Doctor Who: Father's Day

Pete: "Who am I, love?"
Rose: "My daddy."

This episode shouldn't have worked! It had too many things wrong with it. It was more soap opera than sci-fi... the special effects were naff... and some of the science was appalling (where the hell did that glowing TARDIS key stuff come from?). Yet it was my favourite episode of the season so far! How the did that happen? I'll tell you how -- because despite its many shortcomings, on an emotional level it totally worked.

The scenes between Rose and Pete were perfect. I really can't praise Paul Cornell's script highly enough. In the character of Pete Tyler he created a flawed, fallible father for Rose. Pete isn't a saint (particularly if the duffle coat incident's to be believed). He's essentially a failed Del boy... his flat full of duff business stock. His comment about someone inventing a window sill with a milk and yoghurt compartment probably best demonstrates why he's such a failure. He simply has no head for business -- which for an entrepreneur is the kiss of death.

However, for all his failings, Pete's no fool. Rose tries her best to hide the truth from him; she even lies and tells him what a good Father he was. But Pete knows himself well enough to realise her story doesn't ring true. He knows that he's never been reliable. He knows too that he was never there for Rose. Her insistence that he would have been, had he been given the chance, was both beautiful and sad in equal measure; revealing the blind love Rose has for her Dad. But, in all the sadness, Pete sees a way to make amends and in the end, saves them all. Even the Doctor, powerful though he is, could do nothing this week to help them.

**And while we're on the topic of the "window sill invention", I rewound this part of the story eight times. The Doctor's face is an absolute picture in this scene. Pete outlines for him what must surely be the most stupid invention idea the world has ever known. And the Doctor's reaction? He just nods and smiles, as if Pete had actually said something worthwhile. I have no idea why this scene tickled me so much. It's not really that funny. But, by the eighth watch I was doing that over-laugh thing that sometimes happens, where you can't breathe and think you're going to die; so I had to stop rewinding. Sheesh! Cracking up, or what?**

Every time Rose called Pete "Daddy" my eyes filled up. This was such a well handled story and explains too why the Doctor hasn't tried to change the fate of his own people. Altering events in time can have bad, even fatal, consequences. The Doctor's always known this. Poor Rose has had to learn it the hard way and almost at a terrible cost.

The Doctor and Rose's relationship shifted too this week. The way he touched her face (a mirror image of how Pete touched her earlier in the episode), added an extra element to their relationship. Is this why the Doctor doesn't like Mickey, and why he didn't want to take Adam along with them? Has the Doctor been filling in for Rose's father all along -- and is Rose the daughter he never had?

And in the end, Pete didn't die alone. Rose was there to hold his hand. She did what she came to do and thus history was changed; but only a little. The story surrounding Pete's death was altered slightly. But at least everyone lived. Apart from Pete.

Bits and Pieces:

-- I thought at first that the line..."the past is another country".....was a quote from L.P. Hartley's The Go-Between. On further investigation, it turns out that the Hartley line is "the past is a foreign country". So I did a bit of digging and came up with a quote by Greil Marcus: "The past is another country. A nice place to visit, but I wouldn't want to live there" (from the book, Lipstick Traces: a Secret History of the 20th Century).

-- The monsters this week were Reapers. They're not specifically named on-screen, but were originally scripted as being Grim Reaper type creatures, with scythes. This was later changed.

-- Rose's eyes are brown... the baby's eyes were blue.

Billie says...

I loved this episode. I loved that Rose just couldn't help herself, that saving her father wasn't even a conscious decision on her part. (The Doctor should have known she wouldn't be able to resist.) Billie Piper was so terrific in every scene, her emotions written all over her face. And I particularly liked that Pete figured out who Rose was all by himself, and knew what he had to do to save her. Her faith in him almost certainly pushed him into living (or dying) up to her expectations. In his last moments, he became the father she needed, worthy of her adoration.

And it was pretty much perfect that Rose was able to change one thing: she was with him when he died, after all. The last thing he saw was her, his baby all grown up. What a gift, to see your child's future in your last moment on earth. I'm actually tearing up as I'm writing this. It was an emotional episode, and all of the emotions were just dead on.

Of course, the big question is, how come this "wound in time" thing doesn't happen every time the Doctor goes somewhere? And you know what? I might be able to answer that. Because it was Rose's past that changed, and Rose was with him. Okay, works for me.

Setting the siege in that church was a great idea. It helped create an end-of-the-world type mood. Also loved the Tardis appearing at the altar. I even liked the part about the key. (When I love the heart of an episode, I can be very forgiving about its flaws.)

Quotes:

Doctor: "Your wish is my command. But be careful what you wish for."

Doctor: "The past is another country. 1987 is just the Isle of Wight."

Doctor: (to baby Rose) "Rose, you're not going to bring about the end of the world. Are you? Are you?"

Pete: "I never read you those bedtime stories. I never took you on those picnics. I was never there for you."
Rose: "You would have been."
Pete: "But I can do this for you. I can be a proper Dad to you now."
Rose: "But it's not fair."
Pete: "I've had all these extra hours. No one else in the world has ever had that. And on top of that I get to see you. And you're beautiful. How lucky am I, eh?"

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(Season 1, episode 8)