DOCTOR WHO, SERIES 2 EPISODE 4:
THE GIRL IN THE FIREPLACE
Doctor: Tenth (David Tennant)
Companions: Rose, Mickey
January 2024
Yeah, I mean, I thought it was okay. Bit full.
Hi! Been a while. I’m back, now, and watching more Doctor Who.
The Girl in the Fireplace is one of those episodes that “everybody loves”, along with stuff like Blink and The Empty Child, which seems to be largely tied to the fact that Steven Moffat wrote it before he became showrunner in 2011. But even among those it’s usually second- or third-tier, not quite as excellent or transcendental or scary as the Weeping Angels or...the Empty Child. Rewatching it, I’m struck by a couple of things.
Firstly, having since seen practically all of Steven Moffat’s head-writer-written episodes, I’m way more able to point out the recurring things that he does, now that I know what to look for. For example, the weird throughline of a lady falling in love with the Doctor after having met him several times throughout her life, starting when she was a child. I don’t actually think that’s like, enough of a throughline or focused on in a specific enough way to make it fully creepy, but it is kind of odd and I’m not the biggest fan.
The romance here (between the Doctor and Madame du Pompadour) feels rushed in the most direct way. They meet, what, four times over the course of the episode? And somehow that’s enough for not only Mme. du Pompadour to fall in love with him (something I can more or less buy even if the episode doesn’t sell it as well as it could—she has after all been taking “the slow route”) but also for the Doctor to, if not fall in love, at least get deeply emotionally invested in his relationship with her. To the show’s credit, Sophia Myles is really very good as Reinette, and David Tennant continues to be excellent, so it doesn’t flop—it’s just a bit of an awkward note when you think about it.
And this episode is, to be clear, jam-packed with things to think about. There’s Madame du Pompadour, the romance, the time windows, the clockwork robots, the ship’s arteries (so to speak), and Mickey in space. I’ve just discussed one of those things. It pulls it off functionally—nothing feels particularly crushed for air, even Mickey, thank fuck—but not stupendously, and I come away from it feeling like it would have been a better episode if just one of those ideas had been left on the cutting-room floor.
Let’s talk about Mickey, who’s only been absent in 2 out of 5 episodes so far this season (if you count the Christmas special as a season opener). That’s a very strong showing from our boy! I do like Mickey, quite a bit, and rewatching this has only cemented that. He’s a bit of a dick, but his heart is well and truly in the right place, and watching him get excited about being on a proper alien spaceship and chasing down robots with fire extinguishers with Rose is a lot of fun. I do, as per usual, wish he had more to do: he seems to have sort of been more of a focal character in the last episode, which is odd, because this ought to be much more interesting new ground to break. Mickey’s never been to space! Space has been brought to Mickey several times now, but this is the first time he’s been out exploring it with Rose and the Doctor. That’s fun stuff! And we do get a couple moments, but they get a bit quashed under all the horses and wigs. I do like the horse, to be clear, but come on, it’s Mickey. He deserves better, as always. Even despite that, though, he does get to have a few good moments, like at the end, where he quite successfully subtly ushers Rose away as the Doctor is having a moment. Overall Thoughts:
The Girl in the Fireplace is not by any means a bad episode, nor even a mediocre one, but it’s one that I struggle to place among my favorites. It’s a fun watch, and an interesting watch, but I never feel like it truly succeeds at what it sets up to do. For that reason, I think it’s probably the least interesting episode of the season to me so far, despite the fact that it’s pretty good. So hey, at least Series 2 is off to a strong start!