History Recap / DoctorWhoS29E3Gridlock

* ApocalypseHow: ThePlague from the Bliss drug has effectively caused a ''mild'' ApocalypseHow/Class2 to the population, wiping out literally everyone on New Earth who wasn't sealed off in the Undercity at the time (or in the Face of Boe and Novice Hame's case protected by the Face's smoke). From what Novice Hame says, it sounds like the virus didn't just affect the sentients but also the entire biosphere outside of the Undercity, thereby making it a ApocalypseHow/Class4.

* SameCharacterButDifferent: The Macra were originally hyperintelligent, spacefaring crab monsters with hypnotic powers. They return forty years later as much bigger crab monsters that are no longer sapient and have no psychic powers. The Doctor claims that they've devolved into dumb animals over billions of years. On the other hand, one reference book holds that the Macra escaped from the New New York Zoo when the power failed, suggesting that either they were non-sapient to begin with or that the devolution happened prior to the city shutting down.

* SongOfPrayer: The people stuck in the Motorway sing hymns as a way to keep up their spirits. After the Doctor finally releases the exits, they start singing "Abide With Me", a hymn asking the Lord to come and stay for a time.

There's '''[[CuteKitten kittens]]''' in [[TheOneWith this one]]!! YAY!!![[note]][[Recap/DoctorWhoS26E4Survival Though it wasn't the first...]][[/note]]\\

There's '''[[CuteKitten kittens]]''' in this one!! YAY!!![[note]][[Recap/DoctorWhoS26E4Survival Though it wasn't the first...]][[/note]]\\

* CuteKitten: The cute factor is the most likely reason for an anthropomorphic cat and a demi-human woman having a litter of seemingly ordinary kittens.

* SameCharacterButDifferent: The Macra were originally hyperintelligent, spacefaring crab monsters with hypnotic powers. They return forty years later as much bigger crab monsters that are no longer sapient and have no psychic powers. The Doctor claims that they've devolved into dumb animals over billions of years. On the other hand, one reference book holds that the Macra escaped from the New New York Zoo when the power failed, suggesting they were non-sapient to begin with.

There's '''[[CuteKitten kittens]]''' in this one!! YAY!!!\\

[[caption-width-right:350:The one with the Traffic Jam. [[UpToEleven From HELL.]]]]

* AdultFear:
** This episode becomes very disturbing if you start thinking about being stuck in an inescapable traffic jam that will ''never'' end.
--->'''The Doctor:''' What if the traffic jam never stops? What if there's no help coming, not ever? What if there's nothing? Just the motorway, with the cars going round and round and round and round, never stopping. ''Forever''.
** Not to mention the idea that the world could come to an end without you realising it. Your trap is your salvation, unless some outside party decides to come help you. And barring the Doctor, there's no help coming for another 76 years.
** And if you die, your family members still in New New York might use the Forget drug and nobody will remember you even existed.

* DrugsAreBad: Both Martha and the Doctor are unamused by a street populated by drug-dealing booths that sell everything from "Happy" to "Forget" to "Honesty", and "Bliss" killed all of New Earth's population apart from New New York's undercity.

[[caption-width-right:350:TheOneWith the Traffic Jam. [[UpToEleven From HELL.]]]]

* FamousLastWords:
-->'''The Face of Boe:''' I must. But know this, Time Lord: ''You are not alone.''

* InfantImmortality: Averted. The second car on-screen to fall victim to the Macra is a car carrying two young twins.

* FuturePrimitive: The Macra have "devolved" (in the Doctor's words) since their first appearance from powerful, mind-controlling creatures to beasts who are living only to feed. It's more justified than most examples, since the second appearance is ''BILLIONS'' of years later; these creatures could have evolved from a few random cells a Macra tourist unknowingly left behind in that time.

* NobodyOver50IsGay: Averted with the Cassinis, an elderly lesbian couple.

* HoodHopping: The Doctor does a three-dimensional version to find Martha in the motorway traffic jame.

* AmericanGothicCouple: The couple in the opening who are attacked by the Macra look like this but they are far from stoic. They are terrified.

* CuteKitten: Most likely the reason for an anthropomorphic cat and a demi-human woman having a litter of seemingly ordinary kittens is the cute factor.

* FlatWhat: Martha's reaction to the length of time a ten-mile/sixteen-kilometre journey will take is bafflement. Traffic jams aren't this bad in her time after all.

* LaserGuidedAmnesia: "Forget", with variable amounts of amnesia dependant on just how much the buyer wants to forget. The Doctor and Martha meet a young woman buying some when her parents have gone to the motorway, and are unable to stop her taking the patch.

* RuleOfThree: In order to use the fast lane, you have to have three passengers. Lie to the computer, and your car is shut down. We see the effect of this in the episode's beginning (where the AmericanGothicCouple lied to the computer, got stopped in the fast lane, and were thus eaten by the Macra), and the entire reason Martha is kidnapped is so that the couple she's with can get to the fast lane.

* AmericanGothicCouple: The couple in the opening who are attacked by the Macra.

* CuteKitten: Most likely the reason for an anthropomorphic cat and a demi-human woman having a litter of seemingly ordinary kittens.

* FateWorseThanDeath: Going to the motorway. Sitting in the eternal traffic jam, going round and round year upon year upon decade, with the only interaction being with whoever you already have with you or can phone. And everyone goes to the motorway in the end.

* FlatWhat: Martha's reaction to the length of time a ten-mile/sixteen-kilometre journey will take.

* FuturePrimitive: The Macra have "devolved" (in the Doctor's words) since their first appearance from powerful, mind-controlling creatures to beasts who are living only to feed. More justified than most examples, since the second appearance is ''BILLIONS'' of years later; these creatures could have evolved from a few random cells a Macra tourist unknowingly left behind in that time.
* FuturisticSuperhighway: The Doctor returns to the planet New Earth to discover one of these in the city of New New York stuck in a massive traffic jam because the entire population of the rest of the planet died in a virulent plague, and the undercity, including the motorway, was sealed off to protect the population. Afterward, there wasn't enough power to reopen it. And if that wasn't bad enough, there are devolved Macra which escaped from the zoo living on the bottom of the pollution-choked tunnel waiting to snatch anyone who tries to use the 3-person "fast lane".

* HoodHopping: The Doctor does a three-dimensional version.

* NoodleIncident: The Doctor's meeting with Music/JanisJoplin that led to her giving him his BadassLongcoat.

* ThePlague: The Bliss Virus.

* TookALevelInKindness: The Doctor, following his [[HeelRealisation realising how badly he's treated Martha]], coming clean with her about Gallifrey.

* MuckMonster: The Macra live in and fed on car smog.

* NoodleIncident: The Doctor's meeting with Creator/JanisJoplin that led to her giving him his BadassLongcoat.

[[caption-width-right:350:TheOneWith The Traffic Jam. [[UpToEleven From HELL.]]]]

* ElephantInTheRoom: No one wants to talk about why they've never seen any emergency vehicles.