DOCTOR WHO REWATCH: SERIES TWO, EPISODE TWO: “TOOTH AND CLAW”
Rose and the Doctor fight a werewolf and Queen Victoria is
not amused.
Doctor Who: 1x02: “Tooth and Claw” Written by Russell T.
Davies
The Summary:
The Doctor and Rose are headed for Sheffield, 1979, but end
up in Scotland, 1879, where they meet Queen Victoria and her entourage on the
road to the Torchwood Estate, owned by Sir Robert and his wife Lady
Isobel. The Doctor scores himself and
Rose, aka “the wee naked child,” an invitation in the carriage train with his
psychic paper. The Torchwood estate has
actually been invaded by traditional English monks turned Asain martial arts
experts, and Lady Isobel along with all the household staff have been locked in
the cellar with something in a cage.
When they arrive, Sir Robert tries to convince Queen Victoria to go on
by saying his wife and most of the staff have gone to Edinburgh for
holiday. The Queen doesn’t give a shit
besides her late husband Prince Albert loved hanging out with Sir Robert’s
father, and she wants to hear the stories her husband used to love. So, Robert brings them up to the observatory
where the Doctor admires Sir Robert’s late father’s love of astronomy and fairy
tales, but comments that his telescope is not well made. Sir Robert’s father’s favorite story was
apparently one about a werewolf, and everyone wants to hear it, but Sir Robert
is fairly reticent to tell it. When they
all go down to dinner, Queen Victoria sends Rose to get dressed into something
proper. There, Rose finds Flora hiding
in a wardrobe and she explains what’s happened.
While they’re trying to get to the Doctor, they’re captured. Sir Robert finally tells his story about the
werewolf and the Doctor catches his clues that the manservant in the room was actually
his captor and a worshiper of the werewolf.
Rose wakes up chained with Lady Isobel and the household staff. The man in the cage is the werewolf –
unchanged – and Rose tries to talk to him, realizing he must be an alien. While the man begins transforming into a
wolf, Rose gets everyone to begin their escape, only being assisted at the very
end by the Doctor and Sir Robert. Rose,
Sir Robert, the Doctor, Queen Victoria and personal guard run through the house
to escape the werewolf, while Lady Isobel and her maids are trapped in the
kitchen. The Doctor locks everyone in a
room that the werewolf can’t get into for some reason. Lady Isobel sees the monks garlanded in
mistletoe and realizes the wolf is afraid of it; at the same time, the Doctor
figures out that the wood in the room is varnished in mistletoe oil, which the
werewolf has been conditioned to have a reaction to. The women create their own weapon against the
werewolf to help Sir Robert, and the Doctor figures out the entire house is a
weapon against the werewolf. Lady Isobel
leads the maids in an ambush attack against the werewolf, narrowly saving Rose’s
life, and Sir Robert gives his life to hold off the werewolf while the Doctor
gets the telescope ready to take out the werewolf. Just in the nick of time, the Doctor and Rose
destroy the werewolf. In the aftermath,
Queen Victoria knights Rose and the Doctor then banishes them. The Doctor suspects she might have been bitten
by the werewolf after all. The queen
then uses the Torchwood Estate to form the Torchwood Institute in case any
other aliens ever come to Great Britain.
Although this is only the third ever mention of Torchwood, we learn exactly
what it is and what impact it might have on future storylines. This is also the first major foreshadowing of
Rose’s life with the Doctor coming to an end.
The Women:
Rose Tyler, Queen Victoria, Lady Isobel, Flora
The Conversations:
1. Rose and Flora:
Flora explains to Rose what happened and Rose offers to get the Doctor
involved so he can help. The rating: 0
2. Flora and Lady Isobel:
While trying to escape Flora and Lady Isobel realize the brothers will
not let them. The rating: 0
3. Lady Isobel and Flora:
The Lady realizes that mistletoe is a defense against the werewolf and
instructs the household maids in what to do with it. The rating: 1
The Woman to Woman Quote of the Episode:
“My apologies for my being so naked.” – Rose Tyler (to Queen
Victoria)
I just will never be over that line.
The Tally:
Episode 2x02 Total: 1
Series 2 Total: 2.5
10th Doctor Total: 2.5
Rose as Companion Total: 19.0
Russell T Davis Era Total: 19.0
For Further Discussion: Women as Leaders
I just want to briefly say…
Fuck yeah Queen Victoria!
Fuck yeah Lady Isobel!
Fuck yeah Rose Tyler!
We can discuss in the comments if anyone would like.
Gave this episode my first viewing for the purposes of participating in this blog. :) 'Tis quite good indeed, and fuck yeah Queen Victoria (as a character, certainly...I always find it a little difficult getting completely psyched about any historical world leader).
ReplyDeleteApplying the Bechdel to this episode is particularly interesting, I think - like most Davies-era episodes, there's a fairly even gender balance of characters that is painfully rare in television. That said, the Doctor is still completely central, and the main women (Rose and Victoria) are thus only in the same place if the Doctor is hanging around. That itself raises the ultimate issue that the Bechdel Test points to - sheer lack of female main characters, and the limits of female representation in a show as centered upon a single male character as Doctor Who is. All the sadder, then, that Davies-era Who will probably get the highest score out of the shows you have chosen to review.
The fact that the conversation that *almost* passes is the Lady Isobel and Flora one - the one that does not involve Rose or Victoria (IE the "central" female characters of the episode) - draws some attention to how "exceptional" people don't always create good representation, and the importance of gender balance among minor characters.