Either way, Doctor Who was back in last night's episode, and to be honest, I wished during my screening of it for more eps from him. But seeing as how the fans don't like "humor" in their show, that's not likely to be the case. Now onto the episode.
The fourth episode of Series 2, "The Girl In The Fireplace," deals a mystery. A ship, seemingly abandoned was boarded by The TARDIS Crew (with Mickey in tow). There's little or no clue as to what the crew were working on - that is until the Doctor comes across a fireplace. Having hit a secret button, The Doctor went through a time window which lead to the room of a little girl. The little girl would grow up to be Reinette (Sophia Myles), a mistress to a rather famous king, but not before an Auton-like race (change the plastic heads with android heads) attempted to take her body and use her parts to repair their ship. Of course The TARDIS Crew puts a stop to the whole thing, but a mystery still remained: what was the connection between The Doctor and Reinette?
I loved to be confused - I also liked to be confused to where I'd watch an episode again to get more answers. I don't like being confused to the point where I never care for anything on the screen. "The Girl In The Fireplace" was an episode where whether you got the answers or not, everything mattered: the characters had purpose, the dialogue (especially between The Doc and Reinette) was honest and passionate. This episode was so good that I started to feel like the White Sox last year.
Major kudos go to Steven Moffat, who proved that no matter who you cast as the Doctor, it's all about the writing. He made Christopher Eccelston a bit more of a human being with his "Empty Child"/"Doctor Dances" two-parter. Here, unlike those two episodes, the screen was never crowded with a lot of people. You had the Doctor, Rose, and Mickey and Reinette and the Auton-like creatures. You didn't need Captain Jack, Annie, Jamie the Zombie and another guy called The Doctor. Dumping all of that, Moffat concentrates on the least to make the most of an hour; it must have been a relief for David Tennant to get an episode like this, he seemed so damn happy. I loved his happy THIS TIME.
Mickey (Noel Clarke) has been written as a bad sidekick mostly, for "School Reunion" and "The Girl In The Fireplace," his accent wasn't as thick and his words seemed — well — normal. The same could have been said for Rose Tyler (Billie Piper) who while having less to do with this episode also toned down her accent and become as clear as a whistle. Even more wonderful to finally hear David Tennant and catch every lovely word coming out of his mouth - he's even starting to become a more romantic Doctor in this script. This was how Elizabeth Sladen's episode should have been written.
My father always complained about the lack of language clarity in British Television. So far in Series 2, I would have agreed with him; Mr. Moffat, however made me a believer that all Who isn't a wash, that quality can be achieved under the right script. I was waiting for a sex scene - I was that into it.
Steven Moffat, I love you.