Doctor Who Season 2

Stayed up late tonight (well, at least, later than usual) to finish the season finale episode of Doctor Who Season 2. The 2 part finale (episodes 12 & 13) was pretty exciting with millions of Cybermen and Daleks all attacking earth (and each other) at the same time. Torchwood Institute played an important role in the whole incident, so I guess it was a good way for it to get exposure so that it can later be spun-off into its own series.

The Doctor and Rose were reunited with familiar characters introduced in earlier episodes of Season 2 (Age of Steel) -- the father of Rose from the parallel universe, Mickey, her (ex-)boyfriend who stayed behind in that parallel world, and the freedom fighters. It also gave a nice closure to the story of Rose and her mother who got "trapped" in that other universe forever (although Rose did make a cameo appearance in Season 4). Her mom settled with her other-world dad and Rose mentioned at her farewell to the Doctor that they have a baby on the way.

The final goodbye scene between The Doctor and Rose was pretty touching. It was not clear to me whether The Doctor wanted to say "I Love You" to Rose in a romantic sense, or more in a fatherly sense. But he never got to say it because the power needed to send his holographic projection to that remote location in Denmark (or was it Norway) got cut-off before he was able to utter the words.

I've never really been a big fan of Billie Piper, who plays the character of Rose Tyler since Season 1. However, her dramatic acting in this last episode was pretty good. It was kinda sad to see her go. I'm not sure if it was Billie who wanted to pursue other acting opportunities or the show's producer wanted a different sidekick for The Doctor.

Doctor Who fans were given a preview of Freema Agyeman, who played Adeola in Torchwood Institute. The Adeola character was killed by the Cybermen. Freema went on to play Martha Jones, the main travelling companion of The Doctor in Season 3. The producers of the show had to explain though that Martha and Adeola were "cousins" hence the physical resemblance. Of course, in reality, it was Freema who played 2 different characters. Interestingly, Martha Jones eventually ended up as a Torchwood character just like her supposed cousin.

Freema is certainly more "eye candy" than Billie. Her character, Martha, is a medical student so she brings in a smarter(?) character than Rose to complement the Doctor. She was portrayed as a black (is African-British a more politically-correct term?) in the series, but according to her biography, she is actually half-Iranian and half-Ghanian. I initially thought she was Indian (as in a native from India, and not Native American Indian)

Season 2 ended with a preview of the Runaway Bride Christmas Special, which introduced viewers to Catherine Tate. She eventually becomes the Doctor's travelling companion, Donna Noble, in Season 4.

Looking forward to continuing my Doctor Who marathan of Season 3!