scarfman | Do they play basketball in the U.K., or is U.S. idiom that universal?

Edit 10/6/07 Obviously they play basketball in the U.K., when that's what Torchwood Three is doing in the Hub in the opening of Cyberwoman.

I had a new thought this morning about the Doctor's relationship with Rose. Now, I'm of the but-they're-all-special school of thought. I don't believe that Rose was the Doctor's one true love, though there's no doubt that he believes it, and shall for some time, perhaps for the rest of his life. I've written before that what the Doctor mistakes for the overwhelming loss of Rose is actually overwhelming because he lost not just Rose but her whole family, which in his mind and hearts was tantamount to losing his family and planet all over again. Certainly Rose's loss has traumatized the Doctor in a way no previous companion's loss has done. Contemplating Martha's gripe at the beginning of Gridlock, I've identified yet another factor why this is so.

Every new girl in the TARDIS from Vicki, perhaps Barbara, forward has been, in terms of dramatic ecological niche and also in the Doctor's mind (as you can tell from the incarnations who have trouble with names), a replacement of the one who came immediately before. Except Rose, because in her case there wasn't a girl immediately before. There hadn't been one for two incarnations.* Perhaps Grace turned him down because she picked up on his rebound vibe (or perhaps only because she recognized she was on the rebound herself). And then the Time War and its attendant trauma intervened. Rose was the first woman to approach the Doctor while his slate was clean (aside of course from the PTSD; I mean girl-wise) since he and Susan left Gallifrey (depending on whether Gallifreyan family customs allow for marrying for love, perhaps the first ever).

Rose is the only one of the Doctor's girl companions who wasn't a rebound girl.

I wonder if that isn't grounds for admitting that maybe Rose was the one true love of the Doctor, or anyway the only true love we know about.

* Obviously I'm excluding tie-in continuity here, but that's perfectly fair for the present argument since screen continuity is obliged to leave it out by the BBC's charter.