Parallel Fun – 02×05

So this now brings us to 5 episodes, including “The Christmas Invasion”, with 4 good episodes and one dud. My concern here is that maybe there are more duds in the succeeding episodes but “Rise of the Cybermen” establishes to us that we won’t be seeing a lacklustre episode soon. Written by Tom MacRae and directed by Graeme Harper, this TV show exploration of the parallel universe idea is exciting as it is charming and unpredictable.

Most of the charm lies in Noel Clarke’s performance as both Ricky and Mickey which is as natural as it gets. His acting doesn’t seem exaggerated or underwhelming as he brings so much humanity to supposed typecast characters. Ricky might be the tough bad-ass kind of guy but he also shows a level of weakness and amusement. Mickey, on the other hand, shows a developing soon-to-be tough guy, almost following Ricky’s footsteps as he brings an AK-47 to the rescue and gives the damsel in distress, Rose, a gentleman’s smooch on the lips.

One of the funniest moments in this episode was when Rose meets her parallel family. In this universe, she’s a dog! Her dad is still very much alive and now quite successful but now Jackie was much bitchier than her motherly counterpart. Even in this universe, Jackie and Pete are still not fond of each other and it just shows that maybe they were never meant to be; even in another space and time continuum.

It was a touching scene when Mickey meets his grandmother who was dead in the other world because of a careless mistake. Being a grandma’s boy, I completely understand why he would want to stay in that universe. It was a second chance for him and even if she wasn’t the original grandmother of Mickey, he loved her all the same. I also understand The Doctor for warning and forbidding them from engaging with the other worldly counterparts. It’s a nice blend of conflicting emotions and further emphasizes the emotional complexity rarely seen in the science fiction genre.

I just have one complaint with the episode and it’s a flaw that burdens the logic and realism of the plot and story. The president was in Pete Tyler’s house during the attack of the Cybermen but I didn’t see any guards on patrol the whole time. I don’t know if the parallel Earth was a much more peaceful place than ours but it’s just unbelievable that there were practically no agents or bodyguards present in the party. Although they wouldn’t have helped at all since the Cybermen were impenetrable by bullets, their absence is a careless mistake that kind of disrupted my enjoyment of the episode.

All in all, “Rise of the Cybermen” was a fun episode featuring a dastardly villain, a cool new enemy, and comedic bits mixed with emotional drama. There’s a lot to look forward to in the continuing episode, as this being part 1, because of the careful set-up of the plot to build an exciting climax.

 

02×03 – “School Reunion”

If Doctor Who weren’t so character-centric and focused instead on the sci-fi, I don’t think I’d like the show as much. Don’t get me wrong – I enjoy the silliness of villains and plotlines, but I find the characters to be the real strength of the show. I particularly like the Rose-Doctor relationship and learning more about both of them, together and apart.

Needless to say, I feel “School Reunion” is a great episode. Like Rose, Sarah Jane Smith’s appearance raised my hackles once I learned who she was. Rose finally feels threatened by another woman, and there’s a tiny part of me that thinks she deserves it for stringing Mickey along and making the Doctor jealous whenever she flirted with Capt. Jack and Adam.

Still, I appreciate how her presence allowed viewers to learn more about the Doctor and Rose. I’ve seen the Doctor as four steps ahead of everyone else, with a solution for every situation, for so long, that the following exchange surprised me:

THE DOCTOR: I don’t age. I regenerate. But humans decay. You wither and you die. Imagine watching that happen to someone who you–
ROSE: What, Doctor?
THE DOCTOR: You can spend the rest of your life with me. But I can’t spend the rest of mine with you. I have to live on. Alone. That’s the curse of the Time Lords.

The vampire craze (as in The Vampire Diaries and Being Human, not Twilight, thank you very much) has made me forget that they aren’t the only creatures that don’t age – Time Lords don’t, either. I was so wrapped up with feeling bad for Rose and Sarah Jane that it has to be ten times as painful for the Doctor.

I’m also glad the writers keep giving Rose opportunities to realize the gravity of her joining the Doctor on all of these adventures. Most things we hear from our parents we often brush off as them overreacting, so Jackie’s concerns didn’t have much of an effect on Rose. For her to get a glimpse of what could be her in twenty, thirty years – it clearly hit home. I worry for Rose, because judging by the life Sarah Jane is living, there doesn’t seem to be anything that can top zipping through time and space with a charming, funny enigma. And going by Rose’s reaction to being sent back home without the Doctor in “The Parting of the Ways”, with her moping and snapping at Mickey and her mother in the diner, getting reoriented with her old life isn’t something she handles gracefully.

I absolutely love K9 and I wish it’ll somehow find its way back to the Doctor soon. Needless to say, I prefer it as a companion over Mickey, although I did feel sorry for him in this episode when he realizes he’s the current equivalent of the Doctor’s tin dog companion. Asking the Doctor if he could join them must mean he really wants to prove that he’s worth more than that, which I grudgingly give him props for. (Although whether he is more than that is still up for debate.) It’ll be interesting to see how he fits into the Rose-Doctor dynamic, since as we’ve seen, other companions never stay for long.