Marines: We surely took our time getting here, but we did it!
I’ve got to say that the most surprising thing about Series 2 was how very little of it I remembered. Sometimes I caught myself asking myself, “did I watch this? Did I skip this? How did I erase this completely from my mind?” I don’t have the answers for any of those questions, but those impressions speak greatly to the experience of series 2, for me at least.
There were a ton of episodes that felt weak, but it’s a season that is punctuated by lovely character moments, especially if you are invested in the relationship between Rose and the Doctor. So, no, I didn’t remember lots of these plots, but I remembered that I shipped it, basically.
The season is a little bit inconsistent, not only in plots, but in it’s characterization of Rose. She becomes a bit selfish and possessive of the Doctor in ways that might sour her character for some. I was able to forgive her, because I see in her so much of the audience, really. Aren’t we just a bunch of fans who obsess over the Doctor too? Plus, Rose grows. By the end of the season, she’s super involved in the mystery solving and world saving.
Tennant really settles in his role as the Doctor. In fact, looking back, it’s odd to think that this is his first season in that role. He was a little loopy for my tastes at first, but it grows on you. He grows on you, weird facial expression and tongue points and all.
So, that all said, let’s rank them!
- Doomsday – My feelings dictate that this episode top the list. Though the Satan Pit might be a bit better overall, this episode has now emotionally wrecked me twice, and it earns so many points for performance and that ending.
- The Satan Pit – That moment when Rose hears the Doctor’s voice over the intercom and goes through all the emotions is one of the most vivid of this season. I loved the Doctor exploring matters of faith and this was an awesome way to cap a two-parter.
- The Girl in the Fireplace – An fun episode to watch and another peak into the lonely life of the Doctor which nudged my feels.
- The Impossible Planet – Hey, an episode with an interesting premise AND A+ Rose/Ten moments. Remember Creepy Toby? *shudder*
- Army of Ghosts – Pretty on par with The Impossible Planet as both are part ones. This one stood a little less on it’s own, but was still entertaining enough for all of its set-up.
- The Age of Steel – I was less than enthusiastic about this episode in the recap, but stacked up against the rest, I can see it’s highs betters. The best thing of all? Mickey’s arc.
- Rise of the Cybermen – A little bit dull but nothing really offensive, which is nearly a compliment!
- School Reunion – Comparing the silly bits in each of these episodes feels almost impossible. Where do I rank Bat Aliens and french fry oil? Here apparently because I loved all the Sarah Jane bits.
- The Christmas Invasion – A decent introduction to Tennant that gave us classic moments and a fighting hand. I happened to like Rose’s despair at losing Nine, even if he was never hers to lose.
- Tooth and Claw – It’s hard to rank this up against The Christmas Invasion, but I’m giving the slight edge to the latter. Again, the Rose/Doctor moments were A+ but… kung fu monks…?
- New Earth – Too all over the place and I won’t get over the fact that every disease ever was cured by moist touch. BOOO.
- The Idiot’s Lantern – I called this the episode most likely to be forgotten in the recap so I barely bothered to refresh my memory! Past!me said it best.
- Fear Her – This might actually be the worst episode of the bunch, though the one below left a nastier taste in the mouth, if that makes sense. While the premise was fine and some of the characters worthy of sympathy, it was sloppy like only Doctor Who can manage to be.
- Love and Monsters – Blow-job giving paving stone. Sorry, that weighs you all the way to the bottom.
Kirsti: WE FINISHED A THING!!! That was probably way more celebration than finishing a single series warranted, but hey. We celebrate where we can around these parts, you know?
Before we recapped this, I probably would have said that series 2 was my favourite of all the seasons, because I SHIP IT. When you’re just watching casually, it’s easy to gloss over the icky parts and forget the existence of the dodgier episodes. It’s hard to forget the bad and focus on the good when you’ve had to spend three and a half hours recapping Love and Monsters…
ANYWAY.
I still love this series. I do. But I’m not convinced it would beat series 4 in a fight for top spot now. We shall see when series 4 rolls around…
On with the rankings!
- Tooth and Claw – I know, this episode isn’t REALLY that great in the grand scheme of things. But it’s always and forever my favourite because everything about it screams “We just had sex” where Ten and Rose are concerned, and as I may have mentioned a time or twenty, they’re my OTP. Shipping aside, I still think this episode is a lot of fun. We get Queen Victoria being a badass and setting the overall plot arc for the season in motion. We get Tennant with his actual accent. And we get slightly nonsensical ninja monks and a sort of werewolf. Sure, it doesn’t make a ton of sense, but it was FUN. And shippy. Did I mention shippy?
- Doomsday – Oh God, the feels. For days and days and days. I loved Rose in this episode. But I also loved Jackie and Mickey and Pete and Jake. It’s about them as much as it’s about Rose and the Doctor, you know? And the goodbye scene breaks my heart into a thousand pieces every time. Plus, you know, we have sassy Daleks and Cybermen as comic relief. Win.
- The Satan Pit – I’ve always enjoyed this episode, but it wasn’t until I sat down and watched it while taking notes that I realised just how brilliant it is. Seriously, there’s like a tenth of a percentage point separating these top three episodes. It’s really fabulous.
- New Earth – Sure, it’s pretty laden with contrivance. Curing plagues by hugging? Uh, no. Not a thing, Doctor. But I really loved that they brought Cassandra and the Face of Boe back for Rose and Ten’s first proper episode together. Cassandra got a feelsy ending, and we got an episode that wasn’t exclusively dedicated to Rose’s uncertainty about the new Doctor.
- The Impossible Planet – There’s a lot of set up here. But it’s pretty fascinating set up, full of feelsy moments. And Toby’s terrifying smile…
- The Girl in the Fireplace – I really liked the idea of this episode. But the execution was a little shaky for me. I continue to be squicked out by the kiss between Reinette and the Doctor, and I really didn’t like Rose’s characterisation for most of the episode.
- Fear Her – Not necessarily one I’d watch multiple times if given the choice, but I liked the fact that it was a mixture of sci-fi creepiness and real world problems. I mean, dealing with an abusive parent on a children’s television show? That’s pretty intense. And yet, there are probably a lot of kids who saw it and could relate to Chloe’s situation. Sure, the monster of the week was a bit crap. But it gave us edible ball bearings, so I’ll always be grateful for that.
- The Age of Steel – Really, this is only rated as high as it is because of Mickey’s arc which was totally and utterly fabulous.
- The Army of Ghosts – Essentially, this is just set up for Doomsday. But at least it was set up that kept you guessing??
- The Christmas Invasion – For me, this was really rough a lot of the time. I love Harriet Jones, and I love the Tenth Doctor. But I hate the way he acts towards her. Rose’s uncertainty about the Doctor’s new face was great, because the audience go through that uncertainty with her. But while there were a lot of good moments? Overall, it added up to meh.
- Rise of the Cybermen – The parallel universe was fun and all, but I have precisely zero fucks to give about the Cybermen or their new origin story.
- School Reunion – It causes me physical pain to rank this episode this low, because SARAH JANE SMITH!!!! And K-9!!! But if you put aside the wonderful reunion moments and the delightful return of Classic Who characters, it really wasn’t a good episode. Sorry, Giles.
- The Idiot’s Lantern – There’s not really anything more to say other than “this was dumb”. At least the costumes were glorious?
- Love and Monsters – So I actually really enjoyed getting a look at the Doctor from an outsider’s perspective, because it’s the side of things we never see. But literally everything else was nasty and should never have happened.
Tune in next week when we recap The Runaway Bride and then start series 3, which hopefully won’t take us nearly as long to cover. As always, let us know in comments what your top episodes (or moments) are and how you feel about the series!
I'm a 30-something south Floridan who loves the beach but cannot swim. Such is my life, full of small contradictions and little trivialities. My main life goals are never to take life too seriously, but to do everything I attempt seriously well. After that, my life goals devolve into things like not wearing pants and eating all of the Zebra Cakes in the world. THE WORLD.
I'm a 30-something librarian and I still live with my parents because I'm super broke. Leader of Team Heartless Cow. I have an inexplicable love for 90s television, eat too much chocolate, and read more than is good for me.