Doctor Who - The Revival: Series 4 Recap

Series 4 is rather good. It is solid throughout and has some shining & stellar moments. Unfortunately it has a flawed ending, that pulls in too many past characters, and not enough reason too.

That finale brings back Rose, set up all season long...and in the end we get such little for her to do, you start wondering why it is so great or important to see her again. My problem here probably begins with "Turn Left".  That episode is definitely a highlight of this season, and could easily be ranked as one of the high marks of both the Classic and Revived series combined. Its dramatic, exciting, dark, scary, and even a bit funny at times...and Rose is this totally new and cool Rose we had never seen before. It is clear her character grew since we last saw her, and that is nice.

Even when Rose first appears in "The Stolen Earth" she seems to be kind of bad ass...but it all changes once she sees the Doctor. Suddenly shes back to whiny lovesick young Rose we used to have. She reverts back and her character growth is lost, not to mention she spends most of the time just sitting there doing nothing. Shame.

Martha was wasted in all 5 episodes she appeared in. The casts of the spin-offs all show up...not sure why, they only contribute a little bit of plot conveniences. Mickey and Jackie show up together, why? Mickey at least does something...Jackie does absolutely nothing, a few lines here and there but mostly just sits in the background. Glad they brought her back for THAT.

The finale is a big problem, because it brings down the efforts of everything leading up to it, which were usually solid and purely entertaining if not on the high end of the scale of good episodes. So despite the flawed finale, I have to give this season a great score, because I can't say I hated any episodes the way I hated some from previous seasons. I don't even hate the finale, because I just watch it as fun fluff...and as fluff, and fanboy wank material...its pretty damn good.

NEXT TIME: Cybermen and Graveyards

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