"The Family of Blood"
"Who am I then, nothing? I am just a story?"
- John Smith (aka the Doctor)
Once upon a time, there was a man named John Smith. He had an ordinary job, did ordinary things; he lived an ordinary life. But his dreams were anything but ordinary as he dreamt of the fantastic and wondrous - of people, places and things not familiar and yet ever so. So his life continued like this for many years and he was content. Being ordinary meant he would be taken aback when things would intrude upon his path, as was the case when he fell in love with the school matron, Joan. Of course, being an ordinary person who never experienced love, he tried his best to deal with the situation the best way he knew how: He took his sweet time acting on his feelings. Although this was something new to him, it seemed that this feeling of love would eventually fit in nicely with the life he had made for himself. Alas, his ordinary life was thrown askew for a second time when one day his favorite servant, Martha, started acting strangely towards him and his newfound love. Martha started calling him "The Doctor" and saying that there was a great danger afoot. Contrary to what he believed about himself, she told him that the dreams were not unbelievable, that they were all true. He was an extraordinary person in an extraordinary predicament. Death erupted around John Smith as the Family, as they called themselves, came looking for him, and killed many in path way to find him. They were able to escape the traps set up by the Family and it was while in hiding that Martha revealed to Mr. Smith that only The Doctor can save the village from being destroyed by the Family. The only way for The Doctor to return would be for John Smith to open a magical pocket watch that contains what could be called The Doctor's soul, if you will. The price for this salvation would mean he would have to die. For the first time in his life, Mr. John Smith must make an extraordinary choice: to continue to live out his days or to die to save the poor souls in the village, including his beloved Joan.
This story is bittersweet on so many levels that I don't know where to begin. Martha has been cruelly hurt by the fact that even in his human form, The Doctor (aka John Smith) still chooses another woman over her.
Joan: "Then tell me in this fairy tale, who are you?"
Martha: "Just a friend. I'm not I mean you haven't got a rival as much as I might just his friend."
Martha has had to silently watch over The Doctor during these past few months, has had to deal with the prejudices of the time period and now she has to deal with him falling in love with another. "Rose was bad enough but now this," she must be thinking to herself. Besides caring for The Doctor now, she has to be questioning why she stays with The Doctor when she wants more than what he can offer. As if to drill the point home to her, even John Smith harshly questions her on the subject.
John Smith: "What exactly do you do for him? Why does he need you?"
Martha: "Because he is lonely."
John Smith: "And that's what you want me to become?"
John is fearful of losing what he has now, his life and his love, for what appears to be a lonely existence as The Doctor. What John doesn't realize is that Martha has been lonely for the most of the time she's been with The Doctor. He seems to always be able to find someone, while Martha never does. What is to become of her?
Even more heartbreaking is the tragic love story between John Smith and Joan. Their love slowly grew during these months. They really seemed to be a perfect match for each other. Once the events from Part 1 ("Human Nature") began to sink in and the blinders were slowly removed, the tragedy became very apparent: although he was just created as basically a cover story or a disguise, John Smith is a real, flesh-and-blood person. Yes, he is fictional creation of The Doctor and the TARDIS pocket-watch device, but he is fully aware, he has feelings and emotions.... He is a true human being. Although the sentimentality is often debated towards the end of this episode, this exchange brilliantly sums up all that he is:
John Smith: "I'm John Smith! That's all I want to be John Smith! With his life, and his job, and his love. Why can't I be John Smith? Isn't he a good man? Why can't I stay?"
Martha (looking off into the distance and not at John): "But we need The Doctor."
While in hiding from the Family and while John and Joan debate their options, they have a vision of what their life would be (but never can be) if he remains John Smith: They have a family and live out their days together (this actually reminded me a little of the ending of the film
The Last Temptation of Christ). Joan, ever the realist, has read the book that John has written based on his dreams,
A Journal of Impossible Things, and knows what destruction the Family will do if the Doctor does not return. Joan truly loves this man, but only him. If the Doctor returns, he'd look like John but it would never truly be him. He'd be alien to her (literally and also by her definition of the word). Look at how shocking it was to them to have John slip into Doctor speak for a few seconds. Joan's love for the good makes her able to help John realize that this act that he needs to do is what their love is. Earlier John is berated by her when they were setting up the defenses of the school telling him that the real John knows that this (children defending the school) is wrong. During the fight in an almost haunting scene (which would have had more of an impact if there weren't scarecrows attacking), John realizes she is right. And in the end, John knows that she is right again, that he must sacrifice himself for the entire village and for the woman he loves because of his love for her and his sense of duty and righteousness.
Since one of the themes for these two episodes were fairy-tale/fantastical stories, it's fitting that the way The Doctor deals with the Family members is equally fantastical. To me, it was almost strange to see The Doctor again because I had grown so very fond of Mr. John Smith (and that's a credit to David Tennant and the creative staff) and the punishments that he deals out remind us of how different, how alien he really is. As I mentioned in an earlier recap, the words stated by Donna from "The Runaway Bride" episode ring true:
The Doctor: "I don't need anyone."
Donna: "Yes, you do. Because sometimes, I think you need someone to stop you."
We are even reminded of this during a quick flashback to the same episode with a particularly evil shot of the Doctor enacting his wrath on the Empress of the Racnoss.
Although John is still in there, he really isn't and I thought that it was totally unfair of The Doctor to ask Joan to be another companion. Forgetting that this would drive Martha even further away from him, this again proves that he is indeed alien. Perhaps Donna's words still echo in his mind and he thinks Joan is better at stopping him than Martha is. Maybe I am reading way too much into this, but sometimes I think that The Doctor secretly wants to hurt Martha for not being what Rose, and now Joan, were to him.
Ladies, gentlemen and aliens alike, these two episodes were simply amazing. Everything from the camera work and special effects to the music and the script and let's not forget the incredible acting from every cast member (although I still could have done without the scarecrows), it was one gorgeous production and a heck of an achievement. I've seen this type of story done before in science fiction, most notably the various episodes of
Star Trek: The Next Generation dealing with the rights of androids and holograms, but none have had an emotional impact on me like this. It really doesn't get any better than this.
