Boom Town

Dear Gary—

Boom Town is a nice little respite. It is one of the only if not the only episode in the Eccleston era that does not have an agenda. It isn’t introducing characters, establishing themes, fortifying story arcs, or reestablishing links to the Classic. The strength of the Doctor and the strength of Doctor Who has to stand on his/its own merit, stripped bare of themes and arcs and grand master plans.

Boom Town is stripped bare and just having fun.

With one glaring exception. Blaidd Drwg. Bad Wolf. “Chose it at random, that’s all,” Margaret says. “I don’t know, it just sounded good.” It does sound good. Blaidd Drwg. Bad Wolf. But it is rather random, and oddly appropriate that the season’s arc is for the first time directly addressed in this otherwise stand-alone episode.

“Everywhere we go. Two words following us. Bad Wolf.”

Except I have to protest. I remember the first time I saw this scene and thought, “What?” I hadn’t taken note of the words during the course of my initial viewing. But OK, now that I have the directive I can revisit on subsequent viewings and catalogue all of the Bad Wolf references and marvel at the cleverness. However, I have to wonder how the Doctor and Rose have cottoned on to this recurring phrase since many of the mentions occurred out of their presence or were rather obscure.

And so this rather random phraseology follows the Doctor and Rose and links this one-off episode to the rest of the season.

“Nah, just a coincidence.” Thanks Doctor. Let’s just shelve this for the moment and concentrate on the fun.

This is an episode of pure fun. It’s one of those great Doctor Who stories where you can throw common sense out the window and suspend your disbelief for 45 minutes and just sit back and enjoy. Who cares that Margaret the Slitheen hasn’t bothered to change her borrowed body since last we saw her in World War Three?  Who cares that Margaret has managed to become mayor of Cardiff in a remarkably short period of time (6 months) and has already pushed through the production of a nuclear power plant in the heart of Cardiff? Who cares that nobody has commented on the multiple tragedies associated with this project in such a short time span? Who cares that no one in authority is looking over the plans of this nuclear power station to ensure its safety? Who cares that the one man who has discovered the flaws in the plan hasn’t bothered to mention it to anyone but the mayor? Who cares? It’s just pure fun.

The Doctor and Rose and Captain Jack are clearly having fun. They are like a well oiled machine, working in perfect synch, completing each other’s sentences. Enter Mickey: “My God, have you seen yourselves?”

The camaraderie is infectious, and despite initially feeling an outsider, Mickey soon blends in to the mix. This is a real Doctor Who missed opportunity.  An entire season of these four would have been fantastic; but there you have those pesky ifs ands and buts, Gary, and Christmas is past. So we will have to settle for this single story of the fantastic foursome.

Boom Town has a decidedly lighthearted tone but with some surprising depth and pathos; and it all hinges on Margaret, AKA Blon Fel-Fotch Pasameer-Day Slitheen, Blon for short. Her scene early on with the intrepid girl reporter is amusing, even as Blon unzips with the obvious intent of killing the journalist. Then it suddenly turns melancholy as Blon learns of Cathy’s pregnancy and begins to mourn her own lost family. As a slimy green bug-eyed monster the Slitheen still garners sympathy.

The pursuit and capture of Margaret is hilarious, from its planning stages (“Excuse me; who’s in charge?”) to its execution (“She’s climbing out of the window, isn’t she?”) to its aftermath (“It’s a surfboard.” “A pan-dimensional surfboard, yeah.”). Mission accomplished. Celebrations are in full swing (“Raxacoricofallapatorious. That’s it! I did it!”) when Margaret brings it all to a screeching halt: “They have the death penalty.”

From this point the humor is toned down, although still present, as the script explores the moral and philosophical implications of the death penalty. Margaret stares down the victorious gang one by one; none can look her in the eye. “You’re very quick to soak your hands in my blood,” she tells them, “which makes you better than me, how exactly?”

Her dinner with the Doctor is the highlight of the episode, alternating between her comical attempts to kill the Doctor and her moving pleas for mercy. However the Doctor remains unmoved. “You’ve been in that skin suit too long,” he tells her. “You’ve forgotten; there used to be a real Margaret Blaine. You killed her and stripped her and used the skin.” The Doctor sees the horror behind the ordinary human life Margaret pretends to. “You’re pleading for mercy out of a dead woman’s lips.”

Margaret changes tactics and claims she can change, citing her inability to kill the pregnant Cathy. It is a convincing argument, backed up by that powerful scene still fresh in our memory. But again the Doctor knows better:

“You let one of them go, but that’s nothing new. Every now and then a little victim’s spared because she smiled, because he’s got freckles, because they begged. And that’s how you live with yourself. That’s how you slaughter millions. Because once in a while, on a whim, if the wind’s in the right direction, you happen to be kind.”

“Only a killer would know that,” Margaret counters. Unfortunately their compelling tete-a-tete is cut short by the opening rift.  

Rose and Mickey are having an interesting conversation of their own in the meantime. I feel like I have beat up on Rose enough, though, so I’ll refrain from the obvious here and instead simply say, good for Mickey. At long last he stands up for himself and tells her what she needs to hear. And at long last I think Rose really feels the hurt she has caused.

Boom Town is an overall entertaining tale that addresses some deeper issues but then lets everyone off the hook with the all too convenient ending. But as I said from the start, I don’t really mind because I simply enjoy watching. Besides, I don’t think I could look Margaret in the eye and take her to her death, so I’m glad that she gets a second chance. “She’s an egg.” Margaret, AKA Blon, has looked into the heart of the TARDIS and magically regressed to childhood. Sometimes, just for the pure fun of it, it’s good to have this TARDIS ex machina ending.

Oh, Gary, if life were only thus . . .