Now this is more like it. I’ve always considered Series 2 to be something of a rocky season. But I’ve always loved this episode. It’s always been my favourite from this season.

I feel like for a lot of people, how much they enjoy this episode can depend on how much they enjoy the ‘love story’ between the Doctor and Madame de Pompadour. It generally works for me, although I freely admit that it requires some head canon to do so. Seeing as the episode never explicitly tells us what the Doctor’s feeling I think you almost have to interpret things for yourself and create your own head canon here.

I also admit that at the end, the romance aspect is laid on very thick, so I understand why for some people it feels like this great love that the episode hasn’t fully earned. But this isn’t my interpretation. For example the episode ends with the Doctor looking all sad and despondent at the death of MdP (as I will likely continue to call her in this review. Madame de Pompadour is just a lot to type). But honestly, we’ve seen the Doctor react in a similar way for deaths of other guest stars. Yes it’s maybe a little more so here, but this episode does a lot more to justify why the Doctor would care about MdP than we get about say, Astrid in ‘Voyage of the Damned’.

So no I don’t think the episode is saying that this is some great love that was never allowed to be. There is absolutely a romantic element here and they clearly care a great deal about each other. But I totally buy both of those aspects to the relationship. I even really like the kiss. I think it’s fun that whilst she’s kissing him, the Doctor is clearly very uncomfortable, squirming at the act. He then learns who she is, lists her accomplishments and his discomfort changes to a boastful pride. The implication here(for me at least) is that the Doctor finds being accomplished, as well as possibly being historically significant to be very sexy. An idea that is also consistent with his possible relationship with ‘Cleo’. This feels very in character for the Doctor, certainly this Doctor.

This explains his attraction, but arguably little else. But that’s where the telepathic memory link comes in. MdP is able to access his memories and feel his loneliness. A defining aspect of the Doctor since the shows return has been his loneliness. He is the last of his race, completely alone in the entire universe. There aren’t many people who can come close to equalling him in terms of intellect or experiences. For all the affection he feels for Rose, she cannot truly understand the Doctor in the same way that MdP is able to after being in his mind. So not only is she beautiful, charming, intelligent and historically significant, but being with MdP makes this lonely angel feel less alone.

It also helps that David Tennant and Sophia Myles have an immediate and easy chemistry that really helps to sell this relationship. Sophia Myles is great in this episode by the way. She has a tricky balancing act to achieve here, where she has to both believably feel like an 18th century, French aristocrat, whilst also being able to immediately understand and explain the futuristic conceits at play in the episode. She never feels anachronistic, whilst also feeling completely at home in this sci-fi space. She’s also very believable as the accomplished MdP and selling the threat of the villains, whilst also appearing resolute despite her fear.

I can also see that some people might have an issue with the fact that the story doesn’t make a huge amount of sense. As the Doctor even points out, if the clockwork robots are able to punch holes in the universe to open time portals in their search for parts to repair their ship. Then why don’t they just open up a time window to a repair yard. It’s a valid criticism, but when the episode is such a rollicking good time, I don’t really think about it, and when I do I simply don’t care. It asks the audience to suspend their disbelief and just accept that it’s all just down to the robots taking some vague programming too literally. But, if you do you are rewarded with an incredibly fun and inventive episode of television. When it comes to suspending my disbelief for Doctor Who, I’ve personally done more and in return received less. So I don’t think this is much of an issue.

This episode is one of the most purely enjoyable episodes in the history of the show. It moves at a fantastic pace, but never feels rushed or confusing. The script is witty and endlessly quotable and the villains are genuinely scary. Steven Moffatt has always had a knack for mining the mundane for scares. Be it gas masks, statues, the dark, or in this instance the sound of ticking clockwork. The scene at the start with robot under a 7 year old Renette’s bed is one of the scarier moments I can recall from the show.

The design of them is incredible as well. The immovable faces, with their cracked porcelain, dead eyes and sinister smiles are wonderfully creepy. The way the performers move also sells them as being creatures of clockwork machinery. I even love how they look without their masks. Retro-futuristic in a way that feels sleek and simple, yet also suitably complex. In truth the design for the entire episode is incredible. This is one of the best looking episodes from this era of the show. The location shooting does a lot to sell you on Versailles as a location. But the production and costume designs are also top notch.

Not just content with being an incredibly enjoyable 45 minutes of television. If you can find yourself getting on board with the central relationship between the Doctor and MdP, the ending of this episode also delivers an emotional wallop.

For me a resounding success in pretty much every way, and a ringing endorsement of what this show is capable of.