The Doctor, Rose, and Ricky (Mickey, whatever)
Hey, I rhyme!
Welcome to Path Through Doctor Who for season 2! (Hey, I rhyme!)
As with the Path for season 1, the purpose of this post is to make it easier for you to catch up on Doctor Who in time for you to catch season 6, and understand the overarching plot and basic ideas. I’ll give you a mini-recap of each episode, and tell you which ones are completely vital to watch – and which ones you can skip. (As I said before, though, “skippable” does not mean “sucks”, by any means. I personally recommend geeking out with the rest of us and watching everything, especially in the Tenth Doctor’s seasons.)
Ready? Allons-y!
“The Christmas Invasion” – 2.01 – Must-Watch
Nope, you can’t skip this one – it’s a new season, and a new (and legendary) Doctor! Unfortunately, he’s not yet recovered from the change he made in the season one finale. While Rose struggles to deal with her beloved Doctor’s transformation, London comes under attack by a warrior race called the Sycorax, who are playing dirty. This episode introduces and establishes the insanely awesome Tenth Doctor. Prepare to fall in love.
“New Earth” – 2.02 – Must-Watch
The new Doctor takes Rose to New Earth, where they find a hospital able to cure every disease. Sounds like Heaven… but the Doctor knows better. Rose and the Doctor must find out what’s up, and what – or who – is behind it. Old friends and old villains show up, and there are some hilarious bodyswitching scenes that have to be seen to be believed.
“Tooth and Claw” – Skippable
This one’s a lot of fun, with werewolves and Queen Victoria – and yes, you read that right. Queen Victoria makes a stop at a Scottish household, but she doesn’t know that the house has been taken over by bald warrior monks. (Yeah, I know, this is reading like crackfic.) They’ve got something special caged in the basement, and on top of all of it, the Doctor and Rose have a ten quid bet that Rose can’t make the Queen say “we are not amused”. Loads of fun, but entirely self-contained and not essential to the season’s arc.
“School Reunion” – Skippable
This, like “Father’s Day”, is a tough call. One of the pre-reboot Doctor’s companions, Sarah Jane Smith, runs into the Doctor as he and Rose are investigating a school where funny business is going on. It turns out that the school is being run by an alien race called the Krillitanes, who are using the kids in the school to try and give themselves god-like powers. While it gives you a glimpse of who the Doctor was before Nine, it doesn’t advance the overall plot. It’s still good, though. And it’s got Giles from Buffy. That never hurts.
The Doctor and Reinette. (The actors became a couple. Can you blame either of them?)
“The Girl In The Fireplace” – Must-Watch
This episode is a gem, and is on my personal list of top DW episodes. The Doctor, Rose, and Mickey arrive on a seemingly deserted spaceship, and they find that it has windows into Earth’s past – or, rather, into one single Earthling’s past. It’s not just any random person, either – Madame de Pompadour (Reinette), mistress to Louis XV. The Doctor has to save Reinette while figuring out just what the hell is going on with the bizarre spaceship.
“Rise of the Cybermen”/”The Age of Steel” – Must-Watch
The gang land on an alternate Earth, where Rose’s dad is still alive, rich, and she was never born. Oh, and Mickey’s a badass, Jackie’s a snob, and there’s a guy who wants to build an army of man-machine Cybermen. The Doctor and crew have to form a resistance and take the Cybermen down before the Earth is converted.
“The Idiot’s Lantern” – Skippable
Rose and The Doctor try for an Elvis concert in NYC, but end up in London on the day of Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation instead. People are buying the cheapest television sets possible for the event, but for some reason, people who buy from one particular shop end up faceless, with no brain activity. Who – or what – is behind it?
“The Impossible Planet”/”The Satan Pit” – Must-Watch
The Doctor and Rose arrive on a ship in the outer reaches of space, where “Welcome To Hell” greets them. They quickly are overcome by the ship’s servants – the grotesquely-faced Ood, and find out that the humans running the ship are up against a force that the Doctor cannot and will not believe exists. The Ood are a race that we will encounter again and will be important, so for this reason, you can’t skip it.
“Love & Monsters” – Skippable
This is an interesting episode – it focuses not on the Doctor, but on a group of people who get together because their lives have been impacted in some way or another by him. It starts with them being a support group of sorts, and they become a close group of friends. A new member pops up, and starts eating away at the group’s bonds. Who is he and what is he up to?
“Fear Her” – Skippable
The Doctor and Rose land in London, 2012 just in time for the Olympics. Children are mysteriously disappearing right before people’s eyes, and the answer seems to lie with a little girl named Chloe and her drawings. Not the best Doctor Who has ever done, and that’s probably the only time I’ll ever say that.
“Army of Ghosts”/”Doomsday” – Must-Watch
Rose and the Doctor get called back to London by Jackie, who shows them that the ghosts of everyone’s loved ones are showing up at a specific time every day. Torchwood gets involved – very involved – and the Earth becomes a battleground. Realities are merging, and can Rose survive it?
- – - – -
So there you go! Season 2. Hooked yet? You should be. In season 3, we’ll meet new companions – and new foes!
LamoreVincera
LamoreVincera has been a geek chick since the third grade, when she discovered Star Wars, Luke Skywalker, and a penchant for blond-haired farm boys. She has a lifetime-long love of fantasy, sci-fi, history, and medicine, and is currently working on achieving her dream of becoming a midwife, as well as working on a novel. She can be contacted at LamoreVincera @ hotmail . com and followed on Twitter at the link below.
Related posts:
thanks to seasons two, three and four, I am madly, deeply, damagingly in love with David Tennant.
Just saw Girl in the Fireplace on TV earlier today.