Overall, reasonably good fun. The main problem with it is that it hits pretty much the same emotional beats as the previous episode, School Reunion, while not being as good. Between that and a couple of other things, it seems like the writer of this episode hadn’t seen the previous one – and according to the commentary, apparently this was the case…

Mme. de Pompadour was, well, okay. But unfortunately, Sarah Jane the week before had a very similar role and was much, much better. School Reunion relied on a relationship that had been built up for years and had the force of all those years behind it. The Girl in the Fireplace relied on the Star Trek trope of being able to fall in love with someone in 45 minutes and then lose them before the end of the episode. It’s not very Doctor Who, and it falls flat, here.

Sophia Myles, I think, did okay in the role, but it required much more than “okay” to pull this off. We have to believe that she can make the Doctor abandon the TARDIS, Micky, and Rose to live permanently in a primitive backwater, just for her. Doesn’t quite work.

The central mystery – why the Clockwork Men were so intent on Mme. de Pompadour – ended up a bit limp, too. It was sort of amusing, but you ended up wondering why the ship was named after her. Is she the kind of historical figure people name ships after? It also ends up feeling contrived, although I suppose it’s the opposite, if you take the reveal at the end and mentally put it at the beginning. I actually think I would have preferred it if we never found out, just leaving it as a mad mystery from the mad Clockwork men.

Micky’s character development was off, too, also due to the writer not having checked out School Reunion. Suddenly he’s part of the team, with no indication that he may or may not be welcome in the TARDIS.

Now, that’s all the negative out of the way.

The Clockwork People were very pretty, although completely unexplained. Did the Spaceship Crew make the clockwork people? If so, why? But I don’t care, they were so nice. And so very insane. And so logical in their looniness.

Micky did well for himself, only occasionally being the comic relief. I loved the bit where he was telling the Doctor about girls.

Not much to say about Rose – she was only just in the episode, it seems, pushed aside for Mme. de Pompadour. But her scene where she tried to warn the Doctor’s new flame was really touching, and well-acted.

David Tennet was his usual jovial self. The “drunk” scene was perhaps overdone, but other than that he was very cool.

The entire episode was filled with interesting and fun lines and scenes. The horse! Clockwork men! Spaceships repaired with people! Magic fireplaces! France! All in all, the positives far outway the negatives. The episode still does suffer badly from the inevitable comparison to School Reunion, but I think it stands well on its own.
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Next week – well, at the time of this writing, Earlier today – ! Cybermen! W00t!