Russell T Davies: such a complete romantic

[butterfly]

Every single RTD series that I've seen has given me those heartclenching "Oh, he loves you so much, oh!" moments. Sometimes it's as obvious as Bob actually telling Rose that he's in love with her; sometimes it's more like the moment when the Doctor looks over at Rose at the end of The Christmas Invasion and it's obvious that he wants her to come with him more than anything else in the universe. It's Stuart, looking over at Vince and saying in a teasing voice, "Come and save me."

Russell does romance. Unashamedly and without cynicism. Possibly the best summation of it comes from Bob and Rose. Bob and Rose are on their first date and they end up talking about love and he says...

Bob: "It just happens, though. Anyone can fall in love with anyone."
Rose: "That's a bit romantic."
Bob: "Oh, hold on. I think that anyone can fall in love with anyone and I think it almost never happens. Cause most people just... miss."
Rose: "That's still romantic."
Bob: "Here was me, hoping I was a cynic."
Rose: "You're not that."

Russell likes writing about people who fall in love. About when two people who fit each other meet and none of the rest of it matters. And he's aware of the downsides of that kind of love -- Holly feels the same kind of shut-out that we see the Doctor and Rose do to Mickey; and, of course, there's the 'what if the love of your life is already involved with someone else?' question that is brought up in both Bob and Rose and Doctor Who. There's nothing wrong with Andy, just like there's nothing wrong with Mickey. But then Rose meets Bob/the Doctor and her world shifts. In both cases, Rose's relationship with her SO is nice; there's nothing wrong with it. But it isn't enough for her. It was just passing the time; doing the done thing, what was expected.

He likes writing about people who find each other -- street corner, two in the morning, getting a taxi home.

There was a boy in class today, an Irish boy.

And then I met a man called the Doctor.

There's a pattern with what he writes -- nothing as limiting as an outline, but vague character and relationship patterns. You could never mistake Stuart Alan Jones for the Doctor, but they inhabit the same position in their respective relationships.

I love that there's nobody perfect in these relationships. Stuart's a careless asshole. Vince is a lying coward. Rose Cooper dates Bob while she's still with Andy and is a pretty dab hand with a lie herself. Bob flails about in denial for ages before giving in to what was obvious in the first episode (and lies several times about how much Rose means to him). Rose Tyler treats Mickey terribly (and Mickey lets her). The Doctor is rude, selfish, arrogant, and controlling (particularly near the start of their relationship, when he's unsure of her).

The relationships themselves are messy and hard to define. "He's not my boyfriend, Mickey. He's much more important than that." It's complicated, but, ultimately, worth it. When two people find each other and click, it's worth chasing after it.

He also deals with the topic of unrequited love alongside -- there's Nathan, who falls for Stuart before eventually realizing that he wants to be Stuart. There's Holly, who has been sabotaging Bob's relationships for years and who needs to (in Martha's words) get out so that she can find herself. There's Martha, who falls for the Doctor but never quite reaches him and who needed to let him go so that she could find her own happiness (a great big love of her own). Nathan and Holly both redeem themselves for being jerks to the requited love interest by prompting a get-together (and reunion) and then start to move on with their lives.

There are interesting Venn diagrams of things -- Vince/Stuart, which looks like unrequited love at first, versus Holly/Bob, which really is unrequited love. Mothers and their reactions to their children exploring strange new worlds of whatever nature. Whether or not romantic love requires shagging and what a 'special' relationship means.

Vince and Stuart go 'traveling', tour America with a gun they don't shoot, and hold hands. Bob and Rose choose a domestic life with dinners at home and at least one baby. We don't know about the Doctor and Rose yet.

In all three cases, we get to see what it's like for them to be separated, with the Doctor and Rose having (appropriately, considering the genre) the most epic separation. When Stuart's lost Vince, all the beautiful men in the world can't console him and his huge world is far too big. "My world is so fucking huge!" he shouts and the actor himself mentions in the audio commentary that he looks like he wants to shoot himself. A vital part of him has been ripped away and he has to learn how to breathe all over again. That's what the Doctor's been doing, the third and fourth series -- relearning how to breathe.

Then there's something that I'm really looking forward to -- the reunion (there's always a reunion). Stuart sees Vince at the club (Vince having just dropped his boyfriend Cameron) and they race to the stage and dance like idiots together (again, in series two, when Vince walks out on his job and races to meet up with Stuart before he leaves town). Bob and Rose see each other across the way and she walks past him and brushes him and they turn to each other and the relief on their faces when they realize that they've each made up their minds to be together is just... so beautiful (the actors do so much with their faces in this -- there's no dialogue between them at all. There doesn't need to be -- and the world starts spinning around them, the same way it did back when Bob first told Rose that he loved her (by phone!). The world is spinning and they're clinging to each other, clinging to the surface of this tiny world and not letting go.). Russell does wonderful reunions.

He also does fantastic endings. QaF and B&R each have absolutely beautiful 'this is just the beginning of their story together' endings that always fill my heart with such joy. Russell knows how to end things in a satisfactory way, whether with joy or with sorrow (the 'death' of the Ninth Doctor is simply gorgeous). He makes me cry, sometimes, but he always makes it worth it.

Comments

[doctor-addict.livejournal.com]

here via the SPDN

Can I just say, complete and total WORD.

I'm a huge fan of Rusty's, always have been. Your post up there, is what has been going 'round in my head since I'd stopped crying over Doomsday (the first time 'round). You articulate it perfectly.

And this is why that although I'm nervous about the next four weeks, I know that my hope will win out.

I hope.

;-D

[butterfly.livejournal.com]

Thanks!

I know that RTD will do right by Rose and her story, whatever that means. He brought her back because her story wasn't done yet and he's built up to her return enough to make anything other than a truly epic storyline rather silly.