The Doctor is at Death’s Door; Ace pushes him through.
Sorry for the lateness of this one! I was preoccupied last night with finishing the McCoy Era logo for Flight Through Entirety. Appropriately enough, it’s a good’un.
My favourite part of this section is Ace’s life as Dorry, the version of her that went along with the crowd. Each of these books has dealt with memory and identity, and particularly the idea of forgetting who you are. This is version of Ace who never stood for anything, even when she has doubts over how her friends are acting. While confused by the situation, she seems content- even to the point of having a good relationship with her parents. This is interesting because, at this point, we don’t know why Ace has such a bad relationship with her mother- but also that, for this version of Ace, her parents are still together. If they are separated in the real world, does Ace blame herself for this? I Does she believe, on some level, that if she had gone with the flow her parents would still be together?
Then there is Ace’s sacrifice. In each story in this series of books, she has been threatened with sacrifice, so the fact that she chooses her fate here is so powerful. This is especially true given the horrors she has endured due to the Doctor’s miscalculation in this story along- yet she forgives him because she believes in him.
The Doctor’s stand against the Timewyrm is gutwrenching. Given that this is the end of the mini-series – the end of the season, if you like – it’s a suitably epic, and there is a palpable sense of doom. The revelation (no pun intended) that we are inside the Doctor’s mind was a genuine surprise to me, as I thought we were inside the TARDIS! Ace’s continued faith and support of the Doctor is inspiring- not only is she our identification character, but someone we aspire to be like. She is loyal, but not blindly so. She is dependable, but not exploitable.
Finally, Emily’s trip through the time vortex is another restatement of the series’ ideals, and the Doctor’s monologue, rapidly and recognisably moving through his various personae, gives a great sense that we are building towards an epic ending.
We’ll find out tomorrow…
Timewyrm: Revelation- Chapters 9-11.
The Doctor Who Reader 