I gotta tell you, doing four miles on the treadmill is somewhat harder after you've just finished doing a hundred push-ups and fifty eight sit-ups. I'm not bragging or anything, believe me those push-ups are still very hard-won in the morning, but the last two days of stringing all three together has reminded of of way back when, when I was in the Army. There used to be regular scored tests (I assume they still do it, or something similar) where you were rated on the same three exercises I am doing now. Maybe that's why I have gravitated towards this pattern, since it is familiar and something with which I was successful back then. I entered the Army as a drama & band geek with no sports background, and not surprisingly came out the other side in the best health of my life.  To tell the truth? I am just starting to feel a bit like I did back then. So that's nice.

Oh, and there were Weeping Angels this morning. So let's talk about that.

Blink

(TARDIS Data Core recap)

The funny thing about Blink is that by all rights it should be the worst episode of the season. Particularly coming directly after the brilliant Human Condition and Family of Blood, it should pale in comparison. This is the second "Doctor-Lite" episode, deliberately designed to have the Doctor and companion only at the periphery of the story so that it can be filmed concurrently with other episodes. It should be a trifle, a little breath before the season finale, but instead it became the most remarkable hour of NuWho and introduced the most perfectly-crafted one-off monster in the show's history. (Seriously, the Weeping Angels should have been a one-off never to return again, and it is tragic that they weren't left alone that way.)

The amazing thing about Blink is that, for a show that is ostensibly about time travel, this is one of the few stories that really plays with that concept and creates an ontological paradox. The story happens because the story happened. There is no real entry point to create the loop of logic around which the plot is constructed, it simply exists because it always existed. 

In the lead role of Sally Sparrow, actress Carey Mulligan is brilliant. At the time I had really hoped that Sally (along with boyfriend(?) Larry if necessary) would return to become the new companion in the following season. Granted, we got Donna Noble instead and she was freaking amazing, but Mulligan's Sally Sparrow was nothing short of enchanting. Smart, adventurous, brave but not foolhardy, and a force of nature when angered ("I'm clever and I'm listening. And don't patronize me because people have died, and I'm not happy.")

The economy of writing is astounding, with every single moment integral to telling the story. Each character exists for a specific purpose, and yet exists naturally to the plot -- right down to the video store clerk complaining to a television screen, "Go to the police, you stupid woman. Why does nobody ever just go to the police?" which spurs Sally Sparrow to do just that. There is no wasted exposition, and no artificial moment. There's a very good reason this story won the 2008 Hugo Award for Dramatic Presentation.

This, to me, is The One. It's the story I recommend to anyone who has never watched a single episode of Doctor Who. It may be a Doctor-Lite episode, but his presence pervades the entire story and perfectly sums up everything it means to be the Doctor.

Also worth noting: Ten years later, my co-worker and I still have a running joke whenever we need to have a conversation about multiple topics. "Four things," she'll say. "Well, four things.... and a lizard."

STATS:

Doctor(s): Tenth
Companion(s): Martha Jones, Sally Sparrow
Episode(s): Blink
Steps Walked: 7,769 today, 2,823,803 total
Distance Walked: 4.18 miles today, 1,472.70 miles total
Push-ups Completed: 100 today, 1,714 total
Sit-ups Completed: 58 today, 268 total
Is the Doctor So, So Sorry?: Yes, he is very sorry that Billy Shipton has to take Sally a message the long way around
Weight: 249.10 lbs (five day moving average), net change -58.20 lbs