My memory of this episode was that it was very mid. In fact all I remember was that it was set on the New New York motorway, Ardal O’Hanlon plays a cat, The Macra are here and the Face of Boe says “You Are Not Alone”. Mostly I thought it was just sitting around in stationary cars talking. Now there is a lot of that to be fair, but unlike the cars, this episode moves. It’s a really good episode and I’m not sure why I used to think otherwise.

The Doctor and Martha arrive on the lower levels of New New York (not the upper levels he visited with Rose). Here they find a society in decay, vendors are selling moods like ‘Happy’ or ‘Forget’ (established as a drug analogy). The streets are mostly deserted because most citizens here have taken to the motorway, in order to move away to a better life. The issue is that the motorways are in Gridlock, and has been for the past 24 years. Martha gets kidnapped by a couple who are expecting their first child and want to give it a better life. With Martha on board they can access the fast lane (you need at least 3 adults to gain access to the fast lane, hence why they needed Martha), which makes them think their motorway journey should only last the relatively short 6 years. The Doctor chases Martha, realises this is all wrong and investigates (discovering the fast lane is infested with deadly Macra). His investigations lead to the Senate on the upper levels. Here he discovers that everyone up top has died and the motorway has been shut off, meaning all the cars on the motorway have nowhere to go ultimately, they just ride the motorway indefinitely. The citizens up top were all killed by a virus which mutated in a new mood drug called Bliss, which most of the people on the upper levels had gotten addicted to. The people below weren’t abandoned but were saved, as this deadly virus had become airborne. Now that it is safe up top, the Doctor with the help of the Face of Boe, reopen the motorway and gives everyone on it access to the upper levels, saving the inhabitants of New New York, who can now rebuild their society.

The idea of an entire episode being mostly set in cars, stuck in a sci-fi traffic jam riding the motorway indefinitely is such a fun and fresh idea. It’s the sort of premise that a show like Doctor Who is uniquely suited to do. I love how fully this episode commits to this premise as well. Yes, there is a lot of sitting and chatting in stationary car, but I liked it on this watch, because it allows us to get to know the people and the rules of this unique motorway setting. Plus it doesn’t take long for the Doctor to go into rescue mode, giving the episode some momentum as he tries to rescue Martha, then discover what happened & save everyone in the upper senate. I found the opening of the motorway and all the cars rising out into the sun filled overworld to be a genuinely triumphant moment.

Martha gets to show her empathetic side by understanding and even befriending her kidnappers. They aren’t bad people, just desperate people who see an opportunity for a better life for themselves and their expected child. She also gets to show some smarts by working out how to stop the Macra from attacking them in the fast lane. Her best scene though is at the very end. Before returning to the TARDIS Martha has enough of the Doctor keeping secrets, so she refuses to get back on the TARDIS, defiantly sitting in a chair until the Doctor will talk to her. Martha stands up to the Doctor and he relents, sitting with her and telling her all about being the last of his kind. The episode ends with our 2 heroes finally connecting as equals.

This is a really fun episode that with a unique premise. The motorway is such a limited setting, but the episode finds ways to explore what it is and what it means to its inhabitants. The Doctor and Martha both get moments to shine, the supporting cast are distinct & likable, and we get some foreshadowing from the Face of Boe at the end. A jam-packed story with good ideas that I’d definitely been underappreciating prior to this rewatch.