Doctor Who: The Unquiet Dead

Doctor: "I'm so glad I met you."
Rose: "Me, too."

That's three times in three episodes that Rose has almost died. Once in the present, once in the future; and this week she almost died in the past (ghosts from A Christmas Carol, anyone?). So, is Rose finally ready to admit that life with the Doctor is simply too dangerous? Errr... not really, no. I have to say, were I a ten year old boy again, I'd have been absolutely terrified by tonight's episode. In fact, even as an adult, seeing Mrs Pearce come back from the dead, all Danny Glick eyes and mouth spewing forth blue vapour, I was still looking for a cushion to hide behind. A very macabre Dickensian tale from Mark Gatiss -- quite literally in view of the fact that Dickens himself plays a central role in this episode.

We had two heroes this week. Firstly, there was Gwyneth, Gabriel Sneed's clairvoyant servant. Poor Gwyneth. Her angels didn't turn out to be angels after all; except maybe angels of death. They were Gelth -- disembodied aliens, existing in gaseous form. Their purpose? Why, to take over the planet of course. What self respecting alien baddie doesn't have this as an MO? But in the end, several million Gelth were no match for Gwyneth, who, in traditional Who fashion, saved the world by sacrificing her own life (can you feel that religious symbolism?).

The other hero of the piece was Charles Dickens, played rather superbly by popular British thespian Simon Callow. Callow's no stranger to Dickens. He's played him before on television and has written extensively about him; so he's better equipped than most to play the part. His character starts out the episode as an unbeliever who's then forced to reassess his whole belief system in light of all he sees and experiences. Luckily for all concerned, by the end of the episode he's a changed man. Despite legging it when things got a bit hairy, he still had the courage to return and save the day -- even though his theory was in reality little more than a hunch. I wonder what The Mystery of Edwin Drood and the Blue Elementals would have been like? Shame he didn't get to finish it.

The Doctor's love of new races seemed to hamper his clear thinking abilities this week. He obviously has a deep affection for all alien races (even those trying to kill him), but I do wonder whether guilt played a part in him agreeing to allow the Gelth to survive in human cadavers. It was, after all, the Time War that stripped them of their bodies in the first place; a war in which the Doctor was actively involved. Is this why he so readily agreed to let them indulge in such a revolting method of self preservation? The Doctor likened it to organ donation; but it's more akin to zombie-ism isn't it?

Rose was fun too this week. Her "nice bum" comment was a perhaps a little scandalous for poor Gwyneth... but it was amusing banter nonetheless. But where did Gwyneth get the idea from that Rose is a lady of "breeding"? She has a Cockney accent for goodness sakes! [Billie adds, yes, but Gwyneth did say that Rose dressed well but sounded like a wild thing. :)]

And as ever, Rose provided a nice counter balance to the Doctor, her humanity tempering his sometimes all too alien thinking. The Doctor saw the Gelth inhabiting the dead as a "different kind of morality." Rose, however, saw it as an anathema. And the Doctor was more than happy to let Gwyneth risk her life to aid the Gelth. Yet Rose saw Gwyneth's life as a precious commodity and was reluctant to see it endangered. In the end, rather fittingly, it was Gwyneth's death that brought them back together.

Bits and pieces:

-- This is the third consecutive episode in which the Doctor's failed to save the day. In Rose it was Rose who defeated the Nestene Consciousness. In The End of The World, although he played a part in saving everyone, it was Jabe's sacrifice which allowed him to ultimately succeed. And in this episode it was Gwyneth and Dickens combined who save everyone's bacon (mmmm...bacon).

-- Mark Gatiss wrote this episode. Many will know Gatiss as one quarter of British comedy team The League Of Gentlemen. ("This is a local shop for local people!") He also played the part of Richard Lazerus in the season three episode The Lazarus Experiment and penned the second season episode The Idiot's Lantern.

-- A second Bad Wolf reference this week. After reading Rose's mind, she says, "The things you've seen... the darkness... the Big Bad Wolf."

-- Dickens cries out "what the Shakespeare," an exclamation poking fun at the phrase "what the Dickens" (although the saying itself has nothing to do with Charles Dickens and everything to do with the devil).

-- Many will recognize the actress who played Gwyneth (Eve Myles) as the same actress who plays Gwen Cooper in Torchwood. In the later episode "Journeys End," the Doctor asks Gwen whether she's from an "old Cardiff family," suggesting a link between present day Gwen and Dickensian psychic chick Gwyneth. I have to say, I did notice a slight resemblance ;-)

-- The story was set in Cardiff 1869, just 18 years after the story, "The Next Doctor."

Billie says...

I liked this one a little better than last week's, mostly because of Simon Callow's wonderful Dickens. I loved all the little references to A Christmas Carol and the other little touches, like the very Dickensian character of Sneed, the amoral undertaker. Loved the Doctor as Dickens' number one fan. And I thought that last exchange between the Doctor and Dickens ("My books, Doctor. Do they last?") was quite touching, considering that Dickens didn't have long to live.

Plus, there was Gwyneth, who gave her life to save the world. I liked her, too, and not just because of her striking resemblance to Gwen Cooper.

I want to see the rest of the Tardis! I want a suite of my own!

Quotes:

Rose: "You can go back and see days that are dead and gone a hundred thousand sunsets ago. No wonder you never stay still."
Doctor: "Not a bad life."
Rose: "Better with two."

Doctor: "Do the death of Little Nell. It cracks me up."

Doctor: "Don't antagonize her. I love a happy medium."
Rose: "I can't believe you just said that."

Doctor: "I think it's gone a little bit wrong."

Doctor: "Mr. Sneed, what's the weakest part of this house? The place where most of the ghosts have been seen?"
Sneed: "That would be the morgue."
Rose: "Any chance you were going to say gazebo?"

Rose: "I haven't even been born yet. It's impossible for me to die. Isn't it?"

Doctor: "I saw the Fall of Troy. World War Five. I pushed boxes at the Boston Tea Party. Now I'm going to die in a dungeon... in Cardiff."

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