some alien rat bastards channeling that one prick from The Warriors could lug it around.

For me, it was the fact that "I love him to bits" sounds more like something you'd say about your miniature dachshund than about your twu wuv that made it bearable. It implied to me that though there's a definite love there, it may not be the "in love" kind.

An amazing episode. Easily jumps high up on my list of favorite DW eps of all time.

Martha at the beginning with the gun on the Family? Awesome. Martha proving her doctor-ness to Matron? Awesome. And since she really was just being honest, and it didn't interrupt the flow of things, I didn't mind her declaration of love, either. And the Doctor apparently didn't, either. Heh.

I agree that the score was especially fantastic. I noticed it especially in the scene with the boys firing on the scarecrows, and Smith standing, just holding the gun, not firing it. I also agree that the Headmaster was definitely not a monster - he thought he was doing the right thing, and he was extremely brave, considering the circumstances.

And DT's acting was just phenomenal. Oh, man.

John Smith would accept death for "king & country". That was the gold standard of honor in his time, and the idea of doing anything else would be cowardly. Being a coward is not a great threat to the Doctor, but John Smith wouldn't accept that. Of coures, the "king & country" his death protected is much greater than any on one of the WWI battlefields. Had the Family (brings Manson and his girls to mind) been victorious, not only would John, Joan and their future children been eliminated, but so would the entire country, planet and eventually, the universe. IIRC, no one had to hammer that home to him - it had to be his decision, accepted with that understanding.

He really did not have a huge choice. Death of one vs. same death plus millions. The journey to that decision was heartbreaking, but it was the only way to go.

I agree that Tennant really showed a lot of talent / ability in this one, and it makes up for the poor showing of the Daleks 20 years later in New York of earlier in the season. The cold fury of a Timelord with a broken heart (he did say that JS was still a part of him) is truly terrifying in his expressions and the sentence passed on that family.

I was tearing at the end, and I tear up at the end of Blackadder Goes Fourth, for much the same reason. So many boys dead for so little reason, except to make WWII a sure thing. We do tend to screw ourselves up as a species, don't we?

You know how they said DT had a bad case of the flu when they were filming this two-parter? I've wondered if, technically, he put that to use for him. His voice sounded awfully strained in the whole scene where John Smith comes to realize he's really the Doctor. It works well, like he's on the verge of (or just over the verge of) tears for quite a while. If DT had the flu, there's a good chance his voice was strained anyway and that he spend a lot of time trying to work around that. In this scene he could have decided to go with it, making Smith teary instead of shouty, for instance.

This goddamned episode was even more depressing (wonderfully depressing) than I remembered it being. I'd go into it, but I'm afraid I won't make much sense. How utterly horrible so much of it ended up, for everyone involved -- and yet how delightfully awful The Doctor's punishments of The Family ended up being!

I'm pretty damn sure this particular double-episode was this particular series' best two hours ever, but I am open to people disagreeing.

Human Nature/The Family of Blood's got to be the Who-iest Doctor Who episode ever. It's got everything! Creepy aliens in human form, hordes of automatons, the folly of war, the love of the Doctor, the wrath of the Doctor, the tragedy of the Doctor. Everything!

Of course, it makes sense considering it's adapted from a story that's meant to be extremely Doctor Who-ish, but still.

(and I get a little misty-eyed at the ending too--it's so hard not to)

I was. As soon as they showed him with the baby, I realized we were watching the Last Temptation of the Doctor. It actually distracted me, a bit, because the parallels were so strong. But it did add some emotional punch to the scene.

Kudos to the actors playing the brother and sister aliens. They have both mastered the art of the creepy stare.

This was the episode I know I loved Martha. Her "stand" against the aliens - "Your lady needs you" - was brilliant. The casual but firm way she shows her Doctor chops to the Matron.

I'm surprised no ones mentioned.

"Latimar! You coward"
"Oh yes sir, everytime"

Huge Nine shout out surely?

Tonight's behind the sofa moment comes courtesy of... The Doctor.

Seriously, I shouldn't be afraid of the main character!

This two-parter is my all time fave but damn if it doesn't make me misty. I have to add to the heaps of praise for David Tennant. All the nuances that made John Smith so totally different from the Doctor (and yes, the Doctor pretending to be John was different again) just made the character that much more complete and memorable in a very short time. I especially liked the moment where the Doctor comes through for just a moment when Smith is holding the watch. The transition from Smith to the Doctor back to Smith was amazing (also later in the reveal that the Doctor was back - that gets my "Hell Yeah" vote next year). He just nailed it throughout both episodes.

The lovely Jessica Hynes broke my heart when she quietly gives the Doctor a mighty smackdown with the simple phrase, "on a whim." That one word cut like a knife straight into the Doctor's lifestyle. Of course I hated him right then but at the same time I was relieved that he was back. This is the only dramatic role I've seen JH in, so kudos to her for her heartwrenching strong performance.

ETA: I don't remember this being mentioned in the UK pace thread. Does anyone know why the character's name was changed from Dean (in the book) to Latimer (in the episodes)? Just curious.

And so very British. The Doctor may be an Alien, but he's still English to the core.





Now that you mention it, yes, that dows seem like a pretty exact match. But when I first saw the unexplained flashes of Smith & Joan getting married, holding their baby, ect. in the UK teaser at the end of the previous episode, I was wondering if they were heading towards something like "The Inner Light" episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation, where Picard is zapped by a probe, wakes up on a strange planet where people all insist he's this other person, and he actually goes on to live an entire complete lifetime as this other person, raising a family, having grandchildren, growing old & infirm, until at the end he's suddenly yanked back to his life as Picard which he barely remembers to find that only 20 minutes have gone by. That scenario seems to have gotten stuck in my mind to the point that I completely missed the in-retrospect-obvious Last Temptation parallel.

In fact, I think there's just enough ambiguity in the scene as we ultimately saw it that I like to think maybe the watch *did* do something like an "Inner Light" there, imparting not just the flashes we actually saw, but a full, complete set of "memories" of an entire lifetime together as John & Joan Smith to both of them in that instant. If so, it would not be the watch "tempting" Smith with the prospect of a normal life (which, really, it would be directly against the watch's interests to do so), but perhaps more of a gift, a tool to get him to give up his life for the Doctor, the logic being that he doesn't want to give up his life & miss out on the future he imagines with Joan, so the watch *gives* him the memories of that future, all of it, so that he feels like he's already lived John Smith's ideal life, gotten everything he ever wanted out of it, and so now he can give himself over to the Doctor.



I kind of interpret it as more than just a "shout out" to Nine, it feels to me like he was actually channeling Nine for a second through the watch, almost like how John Smith for a second channels Ten just by holding the closed watch.




That's my take on it. At least, I can say with some authority that I think it's the best of the RTD era (the closest runner up for me would be "Father's Day", the only other Who ep. by this same writer), and if anybody has a story from the classic series they think can compare, I'd certianly like to hear about it.



"Latimer" was Tim's last name, if you're saying that in the book his full name was "Tim Dean" I could see them changing it because it sounds like two first names and could have caused confusion, with it seeming like the characters are referring to two different people. If you're saying that instead of "Tim Latimer" he was known as "Dean Latimer" in the book, well then I got nuthin'.

That actually bothered me a little. I see where she's coming from, but he didn't go there on a whim. He went....anyplace....because he had very little choice. (There is an argument that he could have just sat tight in the TARDIS for three months until the bad guys died of natural causes. I don't know that I buy it, but it's something to think about.) And once he decided to go the human route, he had no choice in where he ended up--that was the TARDIS' decision. Joan made it sound like he had decided to plunk down in their village just for the fun of it. Like I said, I understand where she's coming from, especially since nobody has told her otherwise, and it feeds into the whole season's arc of the downside of being--or being with--the Doctor, but I kind of wished he had explained himself better to her.

On the other hand, he's very guy-like in a lot of ways. He kept trying to make it sound like he didn't care that much if Rose kept traveling with him after he changed from Nine to Ten when we know he cared very much. He didn't come right out and tell Martha the rules had changed the way she wanted them to when he took her on as a real companion--he just kind of sidled into it, assuming she understood. If Joan felt that way about him coming to the school, I can see him getting all hurt and thinking, "Fine. Be that way. I don't need you or your understanding anyway," and not saying a word to clear the situation up.

I think next weeks ep, Blink, overtakes it at a run. Flawless episode.

Jessica Hynes, nee Stephenson has a long and varied career, mostly in comedy (The Royle Family, Spaced, Shaun Of The Dead) but she was in RTDs Bob & Rose too. Great actress.

Timothy Latimer is an anagram of "the immortality". I don't know if this is significant, but analyse at will!



Best. Quote. Ever.

Would it sound really weird if I said I was glad they made Joan racist? Because a woman from the early 20th century really would have had that sort of attitude, and the temptation must have been there to have made her more enlightened and 21st century in outlook. But no, she was a good woman but a woman of her time. And I loved her "You read that in a book!" - Well, duh, Joan, how do you think all the other doctors learned it?

BTW, I think Joan was slightly wrong about no black women studying to be doctors in her time. I'm sure I read/saw/heard that the grandparents of the newsreader Moira Stuart met when they were both studying to be doctors at Edinburgh University. I would be very, very unusual for any black woman and impossible for one of Martha's apparent class. Poor Martha, in that time and place she was at the bottom of the ladder due to sex, colour and class. And she still managed to be awesome.

ETA: So, as always doing my research after posting I found this. Excerpt below.
"Stuart took part in the BBC documentary, Who Do You Think You Are? which helped trace back her family history. In it, she travelled up to the Scottish Highlands, as well as to Antigua and to Dominica, where her great-grandfather George James Christian was born. During the programme, Stuart discovered the story of how her grandfather, Edgar Fitzgerald Gordon, met his wife Clara Christian while both were studying medicine at the University of Edinburgh. While her grandfather completed his degree and qualified in 1918, Stuart's grandmother did not finish her studies, using money intended to pay for her course to pay their bills instead."

Just emphasises the point, really. Sigh.

The last scene was particularly moving for me because I had been reading just a week or two before about the last British survivor of the trenches of the Western front. Still wonderfully bolshie at 109, and a devout pacifist. So I sort of identified Tim with him.

This episode moved me a lot.

It may have been a two part story but this showed exceptional writing and acting by all.

The Family and the Scarecrows are the creepiest things ever but their fall from grace was glorious.

The poppy day scene at the end was a neat way of wrapping things.

Congrats to all involved for such a moving piece of TV.