What happened?
As a result of being pursued by an alien enemy calling itself ‘the family’, The Doctor is forced to turn himself human and hide in 1913, assuming the role of a teacher at a boarding school. With only dim recollections as to who he really is, it is up to Martha to keep her eye on him and open the timepiece watch, which will return all his memories, should a crisis emerge.
A crisis does emerge. ‘The family’ manage to overtake the bodies of various people around the school and village and stage an ambush at the dance. With the timepiece in the possession of a small boy with peculiarly intuitive instincts, Martha, The Doctor and the nurse he is striking a relationship have their lives held in the balance. . .
Thoughts
An extremely enjoyable episode that as well as offering up a refreshing twist on The Doctor’s character basically turns its attentions on Martha, and her relationship with him. It’s something the series has been clicking away with from the beginning and that’s really reaching a peak here.
Indeed, the scene where Martha bemoaned the fact that the one human The Doctor had decided to fall in love with wasn’t her pretty much nailed down what it is she wanted and what she’s never likely to get. I fear she’s in for a rather sad conclusion to her time as the The Doctor’s companion; unable to reconcile being with him on adventures to wanting more than he is willing, or even able, to provide in return.
I liked how the episode quickly threw us into the action – almost like we were coming in at the end of a previous episode with the two of them escaping into the TARDIS, dodging shots fired at them. Then the last ditch measure, that was barely explained, before we were snapped into 1913 England and The Doctor, with just one heart, fully in-character and oblivious as a teacher.
Only his book of stories and drawings gave away his subconscious understanding of who he really was. And I liked how Martha was integrated into proceedings – it wasn’t immediately apparent if she was also living under the same illusion as The Doctor, and was really of the belief she was a servant of the school.
Once it was clear that she was the same old Martha working undercover, and had been doing so for two months, it really helped settle the episode down and further defined her character. Considering the racist remarks she endured (the line about how she couldn’t tell things were clean due to her brown skin was deliciously nasty), alongside the frustration of seeing The Doctor she knows (and loves?) treating her as a nobody clearly display a genuine fortitude and strength.
‘The Family’ were a curious alien. The performances of the actors who were ‘inhabited’ really sold the otherworldliness of them, particularly the snooty schoolboy. The eerie cocking of the head to one side and deep sniffing were managed well; what could have looked silly worked out looking unnerving. Hopefully there will be more explanation about what they are beyond a nebulous form that, for some reason, The Doctor had to hide away from so drastically rather than somehow confront and thwart like how he does every other kind of enemy race!
Really fun episode, overall. Initially confusing but so fast-paced all you could do was hold on and take it in before frustration could set in. And then explanations emerged and before too long aliens had people hostage and The Doctor was forced into a difficult decision.
What was the best part?
It was really a short, near blink and miss it moment, but I really enjoyed when the small boy appeared to glimpse his own death in the trenches of World War I. What I really liked about it was his premonition actually took into account the fact that he had had the premonition! That, at the moment of his death, he knew it was about to happen because he had already seen it; we were just seeing the moment he first learned of it. I liked that detail.
What do I think will happen next?
An absolute certainty is this: The Doctor and Martha will both survive and get out of this situation! I suspect the only way out of the immediate standoff (and letting The Doctor off the hook of choosing Martha or the nurse) will be the smaller boy coming into the mix and opening the watch. From that point The Doctor should be back and he can then thwart ‘the family’ in some way before there’s a bit of heartache involved with him leaving the ‘human’ life and going back to the TARDIS.
It’ll be of most interest to see how Martha reacts. Maybe she’ll even bring up the point that he had fallen for a human woman? I envisage she’ll wind up feeling more despondent than ever, despite a successful escape!
As a result of being pursued by an alien enemy calling itself ‘the family’, The Doctor is forced to turn himself human and hide in 1913, assuming the role of a teacher at a boarding school. With only dim recollections as to who he really is, it is up to Martha to keep her eye on him and open the timepiece watch, which will return all his memories, should a crisis emerge.
A crisis does emerge. ‘The family’ manage to overtake the bodies of various people around the school and village and stage an ambush at the dance. With the timepiece in the possession of a small boy with peculiarly intuitive instincts, Martha, The Doctor and the nurse he is striking a relationship have their lives held in the balance. . .
Thoughts
An extremely enjoyable episode that as well as offering up a refreshing twist on The Doctor’s character basically turns its attentions on Martha, and her relationship with him. It’s something the series has been clicking away with from the beginning and that’s really reaching a peak here.
Indeed, the scene where Martha bemoaned the fact that the one human The Doctor had decided to fall in love with wasn’t her pretty much nailed down what it is she wanted and what she’s never likely to get. I fear she’s in for a rather sad conclusion to her time as the The Doctor’s companion; unable to reconcile being with him on adventures to wanting more than he is willing, or even able, to provide in return.
I liked how the episode quickly threw us into the action – almost like we were coming in at the end of a previous episode with the two of them escaping into the TARDIS, dodging shots fired at them. Then the last ditch measure, that was barely explained, before we were snapped into 1913 England and The Doctor, with just one heart, fully in-character and oblivious as a teacher.
Only his book of stories and drawings gave away his subconscious understanding of who he really was. And I liked how Martha was integrated into proceedings – it wasn’t immediately apparent if she was also living under the same illusion as The Doctor, and was really of the belief she was a servant of the school.
Once it was clear that she was the same old Martha working undercover, and had been doing so for two months, it really helped settle the episode down and further defined her character. Considering the racist remarks she endured (the line about how she couldn’t tell things were clean due to her brown skin was deliciously nasty), alongside the frustration of seeing The Doctor she knows (and loves?) treating her as a nobody clearly display a genuine fortitude and strength.
‘The Family’ were a curious alien. The performances of the actors who were ‘inhabited’ really sold the otherworldliness of them, particularly the snooty schoolboy. The eerie cocking of the head to one side and deep sniffing were managed well; what could have looked silly worked out looking unnerving. Hopefully there will be more explanation about what they are beyond a nebulous form that, for some reason, The Doctor had to hide away from so drastically rather than somehow confront and thwart like how he does every other kind of enemy race!
Really fun episode, overall. Initially confusing but so fast-paced all you could do was hold on and take it in before frustration could set in. And then explanations emerged and before too long aliens had people hostage and The Doctor was forced into a difficult decision.
What was the best part?
It was really a short, near blink and miss it moment, but I really enjoyed when the small boy appeared to glimpse his own death in the trenches of World War I. What I really liked about it was his premonition actually took into account the fact that he had had the premonition! That, at the moment of his death, he knew it was about to happen because he had already seen it; we were just seeing the moment he first learned of it. I liked that detail.
What do I think will happen next?
An absolute certainty is this: The Doctor and Martha will both survive and get out of this situation! I suspect the only way out of the immediate standoff (and letting The Doctor off the hook of choosing Martha or the nurse) will be the smaller boy coming into the mix and opening the watch. From that point The Doctor should be back and he can then thwart ‘the family’ in some way before there’s a bit of heartache involved with him leaving the ‘human’ life and going back to the TARDIS.
It’ll be of most interest to see how Martha reacts. Maybe she’ll even bring up the point that he had fallen for a human woman? I envisage she’ll wind up feeling more despondent than ever, despite a successful escape!
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