1 episode. Approx. 43 minutes. Written by: Russell T. Davies. Directed by: Euros Lyn.
THE PLOT
The Doctor and Rose step out of the TARDIS into 19th century Scotland - right into the line of fire of a squadron of English soldiers. It is an honor guard, escorting Queen Victoria (Pauline Collins). The Doctor uses his charm, a Scottish accent, and his psychic paper to gain the Queen's good graces, and he has firmly ingratiated himself into the royal party by the time she stops for the night at the Torchwood estate, home to Sir Robert (Derek Riddell).
Sir Robert's welcome is marked by a series of hints that all is not well. Hints that are ignored by the Queen, who wants to see the estate that her late husband so often visited. But the estate's mysterious new servants are revealed to be a renegade order of monks, who have seized control of the house in order to gain access to Queen Victoria. Not for assassination - but to infect her with the blood of the werewolf waiting in the cellar!
CHARACTERS
The Doctor: Finding himself in 19th century Scotland, the Doctor assumes the role of a Scottish doctor - rather niftily named after probably the series' longest-serving companion. This allows Tennant to use his normal speaking voice through most of the episode's first half. Once the crisis hits, the Scottish accent drops away as "The Doctor" emerges, something which Queen Victoria picks up on later in the episode.
Rose: Is obnoxious. Seriously. This is by far the worst episode to date (possibly ever) for the character of Rose Tyler. The running gag in which she tries to get Queen Victoria to say, "We are not amused" isn't funny the first time it's brought up, and becomes progressively more grating as the episode goes. I think there is too much of a comfort level between Rose and Tennant's Doctor. Rose's ordinariness acted as a sort of anchor for Eccleston's edgier Doctor. Opposite Tennant, she just sort of settles into a smug, rather unlikable blandness.
Queen Victoria: Pauline Collins returns to Doctor Who for the first time since 1967's The Faceless Ones. In the almost 40 years between that story and this one, Collins achieved a strong reputation as an actress - one which shows its merit in her performance as the queen. Collins has enormous presence, and it's her performance which anchors the episode. As she sees the Doctor and Rose giggling over having met a werewolf mere seconds after we have heard the screams of one of the wolf's victims, she is appalled - with good reason.
THOUGHTS
Tooth & Claw is a good, entertaining action piece. There is a lot of energy, a lot of momentum, and a few highly effective moments. All of this is tremendously well-directed by Euros Lyn, whose confidence and polish behind the camera makes him a natural for stories like these. It is definitely a good episode.
But it's not a great one. The script has some visible holes, particularly with regard to the monks. The teaser makes much of the monks, as they cast aside their robes and reveal themselves as Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon-style martial artists, complete with flying. As soon as the werewolf is unveiled, they are relegated to a plot device, keeping their intended victims inside the house. They disappear completely at the end. I guess once the plan failed, they used their Shaolin powers to fly away.
More successful is the setting up of Torchwood, which will come into play first at the season's end, then in the Torchwood spinoff. This episode shows us Torchwood's genesis, and it's not a bad origin story. A house that's already linked to the supernatural, a queen who sees the very worst side of our overly-smug heroes, and a final decree to "be ready."
The transformation is the single most effective scene in the episode. There is something genuinely disturbing about the human-form werewolf. Ironically for a werewolf story, the wolf is far more frightening in human form than after it transforms. The black orbs as eyes, the unearthly quality in its voice as it tells its story to Rose, the taunting of Rose having "something of the wolf" about her... It intercuts dramatically with Sir Robert's story, and then the monks' chanting. All finely calculated to have viewers on the edge of their seats by the time the actual change begins. The momentum continues for a good 10 minutes or so after that, with the episode only stopping for breath again when the Doctor, Rose, Sir Robert, and the Queen lock themselves into the study. An excellent transformation scene, followed by a terrific action set piece.
The climax is adequate, though it doesn't match the intensity of the transformation. Stronger than the Doctor's defeat of the wolf is Queen Victoria's admonition of the Doctor and Rose. An admonition that they utterly ignore, given that we see them laughing about werewolves in the royal family, and hear them mock howling from inside the TARDIS, as the episode fades to the "Next Time" trailer.
Rating: 7/10.
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