Calufrax

Another character study, also in the context of a confinement (get the feeling I have a soft spot for these?).  I love how the author captures that way Four and Romana have of conversing in calm, measured tones -- that lightness in the dialogue, no matter what the situation. It’s that British impassiveness, that stiff upper lip carried to the nth degree, that just makes the emotion and the connection come through all the more, and the effect is heartrending. (Note: I only just discovered before posting that this is based on a Big Finish audio, The Apocalypse Element. It’s fascinating and quite readable without knowing that, though.)

This story is disturbing. Very, very disturbing. With Girl in the Fireplace as its jumping-off point, it looks unflinchingly at the very darkest aspects of Ten. In this story, Ten is at his most selfish,  thoughtless, and impulsive; Rose is trusting and naive. That combination gives us a glimpse of a nightmarish outcome that sheds a glaring, unforgiving light on the characterizations we saw in season 2. I love the author’s daring originality as  she compels the reader to follow her through this difficult journey – and then plants a fragile seed of hope at the end. This story is not for the sentimental or the faint of heart – or for that matter for those who can bear to find no fault in Ten -- but its power and insight are undeniably compelling.

This beautifully written story presents us with a relationship of complexity and nuance, where oblique dialogue and flashes of insight combine to create an astonishing, if imperfect, mutual understanding between the Doctor and Martha. Nothing but Flowers deals with the themes of loss and persistence with subtlety and sensitivity, without insulting either the characters or the reader by oversimplifying or oversentimentalizing. I love the dialogue, snappy and witty, but beneath  that you can see the Doctor and Martha probing, looking for the boundaries of this relationship. In the end, there are no easy answers, but there is connection.

And then of course there are the flowers. And the sex.