7. "If The Doctor Had Never Visited Us... Would Anybody Here Have Died?"
'The Family of Blood' is one of the most revered episodes of Doctor Who, ever. It's a masterpiece, it's wonderfully written, and David Tennant is superb. But what's perhaps so brilliant in the episode is the contrast between the human John Smith and the Time Lord Doctor. And the difference between the Doctor and the human nature of his character (pardon the pun), has never been so brilliantly established. He's set up throughout the story as a god, and he uses the power of one to eternally punish the Family. Yes, he's doing it for good. Yes, he was kind enough to give them a chance first. But you can't help feeling like it's partly not just cold-blooded revenge. Suddenly, he's no better than the Family. Even Joan comments on his nonchalance to death, when she refuses to join him in the TARDIS. Maybe it's a subtle comment on religion, that she should refuse to travel with the almighty Time Lord god. But it's certainly a transparent statement that the Doctor's not always the safe hero that we know and love.