Previously: Adam turned out to be a crap companion and the Doctor and Rose saved the human race from bad information slavery.
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Father’s Day
Kirsti: We open with a slightly terrifying close-up of a ginger bloke and Rose voiceover-ing about her dad, the most wonderful man in the world. I feel like I know the ginger bloke from something, but IMDb informs me it’s just One Episode of Every British Police Show Ever. (M: A+) That throws us into a flashback of Jackie showing Mini!Rose photos of her father and telling her about the day he died, how it was the same day that friends of hers got married. In the TARDIS, Rose asks the Doctor if they can go and see her father when he was still alive. The Doctor is briefly concerned and tells her “be careful what you wish for” but agrees with a grin nonetheless. He pulls some controls and the TARDIS vworp vworps.
Marines: That whole teaser was such a, “Rose is just 19 years old,” moment. She’s still technically a teenage with the ability to go anywhere and be anytime. This makes so much sense.
Sweeney: Right, so, I told you on Twitter that I didn’t hate this episode but I have to start out by saying that this episode did annoy me right out of the gate because the characters consistently make choices which don’t seem to make any sort of sense other than it will advance the plot! Even before I knew how the episode ends, I watched this scene with a giant case of, “REALLY? THAT’S ALL YOU’RE GOING TO SAY ON THE MATTER BEFORE DIVING IN?” and that rage only built up with his big reveal later on.
K: I get where you’re coming from, but (and there’s every possibility that this is just head canon) the way I see it is that the Ninth Doctor has a major case of survivor’s guilt and possibly PTSD. He’s just made it through the Time War, he had to do horrible things during it, and now he’s the last of his kind. And he wants nothing more than for that to not be the case. So he solves the feels inducing problems that he CAN solve. He may not be able to see his family, but he can sure as hell help Rose see hers. Basically, he can’t say no because he knows it’ll make her happy and Rose being happy makes the Doctor happy. Or something. IDK. Like I said, probably head canon.
DOO WEE DOOOOOOO!
After the credits, the Doctor and Rose are crashing Pete and Jackie’s wedding. Pete stuffs up Jackie’s name in his vows and the Doctor smirks with delight. Rose thought her dad would be taller. Flashback: Jackie sadly tells Mini!Rose that her father was killed in a hit-and-run, and he died all alone. She wishes there’d been someone there for him. TARDIS: Rose says she wants to be the person who’s there for him when he dies, and the TARDIS vworp vworps its way to 7 November 1987. The Doctor asks if she’s sure. She is. They head to the scene of the crime, just near the Powell Estate. Rose tells the Doctor how it happened as they wait for Pete to arrive – he was running late because he’d been to buy a wedding present. He got out of his car without looking and was hit.
Pete pulls up and Rose suddenly isn’t so fine any more. The Doctor takes her hand as Pete gets out of the car, ugly wedding vase in hand. A car speeds around the corner and hits him. Rose hides her eyes.
Sweeney: Tumblr helps with observations like that.
K: It’s nice to know that there are thousands of people out there looking at every tiny detail so that we don’t have to.
We see the vase smash, then Pete lying in the middle of the street. The Doctor tells Rose to go to him, but she can’t move. Cut to them hiding in an alley as the ambulance approaches. Rose is crying. She says it’s too late now because Pete was dead when the ambulance arrived. She asks the Doctor if she can try again.
Cut back to the scene of the crime. We pan past a bunch of posters, just as before, but this time one of the posters has BAD WOLF scrawled on it. SHOTS!! Rose and the Doctor lurk around a corner and watch their previous incarnations standing by the road. The Doctor tells Rose that this is a terrible idea, but she has to wait until The Other Rose runs off, followed by The Other Doctor, then go to Pete. He tells her this is the last time they can be there, so it’s her last chance. The scene repeats as before until the speeding car rounds the corner. Then Rose darts out, past The Other Rose and Doctor, and pulls Pete out of the car’s path. The Other Rose and Doctor look shocked briefly before they disappear from existence. The Doctor looks horrified.
Meanwhile, Rose is shocked that it actually worked. She introduces herself, and Pete’s all “Oh, that’s weird. My daughter’s name is Rose.”
She grins at him. He says a little awkwardly that he should go because he’s late for a wedding. Rose is all “This very specific wedding? I’m going to that too!” He offers her and “the boyfriend” a lift, and she looks over to see the Doctor glowering at her. Cut to a red wibbly overhead shot of London. Something shrieks.
Mari: But really, the Doctor glowering would’ve been enough to show us, the viewers, that bad things are coming.
Sweeney: You know, because he’s gotta glower instead of use his fucking words as ordained by the plot gods.
K: Yeah, but he can’t exactly mention “don’t do this, it causes time travel paradoxes” in front of Pete. But also, see aforementioned possibly-head canon about him wanting to make Rose happy.
Tyler flat. Pete invites them in, and dithers about random inventions that he’s never gotten around to making. He excuses himself and Rose gleefully looks around at all her father’s possessions on display, rather than in boxes. The Doctor remains silent, arms folded.
She says that now her father can do all the things he never got a chance to. The Doctor breaks his silence: “When we met, I said travel with me in space. You said no. Then I said time machine…” Rose insists it wasn’t a plan so much as an opportunity. The Doctor says coldly and a little tearily that he picked another stupid ape who wants the universe to do something for them. (M: Ouch.)
Rose is incredulous, saying that he changes history all the time. He insists that he knows what he’s doing and that he would never go back and save his planet (which apparently isn’t mentioned by name until The Runaway Bride WHAT THE HELL), even though it means his entire family is gone forever. The whole world, he says, is different because Pete’s alive. Rose insists that he’s just jealous because he’s no longer the most important man in her life. He snaps and asks for the TARDIS key back, then storms out. Rose follows, insisting that she knows how sad and lonely he is, that she knows he’ll just hang around outside the TARDIS waiting for her. He leaves and she slams the door behind him. I have a lot of feels because it’s like kicking a puppy.
Mari: Both of them hit where it hurt. They are both depending on the other, both using the other for something and it means they have leverage. Rose is being selfish with time. The Doctor is very sad and lonely. Both right but both wrong.
Sweeney: I’m not sure who was the puppy I should have had feels for, but they were absent. There was just so much pettiness here. Rose’s bit about another man in her life was probably the crowning achievement in pettiness,though, with bonus points for being from left field.
K: The puppy is the Doctor. But mostly because of that only-one-of-his-kind-and-nowhere-to-go thing.
The Doctor heads outside and we’re treated to some more red wibbly-vision, which then descends on a man gardening, a woman hanging out her laundry, and a man drinking cider in the gutter. They all scream and their things fall to the ground. Back in the flat, Pete returns wearing a suit, and tells her that all couples have problems from time to time. She insists that she and the Doctor aren’t a couple, then says she’s worried he’s left her. “What, a pretty girl like you? If I was going out with you…” Pete starts, but Rose interrupts to EW repeatedly. Legit, girl. (S: This made me giggle, mostly because I almost didn’t catch his line but of course she latched onto it and was overwhelmed by the EW of it all.) She suggests they leave for the wedding and takes his arm. He looks confused and says she seems oddly familiar.
Poorly Attended Wedding. The church is massive and there’s almost no one there. The groom says it’s weird that there are so many people missing, and his dad’s all “LOOK, YOU DON’T HAVE TO GO THROUGH WITH THIS”, which is surely a discussion you would have prior to reaching the altar?
There’s a tinkly noise, and then the groom’s father says “Is it me or did it just get cold?.” Outside, the Doctor walks towards the TARDIS. The red-wibbly vision watches from above. He looks up into the trees, but can’t see anything. He unlocks the TARDIS door and is horrified to find that it’s no longer Bigger On The Inside. It’s just a box. I’m sure the special effects department were thrilled by this turn of events. The Doctor looks panicky and rushes off to find Rose.
Pete’s car. Rose is a little uncomfortable to learn that her father isn’t the great businessman Jackie made him out to be. He’s more of a jack-of-all-trades. She passes comment on it, and Pete’s all “Judgey much? You must be related to my wife.” Rose realises that her mum will be at the wedding too and freaks a little. The radio station suddenly changes, and a hip-hop song from 2002 starts playing. Rose realises there’s something wrong and pulls out her phone. But when she calls, all she hears is Alexander Graham Bell’s first phone call over and over: “Watson, come here, I need you.” Behind them, the car that hit Pete appears. Pete turns a corner, and it drives straight on, but the driver throws his arm over his face, just like when he hit Pete, and the car vanishes.
Sweeney: This bit was nice. In truth, it probably wouldn’t have been possible for Pete to be as perfect as what she likely would have built up in her mind. Regardless, this was a nice moment, particularly for Jackie who wasn’t even in the scene, but is implicitly there, having lied to her daughter for her own good. Her daughter and probably herself, for that matter.
K: Nostalgia’s a rose-coloured bitch.
Outside the church, the bridal party are arriving as the father of the groom makes a call on a mobile phone the size of a small car. His call is interrupted by the same message Rose heard. He declares the day to be cursed. The bride gets out of the car, and her dress and hair are hella 80s. As is Jackie’s bridesmaid’s dress. She hands Baby!Rose off to a friend and goes to help the bride while lamenting the absence of her useless husband. Pete drive up and prepares to park when the car that hit him appears right in front of him. “Dad!” Rose screams as Pete swerves to avoid it. The car disappears.
They get out of the car, shaken but unhurt. Jackie walks over to argue with Pete and accuse Rose of being his latest floozy. Rose is horrified to realise that her parents’ marriage wasn’t as perfect as Jackie always told her it was. Jackie calls Pete a failure, saying she’s sick of him bringing home junk that doesn’t work, and tells him that if he’s not careful there’ll be a wedding and a divorce on the same day. Baby!Rose screams. Rose is gobsmacked and a little teary. Pete tells her to go park the car while he sorts things out and to stop causing trouble.
Mari: We’ve still got episode to go; trouble causing will continue.
K: Obvs.
In a playground, a woman is pushing her kid on the swing. He looks around the park at the other kids playing. The red-wibbly vision descends and one by one the kids and the mother disappear.
The kid runs for it. Outside the church, Rose warily watches her parents discuss their problems. The kid from the park runs up screaming about monsters, and the bridesmaids tease him about it being aliens as he runs into the church. Rose gets a flicker of recognition before the Doctor runs up, shouting her name. She looks smug, but that rapidly changes when she sees that he’s looking at something in the air next to her.
She looks up as the awkward love-child of a bat and a praying mantis appears. (M: Do not know if terrifying or hilarious.) (S: Hilarious. A+ description, Kirsti.) (K: I do what I can.) She screams and it dives at her. The Doctor pushes her out of the way and they run towards the church, shoving the bridal party ahead of them. Two more Bat Mantises appear as people come out of the church to see what the commotion is about. The red-wibbly vision returns, and the priest and the father of the groom are eaten by Bat Mantises. The Doctor hurries everyone into the church and slams the doors.
Inside, he says that the Bat Mantises can’t get in because the older something is, the stronger it is, so if they secure the doors and windows, they should be safe. (M: Convenient!) Jackie’s all “Who are you and why are you in charge?” and the Doctor tells her to follow orders and check the doors. Jackie meekly follows orders. The groom suggests calling the police, and the Doctor is all “LOL NOPE” because he knows how Traumaland works. The Bat Mantises, he says, are taking advantage of a wound in time, like bacteria in a cut. Gross. Rose asks if this is her fault. The Doctor doesn’t answer. (M: Which means yes.)
Outside, the Bat Mantises eat some more people. There are abandoned cars and bikes and baby carriages all over the place. In the vestry, Pete peers out the window and postulates that the Bat Mantises have taken over the entire world. The Doctor looks outside and spots the car that killed Pete appearing and disappearing between two specific points. Pete half notices it, and the Doctor tells him not to worry about it.
Sweeney: Another nice little moment. The Doctor’s realization and immediate dismissal of this as a solution was sweet, feelsy, and actually subtle, which was lovely.
K: Pete finds Rose by the altar. He’s confused about why he would have given his car keys to a total stranger, then says he trusted her the minute they met. He’s joined the dots and has worked out that she’s his daughter, all grown up. He touches her face tearfully. Rose cries and hugs him. Outside, a Bat Mantis headbutts the door. Inside, the bride and groom ask the Doctor if he can save them. He asks how they met – street corner outside a club at 2am, phone number written on hand, now she’s pregnant. He says a little sadly that he’s never had that kind of life, and he’ll do his best.
In the choir stalls, the Doctor is talking to Baby!Rose about not ending the world. Rose walks up and he says “Jackie gave her to me to look after. How times change…” Rose goes to pick up Baby!Rose and outside a Bat Mantis screeches. The Doctor stops her, and says she can’t because it’s a paradox and paradoxes are bad (*cough* PAY ATTENTION, MOFFAT *cough). Rose insists that she’s not stupid, and the Doctor scoffs.
Sweeney: Right, so, this is when I got fucking furious. I get that the Doctor is all snarky YAY ADVENTURE and whatever, but the fact that he would take her onto this little journey into her past without taking 2 seconds to give her this one sentence explanation of the paradox situation makes no character sense and served only to facilitate this story. It’s incredibly hard to feel for characters who the writers refuse to fully form lest they fill the giant hole reserved for shoving writerly hands into plot puppets.
K: The way I see it, this episode is essentially a way of introducing the concept of paradoxes to New Who. And so they’re employing our good old friend “show, don’t tell” to demonstrate why paradoxes are a fucking terrible idea. With a side of “this is largely meant for children, who will employ endless “BUT WHY????”s if the Doctor uses his words like a grown up.”
The Doctor softens a little and tells her that the Bat Mantises have taken over the whole planet, that only groups like the one in the church remain, that eventually the Bat Mantises will get in. There’s nothing he can do to stop it. In the past, the Time Marids would have fixed it, but they’re gone and he’s the only one left. And even he won’t be around much longer with the Bat Mantises outside.
Rose apologises and they hug. “Have you got something hot?” she asks. She reaches into his pocket and pulls out the TARDIS key which is glowing with heat.
The Doctor realises that the key is telling him that the inside of the TARDIS is still out there, and he can use the key to bring it back, and then use the TARDIS to fix everything. All he needs is a battery. The groom hands him his giganto-phone, and the Doctor gives it a boost with the sonic screwdriver. The Bat Mantises hammer on the door.
Mari: This is even better than when Zach Morris used to use his giganto-phone to order pizza in class, you know, with the world saving and all. Giganto-phones are nothing to laugh at.
Sweeney: One day Saved by the Bell will get full treatment here. Except we have a moratorium on new stuff until we can get the current stuff on the regular, so, you know, COMING TO SNARKSQUAD.COM IN 2018, SAVED BY THE BELL RECAPS!
K: Thank you for mentioning that Mari was talking about Saved by the Bell, because I had no fucking clue.
At the back of the church, Rose and Pete have a little chat. He asks how they turned up at that specific time, and she’s vague. He says it’s handy that she was there to save him, and she insists that it’s a coincidence. He looks a little disbelieving and asks her about the future, specifically if he’s a good father. She says a little tearily that he read her stories every night, never let them down, and was always there for them. “That’s not me…” Pete says with a sad smile.
At the front of the church, the TARDIS starts to materialise around the key. The Doctor tells everyone not to touch the key or they’ll all be fucked. Outside the church, the Bat Mantises circle and the car that killed Pete appears and disappears on its loop. Back inside, Rose nervously watches the TARDIS. Jackie gives her a death stare. She asks the Doctor what will happen when time is sorted out. He says that everyone will forget (it was a gang on PCP!), but that “the thing you changed will stay changed.” “You mean I’ll still be alive, though I’m meant to be dead…” says Pete from behind them. He says this explains why he’s always been such a no-hoper. The Doctor insists it doesn’t work that way.
Rose tells him that it’s her fault all this is happening, not his. But he says as her father, it’s his job to make it his fault. (S: Seeing so little parenting on TV, this gave me feels.) Jackie walks up in time to hear this and is all “WTF, you gave our kid the same name as your secret love-child? GROSS.” Pete headdesks a little and informs her that they’re both the same Rose. He grabs Baby!Rose and hands her to Rose. (M: UM WHY?) (S: NO REASON OR MOTIVATIONS EXIST. THERE IS ONLY PLOT.) The Doctor snatches Baby!Rose away, but it’s too late. The paradox has let in a Bat Mantis.
The Doctor yells at everyone to get behind him because he’s the oldest thing in the church. The red-wibbly vision returns and the Bat Mantis eats the Doctor. Everyone runs screaming. The Bat Mantis hits the TARDIS, causing both of them to vanish.
The TARDIS key drops to the ground. Rose rushes up and grabs it. It’s cold. The TARDIS is gone and the Doctor’s dead, and it’s all her fault. Pete hugs her as Bat Mantises cover the windows and the church sinks into darkness. From the vestry window, Pete spots the car on its loop. He goes back into the church and sits next to Rose, telling her that the Doctor really cared about her and he was hoping to find another way out. But now he’s gone and they only have one option left. Rose is confused. Pete tells her about the car, and says the Doctor was trying to protect him. Rose cries that he can’t do it, and he hugs her.
Jackie walks up looking judgey. Pete’s all “Look, Jackie, FFS this is our kid” and for some reason Jackie believes him this time and hugs Rose. Pete tells Jackie he’s supposed to be dead and she has to survive to bring up Rose. She cries and they kiss. Pete turns back to Rose and says he never had the chance to be a proper dad until now. She gave him all these extra hours, and he got to see how beautiful she is.
Sweeney: And in spite of how much the ever visible plot machinations frustrated me all throughout this episode, I totally cried during all of this.
K: The Doctor appears at the church door and tells Rose to go to her father. She runs to Pete and he stares at her tearful face before dying. Everyone comes out of the church to stare. Flashback: Jackie tells Mini!Rose that the driver who killed her father was just a kid. He stopped and waited for the police. It wasn’t his fault because Pete ran out in front of the car and no one knows why. But there was a blonde girl who stayed with him to the end, holding his hand. Then she vanished.
I’m torn between THAT’S WHAT HAPPENS and FEELS. And I honestly can’t work out which one takes precedence…
Mari: Feels all day for me. FEELS ALL DAY. It didn’t work out well for Rose, her intervention, except if you think about the part where she has these memories now of her father. And that in some version of the world, her father got to see her too. It’s touching and wonderful and definitely more dialed down than some of the crazy alien stories we’ve seen up to this point. Beyond that, we got a look at both the Doctor and who he is and Rose and who she is. It was at this point in my original viewing that I finally felt sold on what I was watching.
Sweeney: Guys, I’m really not trying to be difficult, but no, I am not yet sold. What I can say is that this is the best episode we’ve seen so far.
My core problems with this show are (1) the way in which the messages tend to be laid on a little thick -and- (2) the fact that I can always see the plot gears turning and they are so fucking unwieldy. Who needs character motivations when you can just conveniently point your characters in whatever which way they need to go to make the Bat Mantis appear or whatever other bullshit the episode requires?
This episode partially succeeded for me, though. There was a lot less of problem #1. The stuff about the vast importance of normal people fell in that category (and the thing is that the message becomes weaker for it – it becomes more about how many times we can have the Doctor say the thing instead of just showing the thing) but there were a number of lovely little things in this episode where dialogue was omitted in favor of a loaded look from the Doctor or Rose. Those bits translated. The exploration of the fact that there are some things we simply can’t change and everything it meant for these characters – the real meat of this episode – was actually quite good.
Also I cried, so yay feelings! And that’s about the best thing I can say at this point: everything that I have found unwatchable about the show up to this point is still present but also, in spite of that, it finally made me feel things. I’m not sure what to say about that, because I’m a pretty easy crier, and it’s frustrating me to no end that I’m not more on board with this. Still, this is the first time that I’m like, “OK, I can maybe see how this might be a thing.” I was only like 40% kidding about feeling that this whole thing was a big joke everyone was playing on me. I’ve now moved past that to a general acceptance that maybe it’s a real and actual thing that has real and actual merits. Progress. Tears and progress.
K: I feel like my comments are constantly ending up in a “defending this show even sometimes it doesn’t warrant it” place, which is pissing me off, so I apologise if it’s pissing everyone else off too. But I feel like season 1 works a lot better when you know more of the Doctor’s history and you know what he’s been through and everything that he’s lost. It doesn’t help with the contrivance factor, but it does – at least for me – get past some of Sweeney’s complaints about not having the Doctor say the thing as a repetitious plot device. A lot of the season is about the audience discovering things through Rose’s eyes, and no one wants to jump into a fantastic (ha) world and then be given a list of caveats. Or something. High fives for tears and progress.
Next time on Doctor Who: Meet Captain Jack Harkness in S01 E09 – The Empty Child.
I'm a 30-something librarian and I still live with my parents because I'm super broke. Leader of Team Heartless Cow. I have an inexplicable love for 90s television, eat too much chocolate, and read more than is good for me.
Nicole is the co-captain of Snark Squad and these days she spends most of her time editing podcasts. She spends too much time on Twitter and very occasionally vlogs and blogs. In her day job she's a producer, editor, director, and sometimes host of educational YouTube channels. She loves travel, maps, panda gifs, and semicolons. Writing biographies stresses her out; she crowd sourced this one years ago and has been using a version of it ever since. She would like to thank Twitter for their help.
I'm a 30-something south Floridan who loves the beach but cannot swim. Such is my life, full of small contradictions and little trivialities. My main life goals are never to take life too seriously, but to do everything I attempt seriously well. After that, my life goals devolve into things like not wearing pants and eating all of the Zebra Cakes in the world. THE WORLD.
