I thoroughly enjoyed this episode 'en masse'. The crew and Rose being trapped on the space-station being hunted down by 'Legion' and the fantastic Ood changing from gentile, essentially stupid creatures into these possessed, almost 'demons'. The sight of one on all fours charging through the ventilation shaft was quite disturbing. Indeed, just before they escape the shaft the scene with Toby/Satan telling the Ood to be quiet; the knowing grin coupled with the fact that if he was actually the devil why would he need to tell his minions to hush made it very dark.

As the action was going on above we had a nice contrast with the Doctor and Ida trapped in the cave near the Pit, the Doctor discussing beliefs with her and having to look at his own ideas about the situation and, despite having less than an hour (although by this point, perhaps far less than that) to live he still insists on playing the hero and ventures into the Pit. It's here that we discover one of the failings of a few of the classic episodes in which somehow, everything makes sense. I found this quite hard to grasp as the Doctor couldn't read the writings nor did we see any suggestion of the mechanism in which upon release of the 'Beast' the planet falls into the black hole.

Another failing of this episode, in my opinion, was the Doctor's refusal to believe in the Devil. This is a man who has travelled time and space which has presented him with many adventures where he has seen and overcome many different things. He has fought with Fenrir and Sutekh, both of which are the devils in different pantheons and yet he completely denies the existence of this devil and then, upon seeing he seems to believe in its existence. Did he suffer complete memory loss when he woke up after the fall? Did he completely forget not everything is as it seems in his world and of course, did he forget about his past exploits with demons and 'evil' gods?

This episode was, on the whole, very good and very well done but I felt it was more a chance to show what Rose can do and all the emphasis on character scripting went on her; the Doctor secondary. Perhaps I may be proved wrong in the future. Perhaps we may see Rose doing something on her own which will prove to be her finest hour and this was just a taste but last I checked the programme was called "Doctor Who" and not Rose Tyler.

As I'm sure my review of 'The Impossible Planet' demonstrated, I loved last week's episode. I was slightly concerned, however, that this week's resolution would not live up to the potential of part one's setup.

I needn't have worried, since 'The Satan Pit' was possibly even better than its predecessor.

With the Doctor and Rose separated for the episode, the danger of repeating events from part one was bypassed and the danger of last week's cliffhanger was averted in a nice, action-packed opening ten minutes where the Ood were overcome by the crew of Sanctuary Base 6 and Miss Tyler. What then followed was, if anything, even darker than what had come before.

The biggest surprise this episode threw up was that the baddie was, indeed, the devil. Maybe an alien creature responsible for the origin of the story, but certainly not anything posing as the Beast (my biggest worry about the possible resolution of the story). The Doctor was forced to accept the fact that such a being could, in fact, exist. The explanation for the black hole and Satan's prison were clever, and wonderfully tied-in to a re-establishing of the relationship between the Doctor and Rose. To send the Beast into the black hole, the Doctor has to be prepared to let Rose die. In a lovely twist, however, we see that the Doctor has learned since The Parting of the Ways that Rose is nobody's victim, trusting in her to look after herself.

There was just so much to love about this episode.

The Beast CGI was excellent and I was easily able to forgive the slight shakiness of superimposing David Tennant over a matte background for the sense of scale the image gave us.

Once again, the depth of the supporting characters in the two-parter was shown in the nice nod to Danny's claustrophobia, Ida's family background, Zach's pained sense of responsibility and Jefferson's touching death.

What really makes this episode so special, though, is that it is all payoff - not only for part one, but for everything which has happened so far since the show relaunched. My biggest complaint about the episodes after 'The Girl in the Fireplace' was that they felt a little static in terms of character development. Here, though, we see how the Doctor is not as all-wise and infallible as he can appear, and how the honeymoon is over for Rose's travels, with the danger surrounding her growing massively. Will she 'die in battle'? Well, I thought Mickey would and got that wrong, but leaving us unsure whether she is alive or dead would certainly fit the suggestion that this season ends on a cliffhanger ...

With season 3 looming, the moment when the Doctor questions all he believes and falls into the pit bodes well for a tenth Doctor who could be set to lose some of his chipperness and have some real darkness to deal with for the first time since he took off that leather jacket.

This is the season 2 I wanted - bigger, more epic but keeping the underlying sense of something sinister which served season 1 so well.

Next week? Well, I'm a little unconvinced, but if we get a character piece in the mould of last year's pleasantly surprising 'Boom Town', I'll be happy.

To avoid redundancy I won't do a precis of the story as other reviewers have already done it. What I want to say is that about 30 years too late the BBC have finally put into Doctor Who the money it deserves. The "Satan Pit" has set the bar for the visual look of any Doctor Who story so far with a definite cinematic feel to rival or beat American TV Sci-Fi. For anyone but the casual viewer the influences of Robots of Death/Quatermass/Alien/Event Horizon etc may have been a little too obvious though. Thankfully the corridors are also getting better.

I don't know if this was the first Doctor Who story to bring in the (supposed?) devil. Even if it wasn't, this was done excellently with a surprising intensity for 7pm on a saturday night. The story and its execution shows that if the BBC wanted to they could probably make a really good adult Sci-Fi show, at least if they discard the silly jokes and only use humour that fits. Saying that, there's something about the writing on BBC dramas that often has a kind of "clever" world weary knowingness about it that I personally find off-putting in the context of something like DW. Same with the references to things like EastEnders - it may be "clever" but it's not necessary.

The two-parter "The Impossible Planet/The Satan Pit" is surely the highlight of this series which has had other strong contenders. It's comparable to, or better than, last year's "The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances" in terms of visuals and execution, if not imagination. Sadly the thing that spoils it for me is the irritating relationship between the Doctor and Rose. At times it's like watching a Sci-Fi/Fantasy equivalent of a pair of twenty-somethings who haven't outgrown their teenage years going travelling around the world in a camper van and patronising the foreigners they meet. Plus, the "Humans are so fantastic" thing was done to death in the old Doctor Who - there's no need to resurrect it here in such a cack-handed manner.

Rating: 8/10. Great, albeit derivative, story. Fantastic special effects and creatures. Good supporting cast.

A beautifully packaged episode, you can see the money in every single shot, every department has worked in harmony to produce one of the most lavish and sumptuous pieces of television I have seen this year. Colours bled from my television set, opulence shone, costume glittered, sets sparkled…. my sense went into critical overload…

…and yet I’m not entirely satisfied. I think I’m a bit ungrateful to complain when this is clearly a superior slice of television but something niggled at me during this episode, just like it did during Father’s Day, something that wasn’t quite right.

I think I was expecting a bit more fantasy romance and less science fiction. I wanted to see fabulous balls and emmerse myself in the culture of France in the 1700’s rather than hopping back to that drab old spaceship every five minutes. The glimpses of historical accuracy we saw were fantastic, scenes such as Pompadour and friend taking in the grounds, filmed with a sense of romance that quite took my breath away. Another problem was Mickey and Rose who were entirely superfluous to the episode, especially Mickey whose first trip in the TARDIS is skipped over in favour of the Doctor’s romance. Rose was okay but she is getting a little generic this year, devolving into a standard companion rather than the unique and feisty piece of work she was last year. Lets hope we see her step back into the limelight in the next episode. It seems to me as though the writers got this script and School Reunion the wrong way round, with Rose acting like a jealous girlfriend and getting awfully bitchy towards the fabulous Sarah Jane and yet all she does in this episode when the Doctor has a genuine romance is throw a worried glance his way when he goes scuttling off after Madame Pompadour. Hmm, consistency people, consistency.

Clockwork soldiers, what a fine idea and pulled off with magnificent style, the terrifying ticking and those nasty grinning faces, combining the Soldiers (from the Mind Robber) and the Robots (from Robots of Death) to superb visual effect. Unfortunately looking scary is all they can do because we are pre watershed and thus all we witness is them stalking about brandishing cutting tools. We hear of them to cutting open people and adding them to the processes of the spaceship but that is no where near as scary as seeing it. And for those who moan that we can’t see this sort of thing as it is too scary for the kiddies I say I bet they wont be as squeamish next week with the Cybermen, I expect we’ll see some of or all of a Cyber conversion which is just as frightening. Clockwork killers is not a new idea in Doctor Who, unfortunately we have also had their appearance in this months Big Finish. Alas neither of the audio or the visual attempts hold a candle to the Jonathan Morris’ Anachrophobia, which was brave enough to take the idea to its limit, having a character attempt suicide by slashing open her wrists to find cogs and wheels grinding inside and later having a character have his chest ripped open to discover a pendulum swinging inside a glass case rather than his heart beating. That is scary. What we see here is pretty.

Whilst I’m whinging the idea of the Doctor visiting a person at separate moments in their life has also been done before and (dare I say it) it was even more touching than it was here. Justin Richards’ Glass Princess from the Big Finish Short Trips: The Muses featured a story where the Doctor visited a princess throughout her entire life, a different incarnation for each visit until the eighth Doctor visits and takes her outside her home for the first time and tells her a story of a beautiful Princess and kisses her as she dies in his arms. So originality is not this episodes strong point either.

Oh my word what a total absolute moaning, miserable Tegan-wanabee git I have been! An entire page complaining and griping at a piece of television I really enjoyed! Summing up (and it’s the last negative thing I will say) I will just say that I am disappointed that the series can’t push its horror angle further (never stopped them in the past) and the show isn’t quite as boundary pushing as I had hoped, I guess plunging the audience into a romantic drama without any SF elements would be a little too alienating. But I really miss the pure historical and I thought this might be the first since Black Orchid.

What about the amazing chemistry between David Tennant and Sophia Myles (and I should hope so too considering what they get up to behind the scenes). I for one have absolutely no trouble with the Doctor having a romance and a good snog and however snide it might sound Doctor Who has evolved out of the fans hands these days and the show demands a romance for its loyal female (and soppy male) population. Just because those anal fans of the old series could never get a girl, no reason why the Doctor shouldn’t, especially not somebody as shaggable as David Tennant. Cor, if he materialised in my bedroom like he did Pompadour’s the Doctor wouldn’t have stood a chance! And whilst it was a borrowed idea, the thought of the Doctor progressing through this amazing woman’s life is agonisingly poignant, not ageing a day whilst she grows in leaps and bounds (beautifully capitalising on his tender admission in School Reunion), psychically and emotionally. Her devotion to him through the years, her willingness to take ‘the slow road’ to meeting him again is lovely and it is worth watching just to see her face when he promises to show her the stars. The final ten minutes are a total change of pace for the series, not climaxing with the Doctor saving the ball from the sinister soldiers but concentrating instead on the Doctor’s relationship with this amazing woman and how much he is affected by her beauty and intelligence. The last scene is achingly sad (although I have to say I wept more at the end of the School Reunion…sentimental attachment to Sarah Jane!) where the Doctor stands alone in the console room, again following up his admission that he is always alone (even when his friends are in the next room). Reading a farewell letter from the one woman he let into his head, revealed his secrets too, had my choking back the tears.

Sophia Myles is just the sort of big name star the show needs to keep attracting, not just because she is stunningly beautiful (almost enough to turn a guys head from his chosen lifestyle!) but because she brings so much to the episode she stars in. It is a textured, sensitive portrayal, one which stands out because clearly the writer was as invested in the character as the actress and together they have created a memorable and striking figure to reveal much about the Doctor. It is the side of him that comes out around Pompadour that makes her so special. To Myles’ credit it is not a part I can imagine anybody else playing, so distinctive is she in the part.

It is an amazing showcase for David Tennant’s range too, allowing him to express all manner of emotions throughout. He shifts mood in this episode more times than Eccleston did in an entire season. I wasn’t crazy about the mock drunk scene but that is just because I know far too many people who act like total dickheads when they’ve had one too many but it was certainly a clever ploy to finish off one of those clockwork nasties. His reaction Pompadour reading his mind was priceless, horror, shock and then slow admittance and enjoyment…its all their in Tennant’s face. His performance throughout the episode enhances the climax because after his manic energy earlier on (including that spine tingling moment when he bursts through the mirror on horseback) his eerie quietness in the TARDIS as he pilots the ship and reads her farewell letter is magnificently portrayed. This is an amazing actor we have at the helm of our show, lets never forget that.

I think the biggest credit for this episode however deserves to go to Euros Lyn who, after Tooth and Claw and this has now proven himself as the best director on the show. Frankly it is assembled by genius, the storytelling his sharp and bold but it means nothing if the director doesn’t stamp his mark and this piece was dramatic, funny, romantic, exciting, tear jerking and visually mouth watering. He cuts scenes back and forth brilliantly, never letting the audience get bored, dazzling us with special FX, gorgeous costumes and sets but still remembering it is the actors that we need to connect with and driving some phenomenal performances from them. I wouldn’t say the direction here was better than Tooth and Claw, but it was easily as good and so stylish that it is noticed.

The Girl in the Fireplace is an odd beast, clearly better than anything else that will be aired on TV this week, mixing horror, SF and history with effortless ease (in a way only Doctor Who can) and looking as though it had five times its budget and yet my niggly problems leave it inferior to the last two episodes. Keep up the excellent work but a little advice, don’t worry about scaring the kids (they love it) and remember you are supposed to be the boldest show on television, trust the audience if you want to dive in a dish up a pure historical.

Steven Moffat, writer of the wonderful Series One story В“The Empty Child/The Doctor DancesВ”, returns with a new tale for Series Two. Once again we have a story woven together with the finest elements of history, time and future concepts. This episode however, is quite different from MoffatВ’s previous tale and in fact, from past Doctor Who altogether.

If В“School ReunionВ” was played out to indulge the fans, В“The Girl in the FireplaceВ” will challenge them. This is a pity really, as it shouldnВ’t have to. For this is a Doctor focused romance and as some fans will tell you, it was proven by the 1996 Paul McGann movie that you simply donВ’t attempt such blasphemy.

Well, unless itВ’s done very well - like В“The Girl in the FireplaceВ”.

В“The Girl in the FireplaceВ” continues Series TwoВ’s central character evolution. This story offers a very different crew dynamic to previous outings in this season. This is not just because we have a new TARDIS crew member, RoseВ’s beau Mickey Smith, but because we are seeing a radically different relationship between the Doctor and Rose herself. Compared to the earlier episode, В“New EarthВ”, the Doctor and RoseВ’s relationship is decidedly different. Viewers who were put off by their sachrine sweet friendship in the season premiere will probably be pleased to see such a dynamic shift. Whether those same people will be thrilled by the Doctor falling in love with a famous historical figure.. well, that is another matter.

The story is fairly complex: Upon landing on a spaceship in the far future, the Doctor is caught in a technological intrigue which sends back and forth through 18th Century France. While Rose and Mickey battle to escape the clutches of the spaceshipВ’s robotic occupants, the Doctor must stop the same robots from taking one of FranceВ’s greatest women; Madame de Pompadour.

The production values remain consistent with the season so far. A lot of care has gone into contrasting the two centuries in which this story is set. The plot jumps between time zones thick and fast and both zones have their own unique aesthetic.

Fans of MoffatВ’s Series One contribution will see some similar themes popping up. Beyond the aforementioned plot elements, we have some more Moffatesque references; the Doctor dances once more; we have more references to companions off on a wander and this time; more future technology running amok and most importantly, the flirtatious interplay of Rose and Captain Jack has been replaced by The DoctorВ’s romantic intrigue with a certain Madame de Pompadour.

As with Queen Victoria in В“Tooth And ClawВ”, I cannot attest to historical accuracy, but the character is certainly well scripted and well acted - she feels real even if she is for the most part, ficticious. She is delivered as a character with integrity, depth and oddles of colour. Such rich interpretations of history can only make the subject more interesting for the kids. IВ’m sure there are children - who are as I type - are doing some background reading on Jeanne-Antoinette Poisson. Actress Sophia Myles plays her with grace and presence. SheВ’s a perfect bit of casting and her chemistry with Tennant sparkles.

Once again, Tennant takes centre stage in this adventure which is very welcome. Rose is a wonderfully crafted character, but she does lack that ability to regenerate her character. So while Rose remains Rose, the ninth Doctor has become the tenth and IВ’m sure all the audience - new and old - are still very keen to see some exploration of this new man. As with В“School ReunionВ”, Tennant is flawless. Certainly, TennantВ’s Doctor is a little more eccentric than Eccleston's and almost definitely more human, nevertheless, that lonely man is still present.

В“The Girl in the FireplaceВ” takes us through a relationship touched with gentle beauty that resolves a romance before it can even begin. Following the DoctorВ’s remarks in В“School ReunionВ” about not wanting to watch those he loves wither and die, this seems even more pertinent when put alongside this episode.

While the Doctor engages in his attempts to unravel the mysterious clockwork plot to take Madame de Pompadour, Mickey and Rose work together to find more pieces to the puzzle in the far future. The companion story is fairly muted and for this episode it has good reason to be so as this is very much the DoctorВ’s story. The companion role is this episode is fairly Old School Doctor Who; they hunt for clues, get captured and ask В“whatВ’s happening Doctor?В” on more than one occasion. Despite over thirty years of similar Doctor/companion formula, this actually feels rather refreshing. This is probably because the new series has had some very companion intense stories. Mickey Smith makes a solid third companion to the TARDIS crew and helps give RoseВ’s character some decent interaction while the Doctor plays Romeo. He adds a little comic value to the team without being too contrived. He and the Doctor play off some refreshing and glib dialogue in regards to some of the more technological story plot points.

Something I found particularly interesting in regards to character interaction, was an element the story made no actual narrative reference to: the DoctorВ’s lack of interest in Rose. ItВ’s curious how quickly the Doctor forgets Rose, being how important she is to him. While this isnВ’t directly mentioned, there are some nice beats within the tale where itВ’s evident that Rose is noticing the lack of intensity as well. The Doctor truely is in love with Madame de Pompadour and if the relationship between himself and Rose felt deep before this, it will be interesting to see how his deep affections for Jeanne-Antoinette will challenge the Rose/Doctor interplay in later episodes. As with Series One, there is a clear character arc going on throughout Series Two and it helps keep the show from feeling stale or formulaic.

In regards to the episode construction, we are seeing a different narrative approach to В“The Girl in the FireplaceВ” compared to the past three stories. The teaser is set in the 18th Century, the first act opens in the far future. We leap from time zone to time zone faster than Alice can make it through the looking glass and my crass analogy certainly pertinent; watch out for one of Doctor WhoВ’s most ambitious effect shots later in the story. The scene is very non-Doctor Who and satisfyingly welcome.

With a thirty year old series, boundaries have to be pushed. To stop a show going stale it has to evolve. Not just to fit in with a new generation of viewers, but to give the concept itself momentum. The Doctor/Madame de Pompadour romance will irritate some fans as there is no ambiguity here; Tennant plays a Doctor in love. It took me a second to get into gear for this concept, but it makes sense. The Doctor can love. Time Lords can love. That has been established within the Doctor Who universe - no matter how much it irks some fans. As each regeneration conveys different facets of the DoctorВ’s character, it seems totally rational that some facets may be more affectionate than others. On top of that, the Doctor is now a great deal older and as the last of his kind, company will be far more attractive. So there you go, IВ’ve given some reasons as to why enraged fans should simply embrace this move within the show. You can either go with the flow and enjoy the show or fester in a corner. I would hope youВ’ll all find the former more rewarding.

As a romantic interest, Madame de Pompadour. is certainly more the kind of lady IВ’d expect the Doctor to fall for. Even at the end, when she knows she could keep the Doctor in her time, she gives him an outlet. Far less self absorbed than Rose. Madame certainly comes across as an enchanting lady that even a Time Lord would be hard pressed not to adore.

Should the Doctor be a romantic character? He already is to some extent. The lonely wanderer. The champion of time. The homeless man with a bucket of mystery. I think as with all shows, romance can be a story danger. If the chemistry, writing and pacing isnВ’t there, romance can seem forced resulting in disaster. There is no fear in this episode of that happening and of course, as with all the best love stories, В“The Girl in the FireplaceВ“ is tainted with tragedy. The last ten minutes are some of the most touching and evocative moments IВ’ve seen in Doctor Who. Yes, more than В“School ReunionВ”. Well, maybe.

Any quibbles? Those against the 45 minute format may have a reason to grumble, It does feel uncomfortably mixed on occasions with there being so much to do in so little time. We race from time zone to time zone and sometimes it feels as if those periods want to breathe a little more than they do.

The Clockwork robots were wonderfully designed and their introduction is a wonderful В“behind the sofaВ” moment. However, they do lose their menace fairly quick which is a pity and drift too far into the plot to really stand out.

Perhaps my only other quibble would be the music which was a little thick and intrusive in some of the comedy moments.

Overall a very different type of Doctor Who. YouВ’ll leave it feeling you know the Doctor slightly better than you did when you started. Older fans may need to give it a couple of watches to appreciate the formula and character dynamics. It certainly is a romance, but it is beautifully handled, and if you find THE kiss a little too much at the start, keep watching because IВ’m sure the end will certainly move you.

I wondered if this episode could top В“School ReunionВ”, and yes, maybe it has. So again I must pose the question for a second week running: Next episode - can you top this?

I loved this episode right from the first scene, with a teaser that skips ahead in the Doctor's narrative to show us Reinette talking into her fireplace, calling for the Doctor to come help her from the monsters that are attacking. Most importantly, it's beautiful and intriguing at once and serves as a perfect thesis for the whole episode. Secondly, I can't recall the original TV series ever skipping ahead to near the ending like this before, although it has been heard many times in Big Finish audios, and is another example of great ideas from the wilderness years being folded into the new TV series.

The rest of the episode is likewise wonderful to behold and difficult to predict as it goes. This is mainly because, as in "The Empty Child," Steven Moffat has based the whole science fiction problem around a mistake by technology. If there were a logical reason for everything to be the way it is, it would also be predictable and therefore dull and boring. If, however, things are the way they are because of a very false premise on the part of the antagonist, then the root cause of it is both difficult for us to guess and yet entirely logically connected to everything else in the story that follows from that false premise, and so it all does make sense to us in the end. First he did it with nanogenes that didn't know what a human should look like, and this time it's a robot repair system that's had its chips scrambled so that it thinks the woman for whom it is named is therefore its perfect replacement central processor. (The way this was all finally revealed in the very last shots of the episode was brilliant as well.) It then of course naturally follows that it'd send its robots to try and get that spare part, and that the time windows and the fireplace and so on could be the means to that end, and as Reinette tells us, a door once opened can be walked through in both directions, and so it makes sense there'd be a horse on the spaceship and so on. These are all exquisite romantic images as well, and half the reason that they are is the same reason why anything truly beautiful in nature is, because it's all what logically follows from a single flawed premise. It's like the crystals on a snowflake. They're extremely complicated and beautiful at the same time, and they all come from moisture freezing around a single, imperfect piece of dust that was just floating in the air. Unintelligent design is often better than things intelligent designers come up with, and is certainly never predictable. Each snowflake is a masterpiece in itself for although it forms by the same rules and laws of physics as all the other snowflakes, each core piece of dust is itself an unpredictable and unique "flaw" in the air. Can you tell I love this way to build a story yet? Of course, now I'm onto it, I'm afraid it means I might be able to see what's coming in Steven Moffat's next story next year, but perhaps not, if the mistaken dust particle in that one is random enough.

The design and direction crystallized around the script utterly perfectly as well. The art direction, costume design, and cinematography in the France scenes is the equal of any award-winning period piece movie, lending the whole thing an air of class that "Doctor Who" rarely, if ever, has achieved before this. My favorite images though were, in no particular order, anything that Reinette was wearing, the ballroom itself, the nearly seamless CG done on the location shots to make them look like France of the period, the exquisite clockwork inside the robots' transparent heads, the spaceship exterior which didn't look like any other spaceship I've seen, and of course, the shot of the Doctor riding the horse through the mirror, smashing it as he goes. There's so much attention to detail everywhere you look, and I'd like to highlight the "spring/summer/autumn/winter" motif they had going on as the Doctor makes each visit to Reinette at different stages in her life. There was a similar trick used to good effect for Rivendell in the "Lord of the Rings" movies, but I don't care if I've seen that trick once before, for it really fits here just as well, perhaps better. The shot selection by Euros Lyn was just as good as that which he gave us in "Tooth and Claw," and yet of a very different style, and I'd now put him alongside Douglas Camfield or Graeme Harper on the list of the best directors "Doctor Who" has ever had.

There were a few other parts to the story that also looked familiar to this Big Finish listener. The time windows are _very_ like those used in the audio "The Time of the Daleks," and there's even carriage clock clockwork running it as there, only not quite so directly. Here it's running robots that then run the windows. The juggling of time in the narrative as well as in the events in the story is another Big Finish trademark. And the books get a great shout-out as well with the Doctor's saying that he's the thing the monsters have nightmares about, which is directly from Paul Cornell's NA book "Love and War," as admitted to by Grand Moff Steven in the podcast commentary for this episode. (and Paul had reused it himself in his BF audio "The Shadow of the Scourge") I'm all for this kind of picking off the fruits of the trees from the wilderness years, and rumor has it there's more of this to come next week...

The episode is, at its core, about what a romance between the Doctor and a human woman might be like, and at the same time about why that's not possible for him and why he avoids it. Sure, the kissing and the partying and the "dancing" is all well and good, but for the Doctor, it's all too fleeting. As he told Rose last week, humans grow old and wither and die, while he doesn't, and so his relationships with us must always be short, which is why he normally cuts them off. He finally meets a woman who could match him in every respect and could perhaps really be a true equal partner to him, and at the same time he's meeting her in a way which magnifies his central problem of the humans always living too short a time for a Time Lord. When he reads that letter she wrote to him as she lay dying, you can almost see his hearts sinking through the floor as the weariness and loneliness and sadness gets to him in a way that hasn't been seen quite so well before. I almost wonder if perhaps the TARDIS could've shown us some sympathetic reaction where her lights dim at this point or something... nah, I think not. That'd just pull focus off the best scene David Tennant has recorded as the Doctor yet, and the one where at last the Doctor's great age really shines through with what Tennant is doing. That's the one thing that's been missing from the Tenth Doctor up until now, that sense of eternity, and I didn't quite realize we hadn't seen it yet until this scene. It's there now, and it's as if the whole Doctor is back with us again, in a way I don't think I've felt since I don't know when. Well-played, David Tennant, well-played. You're my favorite now.

Another favorite I have is Sophia Myles, who turns in what I think is the best guest star role so far this season. Yes, better than Elisabeth Sladen or John Leeson or even Anthony Head. And I'm not saying this because of how she looks physically, which is tremendous of course, or at least, I'm only saying it about how she looks with her eyes. The eyes are what tell you how intelligent a character (and the actress behind the character) is, and with every look Sophia Myles has something going on behind her eyes that screams "look out, Doctor, I'm just as clever as you are." Roger Delgado used to use that "look" to hypnotize people in an evil way that made you believe he really could do hypnotize people just by looking at them. Sophia has a good and (of course) feminine eye-stare that makes you believe she really can root around inside the Doctor's mind just as he's doing it to her. And what a look she gets too... I _adore_ that line she has that goes "Doctor... Who? It's more than just a secret, isn't it?" And that's something else I hadn't quite realized was missing from the entire new series at this point and is now back as a result... restating the "Who" in "Doctor Who"... re-emphasizing that the Doctor was different from the other Time Lords even before they were all killed and he wasn't. If the series starts to earnestly bring that sort of thing back up again more often, then we'll _really_ be cooking with gas...

If the episode has any drawback at all, it's only that Rose and Mickey were sidelined a bit, and still what little time the story had for them was very good quality time, particularly when we see Rose have these jealous pangs towards Reinette but which then turn to sympathy and sadness for her and her situation, and when Mickey is the one who spots how the Doctor needs time to be alone at the end of the episode after Reinette has died. Oh, and the caption on the scene that establishes the spaceship should've said "3293 ± 50 Years Later" instead of 3000. Or something like that.

And I'll save my last comments for Mr. Murray Gold, who turned in a fantastic score again this week. He implied in DWM that perhaps not all of the music we heard in the 2005 season was what he himself wanted to write but was asked to write. Based on how much he's improved in these last four episodes, it sounds to me like the leash has been let go, because the scores have been so much improved on last season.

Here's hoping that freedom is continued to be encouraged in future.

11 out of 10 for "The Girl in the Fireplace." I did really love it that much. It's an instant "classic." Well done everyone.