We are onto the third series Doctor Who reviews now, and I’m sure I’ve spoken at length about my disdain for historical episodes that get in the way. Episodes that follow characters through history that are just here to teach kids about someone useless and crusty, like Nikola Tesla. They are often episodes without much sci-fi, are usually quite dull with a bit of horror, and pacing can be all over the place. The only person that could get me interested in a historical episode is Scottish. This person wrote about Amy’s friend Jeff watching porn, and wrote that heartwarming episode about Van Gogh.

Steven Moffat is both the worst and best thing Doctor Who had in this time and would have later on. He provided wonderfully clever sci-fi storylines, mixed character work, and a few coughs after his stumbles, Moffat makes The Doctor fun. Admittedly, Tennant so far has been a bit bi-polar when it comes to his character, and it will continue that way. However, here you can see him loving the episode. He should have loved it though since he ended up sleeping with the woman that played the historical character. She is remarkably cast for the role, including her younger versions within the episode.

“The Girl in the Fireplace” is one of those few episodes that hit the mark. With a focus on protecting Madame de Pompadour, mistress of King Louis XV, the episode blends both the sci-fi of 51st-century space and robots with 18th-century Paris. Beginning as beautifully on the nose for a time travel show, Mickey is tagging along for once, as I’m sure Davies was sick of having to go back to Earth every other episode for him to show up. The issue is that it does make the episode a little domestic when he’s badgering Rose about space. In the last series, he hacked U.N.I.T.

The episode centers on a broken clock, particularly one on a fireplace in Reinette’s room. Upon the second meeting of The Doctor and Reinette, there is a ticking coming from the room with a broken clock. The same room with a fireplace that happens to be the same as the fireplace on a ship over 3000-years in the future, which is itself punching a hole in the universe to allow clockwork men and women dressed as period-appropriate puppets of French people to scan Reinette’s brain. See, it isn’t hard to do Sci-fi, it sounds stupid on paper but it works. Beautifully detailed clockwork androids aside, everything in the episode is brilliantly period-appropriate without feeling dull or drab.

While The Doctor is off snogging Reinette Poisson, Micky and Rose wander off around the ship finding that the ship is powered by human organs and anatomy. They also find other gateways to the 18th-century. Yet when The Doctor comes back he finds a white horse that follows him. After a bit of back and forth between The Doctor and a Clockwork-Orange dressed as a tangerine, he orders Rose and Micky to take Arthur (the horse) and find the androids on the ship. They have many windows, all in search of the perfect moment to take Reinette and her parts to repair the ship. For that is all they were, repair droids, repair droids that saw parts right there in the crew.

Yes, the episode has a jump scare, it does play on a bit of a horror color palette on the ship, but it is fun, it is sci-fi, and it is full of character. Moffat does this beautiful thing of making something that could be straight horror into a pure period-drama, or putting hard sci-fi for kids into one big melting pot. The pacing stays strong because we’re not just looking at one point of Reinette’s history, we’re seeing all of it. Are there moments where it falters and stumbles? Yes, of course, there are.

The beautiful message about The Doctor, the monsters, and his infrequency to be there when you want him is on point in every way. It is hard to dislike “The Girl in the Fireplace” when it does all the right things, even if it is all the wrong things for my personal tastes. It is a great stand-alone episode before we head into a double-bill next week.

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Doctor Who "The Girl in the Fireplace"

8.5

Score

8.5/10

Pros

• Great casting and chemistry.
• Beautiful contrast in setting.
• The Clockwork people are wonderfully designed.

Cons

• Micky feels like he's just there to be a happy dog.