Who Review: The Parting of the Ways
The Doctor materializes the TARDIS on the Dalek ship where Rose is held captive, piloting it such that Rose ends up inside. Outside the TARDIS, the Doctor confronts the Dalek Emperor, who seems to have developed a god complex. Even more unnerving to the Doctor is the fact that these Daleks have concepts of worship and blasphemy. It seems the Emperor Dalek has been transmatting people from Earth using the Satellite Five TV shows (see “Bad Wolf”) and harvesting their DNA to create new Daleks. While he claims they are purged of human impurity, the Doctor believes they still retain some humanity, which is driving them mad. And now the Daleks want to wipe out the human race and make a paradise on Earth for themselves. To save humanity, the Doctor needs to destroy an entire Dalek fleet. The odds are slim, but there is a way; a way that usually requires more time than he has to implement. One that could also destroy not only himself and the Daleks, but all life on Earth. As the Doctor struggles with the moral dilemma, the Dalek fleet draws closer to Earth. Time is running out for the last of the Time Lords…
SPOILER ALERT!! My comments may (and likely will) contain spoilers for those that haven’t seen the episode. If you want to stay spoiler-free, please watch the story before you continue reading!
The first season finale of the reboot pits the Doctor against his classic foes, the Daleks, and gives him impossible odds. There is no way he can fend off an entire Dalek fleet, and even if he pulls off his Delta Wave generator, the collateral damage would be more than his conscience can bear. Especially since he’s still burdened with the consequences of the Time War and his (apparent) destruction of the Daleks, taking his own people along with them. This is how you create good drama: give the antagonist all the advantages, and make things as hopeless as possible for the hero. That’s certainly what’s going on here.
Helping the Doctor are a handful of humans, led by Captain Jack. Lynda, the girl from the Big Brother house, looks as if she’s being groomed to be a TARDIS companion. In “Bad Wolf,” she asked the Doctor if she could travel with him, and he agreed. Then there’s that awkward moment before she leaves to stand watch for the Daleks when they say goodbye. The Doctor leans forward to give her a kiss on the cheek, but she holds out her hand. They’re like a couple of school kids. We’re left hoping it all works out, but knowing it won’t. And Lynda’s death scene is perhaps one of the saddest and most powerful scenes of the series. She looks toward the noise of the Daleks trying to burn through the door behind her. Then she sees something out of the corner of her eye. As she slowly turns her attention back to the window in front, three Daleks rise up, hovering in space. The color drains from her face as the foremost Dalek raises its gun. We don’t hear a sound, but we see the Dalek’s lights blinking a familiar four syllable pattern before the window shatters and Lynda screams.
Captain Jack Harkness has, over the course of the past few stories, become part of the TARDIS crew. When we first met him, he was Time Agent turned con man, and certified coward. Now he’s stirring up the troops and leading them into a futile battle, just to buy the Doctor time to construct the Delta Wave generator. In the end, Jack is the last man standing. And when his weapons fail him, he simply stands his ground and lets the Daleks exterminate him. It’s such an abrupt and ruthless end to someone who seemed to be part of the team.
As for Rose, the Doctor sent her home, tricking her into the TARDIS, then using his sonic screwdriver to remote dematerialize her back to Earth. Rose’s reaction to being left back on Earth with her Mum and Mickey is, in a sense, understandable. After all that she has seen and done with the Doctor, how can a mundane life on Earth satisfy her? I also think Jackie and MIckey are justified in their indignation, since Rose essentially tells them their lives are boring and meaningless. But Sarah Jane Smith had a similar experience when the Doctor left her back on Earth. As she will say in the next season’s episode, “School Reunion,” after you’ve been with the Doctor, how can you go back to “normal life”? It must have been the hardest thing for Jackie to lend her help to Rose, knowing she was sending her daughter into danger. But she knew Rose wouldn’t be happy otherwise. That moment when she pulls around the corner in the truck was significant, marking Jackie’s final acceptance that the Doctor was a part of their lives, like it or not. This will be underscored in the coming Christmas episode.
I suppose when Rose steps out of the TARDIS having absorbed the Time Vortex, and destroys the entire Dalek fleet with a wave of her hand, it’s a bit of a deus ex machina solution to the Doctor’s predicament. However, I think it’s defensible. First, we were told in episode two that the TARDIS is telepathic, and we saw the power of the “heart of the TARDIS” in “Boom Town,” when it essentially reset Margaret Slitheen. We have also now been told that it was the TARDIS, in the form of Rose, who took the words “Bad Wolf” and scattered them through time and space–not for the Doctor, however, but for herself. They were acting as breadcrumbs, to lead the TARDIS to this moment when Rose will save the Doctor’s life. A bit of wibbly-wobbly-timey-wimey stuff that doesn’t bear thinking too hard about, but it works for the story. So, I don’t feel at all cheated at this resolution.
The Time Vortex also gives a reason for the Doctor’s regeneration: he saves Rose’s life by absorbing it into himself, and then transferring it back to the TARDIS. Doing this causes his cells to start dying, which triggers the first regeneration of the new series. I had heard that Eccleston wasn’t staying on for season two, but I kept this information from my kids. They may have been shocked, and they may have complained about not being warned. But I gave them something I have never seen and always wanted to: a surprise regeneration. You’re welcome, kids. Seriously, though, this regeneration will always have a special place in my heart. Not only did it thrill me to see how they would handle this phenomenon, but to see the look on my children’s faces when they saw the Doctor change. At this time we didn’t know David Tennant, aside from his turn as Barty Crouch Jr in “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire,” so we had no idea whether he would be any good. Also, as is typical, we had become used to seeing Christopher Eccleston as the Doctor, so any new guy in the role was going to take some getting used to.
This is “Must-See” Who. Of course, if you’ve watched “Bad Wolf,” you will want to watch “The Parting of the Ways.” But even if only for the regeneration, this story is well worth your time. A fitting conclusion to one of the most successful re-boots in television history.
