14. The Family of Blood - Human Nature/The Family of Blood
"Human Nature" and "The Family of Blood" are two of the best episodes of the rebooted
Doctor Who, and certainly two of the the best of Season 3. The guest stars were great, Tennant gave some of his finest acting as John Smith/Ten, Martha was awesome, it was a premise that hadn't been done before on the show. And the villains were fantastic. Their rise and demise through the two-parter features some incredibly unnerving images, with everything from an army of animated scarecrow soldiers to dozens of young boys firing machine guns to Ten doling out terrible punishments. No second chances indeed. While members of the Family of Blood were theoretically locked away into various states of eternal suffering, it would be hardly impossible to bring them back. If Rory could come back from the dead half a dozen times, the Family of Blood could find themselves brought out of exile by a showrunner or writer eager to recreate the quality of the two establishing episodes. But it definitely shouldn't happen. Aside from my argument that context matters and can't be repeated (especially the Doctor turning human), they were exiled for a reason, and to pull them out would lessen the harsh implications of Ten's retribution. Serving as a precursor to the god complex that would manifest itself toward the end of Ten's era, the conclusion of this episode should be enough to keep the entire species out of the franchise forever. Besides, there is nothing creepier than a little girl with a balloon, and there are only so many ways that that can happen. (It would be awesome, though, if Sister of Mine could make an Easter egg appearance every once in a while in a mirror.)