Doctor Who: New short Pompadour is both heartbreaking and horrifying
By James Aggas
A brand new sequel has been released for Steven Moffat’s Doctor Who episode The Girl in the Fireplace. And it is exactly as heartbreaking and horrifying as you might expect.
As discussed in our review, The Girl in the Fireplace remains a strong episode of Doctor Who, one that mixes horror with heartbreak. So it’s not surprising to know that a brand new story based on the episode would also feature such a mix. Especially when that story has been written by Steven Moffat.
Released shortly after Wednesday’s watchalong, Pompadour is a brand new short, one that essentially acts as an epilogue to The Girl in the Fireplace. Even better is that it’s performed by a key actress from the original episode: Sophia Myles, performing in character as Reinette, better known as Madame de Pompadour.
Taking the form of a message from Reinette to the Doctor, Pompadour starts out exactly as sad and heartbreaking as you’d expect. But, as we hear more from Reinette and what she’s going through, the story gradually becomes darker and more horrifying…
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A dark twist
As revealed in the above clip, (and just in case you didn’t watch it: spoilers follow,) Pompadour isn’t about Reinette after all – at least, not the one we’re most familiar with. Instead, it’s about the ship from the original story, whose name was only revealed at the end of the episode: SS Madame de Pompadour.
The fact that the ship had been confused about Madame de Pompadour simply because they had been named after the woman herself was already a neat little twist. But that twist now acts on an even deeper level – with the computer sharing her thoughts, it now truly believes itself to be Reinette, having no true idea of what it really is. It’s an extremely dark twist that’s both heartbreaking and horrifying, and therefore, it’s classic Steven Moffat.
On top of that, the short looks absolutely fantastic. Through a combination of editing, visual effects, and sound design, Pompadour comes across as extremely polished, especially for something entirely made during lockdown, so massive kudos to everyone that worked on this.
Pompadour is another great example of the huge amount of creativity that we’ve seen during the ongoing lockdown. A story that’s not just a highly effective sequel to The Girl in the Fireplace, but also a great little story in its own right, it’s an absolutely fantastic watch.
Next. Review: The Girl in the Fireplace is an early glimpse of a future showrunner. dark
What do you think of Pompadour? Is it a strong sequel? Does it live up to the original story? Let us know in the comments below.