The Girl in the Fireplace

I approached В‘The Girl in the FireplaceВ’ with some caution; billed in advance as an attempt to do romance in Doctor Who, I was rather concerned after the В“companion as groupieВ” debacle that marred В‘School ReunionВ’, and writer Steven MoffatВ’s provocative comments about В“asexualВ” fans in recent interviews didnВ’t inspire confidence. On the other hand, Moffat penned what remains by far my favourite story of series one, and I suspected that if anyone could pull off such a story, then he would be a likely candidate. And as things turned out, В‘The Girl in the FireplaceВ’ works remarkably well.

A note first, about the plot: the premise that drives В‘The Girl in the FireplaceВ’ is ludicrous. IВ’m not sure whether Moffat himself decided to write a story that linked a fifty-first century spaceship with Renaissance France, or whether Russell T. Davies requested it, but if the latter is true then itВ’s akin to John Nathan-Turner securing the use of Concorde and then getting some poor bastard to try and write a script around it landing on prehistoric Earth. I donВ’t know who programmed the Repair Droids on the SS Madame de Pompadour, but I would imagine than when building such robots it might be an idea to, for example, ensure that if the ship is damaged they a) make sure that the crew is safe, and b) use the apparently phenomenal amount of power available to either evacuate the ship using the space/time corridors they know who to build or to pilot the ship somewhere safe. Rather than, say, dismembering the crew for parts, and deciding to travel back in time to steal the brain of the historical figure after whom the ship is named, which is beyond insane. Either the robotВ’s programmer was mad or he was on powerful mind-expanding drugs. Unless of course the Droids have malfunctioned, but if so thatВ’s one hell of a malfunction. The Doctor asks them at one point, В“Why come here, you could have gone to your repair yard?В” and it remains a pertinent, but unanswered, question. On top of this there are other lapses in logic and the odd irritating contrivance; the Repair DroidsВ’ assumption that they need to wait until Madame de Pompadour is the same age is the ship is just as bonkers as their belief that they need her at all, and the significance of the broken clock, besides being a general image of something wrong with time, is never explained. Then there is the DoctorВ’s explanation, when he needs to rescue Madame de Pompadour once she reaches the right age, that В“We canВ’t use the TARDIS, weВ’re part of events nowВ”. This doesnВ’t stand up to scrutiny since it shouldnВ’t matter whether he travels back to Renaissance France in the TARDIS or through the time windows, and is blatantly just a convenient way to have the Doctor abandon Rose and Mickey and sacrifice his freedom to heroically come to PompadourВ’s rescue whilst sacrificing his freedom in the process. ItВ’s also suspiciously easy all of a sudden for the Doctor to telepathically make contact with humans, which is also a contrivance to allow the Doctor and Madame de Pompadour to get closer within the limited time available.

And yet despite all of these seeming flaws, В‘The Girl in the FireplaceВ’ works. It works because this is Doctor Who as a modern fairytale, and has a magical quality not seen in the series for some time. The episode brims with ideas that fit perfectly into the series format but which wouldnВ’t work (or would work less well) in any other science fiction series. The juxtaposition of the fifty-first century spaceship and Renaissance France, with doorways from one the other disguised as mirrors and fireplaces and tapestries draws instant comparisons with The Chronicles of Narnia, and the romance between the Doctor and Madame de Pompadour is handled like that between Aragorn and Arwen in The Lord of the Rings, the DoctorВ’s near-immortality forever distancing him from her. This latter point builds on the DoctorВ’s comments about the pain of watching the humans he cares about wither and die in В‘School ReunionВ’, but in a far subtler way than in that episode. And there are many other fine ideas and images on display here, which feel uniquely like Doctor Who, from the macabre use of human flesh in the workings of a spaceship, to the grotesquely beauty of the clockwork Droids, and the bizarre sight of a horse on board the craft, which leads in turn to the unforgettable spectacle of the Doctor riding it through the mirror to save the day. В‘The Girl in the FireplaceВ’ gives us a monster under the bed in the vein of classic childrenВ’s storytelling, but when we get to see it is an elegant and striking automaton. The Doctor defeats the monsters by talking them into self-destruction, and although weВ’ve seen that before at the end of В‘Remembrance of the DaleksВ’, here it feels like the only logical way to end the threat, whereas there it was a later replacement for him pulling out a gun.

Just as important as the imagery though is the characterisation. The romance between the Doctor and Madame de Pompadour works because in doing so it still manages to stay true to the spirit of the series. When the Doctor accidentally proposed to Cameca in В‘The AztecsВ’, he exploited their relationship to gain knowledge of the workings of the tomb in which the TARDIS was trapped, but he also came to appreciate her company and pocketed the brooch she gave him at the end of the story. This works in much the same way; he only spends about an hour with her in total, but the chemistry between them suggests his appreciation for her as a person. Tennant might look lecherously at her heaving bosoms when the Doctor finds that sheВ’s all grown up, but the Doctor only gets really excited not when heВ’s snogged her, but when he realises that heВ’s snogged Madame de Pompadour and happily lists her achievements. Even the kiss in question, the sort of thing that might have made legions of long-time fans gnash their teeth, because Tennant makes it look as though the Doctor has just tried something new and enjoyable for the first time, which ultimately is perfectly in keeping with his approach to everything he does. On first viewing I felt that the plot ran out two-thirds of the way through, but after watching it again the last fifteen minutes, as the Doctor finds himself trapped with Madame de Pompadour only for her to restore his freedom at great personal cost and then fails to return to her before her death, is perfect. The ending is predictable, but with a sense of tragic inevitability.

The casting of Sophia Myles, whom David Tennant is apparently dating in real life, helps the episode enormously, as the two actors have palpable chemistry. And Madame de Pompadour is wonderfully written, making it easy to accept that she could fall in love with a man she has only known for fleetingly short periods of time throughout her life, because he takes on the role of a mythical, almost magical protector who appears to her in times of need. She is a strong character handled well, dealing level-headedly with the trials she faces. She quickly grasps the concepts of what Rose is telling her, even if she dresses them up in her own language (В“There is a vessel in your world where the days of my life are pressed together like a book?В”) and she puts the safety of others before her own, such as when she tells Louis, В“You have your duties. I am your mistress, go to your Queen.В”

Tennant also puts in a generally fine performance, although his В“drunkВ” acting is an embarrassment. He looks wide-eyed when Pompadour tells the Doctor, В“There comes a time, Time Lord, when every lonely little boy must learn how to danceВ” (a line which, as in В‘The Empty ChildВ’/В‘The Doctor DancesВ’ sees Moffat making the word В“danceВ” almost a double entendre). The DoctorВ’s sudden concerns about obtaining money, and lack of idea how to do so, is quite amusing, but above all his heroic rescue of Pompadour on horseback is a reminder that days of the Ninth Doctor standing around uselessly whilst Rose saves the day is well and truly in the past.

As for the others, RoseВ’s jealously and bitching at Sarah Jane in В‘School ReunionВ’ are mercifully not repeated here, and the most she does is look a bit sad and lonely when the Doctor shows Madame de Pompadour any attention. She also, despite her sulky look at the end of the previous episode, seems to be enjoying MickeyВ’s presence, and they spend a lot of time apparently having fun together. With both Rose and Mickey rather sidelined here, Mickey himself gets little to do and seems to have been relegated to the role of comic relief once more, although the episode does show how far heВ’s come since he gibbered in terror at the Autons in В‘RoseВ’, as he takes on robots with a fire extinguisher. He also seems to be enjoying himself, Noel Clarke seemingly as enthusiastic as the character heВ’s playing when he cries out, В“I got a spaceship on my first go!В” The only other character of note here is Ben TurnerВ’s King Louis, and he too works well, coming across as noble and accepting his rival the DoctorВ’s presence, which is an extremely unusual and adult way for Moffat to script the situation. And this after Madame de Pompadour says of him, В“This is my lover, the King of FranceВ” and the Doctor petulantly replies, В“Yeah? Well IВ’m the Lord of TimeВ”, which in retrospect is exactly the way that the Doctor used to treat Mickey when he first met Rose.

MoffatВ’s comedy pedigree means that В‘The Girl in the FireplaceВ’ has some great lines, including the DoctorВ’s earnestly delivered pun to the Repair Droids, В“ItВ’s over, accept that. IВ’m not winding you upВ”, and his response to RoseВ’s protestation, В“YouВ’re not keeping the horse!В” with В“Well, you keep Mickey.В” Even the Droids gets some good lines, most notably responding to Madame de PompadourВ’s В“I shall not set foot there againВ” with В“We do not require your feet.В”

Finally, the production of В‘The Girl in the FireplaceВ’ is quite splendid. Director Euros Lyn has proved his ability to direct period episodes, and this benefits from his talents enormously. The sets help, since both they, and the location filming, effortlessly convey the period in magnificent detail. The Repair Droids, as the Doctor notes, look beautiful, both with and without their masks, the designers making the clockwork whirring in their heads as intricate and delicate as the script requires. Even Murray GoldВ’s orchestral noodlings work for about five minutes before they start to become provocative, which makes a unusual change. Overall, В‘The Girl in the FireplaceВ’ does what Doctor Who used to do well, papering over the holes in the plot with so much style and wit that they donВ’t really matter. Hopefully, it wonВ’t be MoffatВ’s last script for the series.