Doctor Who Rewatch: “Blink” (S3:E10)

God uses our prayers even if we don't understand how.

It’s not good for man or Time Lord to be alone.

The end of Doctor Who series 2 saw the Doctor lose Rose, the only companion he has known (since the Time War in the show’s narrative) and the only one viewers have known (since the start of the reboot). In “Runaway Bride,” a Christmas special¹ in the immediate aftermath of Rose being trapped in another dimension, the Doctor meets Donna Noble on her wedding day. They stop her husband and an alien from destroying Earth, as usual.

Donna declines the Doctor’s invitation to travel with him, but she leaves him with some advice. “Just promise me one thing. Find someone,” she says. The Doctor dismisses her and says he doesn’t need anyone. “Yes, you do,” she replies. “Because sometimes, I think you need someone to stop you.”

Series 3 is the Doctor realizing that while he offers his traveling companions the opportunity of a lifetime, they offer him the checks he needs during his multiple lifetimes.

In the first episode of the season, he rescues and is rescued by medical student Martha Jones from aliens who have transported her hospital to the moon. She agrees to travel with the Doctor and, like Rose, falls in love with him. Throughout the series, she realizes the Doctor is still pinning for Rose as she becomes her own as a powerful, heroic figure.

While they’re together, they travel back to see Shakespeare finish a lost play and far into the future where humanity is trapped in a perpetual underground traffic jam. Paul Cornell, writer of “Father’s Day,” the first episode we reviewed in this rewatch, returns for a two-part story that has the Doctor transform himself into a human and hide his identity in a pocket watch to escape “the Family of Blood” who want to use his regeneration powers to gain eternal life.

The series ends with a three-part story that revives one of the Doctor’s greatest adversaries from the initial run, a Time Lord called the Master. As the Doctor took his name because he wanted to help others, the Master wanted to rule. The 2007 series had an Avengers: Infinity War to Endgame finale the year before the Marvel Cinematic Universe began. In the penultimate episode, the Master kills a tenth of the world’s population and appears to win. The Doctor is captured and helpless for a year before Martha rallies the Earth to his aid.

Unfortunately, the Doctor finds himself in the same place he started the series—alone. Much like us, the Doctor does not make the best decisions when left by himself. But instead of ordering something from Amazon we’ll never use, the time-traveling abilities of the Doctor amplify the consequences of his poor choices. This will be a continual theme of the show and a reminder to us that we have been created to live in community with others.

Series 3 has several high-profile guest stars, most often before they became well-known. Andrew Garfield swung through the streets of Manhattan as Spider-Man, but first, he helped the Doctor prevent a Dalek takeover of 1930’s New York City using the under-construction Empire State Building in the two-part story “Daleks in Manhattan” and “Evolution of the Daleks.”

The Doctor Who episode from series 3 we’ll dig into this week, “Blink,” features Academy Award-nominated Carey Mulligan in one of her earliest roles. She went on to star in numerous shows, plays, and movies, including 2013’s The Great Gatsby opposite Leonardo DiCaprio.

But in “Blink,” she stars as Sally Sparrow in what may be the best introductory episode to Doctor Who, which is slightly odd since the Doctor is only a minor character in the story. Still, if you want to know if you (or someone else) would enjoy the show, watch this episode. If it doesn’t catch with them or the time travel concept hinders their enjoyment, Doctor Who may not be for them. For most who are even remotely interested in space and time travel, this episode serves as a great hook for the show. It may also help us understand something about how our prayers and God’s sovereignty work together. Let’s discuss Blink.

Don’t “Blink” But Maybe Close Your Eyes When You Pray

Climbing over a wrought iron gate and a “Danger Keep Out Unsafe Structure” sign, Sally Sparrow breaks into an abandoned house to take photos of the decaying building and artifacts inside. She notices the letter “B” on the wall behind peeling wallpaper. She peels it to reveal “Beware the weeping angel.” Another pull “Oh, and duck. Really, duck! Sally Sparrow duck, now.” She ducks as a pot crashes through the window behind her, bounces off the wall over her head, and crashes to the floor beside her. Outside from where the pot came from, she sees an angel statue with hands over its face. As she finishes peeling the wallpaper, it reveals “Love from the Doctor (1969).”