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DATING A SLITHEEN: A COMMENTARY

With Boom Town, Russell T. Davies gives us a bit of a breather before the big finale and brings back his new favourite monsters as well.

The opening scene with Margaret immediately helps to remind us what we are up against and already proves that Annette Badland is one of the best guest actors in this season of Doctor Who.

The Cardiff setting also provides a beneficial change of pace. We return to the Doctor's bullying of Mickey, and this time, Jack is also involved.

So the Cardiff rift mentioned here harks back to The Unquiet Dead and also plays a pivotal role in the founding of modern-day Torchwood later on. It also serves as the primary cause of conflict in Boom Town.

The Blaidd Drwg mention, which is, of course, Bad Wolf hiding in plain sight (and mentioned later in the episode), is yet another example of RTD's wordplay.

I really like Badland here, and I'm glad RTD gives her a lot of space to shine. Knowing who she really is makes all her attempts at keeping a straight face all the better. And once she meets the Doctor again, she becomes wonderfully manipulative. She also effortlessly switches from soft to evil, then back again.

The Slitheen costume looks slightly more polished to me. Or perhaps it's Badland making the character much easier to accept (they've toned down the farting as well). And to be fair, we mostly see Margaret in her human form.

This one carries surprising emotional poignancy, proving to us that aliens and monsters do also have feelings.

The constant banter between Jack and Nine continues as both men try to take charge. Mickey is the comic relief, as per usual. This one has some good lighthearted humor (as demonstrated by the rather silly chase scene between the TARDIS crew and Margaret).

RTD has a knack for nonsensical terms, and the extrapolator surfboard thingy is one of his better ones.

Another Doctor Who?-joke! They are always fun!

The Doctor shows his darker side again, as he doesn't care whether or not he sends the last Slitheen to her death. Chris Eccleston balances a Doctor swinging between guilt and fury very well.

The narrative is very character-centred, and there isn't a whole lot of tension or excitement here, which makes this a slower episode.

I appreciate that Rose and Mickey finally took the time to catch up, because she's treated him pretty poorly up to this point. It's no wonder he's seeing a new girl!

Margaret is also used to further explore some areas of the Doctor's personality, particularly post-Time War.

The dinner and bondage scene in the restaurant is a modern classic, and another one shows what the Slitheen is capable of and what this Doctor is made of.

You could say that this episode is about consequences, following the Doctor's previous actions with the Slitheen and Rose's choices in her life and relationship.

The last 10 minutes suddenly make everything go boom, because a Doctor Who episode needs real danger, right?

I love how the Doctor silently waits for his moment at the climax and then calmly but surely fires back to defeat Margaret. This scene also establishes the heart of the TARDIS, which is an important plot point in the finale.

Now I don't know how that resolution is supposed to work, and I don't particularly enjoy it. I do feel sorry for Mickey, though, for being left behind again.

 

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RANDOM OBSERVATIONS:

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• William Thomas, who plays Mr. Cleaver at the start of the episode, previously appeared in Remembrance of the Daleks. He's the first actor to appear in both Classic and New Who.
• We hear Rose talk about an off-screen adventure with the Slitheen in Justicia. This references the second NSA novel, The Monsters Inside, and marks the first time the TV show has referenced EU material.