mrv3000 | DW Family of Blood

Awesome!Martha! Woo! She really rocked the beginning of this episode. And they also remembered Martha was studying to be a doctor. *gives PTB a cookie*
Not quite sure why they had to have John Smith have a moment watching the children shooting. It's like I almost know, but not quite.
"I'm just a story." John wants to be more than a superhero – he wants to be real. And there's the rub. Even when the Doctor, he *can't* just be the superhero. He needs more to be real.
"Falling in love. That didn't even occur to him? What sort of man is that?" *sighs* That's the Doctor. Someone who pushes that down, freaks out about it and can't even say it. That's the kind of man. And yes, he does really need to be slapped upside the head for it.
Ohhhh. DAMMIT. See, they do this every single episode! They have Martha doing something cool and then they go and make her say things like, "He's everything to me. He doesn't even look at me but I don't care because I love him to bits." Sweet Lord. *SHAKES MARTHA*
OMG. I knew that the Doctor/John and Joan would get pounded into little angst smudges. Letting him see that happy life with Joan seemed CRUEL.
For some reason I can't be really that upset about the "death" of John Smith. Maybe if I'd gotten to know him over a series or something. I was grinning when the Doctor suddenly emerged and started babbling.
Wow. Talk about a twisted end the Doctor gave the Family as punishment. But very fitting of the supposed "fairy tale" of the Doctor's life. And we're not talking Disney kind of fairy tales. You ever read them? They're actually quite dark.
And the Doctor wants to start again with Joan. He begs for her to come with him. (Called it months ago. Mwah.) And you know he *wants* what John Smith had. He had it before with Rose, but Rose is gone forever. You know he isn't just asking Joan merely to go traveling with him either since he keeps talking about John being inside him. He really does want love. He wants to be more than just a story. But, OUCH. I didn't expect Joan to be quite so harsh. I can see it though - her husband was killed by a gun and now more people have been killed because the Doctor came there on a whim. She can't live with that.
The Doctor thanking Martha and giving her a bear hug was really sweet.
The ending was...weird. I mean, it was nice and all, but I guess I didn't get the point of it. Maybe to show that while the Doctor does bring destruction, he also brings salvation? He is fire and ice and burns, ancient and forever, but he's also wonderful? I dunno. The ending fell a bit flat for me.
ETA: OH! Forgot to talk about this bit! One thing I'd been worried about with this episode arc (especially with the way S3's been going) was the motivation for becoming human. Which turned out fine. But the ending with the repeat of the CiN special "Can you change back?" "Yes." "Will you?" "No." is that the Doctor has a chance to do that happiness thing with Joan, but doesn't. Really, he could go back into the machine and make everything go away again, living that life that John was desperate to cling to. But he doesn't. Even after all the crap he's been through, he's still the Doctor and really does want that life. That makes me happy.
ETA2: And another mention about that "Can you change back?" thing - yeah, that was pretty harsh to Joan. And there again, the Doctor is the Doctor. He doesn't even see that it was harsh. Can't see that to Joan, the Doctor has only brought destruction - to people and to John Smith. Not until he has it spelled out for him does he get it. Yeah, he may have all the emotions that humans have (and has always had, even before this episode), but he still completely sucks at it all.