I think this is perhaps the most unfairly maligned episode of Doctor Who in its history. Let’s just take care of my couple of notes against it first. Yes. The Abzorbaloff is a bit stupid. But, it was invented by a kid in a contest, and it wasn’t realized the way the kid had envisioned it, I’ve heard it was intended to be much larger. It is one of the weaker aspects of this story, but how many other Doctor Who stories have a stupid monster that we don’t treat too harshly because of it? I see no reason to treat Love & Monsters differently for the same reason.
The other one is of course Ursula’s eventual fate. And I don’t even really mean the bj joke. I think they’d have a better ending if Ursula had just died, been lost when LINDA United destroyed the Abzorbaloff. The issue is that Ursula is kinda just stuck there now, for eternity, doesn’t age. She doesn’t really have much of a choice to be with Elton or not, it’s not like she can move. And sure, Elton seems like a good enough guy, but it regardless starts to sound like more and more of a living hell the more you think about it from her point of view. So I think Russell took it one step too far in the end, and while not episode ruining, it certainly makes it not as good as it could have been.
Anyway, Elton Pope. He’s just an ordinary guy, has normal interests, has questions about his life that he wants answered, like many of us probably do in some way. They do a great job at making him very relatable and likeable. Also, he has good music taste, ELO slaps. He’s not perfect, he did use Jackie, but he knows that was wrong and it made him stop working with Victor Kennedy, showing self-awareness and growth. I think this all makes him a rather well-rounded character for someone we see in a single episode, and I like him. I think that’s what makes or breaks this episode, if you like Elton enough to follow him for 45 minutes, you’ll like the episode, but won’t if you don’t.
Despite not having the Doctor in it for very much, his presence is really still felt, and I appreciate how this story gives us a look at how the Doctor affects the random person or people who encounter him. It’s also interesting to see the events we’ve already seen (Autons, the Doctor being erased from the internet, Sycorax, etc.) from an outsider’s perspective, adding a different context rather than those bits just being a clipshow. It also gives us another level of connection with Elton seeing how he saw the same things we saw.
The idea of this being made like a video blog is a really neat idea. I was thinking it also makes things like the Scooby Doo chase at the beginning work more, because I could picture Elton in his video telling the camera “they were running around with the buckets, chasing the thing like Scooby Doo” even if realistically they would have chased it in a more logical fashion. We’re rather seeing this story in the way that Elton perceives it, which I find very interesting. And they do it without it being a found footage style, which I would not like.
LINDA, Elton’s friends. I think they’re all enjoyably fun and weird people, and that’s good because really, they’re us. This episode is all a microcosm of the Doctor Who fandom, the good and the bad. We’ve got this group of friends all together because of their interest in the Doctor. They do things like write stories, make art and music like fans of things do. It shows the amount fandom can bring people together. But it also goes into how small hostile elements of fandom can ruin the whole thing in Victor Kennedy. He’s the guy who tries to tell everyone what the “correct” way to be a fan is, sucking the joy out of things for everyone else.
And of course, Jackie Tyler, in I think her best episode. We get to see what it’s like for those who get left behind when someone important to them runs off with the Doctor. We see her loneliness, and how much she really just wanted some company in Elton, and how she felt he betrayed her. I also really like how once she realized what was going on, she put her foot down, and went fully into protective mother mode. What’s interesting is that she’s protecting even the Doctor as much as she is Rose. That is such a reversal from how much she hated the Doctor early on.
And we end with a little more foreshadowing that perhaps Rose and the Doctor’s days together are numbered, as it reinforces that the Doctor can be a danger to those around him, but how it’s worth it regardless. Honestly, very little wrong with this episode, I don’t see why it’s so frequently hated, though I think fandom is starting to come around on it these days. Sticking with my solid 7/10 on this one, coming short of an 8 with the couple things from above.
