I have always loved this episode more than most of fandom (hee! I can probably say that about every single episode except the Moffat ones, which go in the other direction). I've never actually watched any of the reality shows in question, but I still found all that very amusing and it then really worked for the tragic twist (people die!), the shocker (omg! Rose!), and then the twisted yet hopeful twist (Rose is alive! But people are getting culled down and turned into Daleks! Ick!). It builds so well, from such comic beginnings.
This really is, yeah, the episode where Jack is necessary as TARDIS crewfor the first time. For TEC/TDD, he could have been just a one-off character and it wouldn't have made a difference, while in "Boomtown", he was mostly filler (amusing filler that had chemistry with the Doctor and Rose, though). Here, though, we need Jack to be there for the Doctor -- to back him up and to be the person who can find out that Rose is alive and share that joy with him in a way that wouldn't ring as true for a one-off character.
And I definitely peg that ending speech of the Doctor's as the moment when Rose realizes that she's fallen in love with this guy.
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Date: 2008-12-01 05:52 pm (UTC)This really is, yeah, the episode where Jack is necessary as TARDIS crewfor the first time. For TEC/TDD, he could have been just a one-off character and it wouldn't have made a difference, while in "Boomtown", he was mostly filler (amusing filler that had chemistry with the Doctor and Rose, though). Here, though, we need Jack to be there for the Doctor -- to back him up and to be the person who can find out that Rose is alive and share that joy with him in a way that wouldn't ring as true for a one-off character.
And I definitely peg that ending speech of the Doctor's as the moment when Rose realizes that she's fallen in love with this guy.