NuWho Review: Series 1 Episode 8 “Father’s Day”

By: Paul Cornell

**Spoilers**

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

            If you are someone who protests the way that NuWho includes stories focused on the companions and their families rather than just timey-wimey travels, then this episode is not for you. If, however, you like your timey-wimey with a dash of heart-wrenching emotion and just a touch of tight storytelling – then Father’s Day is just the thing for you. Through the story of Pete Tyler (Rose’s deceased father) Paul Cornell tells a story of love, loss, and the dangers of meddling in time. 


Favorite Moments & Random Thoughts:

- This episode begins with a flashback to young Rose being told a bedtime story by Jackie; a bedtime story about Rose’s father, Pete Tyler, who died in a hit-and-run accident when Rose was still just a baby. We then see that this is just Rose’s memory as she is asking The Doctor if they can go back and see her father.

- When The Doctor obliges, Rose ends up saving her father’s life and thus creating a wound in time. The Doctor remonstrates Rose for this fact and she angrily hands her TARDIS key back in after he accuses her of just using him for her own purposes (I can see where he was coming from...). The Doctor angrily stalks out of Pete’s apartment as something sinister watches from above.

- One of the things I love about this episode is that it puts The Doctor and Rose at odds. Oh, they’ve had little hiccups in their partnership before, but it’s never gotten to this point. Every relationship, if it is to be believable, needs to have its rocky sections. Besides, it gave us the Doctor-panic-moment when the TARDIS was converted into a regular phone box.

- The wedding subplot doesn’t really go anywhere, serving mostly as a frame and an excuse to get the characters inside an old church. Also...why is the groom wearing an earring like that? It looks quite suspicious. Davies, do you seriously have to slip that agenda into every episode? It’s quite distracting from the stuff we actually want to see, like the story of Rose, Pete, and The Doctor.

- I’m not quite sure is up with the Reapers, though. Why is it that every time we look through a NuWho monster’s eyes it’s like we’ve donned both oddly coloured glasses and the One Ring? 

- Still, the concept of the Reapers is quite novel, even if their design and fondness for eerie screeching isn’t (they look like silverfish bugs with bat wings). The throwaway line from The Doctor about paradoxes and how the Time Lords could have stopped the Reapers is quite intriguing, but is undermined by the fact that The Doctor himself is swiftly eaten by the first Reaper to enter the church. I guess the thing about ‘old things repelling them’ doesn’t extend to living creatures? Or is it because he has just recently regenerated? Explain, Cornell, explain! (Read that last bit in a Dalek’s voice for maximum enjoyment.)

- On the bright side, however, the entire sitting around inside the church gives us ample time to get to know Pete Tyler and, more importantly, to love him. He’s very perceptive (figuring out both that Rose is his daughter from the future and that he was meant to die in the accident) and ends up being very brave when he sacrifices his own life for everyone else.

- I find it rather depressing that Jackie, despite the fact she clearly does love him, only fully came to appreciate him after he was dead. It is refreshing to see a younger, less hardened Jackie. A Jackie who hasn’t yet had to deal with her husband’s death or raise her daughter single-handedly. It is heartbreaking to see Rose’s romanticised idea of her parent’s marriage be crushed right before our eyes, though, as Jackie and Pete argue in front of the church. 

- The Doctor interacting with Jackie brings the mood right back up, though. Even in this younger, less tempered-by-fire state I still love Jackie, despite all of her rough edges. 

- What carries this episode, rather than the sometimes-clunky Reapers, is the emotions. Jackie and Pete arguing, Rose and Pete getting to know each other, The Doctor and Rose fighting and making up, Sarah fearfully holding her swollen stomach while Stewart shields her as they run. This episode runs not on threat, but on sentiment. Sometimes such a plot doesn’t work, but here it does. Little moments all throughout (such as Rose ‘imprinting’ on poor Mickey or The Doctor refusing to admit to Pete that the man should be dead) makes for good, engaging television.

- Writers of future episodes should take note that we don’t always need an alien threat in an episode. Sometimes a bit of timey-wimeyness and great characters will do the trick. 

            There’s not a whole lot more I can say about this episode. I’ve sung the praises of the Tyler family and complained about the design of the alien threat. There’s nothing more to talk about, save the ending of the episode when Pete says goodbye to Jackie and Rose before rushing out into the street and stepping in front of the time-loop caught car in order to close the wound in time and destroy the Reapers. This scene could have bombed, especially the way it’s drawn out with Pete saying an extended and choked up farewell to his wife and both versions of his daughter. Thankfully, the writing in this episode has allowed we as the audience to fall in love with Pete and so connect all the better with the top-notch acting of Shaun Dingwall, Camille Coduri, and Billie Piper as they beautifully portray the torn hearts of all their characters. Pete’s thanks to Rose for giving him just a few hours with her made a lump rise in my throat and Rose sitting in the street beside her dying father made me get up and walk away for a moment. True, Rose causes terrible space/time problems with her decision and one could argue that with Pete becoming the 'reset button' she never suffers any consequences, but I actually believe that, for once, she does. Rose saving Pete is not an example of what a horrible companion she is, but it does actually insert some real humanity into her. It's her dad and it's not like The Doctor explained the consequences of saving him to her. Besides, the ending where she has to watch him die despite all of her efforts is her 'punishment'. (I'm not saying she learned from the experience or anything, but I am congratulating Paul Cornell for having the guts to actually give Rose Tyler fallout from her decisions).

            Father’s Day is a great episode that not only explores the theory of paradoxes and the Butterfly Effect, but delves into the hearts of a family and allows us to connect with them in a way we hadn’t before. It had its problems (the most notable being the obligatory alien threat and the old-things-repel-reapers plothole) but for the most part it delivered with storytelling and characters. I give this episode a 3/5. Some people may complain about the emphasis put on the companion’s family, but if there would be more stories written that are the calibre of this one, I would not protest. 

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