4. The Girl in the Fireplace
Written by Steven Moffat Series 2 Episode 4 Series 2 was Tennant's first and he really had to hit the ground running. In only his fourth episode he had to perform the emotionally-charged 'The Girl in the Fireplace,' a task which would've surely tasked any actor. When the Doctor meets French aristocrat Reinette Poisson (or, oddly enough Madame de Pompadour) he quickly falls in love with her (despite the fact that she was a child a few minutes before, which is a bit creepy). Sophia Myles portrays the vivacious lady with all of the charm and sparkle that must be expected from an important woman in the Doctor's life. Emotions are central to the episode. Until this point the most important things that we had seen the Doctor do had been portrayed by Christopher Eccleston. He showed us a Doctor damaged by the Time War and overcome with grief, but Tennant now had to show us who the healed Doctor would react to love and loss in light of this character development. Tennant's performance tugs on the heart strings artfully if the score by Murray Gold doesn't get you then Tennant reading Reinette's final message to him before folding it up and tucking it into his chest-pocket certainly will. Though the love story will no doubt thrill the girls in the audience, there is also a great amount here for the boys too. Horses on spaceships, crashing through windows and beautifully designed clockwork robots are abound building up a story as mad as anything that came from the tobacco-fueled mind of Russell T. Davies. It's an episode that everyone must watch whether they like Doctor Who or not.