(714) The Girl in the Fireplace

The Girl in the Fireplace is a story that when I watched it back in 2006, I didn’t get because I missed the first few seconds of the episode. With today’s episode being Mickey’s first in the TARDIS there wasn’t the same set of scenes that there were when Adam joined. Whilst Rose might have been as keen about him joining as Adam, that seems to have been forgotten when this episode starts. I think that time travel suits Mickey because he takes to it rather well.

Moffat does his what is making a noise when the obvious source of the noise would have stopped. He did it in The Empty Child and The Doctor Dances. The creepiness factor that was evident in that story is in this episode because the clockwork droids are very creepy. Steven turns up the grimness to 11 in this episode with the fact that the droids have been using the crew for body parts. There is a camera with an actual eye in it and there is a valve pumping that is a human heart.

Sophia Myles plays Madame De Pompadour who is the focus of the clockwork droids’ attention and it’s a good performance. The character of Madame De Pompadour is one that is rather good because she meets the Doctor at a young age and then becomes someone that falls in love with the Doctor and their relationship is one that is doomed to fail. It’s sad really because in such as short time they have grown quite close and when the Doctor discovers that she has died the scene where he reads the letter is very gloomy.

The Doctor crashing through the mirror on the horse is very impressive and this leaves the last ten minutes about the Doctor being stuck in Versailles and Rose and Mickey stuck on the ship. The Clockwork Droids are defeated by the mirror breaking and its an interesting change of tact for a Doctor Who episode. The Doctor is the sort of person who is always on the move and now (for a short period anyway) he has to settle down and he could have picked a lot worse.

The mystery about the ship is one of the things that I like about this episode. The droids are after Madame de Pompadour because they think that when she gets to a certain age then she will be right to fix the ship which is revealed to be named after her. The Doctor is right when he describes them and thick because it is quite a silly mistake to make and its one that could have been prevented. It does raise the question as to why the crew didn’t attempt to tell the droids this or programme them about this.

This has been a good episode that looks stunning and has some strong performances in it. Steven Moffat’s track record in the show continues to go well. The story is also well directed and the story does well in going from the space ship to Versailles very well and more importantly, I have found Rose to be less annoying that usual.