NaBloPoMo (catchup): Series 2, Episode 6, "The Age of Steel"

WARNING: THIS ANALYSIS MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS FOR THOSE WHO HAVE NOT WATCHED DOCTOR WHO OR AT THE VERY LEAST HAVE NOT SEEN THIS EPISODE. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED. 
 
Continuing the NaBloPoMo catchup...the second part of the 2-part story begun in "Rise of the Cybermen" -- Series 2, Episode 6, "The Age of Steel."

So last episode, we left The Doctor, Rose, Mickey, the parallel Pete Tyler, and the resistance group The Preachers surrounded by Cybermen seeking to subject them to "maximum deletion." The episode recaps this and the other events of "Rise of the Cybermen" before heading into the opening credits.

After the opening credits, we return to The Doctor and company, who are still surrounded by Cybermen. The Doctor scares off the Cybermen with blasts of energy from the currently recharging TARDIS crystal, which apparently can also be used as an impromptu weapon. The group decides to go figure out what is really going on. Pete is hesitant, knowing Jackie is still in the house, but The Doctor persuades him to come along. The group load into The Preachers' van, where we learn the parallel Pete Tyler is actually a double agent and has been sharing information with The Preachers via Mrs. Moore. Pete is disappointed, though, when he realizes the group he was sharing info with is just a rag-tag group of revolutionaries; apparently, he was expecting something much more professional.

Lumic makes his next move: luring victims for conversion to him via the EarPods. In the process, he also lures away Jackie Tyler, who had been trying to hide from the Cybermen in the cellar. She gets a glazed expression and starts walking off.

The Doctor, Rose, Mickey, Pete Tyler, and the Preachers make their way through the city, losing Ricky in the process when he is shot down by Cybermen while trying to climb a fence. They eventually reach a hill overlooking the factory where Lumic is making the Cybermen. (If the exterior looks familiar, it's because it's Battersea Power Station; they couldn't film inside the station, however, so the interior scenes in the factory were filmed in a brewery instead). They make plans for who will do what. The Doctor and Mrs. Moore will try to infiltrate the factory via a secret tunnel, Mickey and Jake will try to disarm the computers on Lumic's zeppelin (an assignment Mickey doesn't seem to like). Pete and Rose will investigate the main complex by posing as candidates for conversion. Jake provides the two with dummy EarPods for this purpose, and The Doctor warns them to show no emotion, as that will give them away as intruders. The group then splits up.

Pete and Rose successfully make it in the factory, but are given away when confronted by a Cyberman who recognizes Pete - it's Jackie! Or rather it was...she's been converted. Pete becomes distraught at having lost his wife, which alerts some other Cybermen to their intruder status, and they grab the two.

The Doctor and Mrs. Moore creep down a dark, narrow tunnel filled with inactive Cybermen. Not having any danger to fear for the moment, they get acquainted. But soon, Lumic realizes they are there and activates the Cybermen. The two run out and take down the Cybermen chasing them. The Doctor opens the chest of one fallen Cyberman, showing Mrs. Moore the emotional inhibitor chip the Cybermen put in their converted human victims. He deactivates it, and the human within the suit briefly returns, confessing that she was young and about to be married, before passing away. But before The Doctor and Mrs. Moore can mourn, another Cyberman shows up, electrocuting Mrs. Moore. The Doctor is shocked, but knows he must move on; he takes the inhibitor chip with him and departs to find Lumic.

Mickey and Jake reach Lumic's zeppelin. After taking out the guards, they make their way in and up to the control room. There they see an armed Cyberman and panic, only to realize it's just a test dummy (very similar to the one in "The Tomb of the Cybermen"). They then try the computers, trying to figure out how to cripple Lumic's operation, without much success.

The Doctor ends up getting captured and taken to Lumic. Rose and Pete are already there. Lumic reveals himself to them and is shortly after crowned Cyber Leader by his loyal army. The Doctor realizes Lumic is dying and intends to use the cyber conversion process to extend his life. The typical "Doctor speech" follows, in which Ten praises Lumic's genius while silmultaneously telling him what an idiot he is. In the meantime, Mickey has gotten a hold of Rose and gotten updated on the situation at hand (he and Jake are also watching the proceedings in Lumic's room via a security camera monitor). The Doctor continues to taunt Lumic, saying that if ever his humans-turned-Cybermen got their emotions back, it would be chaos. But the only way that'll happen, he says, is if someone figures out the deactivation code, adding that it's probably so simple "even an idiot could figure it out." This last phrase is for Mickey's benefit, since The Doctor knows Mickey is watching. (The Doctor's nickname for Mickey is "Mickey the idiot"). Mickey gets the hint and starts putting his hacking skills to work, finally figuring out the code and sending it via text message to Rose. Rose alerts The Doctor, and The Doctor takes her phone and plugs it into a console. This activates a mass deactivation of the emotional inhibitor chips, and, just as The Doctor predicted, it causes mass chaos -- we see Cybermen throughout the factory suddenly grab their heads and cry out in horror at what they've become. Lumic too, realizing what's going on, is pretty ticked off. An explosion begins in the factory (caused by what I forget). 

The Doctor, Rose, and Pete escape to the roof, where Mickey and Jake fly in the zeppelin to pick them up. The Cybermen try to pursue them up the rope ladder dangling off the zeppelin, but the quick-thinking Doctor hands Pete his Sonic, with which he cuts the ropes of the ladder below him, sending the Cyberman into the massive inferno of the factory.

We switch to a park near Big Ben, where the TARDIS is now located. The Doctor, Rose, and Mickey say a quick goodbye to Jake and Pete, as The Doctor must conserve enough power to get the TARDIS back into the Vortex. At this point, Mickey reveals that he is staying in the parallel world to take the place of his fallen double. He says he's realized Rose is a lot happier with The Doctor than with him, and wishes her well. Rose says they can always visit each other, but The Doctor negates this, saying they have to close the hole in space-time between our universe and this one. Therefore, if Mickey is going to stay behind, Rose will never see him again. They consider this and have a more permanent goodbye. Pete Tyler states his intention to travel the world, shutting down the other Cyberman factories worldwide. Rose and he have a moment, and he wonders aloud why she seems so familiar to him. But before Rose can tell him she's his daughter, he interrupts, saying he can't take this right now, and leaves. The Doctor then calls for Rose to hurry, and she runs back into the TARDIS. Mickey and Jake watch it dematerialize (Jake is particularly surprised to see it do so). The two then head back to the Preachers' van, and Jake asks Mickey if he can really handle it, taking Ricky's place. Mickey says he can, adding that "I once saved the world with a big yellow truck" (a reference to him helping Rose pry up the cover over the Heart of the TARDIS in "The Parting of the Ways"). 

And...that's the end of that.

This episode is more action-packed than its predecessor, which makes it a little more palatable. It also has some similarities to "The Tomb of the Cybermen," though I may just be saying that because I have seen that episode twice and listened to the audiobook of it. The Cyberman dummy is a clear homage to it, and the scene with Jake and Mickey is similar to the one with Haydon and Jamie in that episode.

Other than that, I'm afraid I don't have much to say about this episode. Sorry.

More next time, when we explore an episode I like much better, "The Idiot's Lantern."

*** 

NaBloPoMo Special: 

The Love of the Doctor and Rose Tyler 

Part Twenty: The End of a Love Triangle

Since the theme of NaBloPoMo this month is "Love and Sex" (probably because of Valentine's Day), I feel compelled to write something about love in my posts. Hence, since I am exploring Series 1 and 2 in this challenge, I am going to write a little special essay throughout the month about the growing love between the Doctor and Rose. Please note I am in no way an expert on relationships. 

There's not much to say about The Doctor and Rose's relationship in this episode. Not as much as the last episode anyway. 

This episode is significant, though, in that the Doctor/Rose/Mickey love triangle ends in it. Mickey officially breaks up with Rose, seeing that she is happier with The Doctor:

ROSE: What about me? What if I need you?
MICKEY: Yeah, but Rose, you don't. It's just you and him, isn't it. We had something a long time ago, but not anymore. 
...
MICKEY: Thanks. We've had a laugh though, haven't we? Seen it all, been there and back. Who would have thought, me and you off the old estate, flying through the stars.
ROSE: All those years just sitting there, imagining what we'd do one day. We never saw this, did we?
MICKEY: Go on, don't miss your flight. 
...
MICKEY: That's the Doctor in the Tardis with Rose Tyler. 

    
With Mickey out of the picture, how will The Doctor and Rose's love develop? Or will it? Stay tuned!

Quotes from The Doctor Who Transcripts.