Doctor Who: 10 Moments Of Mind-Blowing Unexpected Cruelty From The Doctor

4. "Family Of Blood"

For the most lovesick (and my least favorite) incarnation of the Doctor, Tennant sure has made his rounds on this list. And maybe his reputation as the lovesick Doctor is what made his genuine acts of cruelty and darkness stand out so unexpectedly. Though, his run as Doctor never features anything worthy enough to rival the punishment he doled out to the Family of Blood. The obvious element of surprise comes from the Doctor's making the Family believe he's still human as he sets their ship to self-destruct. That in itself was a little mind-blowing, leaving audiences smiling and saying, "Ohhh!" But he didn't stop there. His actual serving of judgement in "Human Nature/Family of Blood" was perhaps the most unexpected and cruel in all of New Who. Fairly easily the Doctor could have left the family to die in 1913, but instead we see him issue four personalized and cosmically ironic fates to the villains. Appropriately so, one of the Family coins the term, "fury of a Time Lord." His punishment was to allow the Family to live forever, just as they wanted, but in pain or isolation. But another layer of irony comes when we realize that the Doctor had to turn into something of a lonely immortal himself to do it.