When I first tried watching Doctor Who back in, like, 2012ish, I bounced off of this and End of the World pretty hard. Revisiting it now, I understand why - the plot isn't amazing, the tone is wonky and inconsistent, and it has a very specific brand of early 2000s energy that, at the time, I didn't really vibe with. My perspective is a lot different now, though - these days I tend to value character work a lot more and it's hard to deny that Rose excels at it.

In ten minutes I felt like I perfectly understood who Rose, Jackie, and Mickey were and what their relationships were like, and in twenty, I understood why Rose was so fascinated with the Doctor. The choice to frame the episode from her point of view was an inspired one; it lets us wonder who the Doctor is alongside her and allows for a number of pretty brilliant reveals throughout the rest of the season that work even for veterans of Classic Who. It's far from perfect, but I appreciate it for the groundwork it does and for kickstarting maybe the best series arc Doctor Who has ever done.

Notes:

• + Scene: Love the intro, and how it focuses on Rose and Mickey - it feels very mid-2000’s pulp TV
• + Tone: Great building of tension leading up to the Auton reveal
• + Character: Rose automatically rationalizes the Autons as a joke being played by a group of students
• + Dialogue: “Nice to meet you, Rose. Run for your life!”
• + Character: Rose is so shaken up by the events in the building that she runs in front of a car
• ++ Character: The scene at Rose’s house does a great job of establishing the dynamic between her, Jackie, and Mickey: Mickey initially seems genuinely concerned, then when he realizes she’s safe, he immediately reveals that he has other priorities, and Rose is completely fine with this; she doesn’t even *want* his attention right now. Jackie keeps trying to find ways to get money off of the incident, Rose wants nothing to do with it, and is annoyed with Jackie as a result
• + Character: In the wake of the previous night’s events, Rose has forgotten to turn her alarm off and we get a repeat of the shot from the start of the episode
• + Scene: lol @ the Doctor shooting Jackie down
• + Character: While Rose rants about the events of the previous night, the Doctor ignores her and plays around with some stuff in her house to establish his level of intellect and some of his oddities, and also his incompetency with cardistry because he can’t be good at *everything*
• + Character: Rose assumes that the Doctor, like Mickey, is just messing around with the hand, until it attacks her as well, at which point she suddenly starts to take things a lot more seriously
• - Plot: Jackie’s timing with the hair dryer is a *little* convenient
• + Character: The Doctor calls Rose’s bluff when she threatens to tell people about the incident
• + Character: He refuses to explain himself to Rose; he’s closed off, and doesn’t want to form any more close bonds for reasons we don’t know yet. He goes so far as to act condescending and dismissive towards her, but she’s too persistent to be put off
• + Dialogue: “Do you believe me?” “No.” “You’re still listening”
• ++ Scene: The Doctor’s monologue about being able to feel the turn of the Earth is phenomenal
• + Character: Rose runs back when she hears the sound of the TARDIS disappearing, mostly just to show the audience that it’s gone, but it works
• + Dialogue: “Any excuse to get in the bedroom. Don’t read my emails!”
• + Character: Rose googling random s**t about the Doctor is the most relatable thing in the universe
• + Character: Clive is immediately great, Mickey gets some great characterization here as being super protective of Rose
• + Scene: They just copied and pasted this low quality shot of Christopher Eccleston into important historical events lmao
• + Character: “He has one constant companion: Death” great foreshadowing of the series arc
• - Tone: The bit with Mickey getting eaten by the garbage can is kind of corny and tonally inconsistent with the rest of the scene
• + Character: Clive telling Rose that he thinks the Doctor is an alien time traveler is what pushes her over the line
• -- Plot: The Mickey auton is stupid, it’s funny but it’s also completely ridiculous that Rose wouldn’t notice he’s different
• + Character: Rose’s first reaction to Auton!Mickey running rampant is to pull the fire alarm
• + Character: she keeps trying the gate and doesn’t go into the TARDIS until she feels the need to beg the Doctor for help again, then she immediately leaves in shock, runs around, and when Auton!Mickey starts breaking through she runs back in
• + Character: The Doctor didn’t even think about the fact that Mickey is dead, and is much more concerned with the Autons, and is incredibly dismissive *again* towards Rose for caring so much about her boyfriend
• + Scene: The show briefly interrupts the character moment for a plot beat to happen, but goes back to it quickly
• -- Scene: It’s a little jarring how quickly Rose forgets about the fact that her boyfriend is dead and asks the Doctor about his accent, though it does sort of help demonstrate that she didn’t care *that* much about Mickey
• + Scene: Nice visual gag with the London Eye
• + Character: You can really feel the Doctor’s distaste for emotional bonds as a consequence of the Time War
• - Tone: The Nestene Consciousness has… less than amazing VFX lol
• - Plot: It’s a *little* convenient that Clive and Jackie just happen to be at the same shopping mall when the transmitter activates
• + Scene: Rose gets a really great climactic moment with the swinging from the chain
• + Character: Through all of the action and important character beats with Rose and Doctor at the end of the episode, the episode still remembers to give Mickey an in-character reaction to the TARDIS and the recent events
• ++ Character: Rose shows a lot of complex emotions in response to her decision to turn the Doctor down on his offer, you can really see the regret in her eyes and the slight smile that creeps onto her face when she hears the sounds of the TARDIS rematerializing
• + Character: Wow, Rose is *awful* to Mickey lmao

• Plot: -4
• Character: +22
• Theme: 0
• Tone: -1
• Dialogue: +3
• Scenes: +6
• Final grade: +26, B

You can find an in-depth explanation of my review system at https://pastebin.com/BDpANg3b