DOCTOR WHO, SERIES 1 EPISODE 8:

FATHER'S DAY

Doctor: Ninth (Christopher Eccleston)

Companion: Rose

September 2023

Screencap from Father's Day: the face of Pete, staring through a frosted-glass window. He looks shocked, or maybe like he's realizing something.

Wow, okay. Wow.

I realize that, at the time of writing this, I've skipped a couple episodes in the writeup. In my defense, at the last watch party I attended I literally got a concussion - but I'm better now! It's all good, we're all fine. Which is good because it's just in time to watch Father's Day.

On my first watch through of this episode, maybe 8 years ago, I don't remember what I thought of it. It sort of passed over my head. Now I am very aware of everything that it is doing, and everything it does it pulls off excellently. On a rewatch, this might be one of my favorite episodes of Doctor Who, ever. I do think it's the best episode of the season so far and I seriously doubt anything is going to top it, even considering the highs we have coming up!

Like I said, I saw this at a watch party with a few friends, and by the episode's end there was not a dry eye in the house. Father's Day is probably one of the more experimental episodes in 2005's series one, what with its time loops and strange mechanics and fixation on Rose's character, and good GOD but it pulls it off. It is, despite its presumably comparative CGI budget, something of a bottle episode: let's lock everyone in one building together, and force them to resolve their issues for forty minutes. And god. God!

Spoilers below:

The character of Pete is so excellently played. From the first way we see him being something of a doof, through the unexpected marital troubles between him and Jackie (a young Jackie! I love her!), all the way to the heartrending ending. Pete is smart, and you see that he's smart in a way that we haven't really seen other characters like Jackie or Mickey or Adam be. He puts the pieces together: we see him putting the pieces together in his head. It is subtle, but it is so goddamn well acted and sold perfectly. We can totally believe that Pete is the kind of guy who would be planning a dozen different business ventures, including things like solar panels, because we see that he has the knowhow to do it. We can also totally believe that he's kind of a loser with a failing marriage, because practically everything he does ties into that! But also - we believe that, had Rose had the opportunity to meet him, he would have been a great dad. And we can miss him all the more because of that.

And I haven't even talked about the time fuckery! The TARDIS being transformed into AN EMPTY POLICE BOX is perhaps the greatest single “oh-shit” and “of-course!” moment in the entire series so far, because my god! Of course it is! But also - that means that something has gone very, very wrong. It's extremely strong. All the way to the vanishing people, the moment with the Doctor talking to the couple-to-be, reassuring them - it is strong character moments all the way down. It is so goddamn excellent. I wish I could ennumerate my feelings on this episode better, but it is so good.

Overall Thoughts:

I dunno, man, maybe it's just cause I watched it back to back with the (spectacularly middling) The Long Game, but Father's Day is like. Solidly one of the best episodes of this show ever. I don't know why we don't talk about it more. Yes, it's better than Dalek, better than Rose and The End of the World, it will probably be better (to me) than The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances and the season finales, because I am that much of a sucker for an emotional, character-driven story. And by god but does Father's Day deliver.

Top of the season. No contest.