Raven's Roads
Living an interesting life: the travels and musings
of motorcycling author Linda R. Moore

Jul 8, 2007

Thinking Out Loud: The end of the Rose

This week’s waffling concerns the last episode of Doctor Who Season Two. If you haven't seen it, you need to go away. Now. I’m going to talk about it and it will get spoilerish. Of course, I’d already been given spoilers by the time I saw it–what do I expect, Season Three is in full flow already–but still, it wasn't at all what I anticipated.

Yeah, okay, so it’s Doctor Who again. Maybe. I have a feeling that this one will get tangential.

As with Season One, I just started watching and couldn't put it down, metaphorically speaking. If sleep hadn’t been a necessity, I guess we could have watched the whole lot end to end, for a while. But these last two episodes (it was a two-parter) just blew me away.

For a start: Daleks and Cybermen. I was literally squee-ing with delight. Daleks vs. Cybermen! The pissing match between the two races had me in tears of laughter. I was just waiting for one of these two master races to go “Can’t get me, nyergh, nyergh, nyergh.” The writer must have had fun with this. So. Much. Fun.

“So! You propose an alliance?”
“Yes.”
“We decline.”

And then they roll out the imprisoned Daleks from–get this–the Dalek-shaped Time Lord “stolen device.” And they start floating, thousands and millions of little pepper pots floating through the air. Squee! Just, squee!

I can’t begin to tell you how absolutely delightful amd how hilariously funny all this is to me. Add to it a witty dialogue and some brilliant acting and it can’t help but be a winner.

And then, it all turns around on a dime. It goes from almost farcical comedy to sheer human pain and it’s done so quickly, so very skilfully, that you are left going Ouch.

The circumstances of Rose’s departure were absolutely beautifully done. There is raw emotion, pathos, a ripping sense of loss. You’re expecting one kind of story, and something completely different happens. I had actually thought that Rose chose to enter the different dimension. Apparently not. So, spoilers notwithstanding, I still got a surprise.

And then he comes back. He loves her, so he makes that final effort to say goodbye. Need energy? No problem! He’ll just harness the power of a supernova. But he still never quite gets the words out. They will never see one another again. And that, even through the medium of a fictional character, hurts. The script writers knew that. I wonder how many other people were sitting their with their hankies pretending that they had dust in their eyes because it’s just a silly TV show.

You know, “I love you” should never be something you are afraid to say, that you delay saying. Say it with words or say it with a thousand deeds. But do something, because by the time you have the guts to say it or show it, it could be too late. Our lives turn on a dime. And humans don’t get a chance to come back from the dead, so if you’re frugal with your expressions of love in this lifetime, you’re kind of hosed. Like one o’ clock in the morning, too late comes around all too quickly.

See, told you: tangential.

So, you know what I’m going to tell you to do now, of course.

Go snuggle your Time Lord. Now. Of course.