Daddy Day Care: The Doctor's Daughter on "Doctor Who"

Was it just me or was this week's episode of Doctor Who a little, well, disappointing?

It's funny because I typically never feel that way with Doctor Who, which is typically a shining ray of light amid an increasingly crowded television landscape that, this summer anyway, seems largely riddled with sub-par and unimaginative reality series.

So I couldn't wait to catch up with the Doctor, Donna, and Martha Jones in this week's episode of Doctor Who ("The Doctor's Daughter"), what with the TARDIS essentially kidnapping them to a distant planet involved in a neverending conflict between the humans and an alien race called the Hath... who sort of looked like fish-men with snorkels that were half-filled with Listerine. (Seriously.) But the real reason I wanted to watch were the promos that offered the promise of our favorite Time Lord's offspring in the form of a heretofore unseen daughter.

About that: I was a little concerned when said daughter, a.k.a. Jenny sprung to life within seconds of the opening after a DNA sample was taken from the Doctor... which makes her less of a daughter and more of a... younger, female clone. (Geek warning: it's all rather like the Wolverine/X-23 relationship.) I was hoping for a bit more build-up than that and before I knew it, little Jenny was suddenly pointing a gun and taking control and I was still confused as to why the TARDIS had brought them there in the first place.

But that wasn't my problem with the episode. It was really that "The Doctor's Daughter" was overstuffed with storylines: a seemingly neverending war between two races, the TARDIS exhibiting a will of its own, the Doctor having a daughter, Martha curing an alien and befriending him when separated from the Doctor, and a bait-and-switch at the very end that revealed that the generations-long conflict between the humans and the Hath had actually only started seven days earlier but thanks to that genetic extraction/acceleration process, many generations had come and gone during the week-long conflict. (But how does that explain the old General who seemed to have no knowledge of the truth about this odd situation? Hmmm.)

All this and the fact that of course Jenny would regenerate made me want to shake the telly with annoyance. It was bloody obvious that Jenny would wake up once the Doctor, Donna, and Martha had left and take off for the stars... until a convenient plot point down the line would necessitate bringing her and her "father" together again. While it was good to see some character development with the Doctor, vis-a-vis his lost family, I was hoping that it would push him to do something deeper and more profound than just invite Jenny along for the ride.

I wanted something more than just a surface story here that jumbled together too many elements. I wanted a meaty Doctor Who episode that offered danger, humor, and insight that was above all else fun. This wasn't that episode sadly but with a series that has brought me as much joy as Doctor Who, I'm willing to bear with one disappointing episode in order to get episodes of sheer perfection such as "The Girl in the Fireplace," "Human Nature," and "Blink," to name a few. But, let's just say, that after this adventure, it was no wonder Martha Jones had her fill of traveling.

Ouch.

On the next episode of Doctor Who ("The Unicorn and the Wasp"), the series looks back on firmer footing as Donna and the Doctor travel to 1926 where they meet Agatha Christie (guest star Fenella Woolgar) and stumble into a murder mystery.

What's On Tonight

8 pm: Bill Engvall Show/How I Met Your Mother (CBS); American Gladiators (NBC); Gossip Girl (CW); The Bachelorette (ABC; 8-10 pm); Bones (FOX)

9 pm: Two and a Half Men/Rules of Engagement (CBS); Nashville Star (NBC; 9-11 pm); One Tree Hill (CW); House (FOX)

10 pm: CSI Miami (CBS); The Mole (ABC)

What I'll Be Watching

8 pm: Gossip Girl.

Looking to relive the freshman season of the teen soap? On tonight's repeat episode ("The Handmaiden's Tale"), Dan's childhood friend Vanessa magically returns to Manhattan (without parents or a GED, I might add) and tells him that she wants to be more than just friends; Dan and Jenny sneak into Blair's decadent costume party and Jenny learns a secret.