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| Hmmm, I first watched this episode Saturday night, after having had considerable to drink, and was under the entirely incorrect alcohol fueled impression that it was a bit shit until rewatching it sober yesterday. In fact not only is in not in the slightest bit shit, but the periodic murder of the members of LINDA is one of the most genuinely heartbreaking bits of telly I’ve seen in a while. What really gets to me though is the incredible nastiness and the probably incredible wrongness of Ursula the Pavingslabgirlfriend at the end. Seems to me like in ‘saving’ her the Doctor did almost the worst possible thing he could have done in the situation. Sure it might all be fine for a while, it might all be fine for as long as Elton lives, but Ursula is now a quite possibly immortal quadriplegic, even assuming their relationship lasts for the rest of Elton’s life and it’s brilliant and wonderful for every second poor Ursula’s going to have to watch him grow old and die while she doesn’t, and might well have to live for an awfully long time without here lover/carer after he’s gone, a prospect which fills me with a sort of tragic horror. Having pavingslabursula isn’t even necessarily the best thing for Elton either – I mean I imagine he feels an good deal better at the end of the story than he would if she were properly dead, but now he’s never going to be able to move on, and he’s going to spend his whole life knowing that when he goes Ursula’s going to be on her own. The ‘saving’ of Ursula for me beats anything this series of Who has done, both for absolute nastiness and wonderful romanticism. |
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