Dotor Who Season 1 Episode 8 Father's Day

Doctor Who Father's Day 8/13

The episode opens with a flashback of Jackie telling a younger Rose about her father Pete, who died on November 7, 1987, the day of Stuart Hoskins and Sarah Clarke's wedding, while Rose was still an infant. She tells Rose that no one was around when Pete died after being run over by a hit-and-run driver.

In the present on the TARDIS, Rose asks the Doctor if they can go back to the day her father died so that she can be there when it happens. The Doctor can do this, but is worried for Rose emotionally, as they have already witnessed Jackie and Pete's wedding.

The TARDIS materializes near the street where the accident happens, and as Rose and the Doctor watch from afar, they see the event occur as Jackie told Rose: Pete, running late to get a gift for the wedding, tries to retrieve it from the road but is hit by a speeding car. The Doctor tells Rose to go to Pete to be with him, but she cannot move, and by the time she recovers, the ambulance is already there and Pete is dead. Rose asks the Doctor if she can try again, and though worried, the Doctor agrees. This time, the Doctor tells Rose to wait until after the previous Rose has left to prevent a paradox.

However, as soon as Pete steps into the road, Rose runs over and pushes him aside, saving him from being hit. The previous versions of the Doctor and Rose disappear and the Doctor is aghast at Rose's actions, but Rose is elated to have saved her father. Pete introduces himself to the two, and offers them a ride to the wedding, first stopping at his flat. While Pete gets dressed, the Doctor angrily scolds Rose for her actions and claims she was planning on doing this once she knew the TARDIS was a time machine, but she denies, and wonders the harm in just saving an everyman like Pete. The Doctor states that a man that was supposed to be dead is now alive, and storms off, while Pete and Rose head for the wedding. The Doctor returns to the TARDIS but finds that it is now just an empty police box, and races off to find Rose. Meanwhile, unseen beasts are swooping down from the skies and consuming people.

Pete and Rose drive to the church, though Rose is puzzled by the anachronistic hip-hop music playing on the radio and that her phone is filled with the same text message, "Watson, come here, I need you." When they arrive, a car nearly runs down Pete and abruptly disappears; Pete recognizes it as the same car that nearly ran him over before. Jackie, with the infant Rose, has a brief argument with Pete, thinking that he is having an affair with Rose, but is settled quickly. Suddenly, young Mickey runs into the church, claiming all the other children at the playground have disappeared; the Doctor runs to the church as well and tells everyone to get inside, just before large winged creatures materialize and consume the vicar and the groom's father.

Once everyone is inside, the Doctor determines the old church walls will stop the creatures, and explains to Rose that there is a wound in time and the creatures are like bacteria, sterilizing the wound by consuming all inside it. The Doctor notices that outside, the car that was to run down Pete keeps appearing and disappearing; Pete determines from further conversations with the Doctor and Rose that Rose is really his daughter. Pete tries to learn what type of father he was to Rose in the future, but Rose cannot answer.

The Doctor prevents Rose from touching her younger self, explaining that it would create another paradox that would allow the creatures to enter the church. The Doctor apologizes to her for his anger earlier, and explains that if the Time Lords were still around, the paradox that Rose created could be repaired, but without them, he has no idea what to do. However, as Rose apologizes, they notice that the TARDIS key is glowing hot, and the Doctor determines that the ship is still linked to the key and he can summon the interior spaces back through the wound in time. He uses the battery from a mobile phone and his screwdriver to charge the key further, and the faint image of the TARDIS begins to appear; the Doctor warns everyone to not disturb the process until it is complete, after which he can repair the damage.

As they wait, Pete comes to realize that he should have died earlier in the day, and explains this to Rose. As he does, Jackie overhears Pete, thinking Rose to be a daughter from another marriage, but Pete, in a fit of frustration, tries to show Jackie that infant Rose and adult Rose are the same by putting the infant Rose in her arms, creating a paradox. Immediately, one of the creatures materializes inside the church; the Doctor orders everyone behind him as he, being the oldest being there, is consumed first. The creature then makes contact with the still-materializing TARDIS and both disappear, leaving the TARDIS key cold; Rose believes the Doctor to be dead. Pete knows that the only way to restore the world is for him to die as intended; he makes sure Jackie recognizes Rose as their adult child, and entrusting her to raise their infant daughter to become Rose, and the three share a final embrace. Pete runs out into the street into the path of the car, and is hit by the car; at the same time, the creatures overhead disappear.

With time healed, the world is restored to normal, those consumed by the creatures returned, while those that survive have no recollection of the events. The Doctor appears by Rose's side and tells her to go to her father, which she does, as the driver of the car stands to the side. Pete smiles back to Rose as he dies. Rose returns to the Doctor and they walk back to the TARDIS hand-in-hand.

The episode ends on a similar flashback as the opener, as Jackie explains to a young Rose that Pete didn't die alone - a young woman stayed with him until he died, leading the adult Rose to eulogise about Pete Tyler, her father, "the most wonderful man in the world."