I’ve always found Emancipation (and most of series 5-6) difficult to parse in terms of my reaction to it. I think you’re bang on when you wish this version of Gallifrey is darker than what we’re presented with! I would have loved to see Leela, Romana and Narvin in an even more morally compromising position…
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And I’ve carried right on with Evolution! This story started out very strong in my opinion, but it kind of lost me somewhere in the middle, and then getting me back for the very last scenes again because those had excellent character moments. The whole thing with the path in the vortex and the white lands and all that just didn’t make any sense to me. If it gets cleared up a bit more in future episodes, I’ll probably enjoy it more, or maybe if I give it a relisten.
I really like the side of Leela we see here. I loved her conversation with Maris in the beginning, because Leela, when you see her in contrast with the Time Lords, does usually come off as much more sympathetic and caring, but I think this shows a lot of the ways she can be short-sighted in her thinking too. I love Maris and I hope maybe we get to see her again because she is a really cool type of character to pitch against Leela.
I love what this episode does with Narvin and Leela’s relationship. Him spying on her??? Her understanding that this is how he cares!!! And god the way he says savage at the end, I will never be over that ever. Narvin and Romana are excellent as political partners and I adore every single one of their conversations, they have such an energy and dry humour with constant jabs at each other that I love.
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- I think Romana has a much higher than usual crackpot tolerance
- because she has been influenced so strongly by the Doctor
- is someone going to blow them all up?
- oh I love Leela being happy
- oh who is that
- I like her
- this has excellent Narvin/Romana interaction
- I think this is actually a good conversation for Leela to have because she is always so bent on freedom and fighting and dying but she doesn’t know that much about having to just survive and how to reduce harm
- love to get more timey-wimey stuff
- Narvin spying on Leela is kind of cute in a creepy way
- it’s very him
- I don’t like aaaahhh I love her
- signal?
- are we getting K9 back pretty please?
- now who the hell are they talking about and what the hell are these white lands?
- I love how exasperated Romana is getting
- thank you just how she talks
- and I love how Narvin does get back to being coordinator in practice even though he’s not in name
- he may not personally be a good spy but he is good at gathering information
- oh now she knows I do wonder what that is going to do to their relationship
- Leela really cannot have good things can she
- you know the white lands made me think of the sensory deprivation in the omega factor at first and this does have a surprising amount of parallels right now
- this stuff is very weird
- what is happening
- where did they go
- but your intent was good cute
- savage how does he manage to put that much affection into one word
- and yet. I am this is so good
- Romana is so impatient
- interesting
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It’s really weird, because I genuinely can’t really tell what I feel for it or even what I feel towards parts of it. It definitely compels me though.
I feel like this world was a lot darker in Forever, and there definitely should be more of a fallout of that. Like we do have some difficulty with the new position of the slaves, and some assassination attempts, but not only did this world seem much more violent in Forever, the freeing of the slaves should not have gone that smoothly in my opinion, for society or for the economy.
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also I think I’ve just about got time for finishing season five before I need to sleep but I probably won’t make a post on it until tomorrow
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Just very briefly: I loved Arbitration, much stronger on basically all the points I was missing earlier, definitely the best of season five, and argghhh that ending!! So excited to see what happens next
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My brain is too mush to have real commentary on s5 right now but that’s how I feel about the whole series. I don’t think it’s ‘‘bad’’ per se but I also don’t think it fully either knows what it wants to be or succeeds at it
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And we are so back!! Arbitration [1] is what I think all of S5 should have been in my opinion. It had properly difficult moral dilemmas, it had all of our main characters responding to them differently and in a way that fits them, it had me on edge, it had excellent conflict between Narvin, Romana and Leela and it had a very shocking ending!! (well I could have guessed it if I looked up the next title before but I didn’t so it did shock me)(I hope this messes Romana up so bad. It should)
Narvin. Just the way this man’s morals are Romana. Her safety, her approval, her goals and nothing else. The second it is implied she is in danger of being uncovered, he stops caring about doing the right thing, and he does it in secret because he knows she wouldn’t approve. It’s incredible. He does everything she asks, and after having taken care of the immediate danger he makes right the wrongs Leela and Romana care about. His loyalty is everything. And while he does morally reprehensible things, he still makes sure Leela is safe. He is the one to reason with her. Trapped in an impossible situation between these two women.
Leela has such a strong moral core here. I love her sense of justice, I love how sure of herself she is, I love that she doesn’t compromise. I adore that we get some of her backstory here because it makes her feel more grounded and actually belonging with the people of Mancipia. Leela’s role in Gallifrey is one that endlessly fascinates me. She is Leela of the Sevateem, and yet we never hear anything of the Sevateem after the Face of Evil. She is forever the outsider, not belonging anywhere, not Time Lord, but not human anymore either, caught in between. Here, with people called the outsiders, it feels like she belongs, she takes a role, stories and history familiar to her past. And yet. She can reject Narvin’s plea. But not Romana’s. Those two cannot escape each other’s orbit and I adore it.
Romana is caught in a very interesting position here. She agrees with Leela’s position but she needs to save face too, and her first priority is actually getting them all of this Gallifrey. She cares for this planet, but she cares way more for Leela and Narvin. I love how conflicted she is about Leela. The way it hurts her so much that she can’t talk to her, that she knows Leela won’t listen because it’s her and so she sends Narvin instead. And still, the way they find each other again at the end. ajrjalgjek. In love with them.
The politics here are much better than in the previous two as well, because we have tension. We have some other players that feel like a proper threat.
In conclusion, I love this one, best episode of S5 for sure.
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- ah Romana is in trouble
- I do love that Romana has to actually justify her morals for once
- oh right they do still have a Brax here
- okay this actually is much more to my liking it has a lot of the things I was missing in the last two
- what is this guy doing
- Brax!!
- Narvin love how she says his name
- ah Romana is back to being on the verge of a breakdown the entire time I love it
- okay violence is not good for the political situation
- but I love the way Leela reveals herself to him
- and how she talks to him
- yessss
- the way Romana’s voice always gets this slight tremble when Leela is in danger
- because you’re not me help
- this whole conversation is hajfhjdakh
- not as my chancellor but as my friend I’ll be off losing my mind then
- I have nothing to fear from any man on Gallifrey yessssss
- the way Leela laughs >>>>>>
- Narvin cares so much for her but he can’t seem to properly listen
- Leela backstory!!
- I adore the way she tells that story
- god they are so
- I am in love with them
- the way Narvin will do anything when Romana is threatened
- I need to examine her trauma regarding slavery in this season
- and also how she does everything as much as possible to make things good for Leela even though Leela doesn’t even know
- Narvin wouldn’t respectfully do anything
- oh I do love how morally conflicted they’re getting
- this is the good stuff
- I adore that Narvin is now the first person to defend Leela and her people
- oh they are trying to remove her on being emotionally compromised
- that can’t have existed on the original Gallifrey
- otherwise Romana would not have remained president for five seconds
- it’s so funny because what’s really making her compromised is of course Leela and not that evil guy
- I wonder what strategy or weapons Leela has up her sleeve
- because she is very sure of herself
- if you aren’t willing to risk that much for your principles, then what are they even worth
- these conversations are so good
- Leela and Romana have me enthralled
- oh the way Narvin misses home
- ah I do love when justice is served
- the way their laughing together
- oh are they getting away?
- Leela’s joy at K9>>>>
- uh something bad is happening
- what is it
- oh shit
- oh that is so bad
- this is going to ■■■■ Romana up so bad
- at least I hope it does
interestingly, this is the second time I’ve learned an English word from a Gallifrey title, the first was Panacea ↩︎
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Also I just noticed that I’ve basically been writing full reviews about these for a while and maybe I should actually put them on the main site lol
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hehe >:)
hehehHHAHAHAHHAHEHEH 
For real though at this point Romana and Narvin both see her as the personal embodiment Of Gallifrey (which totally isn’t messing her up) and they all three of them are so codependent it’s insaneeee
s5 as I say is a bit up and down and I think it misses the point it wants to make but as a certified Leela Girl this is the best series for her since about 2 so I like it. It’s nice for her to actually have something to do.
I enjoy s6 too. Extermination is one of those eps heralded as a fan fave but honestly I think it’s a 6/10 at best and Renaissance is my fave of the series.
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I love it so much. The relationships, the interactions, they are incredible, no matter how weird the plot gets in these, every conversation between them is amazing. I need to eat glass about them
I adore this part of it. All of this here was coming for so long, it should have happened forever ago, and I love her so much I need to analyze her
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literally so true, I LOVE Renaissance (Trey is soooooo wonderful!) but I can never go very far with Extermination, it’s got some great moments but feels like a whole lot of nothing. Although maybe I just don’t like Daleks…
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unpopular opinion: the bit where Narvin rescues Leela in Ascension >>> The Door Scene
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Clearly I need to be listening faster so I can be a part of this conversation, I want to know what happens nextttttt so bad
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Listen. At this point we all know I love it when Romana does ■■■■■■ up things. And when she is traumatized to hell and back. And even more if she does evil messed up things because she is so hurt. And this audio ■■■■■■■ delivered.
I don’t really have that many additional thoughts on it, because really that was the main thing happening the entire time, there’s really not that much plot and it’s mainly fighting Daleks or running away from Daleks. In itself not massively entertaining.
I find it very interesting that I generally don’t like Dalek stories very much but the second you put them in the same story as Romana I am thinking about the Apocalypse Element and am no longer capable of thinking about anything else. Romana torturing the Dalek is soooooo good. One of the top scenes of Gallifrey for me probably. And the moment before where she looks at the sunset. Heartbreaking she is so convinced she won’t make it because she knows better than anyone else alive in any universe what they can do. I love her reclaiming her identity. That moment of her talking to herself in TAE is so haunting. And I find it very compelling how she becomes a martyr for this Gallifrey. I think it’s what she wanted on the original one as well but here she gets to become that without actually dying which is interesting.
I love how codependent they all are here. Narvin not running away but staying for them, Leela being there for Romana the second she needs her, Romana calling Leela her best friend. I am in love with them. And Romana being so scared in the beginning, while Leela, perhaps not expecting to survive, but still unafraid and ready to fight.
In total I am rating this as good (4/5) and a favourite which I don’t do often (most of my favourites are 5/5) because the story isn’t much but it was made for people like me who enjoy Romana being so messed up.
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- oh Leela narration I love this
- Narvin narration too ?!
- they have such beautiful voices
- Romana too !!
- I am forever thinking of Romana II’s first day being captured and enslaved by daleks
- I wonder what that thing about the proxima system is
- probably something I haven’t heard yet
- I was scared her pain
- oh Etra Prime mention
- this is going to be good
- the way Romana obeys them immediately
- back then we had the Doctor except Romana didn’t
- she had to save herself
- oh she is scared
- it is always so interested to see the reaction of people who don’t know the Daleks contrasted with those who do
- oh Romana is going to start some suicidal plans again is she
- the way she is almost crying and pleading
- oh this is good
- she is so traumatized
- I love the way she takes control though
- because there is no one better to deal with this situation
- I like that Leela and Narvin are also incredibly aware of the danger
- Romana has always been my friend. That will never change
- I love them so much
- they are all caring so much for each other
- and this is bringing it to the forefront
- he can’t not stay
- I knew it
- he is way too loyal to Romana and Leela
- Braxiatel
- oh is he not called Irving here
- that is very odd why does he work with them
- which Brax worked with them
- hey that’s mean
- I was hoping for more Brax
- oh they are back together yayyyyy
- my best friend
- what is Narvin on about
- oh
- maybe they can fight
- I love the way Romana’s first instinct against the Daleks is to run though
- she is unit 117 ■■■■
- nearly spit out my food at that because oh dear
- this is so bad
- so this is Daleks from the original timeline
- well at least probably
- Leela <3
- oh Romana
- oh no
- I just want to go home
- she is making me cry
- poor Romana
- she is so haunted
- this is so terrible for her
- I love that Leela is the one most focused on surviving
- Narvin is so happy at hitting
- You and I at point blank range
- what is she doing
- she tried to kill herself didn’t she
- I mean probably the Dalek too
- I love this
- oh yes
- she should be doing that
- whhhhyyy meeeeee why Romana
- K9!!
- so he’s okay
- but I am not a Time Lord yessss
- oh she is not going to show mercy
- they have hurt her too much
- I support womens’ wrongs
- especially Romana’s
- oh what is he going to say
- her laugh at that
- I am the Lady Romanadvoratrelundar yeeesssssss
- oh I love it
- this is so good
- yeah this is a favourite episode for sure
- I have the right
- oh it is so interesting to see the difference in how Leela treats them
- Leela is so panicked at Narvin being hurt
- what is this creepy music
- ah so that is how they’re planning to solve the dogma virus is it?
- those aren’t friends
- oh so she is faking her death
- not a bad idea to become a martyr
- it’s probably the only way she can even remotely make sure they are on the right path
- what happened to you the Daleks it’s always the Daleks
- I love how Romana is always formed by the Doctor and now taking his narrative role in many ways
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hehe I cannot waittttttt for you to get to Unity >:)
Overall I think you are 100% the target audience for this ep, and yes the Romana stuff is great and yes the infamous Door Scene is there (though I’ve always found it really forced tbh) but this is by a long way my least fave s6 episode
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Neither can I!!! I have heard it mentioned often enough that I am super intrigued but I don’t actually know anything, so I am very excited for it
I truly cannot deny being the target audience for this but it is very nice being catered to I have to say
The Door Scene for me is nice but like. He was never going to choose anything else. I could see it coming a mile off. This isn’t a properly conflicting choice, but it is nice to show how far Narvin has come.
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Also, Erasure fits good after Enemy Lines, is that right?
And where does In Search of Lost Time fit?
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Unity is MY episode. It is not ‘good’ but it is mine. If you’ve seen any of my tumblr posting then you probably got that already 
Agree re Door Scene. It makes the Leela/Narvin people crazy but (blasphemous confession) I don’t really ship them that much - like I do but they’re better with Romana as an ot3 y’know
Erasure yes after Enemy Lines. Lost Time after TW1.2 Soldier Obscura.
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Yeah this is precisely it, because they are very nice to me but they just do not work without the context of Romana. What drives them together is their shared love(whether platonic or romantic is of no concern)/loyalty to her and I think she will always come first for both of them and that is what unites them. Granted, Romana doesn’t need to actually be there or to return any of the feelings (though I of course think she does) but in a way she’s always present with them. I mean, look at this scene: the only reason Narvin needs to choose is because Leela chose first. And Leela chooses to stay in the hope of finding and helping Romana. Narvin tries to convince her to run away with him, but, crucially he is only able to conceive of that himself because he is so scared of the Daleks he’s convinced himself Romana is dead. If he knew for sure she was alive he wouldn’t even try. And he doesn’t just stay with Leela, he stays with Leela in order to find Romana. She will always come first for them and I think that’s incredible
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Meanwhile I am back to listening to War Room 1 and the way they are all sooooo mean to Veklin all the time is so crunchy to me. They’re all so down on her, threatening and manipulating her into being obedient and unquestioning of her orders… I need her to explode and I need it to be messy 
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