Holistic Review: Atmospheric and creepy, with a lovely emotional twist and a surprisingly satisfying resolution.

My exposure to Steven Moffat pre-Empty Child was the great spoof The Curse of Fatal Death (in which he showed a delightful appreciation for what makes Doctor Who magical) and the original Coupling (which, despite my reservations about the subject matter, turned out to be irresistibly hilarious). So, going into The Empty Child, I was already very much predisposed to like it, despite hardly knowing anything about it. (Although I have to say that the episode titles - particularly The Doctor Dances - very nearly undermined my confidence in them. The only way, I figured, I could get to like the second one, was if dancing became a critical plot point in the first episode, such that the thought of the Doctor being forced to dance to save his life, or some such thing, would be genuinely frightening. However, there was no such connection, and in fact the title only has a very tenuous link to the episode as a whole. So I still can't say that I'm terribly fond of either one.) At the same time, all I'd seen of Moffat's work was highly comedic, and from the preview alone, I knew this was not going to be a City of Death. Happily, this episode definitely maintained my high regard for his talent.

The Empty Child isn't going to be one of my all-time top favorite stories, mind you, but it's a very rewatchable one, largely because it's got a bunch of great scenes and even more great dialogue. The first great scene is of Rose dangling from a blimp in the middle of an air raid - partly because it's so unexpected, partly because it's an eye-popping spectacle, and largely because it's a terrifying idea. She must surely have thought she was a goner. Then, we've got a very tense moment as Jamie approaches the house full of dining children; Nancy's hushed "Did you close the door?!" is very frightening. The scene of Dr Constantine turning into a gas-masked monster is quite gripping because you know what's about to happen, and Richard Wilson acts the transformation so very well. The second cliffhanger of the new series is great, with gas-masked infectious zombies advancing on both the Doctor's party in the hospital, and Nancy (confronting her "brother") in the empty house - and, yay, this time CBC decided to show us the resolution! The one that really sent a chill up my spine - and was very nicely hinted at for some time prior - was the quick shot of the tape deck when we can first see that the tape has unspooled although the Child's voice is still calling. At the time, I just thought it was another example of the Child's ability to speak remotely - but the truth was much scarier (although I think the "reveal" shot could have been a little more frightening). One of the very most tense is Nancy's being handcuffed to the table next to Jenkins, who we know is due to change very shortly - Nancy's obvious terror and inability to escape, combined with the military's typical refusal to listen to her, make it very scary indeed. Toward the end, we get scenes that are great because of their humor and emotion. It begins with Rose's beautiful reassurance to Nancy that the war does end well for England, and there's hope in her future. Nancy and Jamie's reunion is very touching; the scene in which the Doctor cures everyone is heartwarming in the extreme and provides major warm fuzzies; and the following scene, as Dr Constantine's patients recover, is absolutely hilarious. In fact, this may well boast the best ending of any story ever, because everything works out just right, and the Doctor truly delights in it.

As for dialogue, you'll notice that I've quoted a large number of lines below, some of them in great depth, so I have to say that this was certainly a well-written story. It is rather adult, though, mainly thanks to all the innuendo pouring out of Jack. Do the kids get the bi jokes, I wonder? And, yet again, we've got a tale that's very tightly plotted, where nearly everything seems to happen for a reason, and is explained away nicely, so it satisfies my sense of narrative integrity. The twists, of which there are several, are spaced well apart during the story, with lots of little clues sprinkled throughout, which contributes to this well-rounded feel. I particularly love the way that Nancy's true relationship to Jamie is revealed - I never would have suspected it, either, if one of our number hadn't posited it as a theory early on in part two. And the eventual revelation of the monster - simple, well-intentioned nanogenes - is actually great because it's pretty much unlike any other monster we've seen in the series. It's a fairly hard sci-fi concept (making possibly the first true sci-fi story since Warriors' Gate?) and it manages to be scary because, while the nanogenes mean to be benevolent, they are in fact infectious and unstoppable. There's also the setting - for only the second time in the series' history, we get to pay a visit to World War II, and while Fenric was situated on the outskirts of the war, The Empty Child takes us right into the heart of the Blitz, with air raids by German bombers, and it's a nice illustration of what life during this horrific period might have been like.

The atmosphere of the whole story is greatly enhanced by the filming and music. The overall look of it, being set during the span of a single night, is great - it has a very noir feel. Among James Hawes' excellent shots are the very foreboding shot of the scar on Dr Constantine's hand; the shot of Rose turning up the volume on the radio; the shot of the Doctor analyzing the crashed ambulance while everyone else, feeling rather tense, wanders away from him in completely different directions; and there's a great shot of the camera moving from Jack's ship in through the TARDIS doors, as 40s music plays... delightful! This story also benefits from its catalog of peppy 40s music, with Glenn Miller taking a place of prominence. To my delight, for the second story in a row, Murray Gold turns in a very nice score. I particularly like the music as the Doctor begins to explore the hospital, and the very sweet score as the nanogenes envelop Nancy and Jamie. In the sound-effects department, amusingly, when Jack's martini glass materializes, it makes the same sound as the Wonder Twins.

The effects here are almost uniformly top-notch. The single one that I'm not quite sure about is Dr Constantine's transformation - his face looks very fake as the gas mask works its way out of his throat. However, at the very moment that the effect of his mouth stretching is about to become too cheesy to bear, the mask starts to spread up his face and instantly looks more effective. (I also very much like the way that it appears that the mask has worked its tendrils into Dr Constantine's skin; I think it looks scarier than the smooth edge of the other masks, so I'm sorry they didn't use this effect on everybody. Although I guess if they had, it would have been more obvious that the masks were not natural. Er, man-made. Well, you know what I mean.) Algy's transformation, and Jenkins', actually works much better - because we've already seen a full transformation on Constantine, Hawes is able to limit it to quick shots, offscreen sounds, and reactions from the characters who are watching, which makes it all much creepier. Perhaps my favorite part of the story, effects-wise, is the shots of the air-raid, which look like something out of a film. It must have been very challenging to produce, but it's remarkably realistic. Among other great effects, we've got the nanogenes, which remind me of the swirling-light magic effect I always liked on Buffy, but also manage to add to the emotion of the dénoument by making Nancy and Jamie's reunion seem almost divine; the exterior of Jack's ship, both visible and invisible; Jack's blaster looks great when firing, and the digital rewind is a cool idea pulled off to perfection; the reattachment of the barbed wire looks great; and there's a beautiful shot of Jack's ship in space at the end. There are also a handful of very impressive explosions, although it's a shame that the two that they rigged during the final zombie attack are only heard, not shown - and I feel a little cheated that we didn't get to see Jack's ship explode.

Chris and Billie turn in yet more great performances - Billie in particular. She's very convincingly terrified as the barrage balloon carries her high over the streets of London (her increasingly more panicked cries of "Doctor!" are chilling), and many kudos to her for spending who-knows-how-long swinging from an actual rope while filming. I have a lot of respect for her doing that. When Jack is flirting with Rose atop his ship, she gives a great delivery to "I'll bet you do!". Her really clever scene, which made me want to cheer, is when she grabs Jack's blaster and points it downward, cleverly dropping them all through the floor before the Child's zombie army could catch up to them. Rose also gets another chance to show off her lung power again (and really, who wouldn't, when they're falling off a rope hundreds of feet above London?) - I'm delighted that this wasn't simply a one-off incident, because screaming companions are such an integral part of Doctor Who, and as many previous companions have shown, it's more than possible to be brainy and quick-thinking but still scream your head off from time to time. And I love love love her shirt - it's the first outfit Billie's worn that I've been crazy about. I'm just sad they covered it up with that black jacket for 98% of the time. And I've decided that I definitely prefer her hair straight to curly. The Doctor in general seems much more easygoing in this story - while I like his intense temper, it's nice (and somewhat surprising) to see him so much more cool-headed. Most noteworthy in this regard is his relationship with Jack - while they start out very much at odds, given Jack's less-than-lily-white actions, Jack gradually earns at least some measure of the Doctor's respect, to the point that when the Doctor finds out that Jack's self-interest did inadvertently cause a plague that could wipe out all of humanity - a crime at least equally serious to, if not worse than, Adam's misstep a mere two stories ago - he basically lets bygones be bygones and welcomes Jack aboard. (To be fair, Jack does both show more remorse over his actions than Adam, and pitch in much more to help.) Along with this interesting bit of characterization, Chris gets several other scenes in which to shine. He pulls a priceless expression when the Doctor realizes just when in time and space they've arrived; he gets a lovely scene with a very cute kitty; there's a great Doctorish moment when he appears at the dinner table as if by magic, and then strikes up an immediate friendly rapport with the children; his soliloquies on the British spirit are quite stirring and classic Who; and when the Doctor triumphantly cures everyone at the end, Chris makes the Doctor's giddiness infectious. I particularly liked his caring and understanding delivery of "Off you go then. Do what you've got to do. Save the world." The relationship between Rose and the Doctor is again handled really well. In particular, the scene in which Rose asks the Doctor to dance - which could have been played horribly - turns out quite nice because Rose seems to be goading the Doctor rather than flirting with him.

We also have the introduction of new companion Jack Harkness (who I refuse to call Captain Jack, on the grounds that I find it silly and inaccurate), who gets a pretty strong début. Not only is he well-characterized, and intriguingly ambiguous in his motivations, he's also got a sympathetic and mysterious backstory regarding the missing two years of his life (although, given that there are only three episodes left in the season, I suspect it won't remain a mystery for long, which is too bad). And, of course, he's the first non-heterosexual companion (that we know of), which makes him quite the landmark. Given his penchant for innuendo and flirting, it's extremely fitting that his first line is "Excellent bottom." (How many people, exactly, did he refer to sleeping with in this episode?! At the very least, we have Algy, and his two executioners.) I think I'll prefer Jack with a different hairstyle, though... maybe it's just that the 40s military cut seems a little too regimented for his party-animal personality. I'm also amused that, despite having spent his teen years in the USA, Barrowman's accent slips a little from time to time (either that, or the Powers That Be asked him, like Nicola Bryant before him, not to sound too American so as not to confuse the UK viewers). It's very rare and very minor - about like Anna-Louise Plowman's Goddard in Dalek - but it's there! Basically, Barrowman turns in a very likeable performance, even considering how rogueish Jack is. He's generally a happy, confident guy, with a taste for adventure of both the action and the, um, bedroom sort. And he seems to have a pretty upbeat outlook on life - any problem can be solved with a smile and a bottle of wine! (Which may well be true, in his case.) I love the shot of Jack and Rose skidding to a halt and turning around as the Doctor calls out to them. He also gets an amusing scene in which he whips out his "gun" - actually, a banana - aims it at the Child and shouts "Now!" before he realizes just what he's holding. Hee hee. The sonic rivalry between Jack and the Doctor, no doubt meant to be reminiscent of other causes of male feelings of inadequacy, is also great. And I love that it's up to Jack, not Rose, to distract the guard! That's priceless.

There actually aren't a whole lot of guest stars with any major role to play in this story, but all of them are excellent. The one who shines the most brightly, of course, is Florence Hoath as Nancy. I can't even imagine how difficult she was to cast - I assume she actually is closer to 21, and they made her look 14 through clever manipulation of her hair and makeup - but regardless, they had to find an actress who was very youthful-looking for her age, could convincingly act mature while appearing to be an immature girl pretending to be mature, and, of course, could pull off the emotion required of her in the script. Well, it goes without saying that they succeeded brilliantly. Nancy was a great character, highly sympathetic despite not always being all that likeable. She's a petty thief and she acts like a stern mother to her charges, but deep down you know she's had a hard life and she's only trying to do the best thing for her group of kids, who she cares for deeply and for whom she feels highly responsible. Hoath is a great actress - her facial expressions, particularly during the scene in which she's handcuffed beside the rapidly-changing Jenkins, are superb, and she gives a great delivery to "What d'you think happened?". She makes Nancy seem permanently scared, but too brave to let it show. Nancy is also very resourceful, quick-thinking and open-minded, which means that she would also have been an excellent companion candidate, although this time I didn't want to see her step into the TARDIS - mainly because she clearly had a very promising life ahead of her on Earth. I also want to praise Noah Johnson, who voices the Child - it's amazing how many different inflections he's able to put on "Mummy!", "Are you my mummy?", etc. His "Coming to find you, mummy!" is particularly chilling. And of course I've already mentioned Richard Wilson, who's very good as Dr Constantine. I must say that I also liked the Lloyds, particularly the few lines that Cheryl Fergison got as Mrs Lloyd. (It's almost not difficult to see why Mr Lloyd preferred to, um, hang out with the butcher!)

It's interesting that, in another second-story-in-a-row trend, we have yet more similarities to Fenric - not only in the World War Two setting, but also that while Fenric features a mother who is offended by the suggestion that her child was born out of wedlock, here we have a mother who actually is unwed and has gone to great lengths to hide it. (And, on a more subtle note, the "have faith in me" scene is kind of repeated here when Rose assures Nancy that the future does get better.)

Minor points:

• I like the TARDIS materialization effect used here, a gradual appearance from top to bottom. It's quite nice.

• Cute line, very Moffat:

  Doctor: "Know how long you can knock around space without happening to bump into Earth?"
  Rose: "Five days? Or is that just when we're out of milk?"
  Doctor: "All the species in the universe, and it has to come out of a cow."

• Yay, the psychic paper makes its third appearance! And is used very well here, to boot.

• For some reason, the Child seemed immediately creepy, even though I didn't really know why. Possibly this was just because I knew he was going to be the monster of the piece; possibly it was because Albert Valentine's performance was innately scary.

• A great line from the Doctor:

  Doctor: "It might seem like a stupid question, but has anything fallen from the sky recently?"

  And I love the reveal that they've landed in the middle of the Blitz - "Hitler will send no warning!" indeed.

• When Rose grabs hold of the rope and looks up, why doesn't she notice that it's actually attached to a barrage balloon?

• A great exchange between Rose and Jack:

  Rose: "What, are you expecting me to faint or something?"
  Jack: "Uh, you look a little dizzy."
  Rose: "What about you? You're not even in focus!" (she faints)

• Is there a hint of abuse in the boy's story of being billeted on a farm? I wonder what the man did to him to make him run away? Whatever it was, it's discomfiting.

• One of those lines that sneaks up on you, when the Doctor susses out Nancy's role in securing food for her kids:

  Nancy: "Something wrong with that?"
  Doctor: "Wrong with it? It's brilliant! I'm not sure if it's Marxism in action or a West End musical."

• Great delivery, and great reaction from the kids:

  Doctor: "And, I wanna find a blonde in a Union Jack. I mean a specific one, I didn't just wake up this morning with a craving."

• Speaking of great reactions, I also love the kids' laughs (there's one in particular, the one who points at the Doctor) when Nancy scolds him for having taken two slices of meat.

• The Doctor's drawing of the downed spacecraft is hilarious - it's such a bad drawing, it hardly looks anything like what they saw on the monitor! I think it's superb that this incarnation really isn't so hot on drawing (at least, not quick sketches!).

• In retrospect, with Jamie chasing after her all the time asking if she is his mummy, poor Nancy must have been terrified out of her wits that somebody would guess the truth.

• The Child never demonstrates any ability to teleport, so why - and due to what motivation - does he vanish when the Doctor opens the front door of the house?

• Another great Rose/Jack exchange, that makes excellent use of my new favorite Doctor-device:

  Rose: "So, um, who are you supposed to be, then?"
  Jack: "Captain Jack Harkness. 1-3-3 Squadron, Royal Air Force, American volunteer."
  He passes over his ID.
  Rose: "Liar. This is psychic paper. It tells me whatever you want it to tell me."
  Jack: "How do you know?"
  Rose: "Two things. One, I have a friend that uses this all the time."
  Jack: "Ahh."
  Rose: "And two, you just handed me a piece of paper telling me you're single and you work out."
  Jack: "Tricky things, psychic paper."

• It's funny, the interior of Jack's ship makes a sound very reminiscent of the background hum of the TARDIS.

• Why does Jack have to tie Rose's hands together before letting the nanogenes loose on her? Is their effectiveness dependent on the ability to stay perfectly still? (and if so, why not just tell Rose that?) Or was he just in the mood for a spot of bondage fun?

• One that made the whole room hoot in shocked hilarity:

  Nancy: "How'd you follow me here?"
  Doctor: "I'm good at following me. Got the nose for it."
  Nancy: "People can't usually follow me if I don't want 'em to."
  Doctor: "My nose has special powers."
  Nancy: "Yeah? That why it's so -"
  Doctor: "What?"
  Nancy: "Nothing."
  Doctor: "What?"
  Nancy: "Nothing! ...Do your ears have special powers too?"

• I love that Rose gets to call the Doctor her companion! Ha!

• Great payoff for the opening scenes:

  Jack: "Well, maybe we should go find him."
  Rose: "And how're you gonna do that?"
  Jack: "Easy. I'll do a scan for alien tech."
  Rose: (to herself) "Finally, a professional."

• Nice Buffyesque lines from the pen of Moffat (although an amusingly easily-misheard one... "but you, boat captain?"):

  Jack: "Oh, should've known. The way you guys were blending in with the local color - I mean, Flag Girl was bad enough, but U-boat Captain?"

• This one made the whole room erupt with laughter during the first few seconds of the opening credits:

  Doctor: "I'm very angry with you, I'm very very cross. Go. To. Your. Room!" (the gas-masked zombies shuffle off) "I'm really glad that worked. Those would have been terrible last words."

• I don't know why exactly, but I love the way the titles cut out at the beginning of The Doctor Dances.

• How exactly does Jack know that the masks are made of flesh and bone? Did he get all that from his quick examination of the bodies a few moments before? 'Cause obviously he didn't know much about them, or even that they existed at all, before that. (Which does raise an interesting question - with the Child roaming all over London, why weren't more people randomly infected?)

• One of the best exchanges of the episode, simply because it's so well-done, contributes to the plot, and shows a great side of Nancy's personality:

  Mr Lloyd: "I pay for the food on this table. The sweat on my brow, that food is. The sweat on my brow. Anything else you'd like? I've got a whole house here, anything else you'd like to help yourself to?"
  Nancy: (unintimidated) "Yeah. I'd like some wire cutters, please. Something that can cut through barbed wire. I want a torch. Don't look like that, Mr Lloyd. I know you got plenty of tools in here. I've been watching this house for ages. And I'd like another look round your kitchen cupboards. I was in an hurry the first time, I wanna see if there's anything I missed."
  Mr Lloyd: "The food on this table is -"
  Nancy: "Is an awful lot of food, isn't it, Mr Lloyd? A lot more than on anyone else's table. Half this street thinks your missus must be messing about with Mr Haverstock, the butcher? But she's not, is she? You are." (she stands) "Wire cutters, torch, food. And I'd like to use your bathroom before I leave, please. Oh look - there's the sweat on your brow."

• Classic Who exchange, something I could easily see Tom Baker saying:

  Doctor: "Don't drop the banana!"
  Jack: "Why not?"
  Doctor: "Good source of potassium!"

• Mwahaha, Jack gets the very most Buffyesque line yet:

  Jack: "Who looks at a screwdriver and thinks, 'Ooh, this could be a little more sonic'?!"

• This one really cracked me up:

  Rose: "Why don't you trust him?"
  Doctor: "Why do you?"
  Rose: "He saved my life. Bloke-wise, that's up there with flossing."

• And one that I really must remember the next time my friends try to (literally) drag me out onto the dance floor - and a superb delivery by Chris:

  Rose: "You got the moves? Show me your moves."
  Doctor: "Rose, I'm - I'm trying to resonate concrete."

• Oh my goodness, so many good quotes in this section:

  Rose: "Thousands of feet above London, middle of a German air raid, Union Jack all over my chest."
  Doctor: "I've travelled with a lot of people, but you're setting new records for jeopardy-friendly."

• Great stewardess-esque (say that five times fast) delivery by Billie:

  Rose: (re: dancing) "You'll find your feet at the end of your legs. You may care to move 'em."

• A great blink-and-you'll-miss-it terrifying moment, when Jenkins' automatic response to being ordered to watch Nancy is: "Yes, Mummy."

• And another very scary exchange, re: the nanogenes' new airborne infectiousness:

  Rose: "What's keeping us safe?"
  Doctor: "Nothing."

• During the scene in which Rose reveals her future knowledge to Nancy, we get this great gem about Nancy's pragmatism:

  Nancy: "Who are you? Who are any of you?"
  Rose: "You'd never believe me if I told ya."
  Nancy: "You just told me that was an ambulance from another world, there are people running round with gas-mask heads calling for their mummies, and the sky's full of Germans dropping bombs on me. Tell me. Do you think there's anything left I couldn't believe?"

• At the end of the story, does Jamie still possess any of that enhanced Chula technology? The implication is no, but as the other patients' changes remain, why shouldn't that? Then again, perhaps once the technology knows what human-normal is, it takes away any of the additional Chula-specific soldier enhancements.

• Why does the Doctor ask Jack to take the bomb away someplace, particularly considering what an impossible task that turns out to be? Surely he could equally well have evacuated everyone from the area, and then allowed the bomb to land. (although I realize that this would have negated the necessity of recovering Jack and integrating him into the TARDIS crew...)

• It's also a shame that although publicity photos demonstrate the presence of the words "Schlechter Wolf" on the side of the bomb, this clue is completely omitted from the actual episode.

• A beautiful, beautiful quote:

  Doctor: "Everybody lives, Rose. Just this once - everybody lives!"

• Oh my goodness, the funny, the funny!:

  Doctor: "These are your patients. All better now."
  Constantine: "Yes, yes. So it seems. They also seem to be standing around in a disused railway station. Is there any particular reason for that?"
  Doctor: "Yeah, well, you know, cutbacks. Listen, whatever was wrong with them in the past, you're probably going to find that they're cured. Just tell them what a great doctor you are. Don't make a big thing of it. Okay?"
  Mrs Hargrove: "Doctor Constantine."
  Constantine: "Mrs Hargrove, how much better you're looking."
  Mrs Hargrove: "My leg's grown back! When I come to the hospital, I had one leg!"
  Constantine: "Well... there is a war on. Is it possible you miscounted?"

• Now this I wanna know more about! And a great delivery by Chris:

  Rose: "Look at you beaming away like you're Father Christmas."
  Doctor: "Who says I'm not, red bicycle when you were twelve?"
  Rose: "...what?!"

• The hatstand! The hatstand is back in the TARDIS!!! Has it been there this whole time and I've just never noticed? Or perhaps forgotten? I love the hatstand!

• A great quote, and very well-handled, when Rose (a bit awkwardly) suggests that Jack might want to dance:

  Doctor: "I'm sure he would, Rose. I'm absolutely certain. But who with?"

• The end is cute - despite the lack of ship-explosion, the Doctor and Rose dancing together is handled perfectly, and it left me with a smile on my face.

Great atmosphere, great music, great acting, great plot. A very very solid story with an intriguing mystery, and one that's going to stand up to the test of time.