After the fun and games of last week’s series opener, the latest episode took an altogether more serious turn. It all starts when the Doctor takes Donna to ancient Rome (currently brand new Rome…). Well, that was the plan, but in one of those occasional frequent random detours, they soon find that they’re actually in Pompeii. And in one of those occasional frequent coincidences, they’re just in time for Vesuvius to do its blowing up thing. Now most of the time, the Doctor has no trouble at all landing the Tardis exactly when and where he needs to be, so why is it that he keeps getting diverted to the wrong place and time, just in time for something Big, and generally Bad, to happen? Is it purely random, or is there some force at work? Does the Tardis know what it’s doing? Maybe we’ll find out one day…

Before realising where they are, Donna gets the traditional explanation for why all the people seem to be speaking English and all the signs are also English – you know, the clever stuff in the Tardis doing psychic wossnames. But Donna, being somewhat different from the average companion, has a thought. If her English is automagically translated into Latin, what will happen if she speaks in actual Latin. The stallholder to whom she says “Veni, vidi, vici” doesn’t understand her at all, and thinks she must be Celtic[1]. While they were busy finding out where they were, the stallholder was busy selling the Tardis to Caecillius[2], an upstanding Roman citizen who thinks it’s modern art.

And lots of good stuff follows. We get to know Caecillius and his family, who could have wandered in from any sitcom or soap, and have a finely tuned routine in catching their statues when the earth shakes. But quite apart from the small matter of Vesuvius, it soon becomes apparent that something very odd is going on. For a start, all the soothsayers are saying, well, sooth[3]. Caecillius’s daughter Evelina and the city’s Augur Lucius both seem to know rather too much about the Doctor and Donna, and there are some dodgy priestesses who have a prophecy about a blue box.

After lots of the usual fun, it emerges that there is something nasty under Vesuvius. Other than all that magma, that is. Alien beings of rock and fire[4] called Pyroviles, who are trapped on Earth and are using the power of the volcano for their own purposes. And as you might guess, those purposes do not meet with the Doctor’s approval. They’ve influenced people to make what look like electronic circuits in marble, and the completed circuit will transform the power of the volcano to suit their plan: transforming all of humanity into their own form.

The Doctor works all this out while trapped in the Pyroviles’ control room, and comes to a dreadful realisation. He’d been wondering why none of the entirely accurate prophets knew about the eruption, which is due to happen imminently. And now he knows. There will be no eruption unless he causes it. And causing the eruption, and so destroying Pompeii, is the only way to save the rest of the world. He explains the awful dilemma to Donna, and together they press the lever that sets off some really quite impressive eruption stuff.

Getting back to the city as the ash starts to fall, they return to the Tardis. After a little persuasion, the Doctor returns to save Caecillius and his family.

Back in the Tardis, we get a great insight into where the relationship is going:

Donna: Thank you
Doctor: Yeah. You were right – sometimes I need someone. Welcome aboard.
Donna: Yeah

But this episode had more going for it than all that. Quite apart from some really great monsters, a rather well created eruption, and great location filming in the Cinecitta studios in Rome, we had a rare sign of the Doctor being challenged. Donna wants to evacuate the city, wants to save everyone, but the Doctor insists that he can’t. It’s a fixed point in time, and he can’t interfere. Donna demands to know why it’s different from when he sorted out the little matter when he met her that Christmas, and he explains that as a Time Lord, he actually can see the difference between fixed and fluid events, what must be, and what can’t be. All of which goes some way to explaining his tendency to be detached from events and people, and why he really does need someone, if not to stop him, but to remind him of human values. I think Donna is going to be good for him…

I didn’t mention it last week, but if you’re even slightly into Doctor Who, there’s lots of extra stuff on the official website. Interviews, pictures, and even some exclusive material including this dossier on the Pyroviles narrated by Captain Jack. Talking of Captain Jack, unconfirmed rumours suggest that he’ll be back in Doctor Who again towards the end of the series.

[1] Or Welsh. Later, we had the delightful line “You’re Celtic? There’s lovely.”[5]
[2] A name borrowed by RTD from old school Latin books…
[3] This may be a recycled Carry On gag, but who cares?
[4] Which leads to the Doctor holding them off with a water pistol
[5] There were also some nice silly name gags, starting with the Doctor, when asked for his name saying, “I am Spartacus”. followed by Donna saying much the same.