1. Bad Wolf / The Parting Of The Ways
An amusing satire of reality television in the first episode, the second transitions into an intense battle for humanity between the Ninth Doctor and the Daleks in an extension of the Time War that he's been running from his whole life. This final altercation takes place on Game Station, a. k. a. Satellite 5, where the Earth below is in danger of being taken over by Daleks. The Doctor must make an impossible choice kill all the humans along with the Daleks, or let the Daleks kill the humans. What's amazing about these episodes is how smoothly the tone changes from light-hearted fun to dark and menacing danger. This succeeds in part by the handling of the reality TV shows the Doctor, Rose, and Captain Jack find themselves on. The Doctor ends up on Big Brother, where the evicted housemates are disintegrated, Rose ends up on The Weakest Link, where the contestants are disintegrated by an Anne Robinson robot and Jack makes an appearance on What Not To Wear, where they can change your face, your body, and your species as well as your clothes. All of these shows seem done in harmless, innocent fun, as well as being echoed by reality TV shows of today, but in twisting one simple element they become shows with all-too-real, deadly consequences. Speaking of deadly, the invading Daleks leave the Doctor with a choice: kill all the humans and Daleks, or let the Daleks kill the humans? The Doctor, the war-weary soldier, the man who wanted to show no mercy to Cassandra and the Dalek and Blon across the series, cannot bring himself to kill the people on Earth. He is a better man than he was, but either way it forces him to once again watch a planet and a people he loves burn. What's different this time is that he is not alone he has Rose. Like in the very first episode of the season, when she saves his life, she saves him once again as she destroys the Daleks, saving Earth and the Doctor, and does what no one else can do, not even the Doctor, as the Bad Wolf. In the Ninth Doctor's final episode, she proves to him that he is not alone, that she understands his pain and his loneliness and his madness even as the TARDIS's energy overwhelms her. In return, he takes all the energy into himself, saving her but dooming himself, and leaves us with touching final words: "Rose, before I go, I just want to tell you - you were fantastic. Absolutely fantastic. And you know what? So was I!"
Fantastic Quotes in "Bad Wolf"/"The Parting Of The Ways": Jack: "I was just saying hello." Doctor: "For you that's flirting." "You know what they call me in the ancient legends on the Dalek home world? The Oncoming Storm. You might have removed all your emotions, but I reckon right down deep in your DNA there's one little spark left. And that's fear. Doesn't it just burn when you face me?"