History Recap / DoctorWhoS27E11BoomTown

...For non-British viewers, what exactly is this supposed to remind us of?

** Getting elected.

* AbusiveParents: Invoked by Blon, remarking that the Slitheen family children were taught to kill from a young age and that if she'd refused, her father "would have fed her to the venom grubs".

* CruelAndUnusualDeath: Invoked: Blon explains the standard method of execution on Raxacoricofallapatorius is being boiled alive in a weak aecetic acid. Apparently, the condemned is able to feel themselves dissolving.

%%%* SeeYouInHell: Jack, once everyone's got their "assignment".

--> '''The Doctor:''' Ricky, let me tell you something about the human race. You put a mysterious blue box slap-bang in the middle of town, what do they do? Walk past it. Now stop your nagging. Let's go and explore.

* ButForMeItWasTuesday: Margaret Blaine challenges the Doctor's moral authority:

* KickTheDog: Poor, poor Mickey. First, he blunders his way through an alien capture and gets a mop bin stuck to his foot, then has his girlfriend break up with him and return his sweetheart ring.

* NoMrBondIExpectYouToDine: An inversion, with the villain in what's usually Bond's position.

* NotADate: The Doctor and Margaret[=/=]Blon at her last meal.

* PetTheDog: Margaret Blaine decides not to kill an IntrepidReporter when she reveals that she's engaged and pregnant. Subverted when the Doctor accurately accuses Margaret of only doing it to balance the evil things she's about to do.

* ProtagonistCenteredMorality: {{Lampshaded}}. Margaret has no problem killing people who investigate her scheme too closely, but when a young reporter nearly cracks the case and, while unknowingly waiting to be murdered, mentions that she's pregnant with her soon-to-be husband's child, the alien takes pity and lets her go instead. Later, Margaret tries to use that act as a sign that she's capable of change, but the Doctor isn't convinced, pointing out that sparing one person is an easy way to forgive yourself for killing countless others. Margaret immediately turns the tables and snaps that [[NotSoDifferent only someone who had done that very action]] could possibly speak so eloquently about it. And as the above examples show, she's absolutely right — the Doctor ''has'' wiped out whole species or planets and left a select few alive, apparently making him a "good" guy for his merciful actions (despite doing most of the killing/wiping out himself).
* RaiseHerRightThisTime: The Doctor and co. find someone to do this for Blon between episodes.

* SeeYouInHell: Jack, once everyone's got their "assignment".

* WantsAPrizeForBasicDecency: The Doctor's retort when Blon brings up how she spared the reporter.

** After the Doctor explains what a police box actually is, Mickey can't understand how people don't notice the anachronism. The Doctor responds with this trope.

* RaiseHimRightThisTime: The Doctor and co. find someone to do this for Blon between episodes.

* TheCoronerDothProtestTooMuch: Blon explains the deaths of everyone who investigated her planned nuclear power station as accidents.

* CutHimselfShaving: The hilarious demise of anyone who might find out the Cardiff reactor is rigged to explode. The list includes explosives, an electrified swimming pool, Blon personally running someone over in "low visibility", and:
-->'''Cathy Salt:''' And then just recently Mr. Cleaver, the government's nuclear advisor?\\
'''Margaret Blaine:''' Slipped on an icy patch.\\
'''Cathy Salt:''' He was decapitated!\\
'''Margaret Blaine:''' It was a ''very'' icy patch.

'''Blon:''' But they were French! It's not my fault if "Danger: Explosives" was only written in Welsh.\\

** Jack entertains the others with a story at lunch. We don't hear all the details, but it involved fifteen naked Time Agents running from something with tusks, with the punchline "I knew we should have turned left!"

* ArtisticLicenceLaw: In real life the Lord Mayor of Cardiff is not an executive position, but the chair of the city & county council and carries out diplomatic functions [[note]]From 1999 to 2003 the position was combined with that of Leader of the Council, which would make a ''bit'' more sense for Margaret's role.[[/note]]. Even when this is put aside, the construction of a nuclear power plant would be in the hands of higher government. [[note]]There's also no way that such a project would advance so far in just six months.[[/note]]

'''Margaret:''' Apart from that.

* FilmTheHand: Margaret/Blon does this when a photographer tries to take her picture during the Blydd Drwg press conference, with the implication that she's been avoiding photographs so she's not found out as being still alive. Unfortunately for her, the photo, with her face clearly visible, winds up on a newspaper where the Doctor can see it, alerting him to her presence.

* WhatMeasureIsANonHuman: When everyone's angsting about having to take someone to their execution— even someone who's already tried to destroy a planet — Mickey tries to justify it with "She's not even human." It's clear he's only trying to convince himself. When he asks her if she'd really blow up a whole world just to escape, she replies "Like you'd step on an anthill."

* TeleportersAndTransporters: Extensively. A particularly funny scene has Margaret continually teleport herself while running away from the Doctor, but a poke on the sonic screwdriver has her immediately re-materialise running ''towards'' the Doctor. Even funnier is, every time Margaret is forced to re-materialize, she appears slightly closer to the Doctor every time.

* KarmaHoudini: Blon; despite her attempt to destroy the Earth to escape, and all the people she'd killed, she still manage to get a good ending when she looks into the heart of the TARDIS and becomes an egg again, thus giving her what she wanted all along — a second chance.

'''Cathy:''' And then just recently, Mister Cleaver, the government's nuclear adviser?\\

'''The Doctor:''' She's climbing out of the window, isn't she?\\

** That she has a hostage or is otherwise able to recover the extrapolator between the Rift opening and the plant exploding.

* AndYourRewardIsInfancy: Margaret gets to try her life over again as an egg.

Mickey's state of mind is understandable, but he's being a bit of a jerk about it -- especially uncool since today, the usually dour Ninth Doctor is relaxed and grinning (probably still [[EverybodyLives enjoying his victory]] from [[Recap/DoctorWhoS27E9TheEmptyChild the last]] [[Recap/DoctorWhoS27E10TheDoctorDances episode]]), and it's a beautiful sight to behold. But perhaps Mickey's not entirely at fault, because ultimately what really harshes the Doctor's mellow is the sight of Margaret the Slitheen (from "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS27E4AliensOfLondon Aliens of London]]"/"[[Recap/DoctorWhoS27E5WorldWarThree World War Three]]") as the mayor of Cardiff.

'''Doctor:''' She's climbing out of the window, isn't she?\\

-->From what I've seen, your funny little happy-go-lucky life leaves devastation in its wake. Always moving on 'cause you dare not look back. Playing with so many peoples' lives, you might as well be a god.

-->'''Cathy:''' The number of deaths associated with this project. First of all, there was the entire team of the European Safety Inspectors.
-->'''Blon:''' But they were French! It's not my fault if Danger Explosives was only written in Welsh.
-->'''Cathy:''' And then there was that accident with the Cardiff Heritage Committee.
-->'''Blon:''' The electrocution of that swimming pool was put down to natural wear and tear.
-->'''Cathy:''' And then the architect?
-->'''Blon:''' It was raining, visibility was low. My car simply couldn't stop.
-->'''Cathy:''' And then just recently, Mister Cleaver, the government's nuclear adviser?
-->'''Blon:''' Slipped on an icy patch.
-->'''Cathy:''' He was decapitated!
-->'''Blon:''' It was a ''very'' icy patch.

* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: Of course the whole Slitheen family is evil, Margaret included, but she makes it clear early on that she really grieves for them and that she didn't see them as evil . . .

* EvilPlan: Margaret rigged the nuclear reactor to explode immediately while she used the extrapolator to ride the ensuing wave back to outer space. After her capture it transforms into guilt-tripping her captors into releasing her.
* ExplosiveLeash: Jack provides the Doctor with one to keep Margaret from fleeing during her last meal. Bondage jokes aside, it's another reminder that Jack got up to some shady stuff before meeting the Doctor.

-->'''Mickey:''' I knew we should have [[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E11TurnLeft turned left]]!

* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: Mickey notes a woman staring at him, the Doctor, Rose and Jack when they exit the TARDIS.
-->'''Jack''': Probably wondering what four people were doing inside a small wooden box.
-->'''Mickey''': What are you captain of? The Innuendo Squad?
** Mickey suggesting to Rose that they go to a hotel to spend the night.

-->'''The Doctor:''' Cardiff. Early 21[[superscript:st]] century and the wind is coming from the . . . east. Trust me, safest place in the universe.\\

* AGodIAmNot: Nine says he'd make a very bad God (Eccleston played [[MessianicArchetype Simon Baxter, the Son of God]] in Creator/RussellTDavies' ''The Second Coming''). Blon thinks he's closer to AGodAmI territory than he'd like, given the effect he has on everyone around him.
* GoingNative: Margaret[=/=]Blon -- even while planning to blow up the entire planet, she mentions that the London government wouldn't notice if South Wales fell into the sea. "Oh. I sound like a Welshman. God help me, I've gone native."
* HannibalLecture: After the TARDIS crew capture her, Margaret tries to guilt them into letting her go.

* IdiotBall: Cathy the journalist is intelligent enough to figure out that something is wrong with the reactor, and that everyone who finds this out winds up killed in a suspicious manner (including one killed by the mayor herself) . . . then allows her to drag her alone to the toilets.
* ItsAllAboutMe: The surviving Slitheen keeps trying to paint herself as a victim to the Doctor -- being forced to kill at 13, that she'll suffer a horrendous execution, and so on. The Doctor calls her out on this. Earlier, she spares a potential victim, simply because the victim reminded her of her family. Oh, and she was going to destroy the Earth to get back home.

* KarmaHoudini: Blon; despite her attempt to destroy the Earth to escape, and all the people she'd killed, she still manage to get a good ending when she looks into the heart of the TARDIS and becomes an egg again, thus giving her what she wanted all along -- a second chance.

** Blon[=/=]Margaret gets one herself. After the Doctor takes her PetTheDog argument apart, she retorts that only a killer himself would know the mind of a killer so intimately, and brings up his status as a WalkingDisasterArea. "Playing with so many peoples' lives, you might as well be a God."

* NotSoDifferent: When the Doctor accuses Margaret of occasionally sparing an individual to help her live with herself for wiping out a whole planet, Margaret snaps that only someone who's also killed large groups of people could possibly make such an accusation. She also tries it earlier, pointing out that if the TARDIS group takes her back to her home planet--where they know that the death penalty is waiting for her -- they'll be killers, just as she is.

* ProtagonistCenteredMorality: {{Lampshaded}}. Margaret has no problem killing people who investigate her scheme too closely, but when a young reporter nearly cracks the case and, while unknowingly waiting to be murdered, mentions that she's pregnant with her soon-to-be husband's child, the alien takes pity and lets her go instead. Later, Margaret tries to use that act as a sign that she's capable of change, but the Doctor isn't convinced, pointing out that sparing one person is an easy way to forgive yourself for killing countless others. Margaret immediately turns the tables and snaps that [[NotSoDifferent only someone who had done that very action]] could possibly speak so eloquently about it. And as the above examples show, she's absolutely right--the Doctor ''has'' wiped out whole species or planets and left a select few alive, apparently making him a "good" guy for his merciful actions (despite doing most of the killing/wiping out himself).

-->'''Margaret:''' This is persecution. Why can't you leave me alone? What did I ever do to you?
-->'''The Doctor:''' You tried to kill me and destroy this entire planet.\\
'''Margaret:''' Apart from that.

* SequelEpisode: To "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS27E4AliensOfLondon Aliens of London]]" / "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS27E5WorldWarThree World War Three]]".

* WeirdnessCensor: After the Doctor explains what a police box actually is, Mickey can't understand how people don't notice the anachronism. The Doctor responds with this trope.

* WhatMeasureIsANonHuman: When everyone's angsting about having to take someone to their execution -- even someone who's already tried to destroy a planet -- Mickey tries to justify it with "She's not even human." It's clear he's only trying to convince himself. When he asked her if she'd really blow up a whole world just to escape, she replied "Like you'd step on an anthill."

* SeriesContinuityError: Wan't the Doctor [[Recap/DoctorWhoS22E4TheTwoDoctors a vegetarian]]?

* CharacterDevelopment: Or OutOfCharacterMoment, depending on how you look at it. The Doctor had been (mostly) vegetarian since "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS22E4TheTwoDoctors The Two Doctors]]", but orders a steak in this episode. This was deliberately done by Creator/RussellTDavies, who didn't want to just blindly inherit Creator/JohnNathanTurner's concept of the series. Still, it doesn't quite connect that the previously vegetarian Doctor who was so outraged and heartbroken by the suffering inflicted on an innocent pig just in the last previous Davies story [[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Recap/DoctorWhoS27E4AliensOfLondon "Aliens of London"]], would here cheerfully order a steak that came from a similarly innocent animal being butchered.

* CharacterDevelopment: The Doctor had been (mostly) vegetarian since "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS22E4TheTwoDoctors The Two Doctors]]", but orders a steak in this episode. This was deliberately done by Creator/RussellTDavies, who didn't want to just blindly inherit Creator/JohnNathanTurner's concept of the series.

-->'''Cathy:''' And then just recently, Mister Cleaver, the government's nuclear adviser.

-->'''Cathy:''' He was decapitated.

-->'''Cathy''': And then just recently Mr. Cleaver, the government's nuclear advisor?
-->'''Margaret''': Slipped on an icy patch.
-->'''Cathy''': He was decapitated!
-->'''Margaret''': It was a very icy patch.