The Last Party on Earth

Rose Tyler: The Dimension Cannon #1.4

Released: 4 September 2019

Listened: 11/17/22

There must have been something in the supporting actors’ contracts about each character having one spotlight episode, because this one is Jackie’s. She basically comes along uninvited and not really wanted, because Rose and Pete think she doesn’t really have the stuff to go dimension-hopping (not entirely unjustified). However, she gets kind of lucky with the parallel she’s drawn. It’s not very different from her own world, with the Powell Estate and most of the residents she knows. Fortunately, the Tylers aren’t here, and neither is Mickey, but his mother is still alive in this world. But, this world is doomed, because they all are in this set. The difference is that the end is public knowledge, and still a week away. There was some rioting at first, but then everybody apparently decided to take care of their loved ones. Mostly. Having seen a few catastrophes in my time, I’d say it’s honestly a coin toss how things would go if the world were really ending. And that’s kind of all that happens: domestic stuff. People partying, people falling in love, people despairing. Some characters from Russell T Davies’ novelization of Rose turn up, having never been portrayed live-action before. Matt Fitton knows how to do interpersonal relationships right, and that domesticity was part of what Davies brought to the show with the Powell Estate, which had never been there before. So it’s appropriate, and heart-hurting, but then…what? Four stories, four Earths ending, and our characters can’t do anything about it except leave. And we know the story leads to “Journey’s End,” so it’s not like there can be a lot of victory. If there had only been this one box, I think I would have been dissatisfied.