– Posted by Sage

Rose and Ten Forever

If you love and hate their precious faces in equal measure, they’re probably your OTP.

As promised, we’re devoting one post a week to spotlighting five songs on our awe-inspiring Rose and Ten playlist. Read Kim’s first playlist breakdown post here. This week, I’m walking you through five more selections and why they’re reminiscent of the best OTP in all of time and space. Ugh, I could write about these two all the live-long day. Pop open your Spotify, queue up Rose and Ten, and get ready to re-feel all the feelings.

“Just Like Heaven” – The Cure

“‘Show me, show me, show me how you do that trick 
The one that makes me scream,’ she said 
‘The one that makes me laugh,’ she said 
And threw her arms around my neck 
‘Show me how you do it 
And I promise you I promise that 
I’ll run away with you 
I’ll run away with you.’
Spinning on that dizzy edge 
I kissed her face and kissed her head 
And dreamed of all the different ways I had 
To make her glow 
‘Why are you so far away?’ she said 
‘Why won’t you ever know that I’m in love with you 
That I’m in love with you.'”

In my weird brain, Robert Smith sat down with a pot of tea and decided to write a song about the Doctor and Rose Tyler. The first verse is pure Series 1. The Ninth Doctor was born out of war, and carries that cynicism and world-weariness on his back. And then Rose comes into his life – this blond bundle of curiosity, compassion, and joy. As MATT SMITH SAID TO ME ONCE, “seeing the universe alone is different to showing the universe and letting someone else experience it.” Things change for The Doctor as soon as he starts looking at the world through Rose’s eyes. I’ve always been partial to the theory that Ten is who he is because, when he regenerated, Nine was so in love with Rose and in awe that she basically sacrificed herself to save him. He’s always wanted to be better for her and now he has the opportunity to literally become the man she needs. It doesn’t get much more romantic than that, folks.

Cute lyrics, right? It’s all spinning around and magic tricks and love and fun. Right? RIGHT?

Then this:

“And found myself alone alone 
Alone above a raging sea 
That stole the only girl I loved 
And drowned her deep inside of me .”

It’s basically “Doomsday” set to music. Ugh. Let’s move on.

“Long Live” – Taylor Swift

“Long live all the mountains we moved
I had the time of my life fighting dragons with you
I was screaming, long live the look on your face
And bring on all the pretenders
One day, we will be remembered.”

“And you take a moment
Promise me this
That you’ll stand by me forever
But if God forbid fate should step in
And force us into a goodbye
If you have children someday
When they point to the pictures
Please tell them my name.”

In the special features on the Series 2 DVDs, David and Billie do a visual commentary for “Doomsday.” Even though they both admitted to being devastated by filming the goodbye, that wasn’t the last scene they shot together.

The last scene that David and Billie shot as the Tenth Doctor and Rose Tyler was the final scene of “The Satan Pit.” They’ve materialized on a space station stuck in the orbit of a black hole; saved as many of the crew as they could; defeated what may have been the actual devil; and come close to actually dealing with how they feel. (“If they get back in contact – if you talk to Rose – just tell her…tell her…oh, she knows.”) They’re safely back in the TARDIS when crew member Ada asks, “You two…who are you?” The Doctor looks at Rose, smiles, and says, “Oh…the stuff of legend.”

They couldn’t get through it without crying.

“I Miss You” – Blink 182

“Where are you? And I’m so sorry.
I cannot sleep I cannot dream tonight
I need somebody and always
This sick strange darkness 
Comes creeping on so haunting every time
And as I stared I counted 
Webs from all the spiders
Catching things and eating their insides
Like indecision to call you
and hear your voice of treason
Will you come home and stop this pain tonight
Stop this pain tonight.

Don’t waste your time on me you’re already 
The voice inside my head.”

Man, the Series 3 angst was delicious, wasn’t it?

“A Thousand Years” – Christina Perri

“Time stands still
Beauty in all she is
I will be brave
I will not let anything
Take away
What’s standing in front of me
Every breath, Every hour has come to this

And all along I believed I would find you
Time has brought your heart to me,
I have loved you for a thousand years
I’ll love you for a thousand more.”

The true tragedy of Doctor Who will always be that, no matter how much of himself he gives to the universe, The Doctor will inevitably end up alone. He will always outlive the people he loves.

It’s all fun and good times with Rose and Ten in Series 2 until “School Reunion” and the return of Sarah Jane Smith. The former companion’s arrival forces Rose and the Doctor to face their possible futures. The end to their adventures will come, whether it’s caused by an elderly Rose succumbing to old age or more tragic circumstances. Rose seeks advice from Sarah Jane; and even though the older woman has never truly been able to move on from her life with the Doctor, she doesn’t discourage Rose from staying with him. (“Some things are worth getting your heart broken for.”) When time is all you have, no matter how brief, it doesn’t make sense to waste it.

The Doctor’s face when Sarah Jane walks into the room is proof enough that that character has never forgotten one detail about any of his companions. Those memories must be doubly powerful when it comes to Rose. I’ve swear I’ve seen it pass over Eleven’s face in certain moments of the current regeneration. (“One last day with your beloved – which would you choose?”) There’s just something so beautiful about a 20-year-old shop girl being the love of the most epic lifetime.

Emotional Rollercoaster

“Good Life” – Francis Dunnery

“Softly now,
You owe it to the world
And everyone knows that you’re my favourite girl
But there’s some things in life that are not meant to be
I’m not meant for you and you’re not meant for me.”

Just when you thought that Rose and the Doctor couldn’t get more emotionally confusing, Journey’s End happened. Let’s just walk through it together, shall we? Rose has spent years trying to cross universes to get back to the Doctor, and we finally get the reunion we’ve waited two seasons for. Because it’s Doctor Who and we can’t have nice things, the Daleks ruin everything. The Doctor is dying in Rose’s arms, about to regenerate. She came all this way because she loves him. This one. The next regeneration could look like a 15-year-old kid or a 100-year-old man. He might snore really loudly or vote Republican. Anything is possible.

The Doctor stops the process by throwing his regeneration energy into his handy hand-in-a-jar from way back in Tennant’s first episode. (Who‘s version of Chekhov’s gun.) Donna later accidentally turns the hand into a meta-crisis Doctor, i.e. a half-human Doctor clone. (Stay with me here.) After the explosions and the save-the-universe stuff, the whole gang ends up back at Bad Wolf Bay. Then things get really weird.

The Doctor is finally able to give Rose the one thing he thought he never could: himself. The half-human Doctor is the same man – with the same emotions and the same memories. He was with Rose on New Earth, at the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee, and the first time at Bad Wolf Bay. The difference is that this Doctor will age, with her. Because of that, he can say to her what the Time Lord Doctor never could. Rose gets a happy ending – she’s the only companion to get her own, take-home Doctor. But even though the Time Lord Doctor and half-human Doctor share the same memories, they don’t share the same future. The Time Lord Doctor won’t get to live with Rose, to marry her, to have children with her. He’ll have to move on, knowing forever that there was a version of himself living that life.

You might say, “But he’s the Doctor! He’d never be happy being tied down with one person and not racing all over time and space!” Rewatch the “Human Nature”/”Family of Blood” two-parter from Series 3. When the Doctor returns and leaves his human identity behind, he says to Nurse Redfern, “Everything that John Smith is and was, I’m capable of that too.” He’s not just capable of that, but there’s a part of him that longs for it. TRAGEDY, YOU GUYS.

With any luck, Rose and the half-human Doctor will return in the 50th Anniversary season. Imagine that scene – that scene where the Eleventh Doctor sees them again. I don’t think there are even names for some of the emotions that scene will contain.

“Forget that I rang you
And promise you’ll have such a 
Beautifully happy and painlessly romantic 
Good life
From me.”


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