Deadly Furniture

"Aliens of London," "World War Three," "Dalek," and "The Long Game"

The Ninth Doctor is not a very stable man. Sure, all the Doctors who have come before him and the two Doctors that will come after him are all mad men with a box. But none of these other incarnations have just killed their entire race, and the guilt, anger, and grief of that brings Nine to the brink over, and over, and over again.

I'll get to "Aliens of London," "World War Three," and the Slitheens in a second, but the real center of the first half of season one is "Dalek." The episode has its problems, pacing being the forefront. And the torture scenes only become more ridiculous when Nine immediately seems to recover and forgive his torturers. But all this can be forgiven for three scenes. The first, the Doctor's reunion with his mortal enemy, reveals for the first time that the Doctor was the one that brought an end to the Time War by destroying not only the Dalek race, but his own as well. He's a monster in his own right and that moment when he realizes it and then accepts it is fantastic. Where Ten and Eleven would hesitate in indecision and then probably find a way to make a hasty retreat, Nine goes right for the electrical switches and listens to the Dalek scream. He wants it to die and, even worse, celebrates in the extermination.

This tension returns in a later scene where the Doctor, after witnessing the death of hundreds by the Dalek's blue-ray of death, screams "Why don't you just die?" And there's a brilliant pause and in a manner that's slow and deliberate even for a Dalek, the Doctor's enemy replies: "You would make a good Dalek." And the Doctor doesn't have a response.


Which all leads to the Doctor pointing a huge gun at Rose Tyler. And she looks at him with such a mix of disgust and pity and shame that you don't really know what to think. The Doctor has become the monster that he's chasing--using the classic catchphrase "Exterminate" earlier in the episode, leaving his faithful companion to the clutches of the Dalek, screaming and yelling rather than acting. And this woman that he's quickly falling in love with suddenly asks him, "What the hell are you changing into?"

A lot is made about Rose saving the Doctor--it's a theme that will continue to come up over and over again until she eventually leaves the series. But it's never more obvious than it is here. The Doctor has turned into a maniac, a vengeful lord that's only now coming to turns with being the last of his kind. And if Rose hadn't been there, if Rose hadn't stopped him from firing that gun, then what would be left of him that would be worth saving?

The Doctor is a dangerous man. Rose knows it--she's almost died how many times by this point? Most of "Aliens of London" and "World War Three" is spent having people warn the girl to stay at home and forget the man and most of "The Long Game" is spent explaining why Rose never will.


Of course, this thread of storytelling is buried under the Slitheen who may be my least favorite Doctor Who creation of all time. Thankfully after this season they're relegated to the Sarah Jane Adventures with some success. The problem with them is that they act and look far too ridiculous to ever be viewed as a proper threat to the Doctor and are used too often for groan-worthy humor rather than proper storytelling.

But if you take all this away and stop being distracted by the big, fat green things that try to take over your screen, you'll notice that Rose Tyler makes a choice at the end of the two-parter. The Doctor makes her choose--or rather he gives her a choice that there's only one answer to. He won't become domestic, he won't visit with her mother, he won't eat at the kitchen table. It's either leave now or stay behind. It's not fair, and it's a lot to ask of a nineteen year old. And Rose makes the selfish choice and abandons Mickey, yet again, and leaves her mother waiting.


The end of "Dalek" brings the viewer right into "The Long Game," a moral story about companions gone wrong. Simon Pegg is in it as as a servant to a big monster, and other stuff happens with brains and information and the Face of Boe having a child. But the really important stuff is when Adam, the hanger-on that Rose brings along after the last episode, betrays the Doctor's trust and almost ruins everything. The Doctor has some jealousy issues (and it's more than a little implied that Rose brought Adam along hoping for some sort of reaction from the Time Lord) and so doesn't care for Adam from the start, but he lets the guy come because well...he almost kinda killed Rose and therefore owes her one.

But the Doctor has no room in the TARDIS for people who aren't clever, who aren't the best, who aren't loyal. And so Adam is left behind to be dissected and a Time Lord and his faithful companion continue on alone-a dysfunctional relationship that isn't heading anywhere good.

Next Up: "Father's Day," and the Moffat comes to save the day with "The Empty Child" and "The Doctor Dances."