Day 106: Bell of Doom

There are some things that are amongst the most terrible things in the universe, like what happened in this episode: on the 24th of August, 1572, there was an authorized massacre of the Huguenot population living in Paris, after tensions between the Huguenots and the Catholics reached fever pitch, and a series of events sparked the mass murder of about 10,000 people. And meanwhile, the Doctor has found Steven, and sends Steven's young companion, Anne Chaplet, off to leave Paris immediately. We do not know what happens to Anne. We can only assume that she didn't make it. In another story, this would be a hidden detail, glossed over. But today is different. Steven has witnessed a lot over the past couple of stories. People who he has known and grown to trust have been murdered or destroyed before his very eyes, and today he witnessed the Doctor, the man who he trusts more than any other, send a young girl off to certain doom. 

For the fourth story in a row, we witness as thousands of people die before our eyes. For a story that focuses so much on tensions between people of faith, it is interesting that here we lose our faith in the Doctor. He had to let history run its course, and in doing so, he, as well as Steven and the audience at home, are forced to witness the consequences of his inactions, death and destruction. And the death and destruction of a young serving girl. We've had enough, we can't take it any more, we want to leave. And so we do, like Steven, leave the TARDIS, never to come back. We leave the old man in his magic box, as he contemplates the past 106 episodes. He's met two schoolteachers, who taught him compassion, Susan who gave him something to care about, Vicki who brought so much fun, and Steven, with whom he had a strong mutual trust. But that's all over now.

And then a young girl bursts into the TARDIS, full of energy and stupidity. She doesn't realise where she is, she doesn't realise what the hell is going on, but she doesn't care. And Steven returns, because to warn the Doctor of the fact that some policemen are coming to inspect the police box shaped TARDIS and the Doctor is forced to leave, with Steven and this impossible young girl. The young girl's name? Dodo Chaplet. Like Anne Chaplet. There's a possibility that Anne survived. There's hope that things turned out for the best. There is hope that the Doctor isn't a man who sends young girls to their death, instead he sends them to their life. For the first time in what feels like an age, we have hope. And that is one of the most beautiful things in the universe.