Series 2 finale has been probably one of the series that I have debated of over the years but recent months, I have developed a new appreciation for it. After two episodes of maybe not the greatest stories, Russel T Davies ups the game and brings back two popular aliens who are fighting on Earth as a battleground. Definitely one of his bette ideas in his earlier years and probably his second best finale out of the 4 he has done but Steven Moffat kind of expands it into something a but deadlier in the Pandorica Opens with a different plot and twist.
I love the plot where they use the ghosts as harmless when they appear as dead relatives like Rose’s Grandad Prentice and later, they are actually Cyberman which is a great plot but once again, Steven Moffat kind of goes one better in Dark Water/Death In Heaven but T Davies does start amazing plots anyway.
The Cult Of Skaro make their first appearance and start of strong with room for improvement which is seen in S3 with a plot which I actually like but this plot with the Genesis Ark is intriguing and when they come out, WHAT? I watched this a day. Later and never knew it was Daleks until they came out. T Davies ma made them more deadlier to the Cyberman no matter how many of them were on Earth or the humans that the Cybermen had forcibly upgraded including Yvonne Hartman Who surprisingly fought back and destroyed the Cybermen who were attempting to return through the breach and we saw ears come down her eye meaning she kept her human emotional and as she fought back. This was further shown in The Doctor Falls after Bill Potts is forcibly upgraded in World Enough And Time after the silly Jorj (Absolutely enraged with the character and shouldn’t have been in the episode in my opinion) shot her in fear, she is seen in human form throughout the episode showing that she is fighting back her conversion and the Doctor finds tears coming out of her eyes indicating that Bill still has her emotions but might be a way to return Bill to her normal body.
David Tennant and Billie Piper once again were a power house in this episode and have been debating their behaviour throughout S2, for me, we saw Rose at her best but at the end, I just didn’t feel the emotions and was like, “What are you doing?” I get it’s the probably best as most iconic scene that people love but this does cause S3 issues, Rose is not to blame but The Doctor just should be more happier than treating Martha Jones badly.
Speaking of Freema Agyeman, she made her first ever appearance as Adeola Oshodi which is later revealed to be Martha’s cousin in Smith and Jones. I have to say the plot of luring humans and killing them and using their bodies as partial open the breach and mess up Ghost Shift that allows the Cybermen to attack is good idea and scary.
The brawl between the Daleks and Cybermen make this episode entertaining as it’s like kids fighting but the sad side of it is that humans gets killed cause of they desire to win and that is not right which you wouldn’t see with children’s fights. As I have said, it is definitely one of T Davies best ideas and has comic but emotional punch cause of the fight.
The last scene even though I am critical on this, it does have emotional music. We do see Rose very upset and her mum runs to comfort her but that isn’t the last we will see of her and they come back much stronger. David and Billie do give a emotional performance. At the end, we meet a shouty and angry bride to be called Donna Noble played by Catherine Tate who makes her mark and definitely is one to watch in a later series.
Here is the scene:
A shout out to Noel Clarke, Camille Coduri, Andrew Hayden Smith, Shaun Dingwall and Nicholas Briggs as they also make the episode amazing along with David and Billie. Great two parter even with a little issues at the end is probably one of my fave finales!
Scores:
Army Of Ghosts: 10/10
Doomsday: 9/10
Overall score: 19/20 = 95%
