History Recap / DoctorWhoNSS3E9TheFamilyofBlood

* AndIMustScream: "We wanted to live forever... so the Doctor made sure that we did"

--> '''As The Doctor''': Oh its just a low-level telepathy field, you were born with it, just an extra-synaptic engram causing-
--> '''As John Smith''': *Gasps in utter horror* Is that how he talks?

* CoconutSuperpowers: invisible spaceships are easy on the FX budget.
* CreepyChild

* DeliberateValuesDissonance

* FakeMemories: as Joan notes, John's fake memories are strictly factual, with no emotional content.
* FateWorseThanDeath: The fates of the Family, as meted out by the Doctor. It's revealed that the Doctor wasn't running from the Family because he was scared of them...but because he was scared of ''what he could do to them.''
* FlashForward: John and Joan's future together.

* ObfuscatingStupidity

* PsychopathicManchild: Son of Mine - "Super, super fun!"

* {{Puppet Master}}s: the Family.
* RoaringRampageOfRevenge
* ShutUpHannibal: The Headmaster delivers one to Son of Mine (which doubles as the writer criticising the way public attitudes to WorldWarOne have often been portrayed in British media)--

* TomatoInTheMirror: John Smith

* BreakTheCutie: Poor, ''poor'' John Smith.

* CrowningMomentOfAwesome: The Doctor owning the Family by throwing them off with ObfuscatingStupidity and taking the opportunity to blow up their spaceship.
--> '''The Doctor''': You ''really'' shouldn't have let me push all those buttons...
** Also, Joan Redfern, for turning down his offer to travel with him and delivering a WhatTheHellHero in the process.
** And the Headmaster, of all people. Just for standing up to Son of Mine and delivering a magnificent ShutUpHannibal:
--> '''The Headmaster''': And I would go back there tomorrow, for ''King and Country''!
* CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming: Tim Latimer, old and a war veteran, attending a Remembrance ceremony in the modern day and seeing the Doctor and Martha in attendance is strangely uplifting to watch.
** One also comes way in advance, [[spoiler: in the End of Time Part 2, when the Doctor visits Joan Redfern's descendent to ask if she was happy in the end.]]

* FridgeHorror: Is Daughter-of-Mine there [[spoiler: whenever the Doctor looks in the mirror, staring back at him?]]

* LargeHam: Son of Mine. And it's BRILLIANT.
** [[VerbalTic DON'T YOU LIKE IT, SIR?]]

* MacGuffin: The watch, stolen in the previous episode. [[spoiler: It's later revealed to be a massive ChekhovsGun, however.]]

* ParanoiaFuel: Son Of Mine is now eternally guarding the fields of England - disguised as a scarecrow. Furthermore, "If ever you look at your reflection and see something move behind you, just for a second: that's her. That's ALWAYS her."

* TheSoCalledCoward: Latimer.

--> '''Son of Mine:''' War is coming. In foreign fields, war of the whole wide world, with all your boys falling down in the mud. Do you think they will thank the man who taught them it was glorious?

* FridgeHorror: Is Sister-of-Mine there [[spoiler: whenever the Doctor looks in the mirror, staring back at him?]]

* ShutUpHannibal: The Headmaster delivers one to Son of Mine (which doubles as the writers criticising the way public attitudes to WorldWarOne have often been portrayed in British media)--

--> '''Headmaster:''' Don't you forget, boy, I've been a soldier. I was in South Africa, I used my dead mates as sandbags, I fought with the butt of my rifle when the bullets ran out, and I would go back there tomorrow ''for King and Country!''

* Maguffin: The watch, stolen in the previous episode. [[spoiler: It's later revealed to be a massive ChekhovsGun, however.]]

* CrowningMomentOfAwesome: "Come ''on!'' '''''God,''''' you're rubbish as a human!"
** Also Joan's smackdown of the Doctor. "He was braver than you."
** Son of Mine sneers at the Headmaster for raising children to die in the trenches (as he knows WorldWarOne is coming); the Headmaster furiously throws back in his face that he knows exactly how terrible war is, having fought in the Boer War and seen many of his friends die beside him, ''and he would do it all again, for King and Country!'' This so potently underscores the allegory of the straw men attacking the school that it is rather hard to grasp just how awesome it is.
** The actor who plays Son of Mine also NEVER blinks. His whole performance is a [[HeReallyCanAct Crowning Moment Of Acting]].
*** A particular [=CMoA=] for those of us who were taught the usual British Education System muck and bullets version of WW1 - and the episode balances it nicely by acknowledging the terror of the trenches and Remembrance in another [=CMoA=] right at the end.
** The Doctor blowing up the Family's spaceship, and the following montage of what he did to them.

* NightmareFuel: "If ever you look at your reflection and see something move behind you, just for a second: that's her. That's ALWAYS her."

* TearJerker: UpToEleven
** Word of advice: Never listen to slow, sad music about separation when watching this episode. It will crank the TearJerker factor not just UpToEleven, but up to impossible levels.
** [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bh78KWOkiGE Behold]] the epilogue in all it's brilliant, sad glory. Get a tissue before watching, yeah?

* WhamEpisode: It's that kind of TearJerker. If the coda at the War Memorial doesn't set you off, just look up who Harry Patch was.

** The actor who plays son of mine also NEVER blinks. His whole performance is a [[HeReallyCanAct Crowning Moment Of Acting]].
*** A particular [=CmoA=] for those of us who were taught the usual British Education System muck and bullets version of WW1 - and the episode balances it nicely by acknowledging the terror of the trenches and Remembrance in another [=CmoA=] right at the end.

** [[Behold http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bh78KWOkiGE]] the epilogue in all it's brilliant, sad glory. Get a tissue before watching, yeah?

** The actor who plays son of mine also NEVER blinks. His whole performance is a CrowningMomentOfActing.

* LargeHam: Son of Mine. And it's BRILLIANT.

''The Family of Blood'', adapted for TV by PaulCornell from his VirginNewAdventures book ''Human Nature'', is all kinds of awesome.

!Tropes

* BewareTheNiceOnes: "And so we found out the reason this man, who has fought with gods and demons, had run away from us and hidden - he was being kind." It's ''not good'' when he's done with that.

** Son of Mine sneers at the Headmaster for raising children to die in the trenches (as he knows WorldWarOne is coming); the Headmaster furiously throws back in his face that he knows exactly how terrible war is, having fought in the Boer War and seen many of his friends die beside him, ''and he would do it all again, for King and Country!''

* WhamEpisode: It's that kind of TearJerker.

* WorldWarOne

** The Doctor blowing up the Family's spaceship, and the following montage of what did he do to them.

* NightmareFuel: "If ever you look at your reflection and see see something move behind you, just for a second: that's her. That's ALWAYS her."

''The Family of Blood'', adapted for TV by PaulCornell from his VirginNewAdventures book ''Human Nature'', is all kinds of awesome. It is the second half of the two-part story ''[[Recap/DoctorWhoNSS3E8HumanNature Human Nature]]/The Family of Blood''.

* FakeMemories

* FridgeLogic: "Simple molecular animation" brought us the Army of Scarecrows; besides, "they're made of straw, just like he said." How come, then, they were stopped by... BULLETS?!?
** Because straw falls apart easily when shot by ''/bloody machine guns!/''

''The Family of Blood'', adapted for TV by Paul Cornell from his VirginNewAdventures book ''Human Nature'', is all kinds of awesome. It is the second half of the two-part story ''[[Recap/DoctorWhoNSS3E8HumanNature Human Nature]]/The Family of Blood''.

''The Family of Blood'', adapted for TV by Paul Cornell from his VirginNew Adventures book ''Human Nature'', is all kinds of awesome. It is the second half of the two-part story ''[[Recap/DoctorWhoNSS3E8HumanNature Human Nature]]/The Family of Blood''.

''The Family of Blood'', adapted for TV by Paul Cornell from his [[DoctorWhoExpandedUniverse New Adventures]] book ''Human Nature'', is all kinds of awesome. It is the second half of the two-part story ''[[Recap/DoctorWhoNSS3E8HumanNature Human Nature]]/The Family of Blood''.