Review #22

The Life of Madame De Pompadour

This story was beautiful it was slow paced which helped it a lot. The casting was phenomenonal the actress that played Madame De Pompadour was amazing in that role I thought they brought the real woman on the show. Mickey and Rose were actually enjoyable to watch for once. David Tennant was good in this one. The ending had me crying because it was sad to see such a beautiful talented phenomenal character die. The monsters were a bit ehh but it wasn't about them This time it was mainly focused on MDP. This story is a solid 9/10

This episode does start a little slow, but the emotional impact at the end is one of the highest the show has to offer

2025 REWATCH

• I do like this episode, I genuinely do, but I have found myself not wanting to watch it as much. It was a high-ranking story last time, but I found myself enjoying this rewatch less
• I often find the Doctor + new character romances annoying, some stories can handle it well and this one, just makes you assume there was a strong romantic attachment between them, despite spending very little time together, I think it's how I understand SM's writing it's romantically dark, and these elements are evident in a lot of his stories, especially the ones pre-his era
• Love the clockwork droids. They are beautifully designed inside and out
• It's a shame that this is Mickey's first trip in the TARDIS, and I can't help but feel he was a little sidelined. I think he deserved more of a focus
• I think the more I watch this story, the more I come to believe that Sophia Myles is not that good an actress, but that's just my personal judgment. The child actress did a better job

Such a clever concept, and delivered beautifully

I don’t like it.
I can see why people enjoy it, but for me, it was always pretty overrated. Sure some dialogue is pretty nice, the performances are quite solid, sure the clockwork droids are utterly amazing designed and a concept I really like… but in an episode where romance is such a key point? Yeah. No. I don’t really hate this Episode, I can see the good in it, and I am glad for anybody who enjoyed it, but for me? The Episode does nothing for me, considering series 2 is very much low for me, I feel like this would place around the middle ground.