LogFAQs > #964967841

10. Series 2 (The Doctor: David Tennant, Companion/s: Rose Tyler & Mickie Smith)

*SPOILERS BELOW FOR SERIES TWO OF DOCTOR WHO*

Best Episode: The Impossible Planet/The Satan Pit
Worst Episode: Fear Her

For a bit there, I was considering ranking this one a single spot higher than this, but after taking a look at what series two actually consists of, I can't do that in good conscience. I don't care how enjoyable David Tennant is; series two just isn't that solid of a season of television. And I'm sorry to say it, but it's largely because of Billie Piper in relation to David Tennant.

Here's the thing: not to get too spoilery for this list, but I don't mind Rose in series one. I think she and Eccleston have just the right amount of chemistry. But something just get losts in the transition from Eccleston to Tennant with her. I feel like she doesn't really grow as a character with a second season under her belt. Season one, her growing up comes in the finale...and then we get season two and there's nowhere else for her to really go. She's largely a static character over the course of season two, which renders a lot of the plots kinda shallow.

Season two isn't outright terrible in terms of its writing, but I would say it has a LOT of filler episodes. Don't get me wrong: filler episodes can be good, and good writing is good writing, regardless of how filler it is. But when you have a Doctor/Companion duo of Rose being a giggling schoolgirl who's just traveling around with her cool, new boyfriend...it just doesn't work for me. It really manages to dumb down the season as a whole. It feels, in a lot of ways, like a season of those early episodes that are just meant to be goofy and fun, before amping up the drama towards the season's end.

New Earth, Tooth and Claw, and the Idiot's Lantern are all dumb, but acceptably campy episodes. School Reunion is the same in my opinion, though I guess fans were excited over Sarah Jane? I hadn't watched the classic series when I first saw School Reunion, so I didn't get the hype...and after watching Sarah Jane's tenure...I still think she's lame compared to Jo and Leela/Romana II, respectively. Girl in the Fireplace and the Cybermen two-parter were both solid stories, but a bit overrated in my opinion (plus Mickey gets done SO dirty for a guy who gets dragged along by his ex to hang out with her and her new boyfriend).

The first half is very standard, so where season two lives or dies is in the back half. Impossible Planet/Satan Pit are obviously the top tier as the best of the season...but then series two just goes out in such a flop fashion. Love & Monsters is largely despised, and rightfully so (even though I think it had a lot of potential, if not for the flabby fart monster), but Fear Her is just Night Terrors in a nicer neighborhood. It's just as bad. And then the finale manages to take a big war between the Daleks and Cybermen...and turns the Cybermen into complete chumps, before having a big emotional scene about Rose losing the Doctor (which is annoying when you consider how much I hate the romance aspect of their relationship).

The romance is just awful, and it taints the whole season in my opinion. The second the Doctor/Companion relationship went from friends or teacher/student to couple...the writing suffers. And Rose goes from being this plucky everygirl kind of character, to kind of a cocky nuisance. She gets LESS likable, especially when we see how she treats Mickey when he goes traveling with her. What can I say...I was glad to see her go at the end of the season.