Doctor Who S2 ★★★☆☆

Rose is immediately back on form after the Christmas episode and much more proactive than I remembered. You can really see her character development from the end of the first series really sticking. But then there’s not much really for her or the Doctor’s character arcs this series as a result. The series-long arc is a bit more present here, in terms of characters mentioning Torchwood a lot and a lot more obviously than “bad wolf”, and that actually having some meaning this time, but the overall story this series is mostly the Doctor and Rose are now having a great time travelling together and never want it to end and then it does. Davies’ mode of grand finale based on endless spectacle and constantly throwing more stuff in starts here and it does work—he gets to throw cybermen and daleks together for the first time and it’s great fun—but it I think there is a lack of substance or connective tissue. And as for the individual episodes there are a couple of shite ones this time as and none that really stand amongst the greats. But it’s still very fun and Piper and Tennant are both great leads (even if I miss Eccleston immediately).