The Girl in the Fireplace

I don’t know about anyone else, but it seems to me that each episode this season is better than the last. New Earth was fantastic (flawed, but fantastic). Tooth and Claw just gave me chills that this was the best the series has ever been. Then School Reunion blew me away.

And then came The Girl In The Fireplace.

I have to say, I honestly believe that was the best 45 minutes of Doctor Who I have ever seen. Witty, charming and deeply moving, it was an elegant and beautiful idea executed with such skill and then so fantastically produced that we couldn't help but be completely swept away by it.

Of course, as it lingered in my mind the following day, the little plot holes started to open up, but I am just as sure that Steve Moffat was aware of these holes and knew that the central premise was too good not to bog it down in overcomplicated exposition that could have turned something elegant and simple into something complex and fraught just for the sake of the nitpickers. Yes the throw away line of the TARDIS being out of bounds for saving the day was obviously a plot convenience even greater than usual (I am sure there are plenty of instances in the shows history where the TARDIS has been used in EXACTLY the way the Doctor says it can't here) but it would have severely weakened the premise to allow the Doctor such an obvious and unimaginative way out.

Sophia Myles was a revelation - definitely the first contender for supporting cast member of the season - with a character that, despite her limited screen time, we - as did the Doctor - fell completely in love with her. It's no mean feat to script a relationship from first meeting to final goodbye with a depth and emothion across a timeline that takes less than a day and is fully told in 45 minutes but Stgeven Moffat did it. The Doctor may have only just met Madame De Pompadour, but by the end we feel her death as the departure of a lifelong friend.

The revival of Doctor Who has seen such an emotional awakening int he scripting of The Doctor, in ways that would nnever have been considered in the original run. The idea of The Doctor kissing was the big taboo when it first occurred in the tv moive yet so far he has snogged Rose twice, Captain Jack once and now the Madame, yet we accept it, it sems right and the emotional development of the Doctor has created such a great richness to him that his sense of otherwolrldliness is enhanced even more. Whether he is brooding over the time war or reading a last letter from Madame de Pompadour, these last two portrayals have given us a hero with such depth and range that this series is now capable of exploring all possible dramatic situations.

Of course I have to mention the clockwork robots - such a fantastic idea and so beautifully realised that it is a shame they probably won't return. The set design, the camera work and the costume design is all amongst the best the series has ever produced. The CGI was flawless and all in all I can't think of a single moment that alerted me to a manufactured effect or moment of disbelief.

Finally I have to commend Murray Gold on what is possibly his best score for the series yet. The piano theme he created for fathers Day seemed a little saccharine for me but here he deals with equally emotive scenes with such a melancholic tone that allowed the shots to linger and the audience to hang on the emotion until our hearts broke.

Bravo. I can't say it enough. Bravo.

By the way and as a final aside - did anyone else wonder whether Madame de Pompadour's invitation to the Doctor to dance (considering Moffat's previous useage of dancing as a metaphor for a certain other physical act) could actually have implied the Doctor did more than just get a snog in this episode?

"Doctor. My lonely Doctor. Dance with me."

"I can't"

"Dance with me. There comes a time, my Lord, when every lonely little boy must learn how to dance."