Doctor Who Social Club

This is a really good episode and pairs nicely with the previous one.

It's got really nice character work - Nancy being street smart enough to turn tables on the home owner, and a touching twist of her being a single teen mother (and everything else that implies). Jack is a lot more tolerable on this one now he's stopped his fake persona, even if the sonic pissing match is a bit much for me.

The direction in this one is really nice - multiple times there is a sequence where the characters are chatting away and not realising something critical has happened around them. For that I absolutely love the scenes in the doctors room, with the typewriter, and the teleport during the dance.

The explanation of how the child is able to control radios and all the hints leading to the final answer to the puzzle of what's happening are well written. It's a story straight out of black mirror with an all powerful AI gone wrong - a story still very of our times. My only gripe there is his on earth does the child remote control the typewriter, but given how well that scene was done I don't mind it.

The set design of the bomb site is great and really gets the vibe of a hastily erected military encampment. Music wise I again feel that it was a bit much, especially when it interrupts the sweet but creepy lullaby.

Random other remarks :

• why on earth was Jack riding the bomb? It's so ridiculous but it works for his character
• the doctor says he's done a software patch and will email the upgrade - even in 2005 those words in that order are a bit dated
• doctors final words to doctor Constantine made me wonder if this was meant to be a real historical person, but I did a quick search and apparently that's not the case. Maybe a missed opportunity there?

A really nice episode that improves on the already-quite-good first installment in pretty much every way.

Jack works a lot better once he's integrated into the main plot - he actually fits in quite seamlessly. He's still not quite as charming as he's clearly meant to be, but I think it's a big step up from last episode.

The "go to your room" bit is a lousy way to solve a cliffhanger that I nonetheless find very amusing. I'd also completely forgotten about the banana gag. Good stuff.

Jack suggests Pompeii on volcano day as a good place to visit if you're running a con. Hmm...

Nancy continues to be an outstanding character, balancing vulnerability with authority and toughness. Her confrontation with the owner of the house works really well, though it bumps up against problematic-yet-appropriate-for-the-era topics.

We get our first mention of Villengard, the weapons manufacturer that gets occasional shout-outs to this day.

The two-parter as a whole manages to seed its major plot developments - the nanogenes and Nancy secretly being Jamie's mother - without making it glaringly obvious - no small feat.

And, of course, we get the "everybody lives" monologue. It's iconic for a reason.