*Episode premise spoilers.*
This episode didn’t grab me as much the first time I watched it—“Aliens of London” / “World War Three” had predisposed me against Slitheen stories—but I’ve warmed up to it a lot since then. While it has its iffy parts, it also has good character moments, especially some great stuff for the Doctor.
The Ninth Doctor, Rose, and Jack have landed in Cardiff to give the TARDIS a top-up of vortex energy from the Rift. Mickey has come out to see them, but of course, their lowkey holiday doesn’t quite go as planned. They discover that one of the Slitheen they thwarted at Downing St., still posing as a human, has become the mayor of Cardiff. They set out to foil her latest plan, but then the question becomes what to do with her.
Again, the Slitheen? Not RTD’s finest hour. But of the Slitheen we met in the original two-parter, Margaret a.k.a. Blon was probably the most tolerable. And the story here is very toned-down compared to the Slitheen’s appearance earlier in the season. There’s way less farting, and Annette Badland is given the chance to be less campy and more grounded.
The highlight of the episode is the dynamic between the Doctor and Blon. Once the Doctor apprehends the nefarious Slitheen, he sets his mind on returning her to Raxacoricofallapatorius to face justice. But on that planet, justice is particularly barbaric, and Blon immediately sets to work trying to escape and/or convince the Doctor to let her go. Christopher Eccleston is excellent here. He starts out blithely chipper as he deflects Blon’s initial attempts to evade him, but as she goes for the guilt-complex jugular, it all gets much more serious. This type of gambit would land a blow against most Doctors, but I’d say it’s particularly hard on Nine.
I haven’t seen this episode since the allegations about Noel Clarke came out, along with the renewed attention to John Barrowman’s on-set behavior during Who and Torchwood. I’ll just say screw Clarke. What predators do to their victims is far and away the worst part of this entire cesspool, obviously. But I also hate it when perpetrators tarnish good media by being creeps.
Talking about Mickey and Jack as characters, this is a pretty good episode for them both. While Mickey gets some doofus moments early on, it’s also an important episode that addresses how dismissive Rose has been of him and his feelings. And this is Jack’s only “regular” adventure during his short run as a companion, sandwiched between a pair of two-parters. I love seeing the dynamic between him, the Doctor, and Rose—his presence shakes things up, and all three of them are so cute together. Also, his nerdy glee over the extrapolator is delightful.
Because of the Mickey stuff, it’s not the best episode for Rose, but it’s good to see her face up to her own callousness, even if she hadn’t realized how much she was taking Mickey for granted. Not to mention, the moment where the Doctor patiently teaches her to say “Raxacoricofallapatorius” is positively adorable, especially their mini-celebration when she gets it right!
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