I liked it less than the previous part. Doctor Who has a whole bunch of less serious episodes like this one and it is executed more or less correctly, playing between the immediate threat of a nuclear attack and the incompetence of the Slitheens, it makes for a decent comedy with even more political commentary than the previous part.

I think that the FX are a bit uglier than in the previous episode. The transition Slitheen in a costume and Slitheen running in 3D is a bit too jarring but I think they just did what they could and running around in those costumes must not have been easy.

I still don't like Mickey. They just made him a nerd who is now capable of hacking and it's pretty bad. He's still a comedic relief but this time the main source of comedy is either him getting bullied by the Doctor or his incompetence and it doesn't works at all.

The episode is even more on the nose regarding it's political commentary. It has a strong message about war only serving financial interests, all the comedy about the government incompetence and the fact that it's that easy to get access to the nuclear bomb by creating false threats and that it is that easy to launch a missile works great and is surprisingly still never corny.

I really liked all the scenes that are more character centric as it helps developing a lot more the characters and giving hints on their personality, such as when they are sheltered waiting for Downing Street to be bombed, it's great seeing The Doctor not wanting to cause any more casualties than he already has, Rose blase attitude regarding her death, Jackie's concerns regarding her own daughter and Mickey willing to risk it all are just hints of character traits we'll see more of in the future. But I think the character that takes all the spotlight is Hariet Jones. She is just magnificient here, taking decisions as the only democratically elected person in the room. It's just really fun to see all her genius moments and her facial expressions are just really fun.

The ending is a bit too rushed, The Slitheen all being in the same room, naked without their costumes feels a bit too easy and forced and it was a bit too disapointing.

The tone of the episode changes for the ending, Rose assuring her mother she will be back within 10 seconds and Jackie counting to 10 knowing well she won't is a great moment and ends the episode on a more somber and melancholic tone, putting a focus on the feeling of being abandoned.

I think overall it's a less interesting episode than the previous part. It was a good standard Doctor Who adventure, the focus put on the characters is all great but I'm a bit disapointed all the highlights are put in the last part of the episode.

And then an episode than is better than what I remembered.

I really like everything it does. Sure it has some flaws, we could have done without that much fart jokes, Mickey isn't a really good character and is written pretty poorly here and there is a lot of things introduced that are barely exploited but overall it still is an excellent political thriller.

I really like the first scenes of the episode. They are all strongly emotional and develop a lot more the relationship between The Doctor, Rose and her family and how the Doctor's world feels alien to them. Jackie also is written in a way that put an emphasis on his protective mother side, a side we didn't see of her before and while she still has a lot of comedic bits, it's nice to see her being developed in a way where she isn't reduced to that role.

The episode is surprisingly "normal" and "human" in it's writing. There is a lot of small trivial scenes that just follows the daily life of all the characters. Such as Harriet Jones that keeps talking about her hospital project during a national crisis, all of Rose's family that are gathered to celebrate her coming back only to end up watching the TV for instance are all moments I enjoyed a lot and helped a lot developing these characters and their traits. The fact that everyone is watching the invasion on the TV helps giving this episode a more grounded approach, it's something that would likely happens in case of an alien invasion.

This episode is also the come back of UNIT and while I don't care much about them (haven't watched the classics yet, sorry), they still have some good and funny scenes (like when the Doctor is held at gunpoint and when they all follow him without even knowing who is him simply because he knows what a delta formation is). The pig scene show that they still are pretty trigger happy but I like that it helps putting a stronger emphasis on the Doctor's empathic side and illustrate how him and UNIT still are different despite all this time.

The political satire is also on point. The whole episode is a satire on how the government handled the Iraq's war and it adds a lot to the comedy of the episode. Despite the fact that they are alien, the politicians are pretty realist and their handling of the crisis is pretty fun. I really enjoyed how the episode shamelessly mocks the government (like how there is a major political crisis and nobody is reacting) and even though it's not a central point of the episode, it was really fun and on the nose yet never corny.

I really liked the cliffhanger too, every character now facing a Slitheen each and then, the sequence alternating between the Doctor slowly figuring out their plan and realizing it's too late, Harriet and Rose being in danger in the meeting room and Jackie being corned in her own kitchen, it was a pretty effective scene and very well realized.

Aesthetically, the episode is great too with a strong focus on flashy colors and blue lights and other than 2 or 3 weird FXs, I really liked how it looked.

I just find it disappointing that Mickey's character is so poorly written and only relayed to the role of an unfunny comic relief, even though his scenes helps develop a new aspect of Rose personality, her egoistical side, Mickey ends up still being poorly written and straight up annoying at times.

Overall, it's an episode I liked a lot and that ended up being better than what I remembered. The episode helps a lot developing the main cast's personality while also adding a whole political comedy side to the script. It ends up being a pretty unique episode I loved rewatching.

Again, an episode which is worse than I remembered even though it is the only Mark Gatiss episode which is not a "one off" adventure and that follow the continuity and the arc of the season.

The Unquiet Dead was eh, boring at its worse and at least a bit goofy at its best. It's very uninspired. The characters are pretty flat and uninteresting, Dickens isn't even the central point of his own story and the Doctor is written pretty weirdly (It makes no sense that he got convinced that easily by the Gelth and it's weird that he gave the impression that he was that weak to the point where he felt threatened to the point where he felt like he would die by a foe that basic).

The Gelths aren't pretty interesting ennemis either. Their plan is pretty uninteresting and even though I kind of get the point Gatiss wanted to make, it's only ruined by their plot twist revealing they were in fact evil and wanted to invade Earth for seemingly no reason, which itself is pretty unmemorable and resolves itself within 2 minutes.

Overall it was pretty empty on the writing side, there wasn't really any moment that felt emotionally impacting or memorable even though I kind of like the interactions between Gwyneth and Rose and that the Doctor appears to be even more impacted by the Time War than during the previous episodes but other than this it was pretty mediocre and it isn't an episode I would recommend.

This is a very similar episode to the first one and is worth being binged right after it as it follows the previous attempt at reintroducing to a new audience what Doctor Who is and especially here, the "standard" formula of the Doctor's adventures as well as giving us more information on his backstory.

Overall I think I liked it less than the previous one. There was a lot of good and engaging ideas (I really like the gimmick of reusing Tainted Love and Toxic for comedy bits) and there was a lot of emotional writing about Doctor's backstory and him being the last Time Lord. But I think overall it was just a bit forgettable. Cassandra is not an engaging enough villain to carry a whole episode like that and while I respect a lot its attempt to blow your mind with crazy visuals and being over the top, I think it just ends up being a pretty standard, although pretty good Doctor Who story (and Eccleston is just that great of an actor as always).

I think I liked it less upon rewatching and it might just be more effective if it's your first time watching it.

I had once set out to write reviews for every episode of New Who. Since I haven’t made much progress with the classic series, I decided to rewrite them a bit and share them here.

Given the number of times I tried to watch the series before finally finishing it last year, this must be the episode I’ve rewatched the most, and each time I’m impressed by how much of a success it is in every aspect.

This episode had the daunting task of reintroducing the Doctor to a new audience, 16 years after the last televised episode, and it accomplishes this brilliantly. In just a few scenes, we come to understand who the Ninth Doctor is, what his stakes are, and how he got to this point. Eccleston is the perfect actor for the role of a Doctor traumatized by the Time War, barely able to understand who he is, filled with the emptiness, resentment, and sadness of being the last survivor of his entire species. I’m particularly struck by his monologue about the movement of the Earth, which I found very poignant and which immediately immerses us in his psyche:

"I can feel it... the turn of the Earth. The ground beneath our feet is spinning at a thousand miles an hour. The entire planet is hurtling around the sun at sixty-seven thousand miles an hour. And I can feel it. We're falling through space, you and me, clinging to the skin of this tiny little world. And if we let go..."

The episode also introduces us to Rose, an ordinary young woman stuck in a mundane life. While she isn’t exceptional in herself, we can already see elements that set up her character arc, particularly her relationship with Mickey, which is doomed to fail progressively as she grows more attached to the Doctor. I think it’s a great idea to introduce an ordinary companion for the series’ reintroduction: this way, she can be developed gradually as the season progresses, allowing us to follow the impact the Doctor has on her and her evolution, which will climax in the Season 1 finale, all brilliantly portrayed by Billie Piper.

What makes "Rose" special as an episode is that, despite some truly poignant emotional moments, it manages to stay balanced by alternating between more emotional and serious moments with excellent humor (I’m thinking particularly of the entire scene between Jackie and the Doctor, as well as other comedic moments due to the contrast between the Doctor’s existence and human life). The episode maintains a balance, never sinking into emotional heaviness or becoming embarrassingly unserious, and it does so with brilliance.

There are, however, a few moments I find less successful. The sequence with Mickey turned into a plastic mannequin is really kitschy, and while I think it has some charm, today it mostly feels ridiculous. Although the pacing is excellent throughout, toward the end it becomes less consistent and more rushed, particularly the moment with the Autons and the Nestene Consciousness, which feels expedited and gives the impression it was included simply because they needed a villain in the episode.

However, these few flaws are largely overshadowed by the episode’s strengths: the chemistry between Eccleston and Billie Piper is excellent, and the Autons, though underdeveloped and rushed in my opinion, remain a credible threat. This is nothing compared to the achievement of this episode, which is a superb reintroduction and arguably the most important episode of the RTD1 era.

In conclusion, "Rose" is an excellent reintroduction to the modern series. It succeeds in being both a convincing continuation of the classics and a solid reintroduction for a new audience. It’s an episode that already showcases the qualities of the season to come, driven by excellent writing and outstanding acting.

// Old Review

This is probably the nu-who episode I re-watched the most and I realize how much it successfully pulled off everything it attempted. The episode works perfectly as a re-introduction of the Doctor as a character while also introducing his character arc of a Doctor traumatized by the time war and trying to come to terms with himself and in only a handful of really well written interactions we instantly get the stakes of the character, his mysterious lore and heavier backstory with a lot of emotional impact (I especially really like Eccleston's monologue comparing himself to how the earth is spinning). What I think is great is also how everything is balanced with a lot of comedic bits to avoid making an episode who is too heavy or too dark emotionally (I really like all the Jackie bits) and while I think some moments are definitely too cheesy for their own good (The plastic mickey bit especially) or that the pacing is a bit weird at times, I still think it's overally well executed and that the highlights overshadow easily those flaws.

Overall a great introduction and a stellar first episode for one of the best new who seasons.