Four episodes after The Long Game, another weak entry in the season shows its head: this time it's what appears to be a "filler" episode (its arc significance, if any, has more to do with past stories than upcoming ones), scripted by show-runner Russell T. Davies and set in present day Cardiff (imagine the Doctor's happiness).
Having made a pit stop in the Welsh capital to recharge the TARDIS near a convenient rift in time and space, the Doctor and Rose (accompanied by Jack) are reunited with Mickey, but also with an old foe: Margaret (Annette Badland), only survivor of the Slitheen family (the farting aliens, remember?), who's back with a vengeance, more specifically another plot to destroy the world. Unlucky for her, she still doesn't get the pointlessness of squaring off against the Doctor...
As if creating flatulent aliens wasn't bad enough (according to most people; personally, I really enjoyed the Aliens of London/World War Three two-parter), this time Davies makes the mistake of featuring them - well, one - in a rather pointless episode, which gets by simply because the three protagonists (though he's not listed in the opening credits, Jack is pretty much a companion), and Mickey, are a lot of fun to watch, especially when the Doctor accepts to have dinner with Margaret and foils her pathetic attempts to kill him on the spot. Sadly, that's just on of few good bits in an overall bland effort, shockingly placed this late in the season.
Having made a pit stop in the Welsh capital to recharge the TARDIS near a convenient rift in time and space, the Doctor and Rose (accompanied by Jack) are reunited with Mickey, but also with an old foe: Margaret (Annette Badland), only survivor of the Slitheen family (the farting aliens, remember?), who's back with a vengeance, more specifically another plot to destroy the world. Unlucky for her, she still doesn't get the pointlessness of squaring off against the Doctor...
As if creating flatulent aliens wasn't bad enough (according to most people; personally, I really enjoyed the Aliens of London/World War Three two-parter), this time Davies makes the mistake of featuring them - well, one - in a rather pointless episode, which gets by simply because the three protagonists (though he's not listed in the opening credits, Jack is pretty much a companion), and Mickey, are a lot of fun to watch, especially when the Doctor accepts to have dinner with Margaret and foils her pathetic attempts to kill him on the spot. Sadly, that's just on of few good bits in an overall bland effort, shockingly placed this late in the season.