DOCTOR WHO: "Human Nature"

[rj_anderson]

If I had just one thing to say about the episode it would be this:

Dear Doctor: If you are going to download your Time Lord essence into a pocket-watch and inform your companion that she is responsible to open it at some crucial moment, you may want to try, y'know, GIVING IT TO HER.

Seriously, my exasperation over that bungled plot detail nearly spoiled my enjoyment of the rest of the show. Of course, if he'd given it to Martha for safekeeping she would probably have put it in some perfectly logical and secure place where it couldn't be lost, found by Timothy or stolen by the Family, and then there would be no Plot. But I think we ought to have at least had some explanation for why he didn't.

It was probably not possible for this episode to be as good as I anticipated, so I don't want to be too picky. The atmosphere is wonderful, and Joan and Timothy in particular are perfect. I also like the Family, though I am sad that Aphasia is not, apparently, Aphasia. And that the balloon appears to be just a balloon. I hope I am wrong about that, especially the last part.

I do think -- guardedly because we haven't seen the second half yet -- that this story was more powerful when it was Seven playing the part of John Smith instead of Ten. Because with Seven you had the sense that he sincerely didn't grok what humans feel like when they fall in love, and that subconsciously (or possibly consciously, you never knew with Seven) he knew he needed to, and when he became John Smith there was this whole new side of him you'd never seen before and it was poignant and surprising and wonderful. Whereas Ten is everybody's boyfriend and we already know he's needy and vulnerable behind the breezy exterior, so there has to be some highly plotty reason for him to become human instead, and when he's human he's actually less sympathetic and emotionally complex, so the whole exercise seems to be designed primarily to torture Martha. (Who handles it very well on the whole, bless her. Have I said lately that I love Martha? Because I really do.)

Anyway, I am looking forward to seeing how the story wraps up next week. Perhaps it will break the tradition of the second part being a bit of a letdown? That would be nice.

Comments

[boji.livejournal.com]

Who handles it very well on the whole, bless her. Have I said lately that I love Martha? Because I really do.

I adore Martha and think she's this generations Sarah-Jane Smith, just in a lab coat. And I second you on the wish for next week.

[kateorman.livejournal.com]

In the book, the equivalent of the watch can't be kept about the human person, lest it distort same - it even partly Time Lord-ises the tree it's hidden in! There definitely needs to be some similar explanation in the TV story - otherwise it makes no sense for Martha not to keep the watch pressed to her bosom, to so speak.

[ide-cyan.livejournal.com]

My favourite part was the Doctor's parents' names. I haven't read the book yet, though I have a copy of it.

[nightbeast.livejournal.com]

The confidential suggests that it was the TARDIS' choice to create John Smith the 1913 school teacher, son of a watchmaker. So once the chameleon arch has done it's amnesia thing (putting all Time Lord knowledge into the only part of a human brain that could cope, dreams), I presume it was the TARDIS that told Martha what to do with John Smith via the monitor.

Martha couldn't remove the watch until it had finished downloading the Doctor's essence, and he was in no mental state to hand it over to her. Martha, to John Smith, is a servant, and he wouldn't give a watch to a lowly maid when he's probably inherited it from his watchmaker father. But he doesn't seem to care much for the watch when it goes missing - the perception filter is evidently a tad strong!

We know the Doctor doesn't think things through properly, particularly when being chased for your immortality. Yet he had chance for a 23-point list of instructions for Martha... Maybe part of the list was 'make me think the watch doesn't work so I'm not tempted to open it'. Who knows? It's episodes like this that make for great fanfic. :)

[gamiila.livejournal.com]

Dear Doctor: If you are going to download your Time Lord essence into a pocket-watch and inform your companion that she is responsible to open it at some crucial moment, you may want to try, y'know, GIVING IT TO HER.

Ha! My thoughts exactly! But it seems fans more knowledgeable than I have already worked out why he couldn't just do that...But is it because I missed the previous episode that I've no idea where this Family comes from, and why they're chasing after him?

[pbristow.livejournal.com]

"But is it because I missed the previous episode that I've no idea where this Family comes from, and why they're chasing after him?"

Nope, the Family are new. All we know about them so far is what's seen/said in "Human Nature".

[--kali--.livejournal.com]

I'm rather glad Martha's not getting all emo about what's going on and is throwing herself into her 'disguise'. Plus she looks like she's inherited her mum's slapping powers.

[pbristow.livejournal.com]

Ah yes, the Jones women are clearly all enthusiastic slappers... [G,D&RVVF]

[serenasnape.livejournal.com]

Quite ... dread to think how Rose would(n't) have coped!

[(Anonymous)]

You've nailed the problem with the emotional arc. Ten is simply too human to start with for his becoming human to be as moving as it should be -- he's already had more romance than the first eight Doctors combined -- and it's tough to get invested in his relationship with Joan given how little we've seen of her.

I will admit to some unexpected regrets, though. I knew Cornell was never in the continuity-addict club, and I guess it's tough to pass on the chance to see a story of yours become Official(tm), but this messes up the Canon+NA timeline in my head pretty badly.

Here's hoping that Eleven is far more alien, for variety, if nothing else. (In the imaginary, never-to-be-filmed seasons in my head, Eleven is tasked with finding the remaining Time Lords and refounding Gallifrey after the absence of their semibenevolent wardship of the universe starts causing more and more problems. Or maybe it should be Twelve. Then I can throw in a Valeyard subplot..)

[kerravonsen]

Agree with you about Aphasia. I think the balloon is just going to be a balloon, though.

there was this whole new side of him you'd never seen before and it was poignant and surprising and wonderful

Yeah, Ten as Mr. Smith is still too much like Ten. You don't get the same feel of "something missing" -- you know that it's being clunky when characters have to tell each other that there's something missing, rather than the audience being able to see it. But then, that is one of the limitations of television, you can't get inside characters' heads.

Though actually, I do like the "highly plotty reason" for him becoming human in the episode; that was one of the weakest aspects of the novel, IMHO.