Since I'm somehow already almost halfway through season four, I guess I should finish saying all the other things I wanted to say about season three. Maybe I should just officially turn this into a Doctor Who blog. I really do have things to say about other things, it's just that... well, Glee is on hiatus and I'm not sure what else to write about here. Oooh actually I just had an idea. More on that soon, maybe tomorrow.
Anyway, so I think my approach to season three is just going to be to comment on the episodes that stood out the most to me.
The only episode this season that I didn't particularly enjoy was "42." It was basically the same as "The Impossible Planet"/"The Satan Pit" except you didn't get to know the ship's crew as well (and they were therefore less interesting), and the monster was also significantly less interesting. It was kind of bland, really.
"Human Nature" and "The Family of Blood" were incredibly good. Seeing the Doctor as a human was an amazingly different perspective. I also loved Martha being the responsible one in charge. I think one of the most interesting aspects of these episodes was seeing the difference between the Doctor's interactions with Joan as a human and as himself. Also his reaction to finding out the truth and having to turn back was just, gah. This whole episode was incredibly well done. And the supporting actors were brilliant, especially Harry Lloyd as Baines.
I loved "Blink." This was an episode I had seen before, but of course I appreciated it all the more now that I understood everything better. I think I also appreciated it more in contrast to the similarly-conceived "Love and Monsters" from season two. I spent the first few minutes of that one thinking it was an interesting concept and being intrigued to seeing where it went... and the rest of the episode being bored out of my tree by the bland characters and predicatable plot. Really its only redeeming feature was the presence of Jackie Tyler. On the other hand, "Blink" had a compelling plot, characters I actually cared about, and a creepy creepy monster. And the scenes with Billy, the police officer, were just so touching. Also, it had some of the funniest lines in the whole series ("a big ball of wibbly wobbly timey-wimey stuff" and "It goes ding when there's stuff" being the ones that come to mind immediately. Overall, a good episode, although in a completely different way from "Human Nature"/"The Family of Blood."
Then there was the season finale three-parter. As I've mentioned before, this was when Martha really earned her stripes in my eyes - kind of a shame it had to happen right at the end of her run. To be honest, I felt a little bit lost throughout these episodes. I feel like they could have done a better job of explaining who the Master was for those of us who are unfamiliar with the classic series. I mean, I got the gist of it, but I feel like a little more exposition would have gone a long way. I did enjoy them overall, though. Seeing the Doctor's reaction to/interactions with another Time Lord was very interesting. I think the thing that impressed me the most about these episodes was how they brought together so many things from earlier in the season - "You are not alone," Harold Saxton, Lazarus, a Time Lord masquerading as human/the pocket watch, the power of words... and so much more subtly than 'Bad Wolf' or 'Torchwood' were handled in the first two seasons. And yay for Captain Jack! And his little Face of Boe line at the end, that was just too good. I know Davies has denied it being 'concrete evidence,' but I don't see why he would write it in otherwise.
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