Doctor Who 3x03 -- Gridlock
Apr. 15th, 2007 09:38 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
butterflyIsn't loss supposed to get easier over time?
That's what people say. I'm not sure that I believe them. My aunt died eight years ago. That grief is as fresh and painful to me now as it was then. I don't think of it as often, but losing her has marked my life so incredibly profoundly and the impact and pain of the loss is still there.
I appreciate that RTD is keeping the Doctor's grief over Rose realistic. It's just amazing to me how painful it is. I felt an aching space where Rose wasn't, this week.
RTD is showing us all the places that Martha and Rose differ by showing us where they're more alike.
Both are the type of person who is willing to take off with an alien they'd only recently met. Both of them felt the urge to heal the wounds in the Doctor's hearts. Both of them appreciate living history and the distant future. They both ask questions; they both show faith.
As a character type, Rose simply appeals more to me. I always fall for the intuitive types first, people who think with their heart (not such a bad strategy, in the end -- the book Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking has some interesting thoughts on the concept). Rose's approach to the Doctor's problems, allowing him space until he's ready, also appeals to me more than Martha's more direct style.
It makes sense to have a character like Rose first and one like Martha second. With Rose, we had a slow and elegant mystery in the first season. With Martha, the viewers already know the answers, so it makes little sense to dwell on them, so instead they're expanding what we know.
All of the episodes in S3 thus far have contained references to Rose (and I hear that there's a version of 'Bad Wolf' in one of the motorcars -- I'll see if I can locate a screencap). Was 'Saxon' mentioned at all in this episode? I didn't hear it. I know that it wasn't mentioned in the last one.
I loved hearing about Gallifrey. I'm so happy for the Doctor that he's finally in a place where he can talk about it. About the place, if not the specific people (I'd love to hear the words 'Susan' or 'Romana' this season, though). The thing that struck me as so sad about his excuses to Martha is that when Gallifrey still existed they were true. He did like to avoid staying home -- he much preferred roaming the universe for adventure.
I missed Rose so much in this episode. Visceral tugging ache, I tell you. It's made me start work on another DW vid (I've got several non-DW vids in progress, but Rose Tyler pretty much owns my soul right now, so, yeah).
David Tennant is kicking all kinds of ass, though. He owned this episode. He can pull off the grief just as well as Eccleston (not that I had any doubts -- he had his moments of coldness and angst in S2, but Rose just gave him a higher baseline of happy than he has this season, so he gets to go a bit deeper now). Lovely work.
That's what people say. I'm not sure that I believe them. My aunt died eight years ago. That grief is as fresh and painful to me now as it was then. I don't think of it as often, but losing her has marked my life so incredibly profoundly and the impact and pain of the loss is still there.
I appreciate that RTD is keeping the Doctor's grief over Rose realistic. It's just amazing to me how painful it is. I felt an aching space where Rose wasn't, this week.
RTD is showing us all the places that Martha and Rose differ by showing us where they're more alike.
Both are the type of person who is willing to take off with an alien they'd only recently met. Both of them felt the urge to heal the wounds in the Doctor's hearts. Both of them appreciate living history and the distant future. They both ask questions; they both show faith.
As a character type, Rose simply appeals more to me. I always fall for the intuitive types first, people who think with their heart (not such a bad strategy, in the end -- the book Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking has some interesting thoughts on the concept). Rose's approach to the Doctor's problems, allowing him space until he's ready, also appeals to me more than Martha's more direct style.
It makes sense to have a character like Rose first and one like Martha second. With Rose, we had a slow and elegant mystery in the first season. With Martha, the viewers already know the answers, so it makes little sense to dwell on them, so instead they're expanding what we know.
All of the episodes in S3 thus far have contained references to Rose (and I hear that there's a version of 'Bad Wolf' in one of the motorcars -- I'll see if I can locate a screencap). Was 'Saxon' mentioned at all in this episode? I didn't hear it. I know that it wasn't mentioned in the last one.
I loved hearing about Gallifrey. I'm so happy for the Doctor that he's finally in a place where he can talk about it. About the place, if not the specific people (I'd love to hear the words 'Susan' or 'Romana' this season, though). The thing that struck me as so sad about his excuses to Martha is that when Gallifrey still existed they were true. He did like to avoid staying home -- he much preferred roaming the universe for adventure.
I missed Rose so much in this episode. Visceral tugging ache, I tell you. It's made me start work on another DW vid (I've got several non-DW vids in progress, but Rose Tyler pretty much owns my soul right now, so, yeah).
David Tennant is kicking all kinds of ass, though. He owned this episode. He can pull off the grief just as well as Eccleston (not that I had any doubts -- he had his moments of coldness and angst in S2, but Rose just gave him a higher baseline of happy than he has this season, so he gets to go a bit deeper now). Lovely work.
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(no subject)
Date: 2007-04-15 08:32 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-04-16 02:03 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-04-16 09:57 pm (UTC)That's a very good point. While Rose's approach works better for me-I'm afraid that personally, I don't respond well to someone's insisting I talk-making Martha more direct does cut through repetitiveness and allow us to learn more about the same thing.
I did miss Rose at the end. I'm glad that Martha was able to be so straightforward with the Doctor; it was definitely good for him to be able to admit that his planet was gone to a relative stranger. But...I wished she had been there to comfort him.
(no subject)
Date: 2007-04-17 01:32 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-04-17 01:53 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-04-17 04:16 pm (UTC)Yes. Rose's way of doing things is more suited with how I like things done, while Martha feels a bit pushy to me. But they're different sorts of people and what I feel is pushy, other people feel is simply necessary.
I did miss Rose at the end. I'm glad that Martha was able to be so straightforward with the Doctor; it was definitely good for him to be able to admit that his planet was gone to a relative stranger. But...I wished she had been there to comfort him.
She was really good at comforting him, giving him some emotional safety.