Gridlock

"You're taking me to the same planets you took her to? ever heard of the word rebound?"

I wasn't really looking forward to "Gridlock" all that much. Don't get me wrong, like every other Doctor Who fan out there I was on the edge of my seat praying that Man Utd vs Watford didn't go into extra time, but even so I wasn't looking forward to "Gridlock" with the same sort of bated breath that I am, for example, the "Human Nature" two-parter, or even next week's Dalek story.

I think that this is largely down to "New Earth". David Tennant's first regular outing as the Doctor was a bit too light for my liking; it was fast and it was fun, but it didn't possess the same sort of weight that a lot of my favourite new series episodes do. However, whilst "Gridlock" may be set on New Earth, this time around the tone is much darker.

Russell T. Davies' script is a rare example of a Doctor Who story that is about the Doctor. In this episode we tend to see things from his point of view, as opposed to his companion's. At the start of the episode when Martha incessantly interrogates him about his homeworld, the whole audience is cringing because we know she's opening up a can of worms. She sends the Doctor off into his own little world, talking about Gallifrey as if it still exists, vividly describing the magnificent Citadel and the "burnt orange sky".

However, as much as the emphasis of "Gridlock" is on the Doctor, the episode certainly does not neglect his newest friend. This episode sees Martha have an "End of the World"-style epiphany. When she is kidnapped by Milo and Cheen, much like Rose on her first trip into the far future she realises that she could die and that her parents would never know her fate. She realises that she doesn't even know the Doctor at all.

"I didn't really think? I just followed the Doctor? There's so much he never says?"

Yet she trusts him. Implicitly.

The plot itself is intriguing in concept and audacious in scale. "New Earth" saw Russell T. Davies get on his soapbox about 'animal' experimentation, but here he chooses a topic that far more people can relate to; one that affects almost everybody's daily life - traffic! On the motorways of New Earth it takes on average ten years to travel six miles. The pollution is so dense that if you breathe it for any length of time it is rumoured to make your head explode. Untold numbers of cars are packed into the undercity, not only in horizontal queues but also in vertical ones. It is the ultimate Gridlock. A prison. A nightmare.

"You think you know us so well, Doctor. We are not abandoned. Not while we have each other."

Somehow though there is charming and uplifting sense of unity amongst this mass of imprisoned 'humanity'. Their singing of "The Old Rugged Cross" and "Abide By Me" in unison is a moving and a powerful moment, and their 'Friends Lists' are a wonderful reflection on modern society and people's inexplicable obsession with things like My Space and Facebook. Says I, www.myspace.com/historyofthedoctor. Here once again, Davies manages to unify the profound and the (seemingly) trivial into one whole that manages not only to entertain, but also make a strange sort of sense.

And then living amidst the gas in the depths of the Fast Lane lurks an old foe of the Doctor's. In all the pre-season hype many speculated about which 'old enemy' would be returning. Zygons? Ice Warriors? I would never in a million years have guessed the Macra would be making a comeback! It was the biggest shocker since the Nimon showed up in "Seasons of Fear"! And what's more, they're awesome. The C.G.I. Macra look phenomenal. Okay, they could have been substituted for any ravenous monster - new or old ? but their inclusion is a lovely nod to the series' long history; it certainly can't hurt. In "Smith and Jones", the Doctor appeared to know all about the Judoon, yet they never showed up in the classic series. His knowledge of the Macra (and his lovely pr?cis of "The Macra Terror") is no more conspicuous than his familiarity with the Judoon. Newbies won't even have blinked.

"Gridlock" is also populated with a trademark collection of Davies' weird and wonderful aliens. Red people. White people. Hippies. Nudists. Even a Mr. Benn look-alike! And of course we have the return of the Cat-People, albeit in a much more benevolent guise. Brannigan is a wonderfully endearing character; Ardal O'Hanlon imbues the cat with his innate amiability so that even the Doctor can't help but get over his recent bad experiences with his kind. Until "Fear Her", the Doctor had always been a cat-lover, and he should be again in my opinion! I wanted him to keep one of the kittens! Maybe he'll get a cat in "Human Nature"?

In it's darkest moments, "Gridlock" is also an allegory about the dangers of drugs. Those cars may all be trapped on the motorways, but that is a much better fate than the armageddon that 'Bliss' wrought upon the cities on New Earth. Literally everyone above ground is dead and were it not for the Face of Boe, those in the undercity would have perished alongside them.

Now the return of Boe is something that I was very excited about. I'm not ashamed to admit that I had goosebumps as his theme tune played (you know the show is a hit when a character who has been in just three or four episodes has his own theme) and I heard his telepathic voice. His entirely expected demise was also an incredibly touching moment, but even that was overshadowed by his final revelation:

"Know this, Time Lord. You are not alone."

And with that he dies, leaving the Doctor to puzzle out the conundrum. The Doctor knows that his world is gone and that he is last of his people. He is also sure that Boe wasn't referring to Martha ? in fact, that possibility was dismissed far too quickly for Martha's liking. So what could it mean? I think we all know really, the only question is how? Personally I'm hoping for a characteristically blas? explanation: "Ah, so you escaped from?"

The final scenes of "Gridlock" are a thing of beauty, both literally and figuratively. The mass exodus from the undercity is a stunning image; the splendour of New, New York looks like a stunning hybrid of contemporary New York and Coruscant from the Star Wars prequels. The 'folding chair' scene is an equally beautiful character moment; it marks a key stage in the relationship between the Doctor and Martha, and it also sets up next week's Dalek adventure very nicely. Under the burnt orange sky of New Earth, the Doctor sits Martha down and tells her of the Time War.

"I lied to you 'cos I liked it. I could pretend. Just for a bit I could imagine they were still alive underneath the orange sky. I'm not just a Time Lord. I'm the last of the Time Lords. The Face of Boe was wrong; there's no-one else. They've all gone now. My family. My friends. Even that sky."

The only negative comments I would have about "Gridlock" are that a couple things didn't make all that much sense to me. If it takes ten years to drive six miles, why not walk? And what happens to the Macra? Do they live happily ever after in the gaseous Fast Lane?

Those two points aside, "Gridlock" came as a wonderful and welcome surprise to me. The quality of this third series continues to astound me. Doctor Who now has more episodes in the canon than in the entire Star Trek franchise and, to end on a clich?, year after year it just keeps getting better. It's three hits out of three for Series Three.