The Girl in the Fireplace by: Steven Moffat and directed by: Euros Lyn

 

“The Girl in the Fireplace” stars David Tennant as the Doctor and Billie Piper as Rose Tyler with Noel Clarke as Mickey Smith and Sophia Myles as Madame de Pompadour.  It was written by: Steven Moffat and directed by: Euros Lyn with Helen Raynor as Script Editor, Phil Collinson as Producer, and Russell T. Davies and Julie Gardner as Executive Producers.  It was originally broadcast on Saturday 6 May 2006 on BBC One.

 

Steven Moffat’s contributions to Russell T. Davies’ time as showrunner are fascinating as he is the only writer other than Davies to contribute scripts to each of the four series, immediately after contributing “The Empty Child” and “The Doctor Dances” he was approached to write “Madame de Pompadour” with ideas from himself about evil statues attacking a library in space that would materialize in future series.  Moffat became enamored with the idea of the Doctor falling in love with the historical Madame de Pompadour throughout her life in a non-linear fashion.  Moffat was largely inspired by The Time Traveler’s Wife which he would later go on to adapt as a miniseries, a work that would also reflect later aspects and characters in several of his other Doctor Who episodes.  “Madame de Pompadour” went through several titles including “Every Tick of My Heart” and “Loose Connection” before becoming “The Girl in the Fireplace” and slotting as the second episode of the series, before being moved to the potential opener, and finally the fourth where Moffat would add the character of Mickey Smith to the proceedings.  “The Girl in the Fireplace” is an episode that provides an examination of Doctor Who through the eyes of Steven Moffat.  His time as showrunner is often described as having a fairy tale quality with the Doctor as a mythic hero, and this is the episode where that originates.  The juxtaposition of setting the episode in pre-Revolutionary France throughout the life of Madame de Pompadour, played by Sophia Myles, and a dingy spaceship that has broken down in the 51^st century may not sound like a fairy tale, but the presentation is what cues these comparisons.  Euros Lyn’s direction is lavish in the historical setting despite being shot on location in Wales and in studio.  This is amplified by the antagonists of the episode being robots made from clockwork, camouflaged in period clothing.  Striking images and beautifully crafted from the costume and props departments for the episode.  The cold logic of why they are opening these portals into the life of Madame de Pompadour is fascinating and only fully explained to the audience in the striking final moments of the episode.

 

The Doctor under Moffat was written as the only child left out in the cold in “The Empty Child” and “The Doctor Dances” which is brought further in “The Girl in the Fireplace” to be the lonely angel.  Dialogue is taken directly from Paul Cornell’s 1992 novel Love and War to describe the Doctor as the person who the monsters get nightmares about, though in this context it is less a critique of the Doctor’s character but a mythical figure coming in to be the imaginary friend and savior.  The moment where the Doctor and Reinette link minds and she sees the deepest insides is fascinating from a perspective as it still casts the Doctor as an outsider, something that is more apparent with the loss of his home and people, it also casts him as a god which is a characterization that does not fit who the Doctor should be.  The premise of the episode’s romance is one that leaves quite a few poor implications as the relationship is one that should be outright negative: it’s an obsession based on these brief dalliances with the Doctor in the role of a protector, not lover, Reinette falling in love with the idea of the Doctor.  Tennant does, however, play it incredibly well with this, “School Reunion”, and “The Christmas Invasion” being the three major defining episodes for who the Tenth Doctor will be.  It’s amplified by the fact that the time between meetings for the Doctor is only a matter of moments and not the several months and years, as well as this detached attitude towards the danger.  Moffat, while writing Reinette as the precursor to several of his other female characters in a number of ways, really plays the danger up by allowing her into the Doctor’s world, represented by the spaceship, for just one brief moment, one that sees her actively repulsed by the danger.  There is also some souring by the choice of casting Sophie Myles who actively defended Noel Clarke against the several allegations of sexual assault by several different women.  Speaking of Clarke, he and Billie Piper as Mickey and Rose are sadly pushed to the background which for the character of Mickey is a shame as this is his first trip in the TARDIS.  Rose gets to at least be his guide which leads to some very fun scenes and interactions, with her one scene against Myles’ Reinette being a highlight on how the Doctor can affect people, but other than that this is an episode focused on the Doctor and Reinette and really nobody else.

 

Overall, “The Girl in the Fireplace” is an episode with issues.  The lavish production, imagery, and ideas are great on the surface, but when investigated further have some worrying implications and in particular play the Doctor as the highest authority, something that they should never be portrayed as (at least not uncritically).  David Tennant and Sophia Myles are the two that carry the episode, though it’s often the visual details that elevate several of its elements.  It's essentially Steven Moffat’s Doctor Who boiled down to one episode with many of the flaws and strengths that come with it plus the issues of being moved around in the series order multiple times caused multiple rewrites that make it a distinct step down from his previous story for the show. It’s a further indication of the issues surrounding the second series of the revived Doctor Who and its inability to have a full plan for where the show is going.  7/10.