Holistic Review: Sheer perfection: a great plot, the most heart of any Doctor Who story yet, and a superb performance from the front-and-center Billie Piper.

Back in the early days of Doctor Who 2005, the episode that caught my attention the most, for a variety of reasons, was The Unquiet Dead. At the time, we didn't know much about anything beyond episode six. Gradually, as details of the latter half of the season began to leak out, a second episode grabbed me: Father's Day. For one, the basic plot (Rose going back in time to meet her father) was a great hook. Then there was the writer, Paul Cornell - never one of my favorites (the only book of his I've really enjoyed, I think, was Human Nature), but I knew that emotionally-charged stories were his forté. Those two facts, paired up, sounded like an unbeatable combination to me.

Well, as much as I adored The Unquiet Dead, this is the best Who episode so far. I have next to nothing to criticize. The more I watch it, the more I love it. One of the very interesting things is that, while most stories thus far have had a season 24 vibe, this story seems to pull very strongly from a season 26 source: The Curse of Fenric (which is beautifully appropriate, given that Fenric set up the Doctor/Ace relationship that was explored to such great effect, thanks largely to Paul Cornell, in the New Adventures). This episode has a strong focus on the companion (finally!) - in particular, the emotion surrounding her dysfunctional family - it features a time paradox in which the companion meets younger versions of her relatives, it features a group of the good guys trapped in an old stone church as the monsters try to break in from outside, and it's the only other story so far to attempt such an emotionally powerful narrative. But it's all done in such a new way that it feels completely different, yet still reassuringly familiar, as well as more grown-up than most of its seasonmates to date. It actually has a bit of a base-under-siege feel to it, although the scares are largely sidelined in favor of the emotion. There's also a very welcome dash of Sapphire and Steel, with the notion that the older a building is, the stronger it is and the better it can withstand the power of the Reapers.

The thing that, I think, really cements the status of this episode is that it has an airtight plot. There were a few little details I had questions about, but I have a feeling that there's an implied answer for everything in the plot. For whatever reason, Father's Day gives me the impression that at least Paul Cornell knew all the answers, even if some of them have been left up to the audience to deduce (which in itself is a nice touch), unlike some previous stories which seemed to be plagued by arbitrary plot holes. Not only is the plot well-explained, it's also pleasingly convoluted. The Doctor and Rose don't just wander into things happening, they're a catalyst. The storyline develops as time goes on, and there are even twists! Cornell makes sure that little hints are planted throughout - the absence of so many wedding guests, Pete's inexplicable sense of familiarity with Rose, the vanishing car that continues to follow Pete around, etc. The ultimate resolution is likewise signposted far in advance, so in a sense it was predictable, but somehow that didn't seem to matter; it was the emotional journey that justified the resolution. All in all, this was so much more satisfying than the light, fluffy plots of most previous episodes.

The other major positive in this episode is its heavy emotional content. The simple fact that Rose has the opportunity to get to know her father is beautiful all by itself. That he eventually figures out her true identity, despite her efforts to keep him from knowing, is achingly sweet. The tearjerking part comes when Rose is finally able to experience the father-daughter relationship she always wanted to have... and then when she has to give it all up again. What we get in the end is a bittersweet but deeply satisfying resolution in which Pete and Rose get to know and love each other, even though nobody else has a clue that any of it happened. And while the Doctor understands Rose's pain, she understands the responsibility that he (and now she) carries, so relationships across the board have improved, and (like Ace) Rose is emotionally much healthier than before. In another very satisfying touch, we find out that even though she couldn't save her father, Rose's intervention did change things for the better - the boy who hit her father developed a conscience, Pete didn't have to die alone, and most importantly, she got to know him. There are a number of truly beautiful scenes sprinkled throughout this story. Pete's farewell scene to Rose, impressively, managed to hit all the right notes without ever feeling overdone, and was, incidentally, absolutely bawl-inducing. I feel sorry for the people who have never shed a tear while watching Doctor Who (or television in general), and I hope that Paul Cornell was finally able to redress that balance.

Both the regulars are simply amazing. Eccleston balances both sides of the Doctor beautifully. On one hand, he cares deeply for Rose (in a not-overly-flirtatious way, for once). He's willing to take her back to meet her father, he understands her need to be with Pete when he dies, and he tries to protect her from having to see her father killed again, to the point of sacrificing himself. There's also a magical scene, and a beautiful Doctorish moment, when he explains to Sarah and Stuart just how special their ordinariness actually is. And on the other hand, he portrays the Doctor's anger excellently - from the dark looks he keeps giving Rose after she saves Pete, we know the bomb is going to drop the moment they're alone, and in fact he shows remarkable restraint in not laying into her the moment Pete walks out of the room. The moment when he holds Rose's hand as she prepares to watch her father die is a gem, as is the scene in which he finally forgives her and they share a warm hug. I love the fact that he's willing to accept that she made a mistake - a big mistake - and simply put it behind him and move on, despite the fact that she has threatened the entire universe. Faced with the worst, the Doctor abandons recrimination and gets down to what's really important. This is particularly nice given that Adam's betrayal of the previous episode was clearly intended to set up Rose's misstep this week, and the Doctor here recognizes that Rose made an honest, understandable mistake (although it is very interesting that he briefly considers the idea that she had it all planned from the beginning). On the superficial side of things, I really like the green shirt that Eccleston's wearing in this episode.

Billie Piper really deserves her own paragraph this time. After I've griped for several episodes that Rose wasn't getting a whole lot to do, Paul Cornell finally delivers an episode that puts her squarely in the middle of the action, and it's wonderful. Rose is the impetus for everything that happens in this episode, and Cornell even goes so far as to kill the Doctor off so that Rose has to carry the last act on her own. It's just wonderful and exactly the sort of thing we've been needing to see. Technically, I guess, Rose still doesn't do a whole lot aside from saving her father's life, but somehow, this time, it just seems like that's not the point. Rose's function here is to be the anchor for this immensely emotional tale, and she does it beautifully. Billie seems to be one of those actresses who is able to make me well up the moment I see her crying onscreen - I don't know why, but I'm impressed. Never has a companion actress had to emote as deeply as Billie does here, and she pulls it off with flying colors.

One lovely thing about Father's Day is the evolution in Rose's perception of her parents. From the beginning, we see that Jackie has apparently painted an overly glowing picture of Pete to little Rose, who then believed that selling health tonics and winning bowling prizes was a truly wonderful thing to do. The moment Rose says "He had all sorts of jobs, he was so clever" we realize that she's giving Pete just a bit more credit than he deserves. Finding out that her dad is a bit of a loser is only a mild blow, compared to the realization that her parents' marriage was seriously on the rocks amid accusations of cheating, and that Jackie deeply resents Pete for his failures. But just when Rose is about to give up hope that her parents' early life was anything like what she'd always imagined, the two of them gradually begin to rediscover their love for each other. An incredible amount of credit for this must go to Shaun Dingwall, who steals the show as Rose's father. Even though he's clearly a layabout dreamer, Pete Tyler turns out to be very likeable, with a good heart. Most impressively, despite Jackie's assumptions to the contrary, Pete is one smart cookie. He's one of those characters you cheer on, because rather than letting things go in one ear and out the other, he actually thinks about things that people around him say, until he figures out how they fit into one coherent explanation. It's a delight watching him first realize that Rose is his daughter (from mentions of the time wound, Rose calling him "Dad" and her physical characteristics), and then gradually realizing that he was fated to die that day (from Rose's reluctance to discuss his future hairstyle and the amazing coincidence of her being there to rescue him). This is the sort of thing to which most television characters remain oblivious, but it's so much more rewarding to watch Pete behave like a real (openminded and unusually clever) person. Every scene involving Pete and Rose is absolutely riveting. And in the end, Pete lives up to everything Rose always hoped he would be - he's so heroic, and his brave "Goodbye, love" as he steels himself for impact is even more touching than the fifth Doctor's similar sacrifice in Androzani.

Camille Coduri also turns in a lovely performance, from her gentle loving treatment of young Rose to her angry sniping with Pete, and I particularly love the scene in which Jackie realizes that Rose is her daughter. I love stories with big emotional payoffs like this, and she and Billie act it beautifully.

The Reapers are a nice way to monsterize the consequences of Rose's action, à la Buffy. They get slightly sidelined - or, at least, I have a feeling that the creepiness of the world being destroyed by paradox-eating monsters could have been emphasized more - but it's in favor of expanding on Rose's emotional plotline, so I can't fault that at all. As great as monsters and creepy time-eating are, I really wanted to see Rose connect with her father. I find it interesting, and a bit odd, that the Reapers want everybody - you'd think they would only want to get rid of the paradox itself, namely Pete (although I like Steve Manfred's theory that they didn't want to get rid of the paradox because it's what enabled them to get access to the world and all the people they could consume - and, as killing Pete does in fact send the Reapers back where they came from, this makes sense). I wonder if, perhaps, when Rose saved her father, she created a parallel universe in which she and the Doctor were then stuck. That would explain why the Reapers wanted to destroy everything, if the entire parallel universe were never meant to exist (although that does raise the question of whether or not they allow a multiverse in general to exist - is there only one correct flow of time in this new Doctor Who universe, or was that particular parallel divergence just a little too out of place?). Design-wise, they look a bit obviously CGI, but not so much that it distracts. They have very cool red eyes, I love the fold-out arms (reminiscent of pincers and spiders both at once) and the long-tipped wings, and their sickle-shaped tail is an excellent bit of thematic design that I didn't even catch until it was pointed out to me. I also love the red-filtered point-of-view shots and the noise that accompanies them, and the shots of them circling the church are great.

I was really impressed with Joe Ahearne's direction here. The only moment that threw me was the cut from "Go after him, quick" to a shot of the Doctor and Rose - who clearly has not gone after him quick - leaning against a wall. It confused me quite a bit at first! My favorite shot is the almost unreal-looking one of Rose sitting morosely in the church as her father comes up to say goodbye.

Most astonishingly, I can't even object to the music. Now, the score here isn't anything exceptionally haunting or beautiful, but it's pleasant, doesn't detract from the onscreen action, and there are several scenes in which it really does enhance what's going on - notably the beautiful music that accompanies the TARDIS re-forming in the church, and the quietly sad score as the car continues to appear and disappear outside the church, and when Pete runs outside to die. It also disappears when necessary, meaning that Pete gets a wonderful non-maudlin death scene. (The only thing I don't like about Gold's score in this episode is the way he insists on making the music dive into off-key warbling to signal that something has gone wrong, which I could probably use as a general complaint.) The period music is also a nice touch, although as I wasn't really paying attention to pop music in the 80s, I probably didn't appreciate it as much as I might have.

Minor points:

• I really like the framing devices of both Rose's narration and the flashback scenes to when Rose was young (for some reason, my mind says she's four years old, but don't ask me why), which seems like something Doctor Who would never have attempted before - it's definitely a more sophisticated technique than we're used to seeing.

• Little Rose is also quite well-cast, if only for the simple reason that I think her mouth quite resembles Billie Piper's, somehow!

• One of the things that made me appreciate the plotting of this episode was that when Rose asks the Doctor to go back and see her father, he doesn't take her straightaway to the day her dad died. Instead, they go to Pete and Jackie's wedding. Not only is that perfectly natural, it also leads to a perfectly natural segue in which Rose realizes she wants to be there for her dad when he's killed. Likewise, when Rose loses her nerve to help her father, it seems perfectly natural that she would ask to try again - and the Doctor's reaction is excellent, hinting that he's willing to let her do it, but that he knows it could end very very badly.

• A very, very subtle "Bad Wolf" appearance - nicely done! The Fenric feeling in this story has also made me vaguely wonder if there might be a connection hidden there somewhere. I find it unlikely... but if it turned out to be true, I would be delighted to see Fenric return.

• Super delivery from Billie, and a great line too:

  Rose: "I'm Rose."
  Pete: "That's a coincidence, that's my daughter's name."
  Rose: (beaming) "That's a great name. Good choice, well done."

• More lines like this, please:

  Rose: "Why does everyone think we're a couple?!"

• Rose's diatribe to her dad is utterly hilarious, particularly the final line, "There, for you, is like, pff... like the Bermuda Triangle."

• The Doctor appears to leave the TARDIS key in the lock after he discovers the internal dimensions have disappeared, but as he has it again later in the church, I guess he must pocket it without us noticing.

• The one thread of this episode that doesn't immediately seem to click is the question of why exactly time is playing up - why, in other words, are songs playing on the radio before they're released, while people's cell phones have switched to broadcasting Alexander Graham Bell's first telephone conversation? My own personal pet theory is that, if the reapers are indeed devouring not just the paradox but everything associated with it, and they're doing it in reverse order, then it makes sense that cellular phones, and perhaps telephone technology in general, would be one of the first things to be eaten away. The song is a little more difficult to explain away, but the ultimate effect of it is to give this episode an eerie feel, and it accomplishes that quite nicely.

• One of the things that Cornell lets us basically figure out on our own is the fact that the car isn't always circling the same corner, it's actually following Pete around. On first viewing this was a bit confusing, but as I rewatched, it's actually spelled out pretty clearly - the corner where he gets hit is close to home, it also follows him on the way to the church, and then once he arrives at the church, it circles that corner too.

• All the 80s references in this episode are fun - particularly the fashion and hair ones, ouch! I love Rose's reaction to Jackie's very curly 'do... her true feelings are showing just a tad!

• When Pete goes into the church, he gives Rose the car keys and asks her to move it (at which point both doors are closed). Later, when the Reapers start to attack, we see what appears to be Pete's car, but it's in the same place and the doors are opened. Goof, or two separate cars?

• I really like the scene of the Reapers making everyone in the playground disappear - very eerie, particularly when Mickey's mother vanishes. I knew it was going to happen, but I was still creeped out.

• Oh, oh oh oh. The Reaper appears in front of Rose... and she screams! What a fantastic, classic Who moment. Rose's first-ever scream, and Billie proves she can handle it easily! I'm so glad that for all Rose is modern and gutsy, she's not above a shriek now and then. I have to admit, when they showed Rose's scream at the end of the trailer, I got a huge smile on my face that didn't go away for a while!

• One thing I definitely can't figure out: when the Reaper lands in front of the bride, and she screams, why does it then turn and go for the vicar? It looked like there was an implication that either it didn't want her, or it was repelled by her scream. But I don't think anything of the sort was intended.

• Another great exchange comes when the Doctor finally loses his temper with Jackie and starts bossing her around - very nice!

• Pete says Rose has his eyes, but... his eyes are blue and Rose's are brown. So something is amiss.

• I must admit, something completely non-sentimental went through my mind at this exchange:

  Doctor: "How did all this get started?"
  ...
  Sarah: "Street corner."

• Why does Rose say she "did" have a boyfriend? Has she decided that it isn't practical to still be dating Mickey (despite her apparent desire to continue the relationship in Aliens of London)? Please tell me she's not referring to Adam.

• Little Mickey! That was certainly a surprise. And he looks like he must be around five years old, which makes him older than Rose. I wouldn't have guessed, actually.

• Ooh, funny line, completely missed it the first time through:

  Rose: (to little Mickey) "You have to let go of me, sweetheart. ...I'm always saying that."

• Well, I guess every episode has to have at least one exchange that goes straight over my head:

  Rose: "I really don't want you to tell her."
  Pete: "What, you don't want people to know?"
  Rose: "Where I come from, Jackie doesn't know how to work the timer on the video recorder."
  Pete: "I showed her that last week. ... Point taken."

  Honestly, I've pondered it and pondered it, and I cannot make it make sense! The only readings I can get are "If you tell her, she'll only forget it again" and "She never listens to you anyway, so she won't believe you" - neither of which would explain why Rose doesn't want her to know.

• One of the best lines of the episode, which earned big laughs:

  Doctor: (to baby Rose) "Now Rose, you are not going to bring about the end of the world, are you? Are you?"

  To make it even better, the baby actually looks a little scared!

• Another great one:

  Doctor: (re: baby Rose) "Jackie gave her to me to look after. How times change."

• I like that there's continuity with Day of the Daleks and Mawdryn Undead re: not coming into contact with a version of oneself from a different time. It's a shame that the continuity isn't complete (i.e., there's no explosion when the two Roses touch), but perhaps this can be explained away by the fact that Rose didn't actually come into contact with the baby (either because of the swaddling, or because the Doctor managed to pull baby Rose away just in the nick of time).

• CBC aired a commercial during this episode for a product whose purpose, as I misheard it, was to treat "reptile dysfunction". Much hilarity ensued. ("My iguana!")

• I love the scene in which Rose lies to her father, and tells him he did for her everything she probably wished he had been there to do. Very poignant.

• I wonder what exactly the Doctor plans to do once the TARDIS re-forms? I assumed he was going to go back in time and make sure Pete died, but given the later revelation that he was trying to spare Rose that pain again, I'm kind of at a loss to guess what his plan was.

• Another great delivery from Billie:

  Rose: "This is my fault."

• And a typical Jackie diatribe:

  Jackie: "Her dad? How are you her dad? How old were you, twelve? Oh, that's disgusting!"

  Followed by the excellent:

  Jackie: "How sick is that? You've given my daughter a secondhand name? How many are there? Did you call them all Rose?"

• Complete shock when the Reaper actually kills the Doctor. None of us were expecting that! And its destruction of the TARDIS was a real capper - from the Doctor's description, I assumed that at most, if someone touched the key, they themselves would go boom, not take the TARDIS with them too. Nicely dramatic.

• Billie gets emotional, and so do we:

  Rose: "This is all my fault. Both of you... all of you... the whole world!"

• Once we see the car circling the block outside the church, it becomes apparent what the ultimate solution will be. But it's a very nice moment when we see Pete realize it too.

• Ohh goodness... this is the line of Billie's that turns me into a blubbery wreck, thanks entirely to her emotional delivery:

  Pete: "Who am I, love?"
  Rose: "My daddy."

• A fantastic exchange between Pete and Jackie, when we suddenly see both Jackie's true depth of feeling for Pete, and perhaps a bit of regret for the anger she's been feeling toward him:

  Pete: "You're gonna get rid of em at last."
  Jackie: "Don't say that."

• When Pete dies, part of me very much wanted Rose to trade "I love you"s with him - but having seen the low-key way they decided to play it, I think they absolutely made the right decision. Instead of feeling overly-sentimental, and having our heartstrings tugged just so, this way the individual dictates how they feel, and I think the emotion is stronger because of it.

• Originally, when Pete died, Jackie wasn't present. This time, we see her exiting the church as Rose kneels beside his body. But then we get this bit of dialogue:

  Jackie: (to young Rose) "People say there was this girl, and she sat with Pete while he was dying, and she held his hand, then she was gone."

• I wonder, when the timeline snaps back into place at Pete's death, how much of the alternate timeline (Reapers et al.) do any of them remember? Jackie apparently doesn't recall much if any. Rose most likely remembers all of it. But what about Pete? The dying look that he gives to Rose seems to say a lot... so I have a feeling he knows exactly what happened, which - if true - is really really cool.

Father's Day isn't terribly scary, or even all that creepy; it's just very emotional. Delightfully, I really don't care about the lack of frightening bits, because the emotional core of the story is just so wonderful. Why oh why, Paul Cornell, are you not returning to us next year? I desperately want to see more stories of this calibre from you! Also, it seems like this series is really on an upswing, so I hope the rest of the season maintains this high note.