Bad Wolf / The Parting of the Ways [TV/2005.6.11 ~ 6.18]

★★★★☆

  Still stands the test of time as one of the best new series finales, this does. You get the palpable sense that Russell T Davies and the crew didn't exactly know whether or not they'd get a second series greenlit, so they made the stakes as high as possible, the emotions flow like molten butter, and series arcs and character dynamics meet their climax in the mostspectacular fashion. Practically every actor here performs like their lives depended on it, and Christopher Eccleston and Billie Piper are given another opportunity to show just how good they are at their job. Rose laughs her way through the mock Weakest Link set, promptly faces death and is transported off to her own time and place against her will, absorbs the time vortex and becomes the Bad Wolf that saves the day, almost killing herself in the process. The Doctor is faced with an impossible situation, almost chooses the lesser of two evils before deciding that he'll never willingly choose to kill loads of innocents to "save the day", and then dies for Rose -- and some people still don't know why the Doctor and Rose were such an instantly hot item. These two would die for each other, and RTD was hell bent on making every moment they share as tender and sweet as possible until their bond, their love hits a climax here as the Doctor knowingly sacrifices himself to save Rose with a kiss. I mean, I'm a firm believer that the whole 'Don't skip Nine' thing was pretty stupid since I'm pretty sure the Tennant era would make zero sense without Series 1... but skipping this two-parter, a culmination of the Doctor and Rose's relationship would be so damaging to the viewing experience of Series 2 and beyond, wouldn't it?

  Yes, we have a fantastic Dr. Who adventure here. Starts off as an eerie parody of contemporary television shows, reveals itself as a great big hellscape caused by the Doctor's intervention in The Long Game (I just love it whenever the Doctor's actions come to bite them in the arse), affords each of the TARDIS crew some lovely moments (Lynda would've made a fantastic companion, but her role was exactly created to elicit such thoughts -- she was always meant to die, so that the Doctor would have another huge loss of hope), and brings back the dastardly Daleks in spectacular, mass-murdering fashion... yes, the stakes are as high as can be, and Joe Ahearne rises to the challenge with a very confident crew to make it as expensive-looking as possible. Quite remarkable that something like this was done in 2005 in a BBC budget, really; I remember being awed first time I saw it. I couldn't believe that Dr. Who would try something as big as this on telly, and weave in a genuinely touching human story underneath as well. With this two-parter to tie a near bow around it, Series 1 is as perfect a reintroduction to Dr. Who as it could ever have been. It's full of life, love, emotions, beauty and horror, and all of time and space at its disposal. It's a more anthropocentric series, true, but nothing's ever actually perfect, is it? It's almost like a limited series, and RTD did a fantastic job with the series as a whole... and with this two-parter, of course. Even in his last moments, Chris Eccleston proves to the audience that he is indeed the Doctor.