I’m having a hard time starting this post, because I’m so distracted by this gif. He closes his eyes. HE CLOSES HIS EYES. Sigh. My OTP is more beautiful and star-crossed than yours.
Anyway.
Last week, the fangirl wife and I touted our respective favorites in the only 90s boy band standoff that matters: *N Sync for me, and BSB for Kimmie. In keeping with the theme, this week’s Rose and Ten Playlist picks are all teen pop oriented. I’ll take my gut-wrenching tragedy with a side of cheese, thank you.
“What could I give when you’ve got all you need?
And she looks at me like, ‘all I want’s a little free’
Every time I’m here with you it makes me see
That it’s alright, yeah, it’s alright
We’ll get away, be in love, we can make it better
All I need’s a little time for us to get together
Happiness is just a step away
When it’s alright, yeah, it’s alright
Just a girl like you, and maybe just a
Just a guy like me, maybe we
Could take a walk on the wild side
Take a look and see
Get up and go.”
We focus on the sads a lot in these posts, but let’s not forget the good times. In between all the slutty French ladies, aborted love confessions, and wretched goodbyes, Rose and Ten were just having a ball, boppin’ around the universe.
Remember that time they were more concerned about getting the Queen to say, “We are not amused,” than catching the GIANT WEREWOLF that was ripping people to shreds? And how Ten almost collapsed laughing when he realized that Pete’s World Rose was a yappy dog? And how they got all greaser-ed up in matching outfits for the 50s? And when Rose referred to her first trip as their “first date” and the Doctor didn’t argue? And the way they flirted like sexy, unrelated Hardy Boys in “Fear Her”?
This song makes me imagine what it must be like to go on history’s longest road trip with the one person in the whole universe you have the most fun with.
Also, Hanson is perfection.
How I feel about this playlist on a daily basis.
“I’m Not a Girl, Not Yet A Woman” – Britney Spears
“I’m not a girl.
There is no need to protect me.
It’s time that I
Learn to face up to this on my own.
I’ve seen so much more than you know now,
So don’t tell me to shut my eyes.”
Nine must have set Emergency Program One before he knew Rose very well. He accurately predicted her “fussing and moaning” about being sent to safety, yes, but he didn’t understand until the end of “The Parting of the Ways” just how far she would go to stay with him, to save him. This Rose Tyler = Britney in her badass, “Overprotected,” dancing-with-a-live-fucking-snake phase. The safe route is of no interest to her – not if it renders her useless to the people she loves.
“The Doctor showed me a better way of living your life. You know, he showed you too. That you don’t just give up. You don’t just let things happen. You make a stand. You say no. You have the guts to do what’s right when everyone else just runs away!”
Taking it a little further: shaved-head, umbrella-toting Britney = Rose Tyler, if Nine hadn’t french-kissed the time vortex out of her. Think about it.
“I Drive Myself Crazy” – *N Sync
“I was such a fool
I couldn’t see it
Just how good you were to me
You confessed your love
Undying devotion
I confessed my need to be free
And now I’m left
With all this pain
I’ve only got myself to blame.”
Okay, so maybe there was only ONE slutty French lady. At least in Doctor Who.
The Doctor’s relationship with Reinette in “The Girl in the Fireplace” is problematic for our beloved ship. What’s our Doctor doing making out with some other human girl when Rose is just a few feet (and a billion years) away? Is it because your thrice-divorced aunt’s Thanksgiving rant was right and all men are scum who will inevitably break your heart?
Knowing our Doctor like we do – no. Here’s what I think: Ten is absolutely terrified by how inseparable he and Rose have become. He doesn’t know how to put on the brakes or to save them both the inevitable heartbreak of separation. Keep in mind, this is right after “School Reunion,” where he’s acknowledged that he has to be prepared to spend most of his life living without her. But instead of TALKING TO HER ABOUT IT (he’s such a boy), the Doctor throws himself into someone else’s life. It’s rash, and rash is comforting for him.
Rose, meanwhile, has every reason to be throwing his stuff out on the lawn. It’s clear that this is absolutely destroying her. But gorgeous, compassionate bitch that she is, Rose is all empathy. She goes to Reinette to warn her about the impending arrival of Clockwork Men – not because she wants to, but because he asked. And when it’s all over – after he nearly leaves her to save Reinette – all she cares about is if he’s okay.
In my head canon, the Doctor apologized to Rose about Reinette once, and then they never spoke of it again.
“If She Only Knew” – 98 Degrees
“If she only knew
What I knew but couldn’t say
If she could just see
The part of me that I hid away
If I could just hold her in my arms again
And just say ‘I love you.’
But she’s gone away, maybe she’d stay
If she only knew.”
What REALLY kills me about the painfully romantic run in “The Stolen Earth” is that the Doctor’s emotional defenses were 10000% down. Right there, at that moment? Zero of those carefully erected walls. He’s spent two years missing Rose and regretting everything he didn’t say to her. But impossible shit has happened. He’s got another chance and no time to overthink it in his big sexy Time Lord brain. In a parallel universe without Daleks, that epic run ended with an even more epic kiss.
Listen to David talk about the emotion in the scene and see if you don’t agree:
“Just Want You to Know” – Backstreet Boys
“Wrapped around your finger, always on my mind
The days would blend ’cause we stayed up all night
Yeah, you and I were everything, everything to me
I just want you to know that I’ve been fighting to let you go
Some days I make it through and then there’s nights that never end
I wish that I could believe that there’s a day you’ll come back to me
But still I have to say I would do it all again
Just want you to know.”
“Fear. Loneliness. They’re the big ones, Rose. Some of the most terrible acts ever committed have been inspired by them…There’s a lot of things you need to get across this universe. Warp drive, wormhole refractors. You know the thing you need most of all? You need a hand to hold.”
Thanks for holding my hand through this one, lovely readers. Suggestions in the comments, as per usual.
Head Over Feels 
Becky
I would like an LFO song interpreted. I don’t know much about doctor who, so you will need to pick the most appropriate song,
headoverfeels
Hmmm. Well, since their love crosses the human/alien divide, I’d recommend the timeless classic “West Side Story.” –S