History Recap / DoctorWhoNSS2E10LoveAndMonsters

** Some fans have interpreted the ending as either a figment of Elton's imagination or that his already fragile mind snapped after Ursula's tragic death. Note that we never only ever see Ursula's face from ''Elton's'' point of view, while the view of the slab thats actually being recorded by Elton's camera ''only shows the back.''

Elton Pope, our dorky and UnreliableNarrator, idolizes the Doctor. He's been fascinated by the strange man and the weirdness that follows in his wake ever since the Doctor turned up in his house as a child. Like Clive from "[[Recap/DoctorWhoNSS1E1Rose Rose]]", but more successfully, Elton forms a club with a few other like-minded individuals. They bond over their shared experiences with the supernatural, but quickly become fast friends. Over time, their weekly meetings drift away from the topic of the Doctor and towards baking sessions and ElectricLightOrchestra cover band practice. Elton even falls in love with fellow member [[ShirleyHenderson Ursula]].

If Elton wanted the Doctor's attention, he's got it now: the TARDIS materializes near him so that Rose can chew him out for hurting her mum. All three are just in time to see Victor Kennedy, who is now in his true form: the "Abzorbaloff" (coined by Elton after a few much sillier names), an alien that absorbs its victims but does not consume them. And now he's out to absorb the Doctor and all his knowledge. The Doctor is too late to save Ursula, or any of the other members who had been disappearing, but can grant her a semblance of continued life as an animated lump of concrete. She's still quite beautiful, and he takes her home in her new form as his loving girlfriend.

Elton records the whole story for us from his room, but his camera never shows Ursula's new face... neatly leaving open the possibility that he's either exaggerating or plain bonkers.

Elton Pope, our dorky and UnreliableNarrator, idolizes the Doctor. He's been fascinated by the strange man and the weirdness that follows in his wake ever since the Doctor turned up in his house as a child. Like Clive from "[[Recap/DoctorWhoNSS1E1Rose Rose]]", but more successfully, Elton forms a club with a few other like-minded individuals. They bond over their shared experiences with the supernatural, but quickly become fast friends. Over time, their weekly meetings drift away from the topic of the Doctor and towards baking sessions and band practice. Elton even falls in love with fellow member [[ShirleyHenderson Ursula]].

If Elton wanted the Doctor's attention, he's got it now: the TARDIS materializes near him so that Rose can chew him out for hurting her mum. All three are just in time to see Victor Kennedy, who is now in his true form: the "Abzorbaloff" (coined by Elton after a few much sillier names), an alien that absorbs its victims but does not consume them. And now he's out to absorb the Doctor and all his knowledge. The Doctor is too late to save Ursula, or any of the other members who had been disappearing, but can grant her a semblance of continued life as an animated lump of concrete.

Elton Pope, our dorky narrator, idolizes the Doctor. He's been fascinated by the strange man and the weirdness that follows in his wake ever since the Doctor turned up in his house as a child. Like Clive from "[[Recap/DoctorWhoNSS1E1Rose Rose]]", but more successfully, Elton forms a club with a few other like-minded individuals. They bond over their shared experiences with the supernatural, but quickly become fast friends. Over time, their weekly meetings drift away from the topic of the Doctor and towards baking sessions and band practice. Elton even falls in love with fellow member [[ShirleyHenderson Ursula]].

''Love & Monsters'' was the first example, in the new series, of what's come to be known as the "Doctor-lite episode": because the lead actors aren't needed on set for this episode, they can be off filming another episode... and producers can eke an extra episode out of the season.

The story relates what happens when the Doctor isn't around to fend off an alien invasion. It focuses for the first time on people on the Doctor's periphery: the ordinary people whose lives are upended by the chaos associated with the Doctor, and who never even get an explanation.

Elton Pope idolizes the Doctor. He's been fascinated by the strange man and the weirdness that follows in his wake ever since the Doctor turned up in his house as a child. Like Clive from "[[Recap/DoctorWhoNSS1E1Rose Rose]]", but more successfully, Elton forms a club with a few other like-minded individuals. They bond over their shared experiences with the supernatural, but quickly become fast friends and explore other interests. Elton even begins a tentative romance with fellow member [[ShirleyHenderson Ursula]].

Then Victor Kennedy shows up. The neatly-dressed man with a germ phobia takes over the group and begins to act as its boss, assigning members the task of following up on this lead or that lead. Members seem to not like this, as they've stopped going to meetings--or, indeed, responding to ''any'' contact from other members--but Elton is still interested in the Doctor, and stays on. Elton is given a snapshot of the Doctor in the company of an unknown blonde woman, and told to find her. He stumbles across her identity--Rose Tyler--fairly quickly, and Victor instructs him to ingratiate himself with Jackie Tyler, Rose's mum. Elton does so, but grows to genuinely like Jackie, and is prepared to tell Victor off... until Jackie finds the photo of the Doctor and Rose, and deduces that he has been using her to get close to the Doctor. Enraged, she orders him out.

If Elton wanted the Doctor's attention, he's got it now: the TARDIS materializes near him so that Rose can chew him out for hurting her mum. All three are just in time to see Victor Kennedy, who is now in his true form: the Abzorbaloff, an alien that absorbs its victims but does not consume them. And now he's out to absorb the Doctor and all his knowledge. The Doctor is too late to save Ursula, or any of the other members who had been disappearing, but can grant her a semblance of continued life as an animated lump of concrete. [[YourMileageMayVary Yay?]]

* AndIMustScream: Ursula gets turned into an immortal blow-job-giving slab of concrete. So basically if Elton ever dies of a heart attack or whatever and she's back at home in his closet...well, that's pretty terrible, isn't it? Hell, the best she can hope for is that Elton dies of old age and she spends to next 1,000,000,000,000,000 years alone.

* ObviouslyEvil: Victor Kennedy aka the Abzorbaloff

** Ursula is played by [[HarryPotter Shirley Henderson]] aka Moaning Myrtle.

->That wasn't the first time I met the Doctor, and it certainly wasn't the last. Oh no. I just put that at the beginning because it's a brilliant opening.

* {{Nakama}}

'''Rose:''' No-one upsets my mum!

* GettingCrapPasttheRadar: Ursula, reduced to nothing more than a face, says that she and Elton "still have a love life".

If Elton wanted the Doctor's attention, he's got it now: the TARDIS materializes near him so that Rose can chew him out for hurting her mum. All three are just in time to see Victor Kennedy, who is now in his true form: the Abzorbaloff, an alien that absorbs its victims but does not consume them. And now he's out to absorb the Doctor and all his knowledge. The Doctor is too late to save Ursula, or any of the other members who had been disappearing, but can grant her a semblance of continued life as an animated lump of concrete. Yay?

* InherentlyFunnyWords: The Abzorbaloff's home planet, sister planet to Raxacoricofallapatorius... Clom

* Inherently Funny Words: Clom.

''Love & Monsters'' is one of New Who's more polarizing BrokenBase episodes, with some praising it as brilliant and experimental, while others bashed it as silly and a transparent TakeThat to fandom and--worse yet--lacking in the key elements of DavidTennant and BilliePiper.

For, you see, ''Love & Monsters'' was the first example, in the new series, of what's come to be known as the "Doctor-lite episode": because the lead actors aren't needed on set for this episode, they can be off filming another episode... and producers can eke an extra episode out of the season.

If Elton wanted the Doctor's attention, he's got it now: the TARDIS materializes near him so that Rose can chew him out for hurting her mum. All three are just in time to see Victor Kennedy, who is now in his true form: the Abzorbaloff, an alien that [[AndIMustScream absorbs its victims but does not consume them]]. And now he's out to absorb the Doctor and all his knowledge. The Doctor is too late to save Ursula, or any of the other members who had been disappearing, but can grant her a semblance of continued life as an animated lump of concrete. Yay?

* AndIMustScream: Ursula's fate.
** Though she's actually not too upset about it. Just don't ask about [[{{Squick}} her and Elton's love life]].

* HeyItsThatGuy: Marc Warren guest starring as Elton.
** With [[HarryPotter Moaning Myrtle as his love interest]].
* {{If You Know What I Mean}}: "We even have a bit of a love-life..."

* MostWonderfulSound: Elton describes the TARDIS noises as "the most beautiful sound... ''in the world''."

* UnfortunateImplications: The fact that Ursula essentially becomes [[spoiler:a sentient sex toy]] has upset a fair few