This episode is somewhat of a sequel to the earlier two parter with the Slitheen.
Here one of the Slitheen is Mayor in Cardiff overseeing the building of a nuclear power plant with hidden plans. She turns out to have survived the earlier apparent destruction of the Slitheen due a rather overly convenient plot point of her secretly having the one and only teleport device of the Slitheen which she had not apparently found any previous use for in that prior story.
In fact the main problem with this episode is the number of convenient plot points which pop up such as: The Doctor taking the unusual action of recharging the TARDIS just when 'Margaret' of the Slitheen is bringing a plan to fruition.
Margaret managing to become Mayor without having her picture taken.
Her picture finally getting taken and printed in a sensational front page when The Doctor happens to be in town.
That newspaper seemingly being printed and released later the same day as the picture was taken (a funny link back to a plot hole from the 1st Doctor's The War Machines).
The shaking of the ship happening to cause a panel to fall open (which has to be wrenched very forcefully open a couple of episodes later) and reveal the heart of the TARDIS right at the key moment in front of Margaret (which is a either bizarre coincidence or deliberate action by the TARDIS in which case why did it not do that to The Master or another foe while they were in the TARDIS?).
Plus the Slitheen teleport device.
This type of plot or logic issue is very rare in the Russell T Davies era, it became far more common under Moffatt (and Chibnall). Of course Moffatt had many strengths and wrote some great episodes but I simply observe that he was happy to make a plot exciting without worrying if it was illogical or overly convenient. This is a rare example of plot aspects of this type under RTD and I personally prefer stories to follow internal logic more and avoid too much coincidence.
On the plus side there are some good elements to this which lift the episode back up despite these plot issues: RTD's era was almost always fun (as was Moffatt's era) and this is fun in quite a few scenes.
RTD also always had great, believable character interaction and in this episode there is a lovely scene of the Doctor having fun with his friends which was a great touch and there is a very good aspect of showing how Rose going off in the TARDIS affects Mickey and he is shown to have had enough.
The dialogue between Margaret and the Doctor is very interesting with her challenging his moral code. This again brings me to discuss Steven Moffatt who as Showrunner seemed to like to suggest the Doctor's darkness quite strongly, pretty much suggesting sometimes he was a ruthless bringer of death and destruction. I found that a bit of a confused and contradictory exaggeration. RTD manages to question the hard decisions and judgements the Doctor makes and have him question himself but essentially his good intentions, heroic character and decency are clearly intact. I like that.
Sadly although the negative aspects are counteracted to some extent by the positives there are too many plot issues for me and it leaves it alongside The Long Game as my two least favourite stories of Series 1.
Overall a fun, interesting episode that isn't bad but isn't up to usual high Doctor Who standard imo.
My rating: 6.5/10.
Here one of the Slitheen is Mayor in Cardiff overseeing the building of a nuclear power plant with hidden plans. She turns out to have survived the earlier apparent destruction of the Slitheen due a rather overly convenient plot point of her secretly having the one and only teleport device of the Slitheen which she had not apparently found any previous use for in that prior story.
In fact the main problem with this episode is the number of convenient plot points which pop up such as: The Doctor taking the unusual action of recharging the TARDIS just when 'Margaret' of the Slitheen is bringing a plan to fruition.
Margaret managing to become Mayor without having her picture taken.
Her picture finally getting taken and printed in a sensational front page when The Doctor happens to be in town.
That newspaper seemingly being printed and released later the same day as the picture was taken (a funny link back to a plot hole from the 1st Doctor's The War Machines).
The shaking of the ship happening to cause a panel to fall open (which has to be wrenched very forcefully open a couple of episodes later) and reveal the heart of the TARDIS right at the key moment in front of Margaret (which is a either bizarre coincidence or deliberate action by the TARDIS in which case why did it not do that to The Master or another foe while they were in the TARDIS?).
Plus the Slitheen teleport device.
This type of plot or logic issue is very rare in the Russell T Davies era, it became far more common under Moffatt (and Chibnall). Of course Moffatt had many strengths and wrote some great episodes but I simply observe that he was happy to make a plot exciting without worrying if it was illogical or overly convenient. This is a rare example of plot aspects of this type under RTD and I personally prefer stories to follow internal logic more and avoid too much coincidence.
On the plus side there are some good elements to this which lift the episode back up despite these plot issues: RTD's era was almost always fun (as was Moffatt's era) and this is fun in quite a few scenes.
RTD also always had great, believable character interaction and in this episode there is a lovely scene of the Doctor having fun with his friends which was a great touch and there is a very good aspect of showing how Rose going off in the TARDIS affects Mickey and he is shown to have had enough.
The dialogue between Margaret and the Doctor is very interesting with her challenging his moral code. This again brings me to discuss Steven Moffatt who as Showrunner seemed to like to suggest the Doctor's darkness quite strongly, pretty much suggesting sometimes he was a ruthless bringer of death and destruction. I found that a bit of a confused and contradictory exaggeration. RTD manages to question the hard decisions and judgements the Doctor makes and have him question himself but essentially his good intentions, heroic character and decency are clearly intact. I like that.
Sadly although the negative aspects are counteracted to some extent by the positives there are too many plot issues for me and it leaves it alongside The Long Game as my two least favourite stories of Series 1.
Overall a fun, interesting episode that isn't bad but isn't up to usual high Doctor Who standard imo.
My rating: 6.5/10.