NuWho Review: Series 1 Episode 12 “Bad Wolf”

By: Russell T. Davies

**Spoilers**

If you have not yet watched this episode, please go and do so before proceeding.

           If only it hadn’t started out with a recap of the tortuous The Long Game!  

           Thankfully, once the episode actually starts, the action and mystery is right there and we get a fine introduction as The Doctor (quite literally) falls into the Big Brother house. This opening is quirky and hilarious and makes you want to stick around for what comes after the credits (unlike the aforementioned yawn-fest).

Favorite Moments & Random Thoughts:

- So, after the references to The Long Game (which wouldn’t have been quite so unbearable if we hadn’t had to see the Jagrafess again) and The Doctor joining the Big Brother contestants, we are then shown what happened to Rose and Jack – ladies first, of course. 

- Rose finds herself facing down the Anne Droid on…what else…The Weakest Link. After a bit of incoherent spluttering, she settles down behind her podium and starts giggling. Gosh, Rose really is acting like a child, isn’t she? Why is she giggling like that? If it were me, I would personally be more worried about that beam of light that got through the doors “Genghis Khan and the whole Mongol hoard” couldn’t. It’s like her character is going downhill from what it was in her first few episodes. 

- Speaking of Jack, there is no spluttering when he wakes to find two female androids clucking over him (one gets the feeling that this might not be such an unusual thing for him) and we discover that he is on something that resembles a rather twisted version of What Not To Wear. Yup, that’s right, a makeover show. Could he be any happier? Well, apparently yes when the defabricator removes…ahem…everything and he discovers that he’s on prime time television naked as the day he was born. Needless to say, his reaction is rather humorous and typical Jack Harkness. *rolls eyes*

- Also, did you notice the throwaway line about President Schwartzenegger? Woah…this is in the future! 

- I love how the entire game show thing is just a gigantic red herring among red herrings that is used to hide the real threat. (Even the game ‘controllers’ are just normal, pretty decent folk doing their job rather than cackling psychopaths bent on world domination.) Although – I still can't figure something out: why does that woman have to be all wired up in order for the games to run? In this day and age, couldn’t some sort of super computer do it? I mean, I know that the human brain is the most amazing computer ever. But still, it doesn’t make much sense to have her tied up Shelob-style.  

- The Bad Wolf linking sequence is one of the most awesome parts of this episode, not in the least because Rose finally uses her brain and figures it out. The way it is put here too (Making us think that it is something sinister, when it really just turns out to be Rose a la deus ex machina) is a brilliant red herring. Much as I wish the thread had been addressed earlier in the season, I see one reason for it to have lingered this long and that is the fact Rose only just now noticed. See? That’s why it wasn’t even mentioned until Boom Town and why it’s only being explored here. But that delay doesn’t take away from the mesmerizing flashbacks and time vortex as it finally dawns on our blond heroine that something is going on.

- You know, The Doctor needs to stop promising people that he’ll get them out alive. Usually when he forms an attachment to a smart, sweet person and promises to make everything all right you can pretty much slate that person for death at some point in the episode. Although, unlike those cases I mentioned, here you don’t get the feeling that Lynda-with-a-Y will definitely die. There is actually hope that she’ll make it out and replace Rose as the companion. 

- Oh Lynda! She is, without a doubt, my favourite character from this episode. She’s rather almost timid when you first meet her, but you quickly realise that underneath the blue sweats and pigtail buns lies a heart of gold and a practical, wonder-filled mind that works well with The Doctor. “You were here 100 years ago? You’re looking good on it.” “I moisturize.” 

- I love the way it turns out that The Doctor is the one who caused all of the problems back during the events of The Long Game. It’s always good to see a plot twist like that and to realize that it’s not all sunshine and roses and “Everybody Lives!”

- Roderick, Rose’s fellow Weakest Link contestant, is a real manipulative prick. He’s smart (better at strategy than her, at any rate) but he’s the stereotypical glory-seeker. We can forgive him a bit, though, because no one wants to get disintegrated. The stakes are noticably higher on this particular game show. You win or you die. Or (in the case of What Not To Wear)you get your face taken off. No wonder Jack pulled a gun on them!

- Rose’s panicky begging when she realizes that she’s lost is effective, even if it’s a bit pathetic. “The Doctor wouldn’t just leave me…blah, blah, blah.” Why don’t you just duck behind the podium, sweetie? Or behind jerk-extraordinaire Roderick?

- Still, the music and the manner in which this scene is shot manage to make us feel both her panic and the desperation of Jack and The Doctor. It also helps the mood when The Doctor slowly stoops down and touches the dust that had been Rose (nice bit of foreshadowing, maybe?) and everything goes muted - even the men arresting him. I might not care much for Rose at this point, but this scene still affected me because I was feeling The Doctor's pain. But not even Gold's score could ruin this poignant moment, thanks to the acting of Eccleston, nor will it kill the scenes that follow where The Doctor is basically a walking zombie until he and Jack decide to take action.

- Captain Jack and The Doctor working together is always awesome to watch. I can’t stress this enough because it is the best part of any episode containing these two. Whether they are bantering or being brothers-at-arms, if you include the Captain and The Doctor you've got a recipe for great. The way they take down the guards together and then break into floor 500 is marvellous (as is Jack figuring out the transmat beam with a bit of help from the TARDIS). 

- Then Rose wakes up in a mysterious corridor. May I just stop here and say that I love how our first view of the Dalek is via their point of view (through the eyestalk) and through exterminate beams. After the episode Dalek everyone knows what one of the pesky pepperpots looks like, so having just a murky reflection of one showing is enough to get the point across. Sadly, as soon as they establish communication with The Doctor, the mood is totally killed by monologues that would make Syndrome from The Incredibles proud!

It's a shame that after that amazing reintroduction where they were both mysterious and cunning, the poor Daleks are being demoted to Exposition Exterminators. Still, the episode manages to climb to an edge-of-the-seat climax (especially when the 'Next Time' trailer shows The Doctor saying he's going to die) and wraps up most loose ends while still leaving the most important to be resolved. As the first of a two-parter, I give Bad Wolf an 4/5 in terms of storytelling, characters, and atmosphere. I look forward to reviewing the resolution in The Parting of the Ways.



What did you think? Do you agree with my rating? If not - what would you say differently?