Doctor Who 3x02 -- The Shakespeare Code

[butterfly]

My original reaction to The Shakespeare Code is over here with a follow-up here.

So, what do I think of it now, having seen all of season three?

Again, I mention in my review how much I like Martha with only, again, the exception of disliking the crush. The thing that I said at the end of the second post struck me in my reread:

Right now, Martha's feelings aren't affecting anything major. Hopefully, they won't. I like Martha, but I liked Chloe a whole lot in Season One. Season Two almost completely ruined her character for me. Luckily, Martha is older than Chloe was, so she'll probably be able to handle things better.

Because Martha's feelings actually were pivotal in the finale, much as Chloe's feelings for Clark were pivotal at the end of S2 of Smallville. But Martha was, indeed, much more mature and grown-up than Chloe -- her feelings ended up enabling her to save the world, rather than leading her to betray her friend. Good show on Martha's part.

It's actually really interesting to go back and see how much I genuinely liked Martha at the beginning of the season (honestly, apart from the crush, I genuinely do like Martha a majority of the time -- but I don't think that she's entitled to the Doctor's affections, which she also realized by the end, so, you know, the main issue I had with her is gone now). And despite having the two Rose mentions in this episode, I was still in the place where I was feeling like I could move on with the show.

And then Gridlock came along and ripped out my heart.

But that's next week.

This last week was Shakespeare and witches and the power of words.

Here is where they tell us that words can be as powerful as math and science -- this is where they set up the eucatastrophe (word invented by Tolkien --  which is when a bad situation suddenly turns about and goes well, but isn't a deus ex machina because it's set up in the story before) that happens at the end of the season with the Doctor. They set up Bad Wolf with Blon turning into an egg and they set up TinkerDoc with this episode here, talking about the power of words (also, the more I think about the finale, the more I kinda like TinkerDoc -- I mean, they're both the mythical beings of the tale (Peter being originally human), who have a tendency to show extreme flips in emotion (Tink because fairies are only big enough for one emotion at a time; the Doctor because... he's the Doctor), and a morality that isn't always the same as human morality).

Again, as happened with both S1 and S2, knowing the ending, it's easy to see the way everything builds to it, how each episode contributes to the whole. S&J brings us Martha and Martha's crush, TSC introduces the power of words, Gridlock introduces the faith theme, the Daleks two-parter prefigures what the Master does with the Utopia humans plus introduces the concept that 'no second chances' doesn't apply to old enemies that the Doctor really identifies with, TLE sets up the Jones family plotline, 42 gives Martha the key and phone and has the creepy moment at the end with the acolyte vibes and is actually really important in Martha's arc, HN/FoB introduces the fob watch and the notion of Time Lords turning human in order to escape something, Blink reinforces all the notions of time being manipulated and the importance of words, and then Utopia, TSotD, and LotTL break it all down for us.

But, back to The Shakespeare Code... and the song at the beginning, which I never really noticed the first time around.

...that lights the traveller's way
her smile was like a summer bloom that bursts then fades away
my love is night, my love is day
my love, she is my world...

I mean, it's just typical romantic fare, isn't it? But this time, I remembered Julie Gardner calling Rose the Doctor's reason to ensure that there's 'light in the darkness' in the description of DW S2 and how, last week, the baddie pegged the Doctor as 'laughing on purpose at the dark', and I remembered Rose in Parting of the Ways -- "The sun and the moon. The night and the day. But why do they hurt?"

Couples and the dangers and rewards of romantic love are an episodic theme this season, in a way that they weren't before -- in S1, we have Rose and the Doctor coming together against various other possibilities (Mickey, Jabe, Jack, Lynda), but the only other couples that get any attention at all are Pete/Jackie and the pair at the wedding in Father's Day and the almost-a-couple that die together in The Parting of the Ways. In S2, we have more -- Tooth & Claw (Sir Robert dies), The Girl in the Fireplace (Reinette dies), The Idiot's Lantern (she kicks him out), Love and Monsters (Ursula nearly dies and is now a face in a block of paving stone, plus the side couple dies) and Army of Ghosts (Adeola and her honey both die) feature couples, plus the continuance of Pete/Jackie (the only romantic love story with an entirely happy ending, and even that is buried in the tragedy of each person's Alt!love dying).

But contrast that to S3 -- we have Clive and his girlfriend in S&J (Leo and his wife/girlfriend/partner), Lilith and the boy she kills in TSC, three different sets of devoted couples in Gridlock, Tallulah and Laszlo in the Dalek two-parter, Lazarus and the woman he betrays in TLE, the Captain and her husband in 42, John Smith and Joan in HN/FoB, Sally and Larry in Blink (plus Kathy and her boy, and Billy and his girl), all leading up to the big ones -- the Master and Lucy, and then Francine and Clive. Romantic love is a theme, both the good and bad of it. There's flimsy attraction -- Clive; there's betrayal -- Lazarus, Lilith. There's devotion -- Gridlock, Tallulah and Lazslo, the Captain. And while some of them do end badly, the balance is much more apparent.

Something I really noticed this time around is how much the Doctor doesn't want to explain things to Martha. He doesn't want to tell her how the TARDIS works, doesn't want to talk about why they can move about in time safely, doesn't want to bother to explain psychic paper. One trip, he says at the beginning. And a person who's only there for one trip doesn't need to know all that stuff. He wants to thank her for saving his life, give her a bit of a thrill, kill his loneliness a little, but he doesn't want to get attached (but of course he does anyway. He always gets attached, much more than he likes to show. He's always a bit cut in the heart when one of his companions decides to leave him).

Also, I believe that this is the last time that the Doctor holds Martha's hand. He grabs it to run her over to see the Globe, drops it, offers her his arm, and then I don't think we ever see him grabbing her hand again (he rather notably fails to do so in the Dalek two-parter and TLE, both times when I was expecting him to and was surprised when it didn't happen), but perhaps he does in Gridlock. I'll keep my eyes peeled.

Here, we also see that Martha manages to successfully go to a performance -- I'm not sure that the Doctor and Rose ever managed that. Trouble always happened right away for them. Martha actually doesn't get the big 'The Doctor Screws Up Sometimes' episode that Rose did -- there's no Unquiet Dead, where the Doctor lands in the wrong place and makes completely the wrong assumption about the bad guy. Martha does tend to end up in the smelly, dirty parts of the history/future, but the Doctor still ends up coming out like he knows what he's doing.

So, the Doctor says of Shakespeare, "Genuis. He's a genuis. The genuis. The most human human there's ever been." Later, in Utopia, he says of Rose: "But she was human. Everything she did was so human," when explaining what Rose did while she held the Time Vortex. The tenth Doctor has something of a mixed attitude about humans, particularly this season -- he adores them, adores the humanness of them, but has been reintroduced to greed and despises that about them at the same time. This ends up resulting in a whiplash attitude of 'human=genius' to 'human=selfish, careless monsters' (something that was much more tilted to the 'genuis' side when Rose was there, though the other part did show up).

Here, too, we have Martha suggesting, "We could make a mint," regarding the notion of recording Shakespeare's lost play and selling it in the future. Shades of Adam. Luckily, Martha picks up quickly that that isn't acceptable (the Doctor is mildly horrified at the notion and I'm reminded of what he said to Rose about a different topic -- "It never even occurred to you." In that case, he was talking about her never suggesting that they rabbit off and escape the fight, but it applies to this, too. It never occurs to her to want to make a profit from travelling with the Doctor).

Regarding what Rose Might Have Noticed -- she might very well have noticed how oddly Shakespeare was acting (that jerk he did when Lilith affected him) and glanced around (she was a great one for glancing around) and noticed Lilith in the balcony. Which would mean that she'd have noticed Lilith dressed as a servant later on. That... sounds quite like Rose, actually.

Oh, and we can start here the list of people Immediately Struck by Martha's prettiness -- Shakespeare, Riley, Jack, and Tom. Rose's list of attraction is also four, if we count Mickey -- there's also the Doctor, Adam, and (of course) Jack. Martha and Rose seem to be shown, by the show, to be roughly equally attractive. If anything, Martha is telegraphed as the prettier of the two (because Adam ended up being more interested in using time travel to his own advantage than he was in Rose). The Doctor's lack of interest in this episode is balanced out by Shakespeare's very apparent and immediate interest, making it clear that the reason isn't because Martha isn't interesting and pretty and wonderful, but because the Doctor is not in a place where he's interested right now (also shown by his reaction to Lilith's seduction attempt -- "That's one form of magic that's definitely not going to work on me." -- and the way he never plans out what Martha should do if 'John Smith' falls in love. His heart has grown cold and Rose is always walking away from him in his dreams.).

And, as they end up saying in The Lazarus Experiment, the Doctor had a plan and things just... escalated. He only planned to take Martha to one play, then interesting things started happening. He planned on dropping her back home, but then noticed that, on Earth, interesting things were happening.

I can understand why Martha is put-out in the bedroom scene -- she really likes him and he doesn't even notice her that way and, not only that, he dismisses the notion that she can help him. It's rather rude of him, though, of course, without Rose there, there isn't anyone to stop him from being rude and oblivious and dismissive (not until Jack arrives in Utopia). He's not intentionally cruel. Also, he's right on two levels -- something apart from the plot is staring him in the face (Martha's crush) and (because she told him she didn't feel that way) he's missing it. And Rose would have known about that, as well. She'd have noticed Martha's feelings, no doubt about that.

But the Doctor's method worked well enough, too -- after she's woken up by Dolly's scream, Martha's head is in the game. She's offering suggestions and asking questions, instead of trying to flirt.

Oh, and the second Rose reference is so wonderful -- the name that keeps him fighting. The one word that still has power, but not the power the Carrionite was expecting, because Rose and remembering Rose doesn't make the Doctor weak or incapacitate him, instead it gives him strength. She's still his light in the darkness, even though she's gone.

I still find the witches over the top, but the Doctor, Shakespeare, and Martha are all worth watching.

Comments

[mrv3000.livejournal.com]

Interesting getting your take on things, now having seen the entire arc of S3. That was one thing I kept wishing - to know where everything was going and to see the big picture while watching the series. Because with New Who, there's always a bigger picture. Lovely review!

[butterfly.livejournal.com]

It really does help to have the big picture all set out. Both the Doctor and Martha's character arcs for S3 do flow rather organically, even though there are still parts of Martha's arc that I find disagreeable.

[goldy-dollar.livejournal.com]

Gah. As always, I love reading your thoughts. Practically every little thing you say always makes me go: "Oh, THAT makes so much sense. Why didn't I see that?"

Couples and the dangers and rewards of romantic love are an episodic theme this season, in a way that they weren't before

That's such a great observation. On some level I recognized that the Doctor kept coming face-to-face with all these devoted relationships every episode this season (especially given that he's dealing with the agony of having loved and lost), but it's interesting when you compare it to the one's in S2 and S1. If I ever meet Russell, it's definitely one of those things I'd love to know if it was intentional or not.

Oh, and the second Rose reference is so wonderful -- the name that keeps him fighting.

Oh, it SO is. And it gives me hope for the Doctor, too. I don't think he was anywhere close to a "it's better to love and lose than never love at all" epiphany this season (mostly because his grief by Utopia seems just as sharp as it was in S&J), but I hope he gets there eventually. I'd love if Rose's memory became something he could be proud of and take comfort in instead of something that seems to cause him so much pain.

[jedi_of_urth]

On some level I recognized that the Doctor kept coming face-to-face with all these devoted relationships every episode this season (especially given that he's dealing with the agony of having loved and lost), but it's interesting when you compare it to the one's in S2 and S1.

I was saying earlier, in my Runaway Bride recap, that the big difference is that the Doctor can't help but *notice* the couples now, and seeing a thousand different ways it could have gone for him and Rose. There's something like five times that hit me watching TRB, the fact that it was a bride in the TARDIS, "Just one cup of coffee" is rather close to "We had chips," the couples dancing (and there were at least two different blond girls he stared at), a fair bit of Donna and Lance's interaction... Yes it was far from a happy reflection, but he could not escape this couple he was forced to be around. But by the end of the season I was the main preacher of th couples as Bad Wolf of the season concept.

mostly because his grief by Utopia seems just as sharp as it was in S&J

As sharp? I'd argue it's sharper. The main difference is that it Jack who he can talk actually to, but I also think that given time the pain hasn't gotten better, and by virtue of that it has in some ways gotten worse. he always *knew* she was "trapped" but he couldn't admit it, not even really to himself because even thinking that would make it worse, and then Jack comes along and drags the admission out of him, doesn't mean it hurts any less, just makes him admit to it.

I am not nearly as eloquent about this as I would like to be.

[butterfly.livejournal.com]

Thanks!

That's such a great observation. On some level I recognized that the Doctor kept coming face-to-face with all these devoted relationships every episode this season (especially given that he's dealing with the agony of having loved and lost), but it's interesting when you compare it to the one's in S2 and S1. If I ever meet Russell, it's definitely one of those things I'd love to know if it was intentional or not.

It really does seem to be, especially with what Martha says three episodes from now, "There's someone for everyone."

Oh, it SO is. And it gives me hope for the Doctor, too. I don't think he was anywhere close to a "it's better to love and lose than never love at all" epiphany this season (mostly because his grief by Utopia seems just as sharp as it was in S&J), but I hope he gets there eventually. I'd love if Rose's memory became something he could be proud of and take comfort in instead of something that seems to cause him so much pain.

Yeah, right now, his grief is still too acute (though, he did have that year of pain and suffering, which may make Rose's loss slightly more distant... we'll find out next season).

[llywela13.livejournal.com]

*settles in for a good read*

Damn, having got to the end, I've now forgotten all the points I was going to respond to...

*thinks and re-reads*

I kinda like TinkerDoc -- I mean, they're both the mythical beings of the tale

I think one reason DW can get away with TinkerDoc is that the show really isn't written as sci fi, it's written as fantasy, as allegory. That's RTD's vision of the show. And...it's early so I've forgotten the rest of the point I was trying to make there. *sigh*

Something I really noticed this time around is how much the Doctor doesn't want to explain things to Martha...a person who's only there for one trip doesn't need to know all that stuff.
That was what I enjoyed most about the Doctor's arc this season - his dynamic with Martha, in the wake of Rose. I found Martha's unrequited crush on him a little tedious over time because she was clearly capable of so much more, but I really enjoyed it from his perspective. Because he needed so much to have someone with him, to keep moving, keep dazzling her, never stop and reflect. But he was also refusing steadily to let himself get attached. He wanted companionship, but he also wanted for it to be temporary, no commitment. Show her the universe and then move on. So, like you say here, not telling her important stuff keeps it casual, no commitment, even as the one trip extends further and further.

[llywela13.livejournal.com]

Remembered a point I meant to make earlier only forgot and so sidetracked onto alternate waffle.

Martha actually doesn't get the big 'The Doctor Screws Up Sometimes' episode that Rose did

That was something that kind of stood out for me all season, whenever I saw people moaning about how Martha never seemed to think about her family. Because she did think about her family, but usually only when she was in grave danger. And I always felt that her lack of a 'doctor screws up' episode was a big part of that. Rose found out early on that travelling with the Doctor comes with a risk attached; he returned her home a year late, which had huge knock-on repurcussions for the people she was closest to, Jackie and Mickey, and it was something that could never be undone. She continued to travel with him with her eyes wide open, making an informed decision that Jackie and Mickey were both fully aware of.

Martha never had that. She could afford to see herself living in a safe little bubble of adventure, never giving a second thought to the people and formative career she'd left behind, because she always believed, absolutely believed, that the Doctor could and would return her to almost the exact time she'd left. She could travel the universe with him, have these mind-blowing adventures, and no one would even know she'd ever been gone. It was time-out, it was safe, and she never had any reason to doubt him, therefore she only stopped to worry about her family when she thought she was going to die and thus not give him the chance to get her home before she could be missed. It was escapism, for both her and the Doctor, in a way.

It makes a pretty big difference between hers and Rose's experience with the Doctor, when you think about it. Especially taking the season finale into account - the moment Martha's family were dragged into it, bursting the bubble, she backed out, prioritising their needs over the Doctor, whereas Rose had made the opposite choice. Plus, of course, there was all that unrequited stuff going on as well, colouring Martha's every action.

Shutting up now ;-)

[jic]

You're so articulate. :D