Bad Wolf

Being a proverbial hater of surprises, I'd read all the spoilers I could regarding this episode. Which is pretty gosh-darned easy when you're a Canadian since we get the stories transmitted to us two weeks after their shown in England. I'd even read the reviews on this page to get some answers I was looking for and was actually disappointed to see how some fans of the series are, once again, being pointless "nigglers" who seem impossible to satisfy. With the diverse reactions I was reading, I once more felt like I did back in the eighties when I was subscribed to three or four fanzines. It seemed to be impossible to get a clear idea on the effectiveness of these stories since there were just such radically different opinions being expressed about them. I knew that, once again, it was all going to boil down to me watching the story and just judging for myself. And, if anything, forgetting the opionions I'd read already on these stories was the smartest thing I could do. Lots of points being made about them were extremely uneducated, at best, anyway!

So, I turned on my T.V. Tuesday night (again, things are a bit different over here in Canada - "Who night" is Tuesday for us) and powered up the VCR so I could add to my old VHS collection and waited for 8PM to roll around. I knew, already, what was going to happen in most of this episode. Which I realised might hamper my enjoyment of it (especially the "where did you get that gun?" joke with Captain Jack). But I accepted that as a consequence for my inability to resist internet spoilers!

Was I, even with all the surprises spoilt, still happy with what I saw?

Very much so.

I'm not so big of a "Russell T. Davies basher" as some of you folks are (funny how he's already being referred to as "RTD" just like poor old "JNT" of the old days). I thought "Rose" was the best way to start the series - "End of the World" was decent - the whole business with the Slitheen was his weakest offering but it was still some good storytelling overall and "The Long Game" ranks up there for me as being as excellent as the offerings the guest-authors have given us. But "The Parting of Ways", in my opinion, beats anything we've seen this season in terms of storyline and style. It's Doctor Who at its best. Not just because we've got classic villains in the mix but you've got a neat "T.V. gone bad" concept going on and an overall plot moving at breakneck speed too - something other two-parters of this season haven't managed so well.

Right from the start, as we get the dizzying rotating overhead shot of the Doctor stuck in the tiny closet, we can see this plot is barely going to slow down to let us catch our breath. Each member of the crew is thrown into peril and forced to deal with it in their own way. And, as some of them succeed at extracting themselves, we get embroiled in yet deeper plots. More problems on Sattelite Five and the deeper issue of "Bad Wolf" being brought to the forefront but still not quite revealed. I'm actually impressed with how the titles of some of Russell's stories don't quite make sense til later in the season - we see now, just how "long of a game" the problems of Sattelite Five really are. I was even a bit reminded of the old "Invasion of Time" story. How we get a bigger nastier alien race using a lesser villain to set things up for them until they can truly move in and "make the kill" they want to make. Great plot-building on "RTD"'s part and I don't think anyone with an inkling of appreciation of good writing can deny that. His ability to give us a "semi-umbrella-themed" season is masterful. I do hope he doesn't always handle his seasons this way. I would like Who stories to be a bit more independent of each other in later seasons. But this was a good move in the first season.

Now, to me, the final 10 to 15 minutes of this story is some of the strongest "Who" I've seen in the history of the series (a term that is probably getting overused already, I'm sure) but before I extoll on that, there are a few more elements I want to discuss. The rescue of Rose (or rather, the failed rescue of Rose) was extremely well-achieved - even though I knew already that she wasn't dead. The whole sequence gave us a bit of that "old series" feel where the Doctor always had to get the poor female companion out of danger cause she couldn't do it herself. But this time, we don't get the annoying "Doctor, help me!" screams. Rose is doing her best to get out of this problem on her own - and she almost manages it. She just doesn't have the technical advantages the Doctor or Jack have with sonic screwdrivers or guns-up-the-butt so she has to try to beat the game at its own rules. Which is, sadly, an impossibility. And, again, even though I know she's fine - I loved what they did with the Doctor staring at her pile of ashes. The whole operatic choir and background noise drowning out was very moody and effective.

The other really good point of this story is Captain Jack. I've completely fallen in love with the character now (even though I'm straight!) and, as I think I mentionned in another of my long-winded reviews, he can almost merit his own spin-off series. He's both played and written with just the right amount of style. And his ability to remain pretty well "non-plussed" about anything is great fun. As is his flirting! One almost wonders if they'll ever truly bother to explore the memory loss issue. They don't really need to if they don't want to. He's doing just fine as a valid member of the TARDIS crew that is just getting on with the adventure rather than dwelling on past pains. Like the whole "Nyssa never bothering to get revenge on the Master" bit that was done in the old series.

And then, finally, we reach the climax of the story. The Doctor finding out who is truly at the end of "The Long Game". Unless you closed your eyes and plugged your ears at the "next week" sequence during the ending credits of "Boom Town", you know already who it is. Just as you knew the Doctor was going to walk in and see a Dalek in the containment tank during "Dalek". But the anticipation of the revelation is still something to be savoured. And the "teaser" moments were classic. Rose slightly emulating Barbara in the "Dead Planet" as the eyestalk follows her after she regains consciounsess - the Controller laughing as she gets killed. It all just looked so great. And set up the moment we're all really waiting for: how's the Doctor going to handle things when he finds out it's the Daleks?

And how he handles it is one of the few surprises I hadn't read about yet. Which made the moment all the more poignant. First, the whole look on the Doctor's face as the communication channel is opened is yet another testament to Eccleston's performance. This is the Doctor really getting ready for a good scrap. He's facing another Dalek army and he knows he's gotta look mean!

But then, when he says "No" to the Dalek ultimatum - you almost think that obcession that was taking him over in "Dalek" is at work again. That, in order to defeat the menace, he's willing to throw aside his care for Rose. But when he twists it all around with the rest of his speech, it brought out in me all those "shivers" I'd got when I watched the old series as a boy. The Doctor telling off the bad guys were always my favourite moments in the show. And this is one of the best tell-offs the series has done since a similiar sequence in "Remembrance of the Daleks" where Doctor #7 took down Davros over a communication channel. It's bravado at its best, really. The Doctor has nothing in his favour to defeat the greatest evil race in the universe. And still, he's not scared. He's going to do it and he's not even worried about dieing in the effort. He knows he can beat the Daleks. He's done it before. And the fact that the Daleks actually brush Rose aside to accelerate their stratagem shows that they know he means business. That when the Doctor says he's going to win - he's to be taken seriously. Regardless of the circumstances.

I loved the feel of that moment. There's a big nasty fight just around the corner and the Doctor's not afraid of it. Fantastic stuff that's exhilarating to watch even if you're not that teenaged boy anymore!

As I write this, it's still one more day before I get to watch "Parting of Ways". Again, I've read all the spoilers and know how it will resolve. But again, this matters little. I have still spent most of my week dieing to see this final episode of the season. And that is because the penultimate episode was so well-achieved that I can't wait for the "bang" this story will finish off with.

Yes, there are a few flaws to "Bad Wolf" (ie: the "Bad Wolf" flashback sequence bordered on American T.V. cheesiness) but they pale so much in comparison to the strengths of this episode that I can almost ignore them entirely. With stories like these, I feel the wait for a new series was more than worth it. This is what season finales are supposed to be all about....