Doctor Who: Rethinking the Fireplace (Gridlock spoilers)

[butterfly]

So, both when Girl in the Fireplace first aired in the UK and then later when it aired in the US, I posted about my vehement dislike for the Doctor's character in the episode.

After seeing Gridlock, I'm having a slight shift in perspective. Before the Doctor lied to Martha about Gallifrey, I could only see two possibilities for explaining the way the Doctor acts at the end of the episode -- "either more arrogant than he is in the entire rest of the series or irredeemably stupid".

Because in Gridlock, he lies to Martha about Gallifrey so that part of him could still believe it was out there. Which means that there's a third option -- he knows that he can't actually take the Mme. Pompadour on as a companion. He knows that she only has a few short years before she dies. But he knows that his leaving has hurt her and that she wants to be with him.

So he lies. He lies so enthusiastically that he can almost believe it. Anyway, I may have to actually rewatch the episode to see if that reading tracks for me (which is a very big shift for me, since I only watched it the once and then refused to watch it again when it reaired on Sci-Fi).

I'm not thrilled at the possibility that he might have been lying, because that's kinda a jerk move to pull, but I consider it miles better than 'stupid' or 'hopelessly arrogant', so, yeah.

Also, awww, I was so worried about Rose's heart breaking over the Doctor not loving her enough and her not feeling good enough. I was so very, very wrong about that, which thrills me so much. God, he loves her (and after this episode, we had the two-parter where once again she was looked down on by someone (Jackie) -- and then we get The Idiot Box, where Rose worries that 'the domestic' approach is inferior, but it's just what she needed to be looking at and then she and the Doctor are such equals in tIP/tSP and for the rest of the series and she doesn't worry any more, because having Rose Tyler around is just about as inspiring as having the Doctor).

While this could fix my Doctor problem, all my other issues with the episode still stand. But as long as the Doctor's character isn't being utterly destroyed, I can live with the other stuff.

Comments

[librarianstales.livejournal.com]

I think I saw this episode (Girl in the Fireplace) as slightly different. I think I see the Doctor very much defined by the loss of his planet and his people. I see him as someone that desperately wants something or someone one to hold on to. I see him as someone desperately lonely. In Rose he has not just a companion, but an equal, which is something he doesn't see much of in the universe. There aren't many that can match him like Rose does, but the potential lies there with Reinette. While the mind reading part seemed a bit contrived, I like it in that it highlighted the Doctor's loneliness, which is what I think was a motivating factor for him in this. As much as I love Rose and as much as I believe the Doctor loved Rose, I can't see one person being able to fill up all that loss. So I can believe the Doctor still feels a great deal of loss and loneliness.

This isn't to say the Doctor made the best of decisions (because he certainly didn't) but this is how I see his motivations.

As for Rose, I do see her as a bit more passive in this episode. To some degree it could be because she isn't quite aware of what's going on with Reinette and the Doctor (she's not there to witness a lot of what goes on between them). For the greater part of the episode, she has a lot more on her plate.

The one point I don't like in this episode though, was the Doctor jumping in to rescue Reinette. First of all, it was a huge slap in the face to Rose, especially since by saving Reinette he has condemned Rose and Mickey to be stranded and perhaps die on this drifting space ship (because, really, can either of them pilot either the ship or the Tardis?) The Doctor is sacrificing two people he knows for one person he barely does. I would find it more believable if Rose and Mickey somehow came with him.

Also, the Boy called bullshit on the Doctor being stranded. He's a big Doctor Who fan and watched most of the older episodes (except those that were destroyed) and he said there was enough instances of the Tardis coming to him to make him disbelieve the Doctor was truly stranded. Having that happen (Doctor jumps through mirror, saves Reinette and knows how to get back) would make me like the story a whole lot more.

[butterfly.livejournal.com]

The Doctor jumping through the mirror is actually one of the few things in the episode that doesn't bother me. That's the Doctor. He rushes in to save people, especially when he knows (according to history and his own head) that they need to be saved.

And he knew that Reinette only had a few years left. I can see him attempting to try to take the slow path with her for a while... until two days later, when he starts jaunting about the world without her because he's so bored, but she doesn't want to stay away from court that long. And then, eventually, he'd run across another TARDIS and another him. He certainly has traveled about in those centuries enough. He would have returned to Rose and Mickey and the TARDIS. He'd never abandoned them for always.

[shaela]

This strikes me as entirely possible.

Another possibility that just occurred to me, reading this, is that it wasn’t arrogance or stupidity or self-deception. It was hope. After all, “time’s in flux. It’s changing every second.” And he’d just been spared a great deal of unpleasantness, waiting till he could track himself down and hitch a lift back to the fifty-first century. He might’ve been willing to believe in grace second chances the impossible, if only just this once.

It helps that I don’t think the Doctor was ever in love with Reinette. He liked her, sure—so did I. But he’s never understood Rose’s occasional jealousy—not because he thinks it’s possible to be in love with more than one person at a time, but because he knows from the inside how completely in love with her he is. There’s nothing for her to be jealous of.

(It also helps that I don’t see Rose as just another Companion, and I don’t think the Doctor did, either. Every time they brought another person on board the Tardis, the Doctor made it very clear, right up front, that he and Rose were a team, and the third person was their Companion. Whether it was letting Rose explain the space station to Adam, dancing with her in front of Jack, or sharing an in-joke with her in front of Mickey, he always seemed to want things clear, you know?)

[butterfly.livejournal.com]

Another possibility that just occurred to me, reading this, is that it wasn’t arrogance or stupidity or self-deception. It was hope. After all, “time’s in flux. It’s changing every second.” And he’d just been spared a great deal of unpleasantness, waiting till he could track himself down and hitch a lift back to the fifty-first century. He might’ve been willing to believe in grace second chances the impossible, if only just this once.

Hmm. Possibly. Has he ever taken on famous companions before, though? That's the part that gets to me. If he has done that before and has worked out how that works, I have fewer problems with it.

It helps that I don’t think the Doctor was ever in love with Reinette. He liked her, sure—so did I. But he’s never understood Rose’s occasional jealousy—not because he thinks it’s possible to be in love with more than one person at a time, but because he knows from the inside how completely in love with her he is. There’s nothing for her to be jealous of.

That... explanation works so much better for me than what it sounded like Moffat saying on the commentary (that the Doctor doesn't understand jealousy, to which I say -- "Empty Child/Doctor Dances, Moffat! You had the Doctor jealous as hell of Jack. He understands jealousy."). But not understanding why Rose would be jealous because "she knows" and because he'd just told her in the previous episode that she was special (as the new season has been proving)... that makes so much more sense.

Especially since Rose actually... hmm. Rose doesn't actually appear to be jealous of Reinette. At the end, she's concerned about the Doctor's state of mind, with his loss. Reinette is jealous of her, but Rose is so very kind to her in their scene together (from what I recall of the episode! I haven't watched it since it first came out in the UK, so tell me if I'm remembering wrong).

(It also helps that I don’t see Rose as just another Companion, and I don’t think the Doctor did, either. Every time they brought another person on board the Tardis, the Doctor made it very clear, right up front, that he and Rose were a team, and the third person was their Companion. Whether it was letting Rose explain the space station to Adam, dancing with her in front of Jack, or sharing an in-joke with her in front of Mickey, he always seemed to want things clear, you know?)

True! I think part of the problem is that, at the time, I was reading all sorts of reviews from all sorts of places, including people who were desperately hoping that the second season would show Rose to be 'just another companion' and took SR and GitF as ultimate proof (that disintegrated in RotC/AoS. Ha.).

I'm going to keep all this in mind when I rewatch the episode today and I'll see what I think.

And now I have two options that aren't 'arrogant' or 'stupid', which makes me very happy.

[shaela]

Has he ever taken on famous companions before, though? That’s the part that gets to me.

Ah, now, that I can’t tell you. But it can’t be more of a change than having corpses walking around in 1869, can it? :-)

That… explanation works so much better for me than what it sounded like Moffat was saying on the commentary.

Oh, good. I hope it still makes sense after you’ve rewatched the episode.

Especially since Rose actually… hmm. Rose doesn’t actually appear to be jealous of Reinette.

That was my impression. One of the reasons I interpret Rose and the Doctor’s fight in “School Reunion” the way I do is because of its effect on Rose. Afterwards, she’s the one who holds out an olive branch to Sarah Jane: “Listen to us. It’s like me and my mate Shireen. The only time we fell out was over a man, and… we’re arguing over the Doctor.” And I got the distinct impression that inviting Sarah Jane to come with them was Rose’s idea. And, as you said, she doesn’t appear to be jealous of Reinette. She treats Reinette just like she treated Gwyneth, Harriet, and Nancy. (In fact, I’m willing to believe that one of the reasons the Doctor invited Reinette to come with them was to make up for Sarah Jane turning them down.)

I think part of the problem is that, at the time, I was reading all sorts of reviews from all sorts of places, including people who were desperately hoping that the second season would show Rose to be ‘just another companion’ and took SR and GitF as ultimate proof.

Fandom will drive you crazy if you let it. It’ll make you question your own sanity, too, which is nearly as bad. But in the end, canon is what it is.

[mrv3000.livejournal.com]

Hmm. Possibly. Has he ever taken on famous companions before, though?

Not permanently. H.G. Wells stowed away for one trip and wanted to stay on another planet. But there was this sense of, "no, he's going back to Earth because he's H.G. Wells," by the Doctor. I can't recall other famous people off the top of my head.

[mrv3000.livejournal.com]

the Doctor made it very clear, right up front, that he and Rose were a team, and the third person was their Companion. Whether it was letting Rose explain the space station to Adam,

Oooh, that's interesting. The way it always came across to me when I first watched was that the Doctor knew Rose was crushing on Adam, and so he was helping her be impressive. And this simultaneously took care of his own developing feelings for Rose (or so he was telling himself), since if he was helping her get a boyfriend, he wouldn't have to worry about himself getting too close.

But I think I like your idea behind it MUCH better. Just because it seems to fit into this their companion idea. I really wonder how it would have gone with Reinette.

[shaela]

Well, I think part of the difference is that I never saw Rose crushing on Adam. In the beginning, I think she was sweet-talking him so she could find out what was going on. (In fact, that’s more or less how I saw the beginning of her relationship with Jack, though with more genuine interest on Rose’s part. She acts like she’s not paying attention to what Jack is saying, while they’re dancing, but when she’s back together with the Doctor, she’s a veritable fount of information.) Then, after it’s all over, she sort of adopts him—she and the Doctor both have a habit of picking up strays (e.g., Gwyneth, Charles Dickens, Harriet Jones, Nancy, Jack, etc.).

[mrv3000.livejournal.com]

Hmm. I'd have to watch it again, but he seemed pretty certain he was going to get her at the end and her death was a surprise. I think he *would* have known that it would have never been a "forever" thing like with Rose though, just because she was Mme. Pompadour. I'm sure he was telling himself he could park the TARDIS two seconds after she left and so in no way mess with history.

[butterfly.livejournal.com]

Well, my roommate just asked me a question last night that had never occurred to me before. Has he ever asked a potential companion to "pack a bag" before? I've seen bits and pieces of earlier Who, but with Martha and Rose, they get invited in on the spur of the moment, but you've been doing a lot of watching the older Who, so you'd have a better clue.

The Doctor seems to like just hopping off, and he's got clothes if people need them. Why ask Reinette to pack a bag? Why not just impulsively switch the fireplace about that very moment?

[mrv3000.livejournal.com]

*thinks*

*thinks some more*

I can't *quite* remember him ever asking anyone to pack a bag off the top of my head, but I could see it being implied. Like Nyssa whose father was killed by the Master. She basically becomes his ward. But mainly it's very spur-of-the-moment type stuff and stowaways.

But that is quite strange about telling her to pack a bag. I mean, it seems to be a device just to get it to where he's too late to get her, but wonder if you *can* infer something from that. Hmmmmmm.