Season 2 wrap-up

With my reviews of Season 2 complete, it's time for another season wrap-up.

My scores

Episode 1 - New Earth                         5/10
Episode 2 - Tooth and Claw                 8/10
Episode 3 - School Reunion                  9/10
Episode 4 - The Girl in the Fireplace   8/10
Episode 5 - Rise of the Cybermen         8/10
Episode 6 - The Age of Steel                 8/10
Episode 7 - The Idiot's Lantern             8/10
Episode 8 - The Impossible Planet        8/10
Episode 9 - The Satan Pit                     8/10
Episode 10 - Love & Monsters             5/10
Episode 11 - Fear Her                          7/10
Episode 12 - Army of Ghosts               9/10
Episode 13 - Doomsday                       8/10

                              Season Average = 7/10

After a poor start with New Earth, we settled into a fairly solid season until Love and Monsters sends it all crashing back down. We didn't quite get any 10/10 this season, although School Reunion was very, very close.

Yes!

No!

Ongoing problems

How does this season stand up with regards to my pet peeves? Well, Season 2 saw:

• 2 episodes featuring instances of Hunka hunka burning Doc
• 2 episodes with In-Who-Endos
• 3 episodes that resorted to Deus Ex Screwdriver
• 1 episode that veered into The Companion Show Featuring The Doctor territory

We see a continued reliance on the Sonic, with three episodes using it in silly ways or having to specifically lock it out. However, this was balanced by several episodes where The Doctor used other devices to achieve a goal that I feel in more recent times he would have used the Sonic for, so that was nice.

Overall, the instances of these problems seemed to be less frequent this season, which could have contributed to the fairly consistent high scores I've given them. The main fixes I applied to these episodes have been tightening up the story and closing plot holes.

Season Arc

The Torchwood arc started off rather subtle, but like the Bad Wolf arc, the hints sometimes felt forced.

Subtle is good.

All up, the concept of Torchwood was probably a little easier to work in to the various stories than the phrase "Bad Wolf". References to Torchwood all seemed relatively natural, apart from maybe The Captain's reference in The Satan Pit. I suppose it also helps that Torchwood is an organisation that can have an impact on many aspects of The Doctor's adventures.

References to the series arc were far more sparse this season, with just under half the episodes featuring a reference (6 out of 13), compared to nearly all episodes in series 1. The first mention of Torchwood in Season 1 could go unnoticed, but its impact in The Christmas Invasion makes it clear that whatever it is, it's powerful and possibly dangerous. Our first reference in Season 2 proper outright states what it is, so although we are yet to see what Torchwood becomes, we already know from the outset broadly what it is.

Could this have been handled differently? Maybe. If the origin reveal had come later in the series, the references would have been a bit more mysterious. Swapping Tooth and Claw with Fear Her could help a lot, meaning that by the time we see Torchwood's origin, we have already been teased with multiple Torchwood references. We would also jump straight from that origin to the modern organisation in Army of Ghosts.

Either way, easing up on the number of references and making them feel less forced improves the series arc tease immensely, and makes it feel a lot better integrated into the individual stories.