Doctor Who 4x13: Journey's End

[eve11]

Oh, Donna. You were brilliant. The rest of the plot was a leaky crazy sinking ship around you (still in a generally tolerable way), and you were brilliant. Funny, quirky, smart, brave, shouty , and brilliant, and that was just in the finale. You are hands down my favorite companion of the new series, and quite possibly my favorite one of the WHOLE series. And now, you're back to square one and it makes me so, so sad and angry.

"Not those times, not one line, don't you dare." I find it interesting that River Song apparently knew what the fuck she was doing when she handcuffed the Doctor to the wall to give herself the chance to go out as she wanted, to choose memories and this particular life over survival as someone else. Part of me is extremely, extremely irritated that the Doctor didn't learn his lesson, and didn't give Donna a choice. I think Donna might have chosen mind-wipe over death maybe, but oh, it just broke my heart.

I hope her family can convince her she's so much more. I hope the Doctor is rubbish at human mind-wipes AND knows fuck-all about human brain capacity, because hey, there is precedent for that kind of thing at least in the audios. I hope Donna pulls a Charley Pollard, because yes I know it was the cheesiest line in the audios and all but oh, how could you just forget something as wonderful as all that? Man, I'm going to be bummed out for a while longer here. So very Flowers for Algernon, but without even her ability to remember how brilliantly fantastic she was. The end, after she woke up, was so painful to watch :(

It was almost, almost worth it, to see her temp her heart out and mimic the Doctor's mannerisms and flit about the console and set the Daleks spinning (so, SO OLD SKOOL CHEESE! Woot!) and save the fucking universe. Almost.

In other news:

- Mickey gets to choose to stay, but Rose has to go back? Color me confused. Doc leaves her to clean up his crazy human-Timelord mess and goes off to gallivant across the universe? As Jackie Tyler would say, what a typical man ;) That whole scene just fell flat for me. Unless half-human (Three-Quarters? say some of us who decide that Paul McGann is canon) Doctor can grow himself a TARDIS and then whiz Rose around the parallel world, I think they're going to have a difficult relationship. Well, Torchwood's got a lot of tech in it, someone please write me a story where they really do have a happy ending because I'm just going to be jaded and weirded out by Rose's end between now and then. Also, I maintain that Half-to-three-quarters-Human Doctor whispered "Let's shag like bunnies" in Rose's ear. But overall, if I were Rose I'd be like, WTF? I loved this jerk? I mean, RTD could have at least made an effort to have it be Rose's choice, and not the Doctor saying, "here, this is what's best for you." That one rang almost worse than mind-wiping Donna. Oh man, now I'm back to crying for Donna. :(

- Again, why did they not mention that Davros was basically pulling out Rose's Bad Wolf tech? That's what it was, right? Same deal, dispersed to atoms. If they had made that clearer, it might possibly have at least marginally tied up that Bad Wolf thread that just happened to be left blowing in the wind.

- Someone on the daily mentioned that Blue!Doctor == Valeyard, or at least close enough, yeah? That's a hell of a take on it. I like it.

- There was a gratuitous, completely unnecessary LACK OF ACE! When I saw somewhat plump round-faced woman coming out of the castle in Germany I was like, OMG ACE!!! But it wasn't! Fail, Rusty! But oh, Daleks talking in German FTW!!! Exterminaren! Hahahahaha!

- Davros was very cool. Davros pushed the Doctor's buttons and the Doctor pushed his right back. That was actually really well done, Davros making the Doctor face his messes (though he goes right the fuck back to running away from them at the end of the episode, *sighs*). Him and Sarah Jane had a great little scene. Also, on the topic of Old School cheesiness, I loved Rose and Sarah Jane exchanging greetings on either side of a malfunctioning Dalek. Ha! Parts of that extended scene in the Vault though were not directed very well, or possibly scripted very well. It's gotta be tough with that many characters running around though.

- Um, didn't Captain Jack drop the little bomb-thing that was supposed to go off if he dropped it, when he was teleported out? If so, "Where's the kaboom? There was supposed to be an EarthCrucible-shattering kaboom!"

- Still don't know who closed the TARDIS door to lock Donna in. There was a brief mention that it was somehow past echoes of the Human-Timelord amalgam leading up to the crucible point? Actually I thought that whole section was very well done. I kind of liked the idea of the hand growing a new doctor, and I think the scenes with him and Donna on the TARDIS were my favorites next to Doctor Donna's pwnage of the Daleks. ETA: Oh! I forgot about Dalek Caan-- he might have been behind that part of things.

- I'm handwaving the faux regeneration and the general silliness of the plot, and the speed at which the cliffhangers were resolved. I figured it would go something like that, so was unsurprised when something like that happened. Oh, but I did like the bit where Davros ostensibly destroyed the TARDIS; that was cool. Poor powerless Doctor. But he would have felt it, if the ship had really died, right? Maybe he knew she still had something up her sleeve.

- Towing the Earth is perhaps the silliest thing I've seen in quite a while. What we needed there was-- I don't know, perhaps just the barest veneer of technobabble or something? I wish RTD had had the stones to write in a character like Nyssa and possibly at least maybe try to at least write some mathematical or physics-inspired metaphors. I'm not really holding my breath for the Moffat to do any better on that front.

- In conclusion, did anything else happen in that episode? I don't think so. I think Donna was brilliant, fantastic, amazing, and saved the universe and then got the rawest companion deal since Jamie and Zoe. Oh, Donna. Prove them all wrong. And don't ever, EVER, go quietly.

Comments

[auntiemeesh.livejournal.com]

I was pretty ambivalent about this episode. I was hoping for better. Everything felt very contrived, and bad fanficish - the old, let's take everything out to the absolute edge where it's impossible to come back from it, then make it a little worse, and then just wave your hands and make it all better, bad fanfic.

I didn't hate that Rose ended up back in her parallel universe, but it would have been better if the Doctor hadn't just dropped her there, told to to fix his 'born of fire and blood' other self and then run for the metaphorical hills. Definitely poorly handled.

And yeah, Donna got the rawest deal ever. The only consolation is that she doesn't know it.

[eve11]

On re-watch the only thing I really couldn't stand and had to skip over was the Bad Wolf Bay scene. If only Rose had made her own decision there, like Mickey did! Like, "Oh Doctor, by the way, I've bonded over here with your one-hearted self. We've got so much in common, what with each of us responsible for destroying an entire race of Daleks and all and did I mention he and I can actually grow old together and shag have a family and crazy parallel world adventures? Drop us off of Norway, sure. Don't let the TARDIS door hit you in the arse on the way out."

[auntiemeesh.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that was bad. I tend to be willing to accept things (especially on the first go-round) so the whole thing didn't immediately offend me, but on second and third thoughts, it really is a pretty horrific thing. Very 'alright now, little lady, the big man knows what's best for you, so just do what he says and make nice with the other man over there.' Rather painfully Father Knows Best. Which makes it icky on a whole other level.

[eve11]

Yes! It was just, ugh. I thought Russell T Davies liked Rose, but apparently he has totally forgotten that she's anything other than a mooning lapdog or something. It's times like these that I realize being a gay man doesn't mean you know how to write women characters at all. Ugh.

Still, overall, better than Last of the Time Lords. And now we get the era of Moffat. But not until 2010! *sighs*

[astrogirl2.livejournal.com]

"Not those times, not one line, don't you dare."

I kept thinking of that line, too, and it made the whole thing much more ouchy. Not in the good way, though. In the "now I'm pissed off at the writer" way. :(

Doctor can grow himself a TARDIS and then whiz Rose around the parallel world, I think they're going to have a difficult relationship.

Part of me kind of wants to write fic about him realizing about half a day later that he's made a huge mistake and having a giant, trapped-animal panic attack. Other parts of me, though, really don't.

I mean, RTD could have at least made an effort to have it be Rose's choice, and not the Doctor saying, "here, this is what's best for you."

Yeah. Oddly, when everybody else was complaining about Rose not leaving by her own choice, I actually found the end of "Doomsday" pretty hopeful on that front, like now she she was in a situation where she'd pretty much have to get over the Doctor and live her own life, making her own choices. I was quite optimistic about the idea of her growing up in the alt. universe and being her own person. Instead, here she is trying her damndest to follow him even now, and in the end he makes all her choices for her. Sigh.

[eve11]

I kept thinking of that line, too, and it made the whole thing much more ouchy. Not in the good way, though. In the "now I'm pissed off at the writer" way. :(

Well, if anything, it explains why River Song was ready for him-- if she knew what he did to Donna, she'd be extra sure he wouldn't try the same thing on her. *sighs* I'm not going to stop crying over Donna for a while, I think :(

Part of me kind of wants to write fic about him realizing about half a day later that he's made a huge mistake and having a giant, trapped-animal panic attack. Other parts of me, though, really don't.

He has a panic attack, then he and Rose both go out on a long drinking binge wherein they rail against Proper!Doctor for being a self-serving cowardly pompous ass. Then Half-Human Doctor grows them a TARDIS, or they use vortex-manipulator jumpy things to go find one and steal it, and they become the Valeyard and the Bad Wolf and weak havoc on the alt!verse. That's my story and I'm sticking with it!

Even in the confidential, Billie Piper was basically like, "Yeah, that ending for Rose was rubbish." Well, not in those words, but she did say something to the effect of, it felt way out of character for Rose to drop the real guy in a heartbeat, for the new one.

There is a long and storied past in Who of companions leaving the Doctor to settle down, but I never got that vibe from Rose. Maybe at the end of season 2 when Jackie's bugging her about eg, following the Doctor for the next forty years, but because Rose never really saw it that way, the half-human doctor doesn't appear to be solving any problems she had perceived.

Bleh, I'm just going to erase that whole scene from my memory. Mind wipe plz, Doctor, now that you're handing them out?

[astrogirl2.livejournal.com]

That's my story and I'm sticking with it!

I want to read your version. :)

[boofadil.livejournal.com]

Valeyard?

[eve11]

In the Sixth Doctor arc Trial of a Time Lord, the Valeyard was the prosecutor in the Doctor's Trial, but it turns out that he was also a kind of Alternate-Version regeneration of the Doctor that embodied all of his negative traits and anger and such.

[boofadil.livejournal.com]

Thanks!

[elliptic-eye.livejournal.com]

then he and Rose both go out on a long drinking binge wherein they rail against Proper!Doctor for being a self-serving cowardly pompous ass.

I'd read that fanfic. I'd read the rest of it, too, but especially that pub scene.

There is a long and storied past in Who of companions leaving the Doctor to settle down, but I never got that vibe from Rose.

I never got it off of Martha, either, but there you go. Only one way forward for the ladies, apparently.

[eve11]

I'd read that fanfic. I'd read the rest of it, too, but especially that pub scene.

Heh, I still have to finish your sixathon piece-- don't think I've forgotten ;) (eee, I wrote a whole scene yesterday! It is more than half-way done!)

I never got it off of Martha, either, but there you go. Only one way forward for the ladies, apparently.

Martha's character was just so tragically under-used in her season. She's a doctor for chrissake. A scientist. Most doctors or med students I know have that crazy type A personality; you need it to get through med school. And basically, if they hadn't told us she was a med student, we wouldn't have known. But for that one part in Family of Blood where she rattles off the bones of the hand, she was just another mooning girl. Ugh, that made me so angry.

[kay-brooke.livejournal.com]

The only thing that comes close to making me feel better about Donna's fate is that Wilf and Sylvia both now realize that she has the capacity to be awesome, so maybe they'll better encourage that in her now. Especially Sylvia. I think if she just stops making hurtful and degrading comments about her daughter all the time and actually supported her decisions that things would improve a lot.

I agree that the Doctor/Donna scenes in the TARDIS were pretty awesome, but I honestly wish Hand!Ten had died. The Doctor dumping him off on Rose in the altverse was just awful, for both characters. There's Rose, who gets stuck with a guy who looks like the Doctor but isn't really the Doctor at all, and then there's Hand!Ten, who has all the memories of a Time Lord and TARDIS travel and all that but is now stuck in one time and place. Neither one got any kind of choice. If I wasn't kind of relieved that the scene puts an end to the Doctor/Rose storyline (hopefully forever) I think I'd kind of hate the Doctor right now.

The sad part is that I really liked most of the episode. But the things that I hated were so big that they bury everything else.

[eve11]

The only thing that comes close to making me feel better about Donna's fate is that Wilf and Sylvia both now realize that she has the capacity to be awesome, so maybe they'll better encourage that in her now.

Yeah, that helps a little bit. The only thing I can think is that I hope the Doctor was wrong about her remembering and burning up because of it. Wrong, wrong, wrong. And that the next time Donna sees him, she gives him a good hard slap for being an ass. :(

. The Doctor dumping him off on Rose in the altverse was just awful, for both characters. There's Rose, who gets stuck with a guy who looks like the Doctor but isn't really the Doctor at all, and then there's Hand!Ten, who has all the memories of a Time Lord and TARDIS travel and all that but is now stuck in one time and place. Neither one got any kind of choice.

Word. That was painful. I still don't understand why the Doctor decided that Rose had to stay in the alt!verse. I just-- ugh, that was awful. That was possibly Tinkerbell-levels of awful. If they'd just erased that one scene, I would have had only minor problems with it, mostly being Donna's incredibly raw deal and her saving the universe and getting nothing out of it. But yeah, Rusty just-- he seems to be wanting to shoot himself in the foot on his way out. *sighs*

[ginevra007.livejournal.com]

First I so agree with you about Donna. I cried, and then i cried some more. She was a great match for him. Making him look at himself and his motivations. I do so love the part where she is..."temp(ing) her heart out and mimic(ing) the Doctor's mannerisms and flit(s) about the console and set(s) the Daleks spinning (so, SO OLD SKOOL CHEESE! Woot!) and save(s) the fucking universe." that was priceless.

Though there was some foreshadowing of us losing Donna, permanently, at least this way there may be a way for her to come back some day.

when the Doctor told her mother off.."Try teller HER that sometimes" I cheered. About bloody time someone told that women she has been emotionally abusive to her daughter. I wasn't so upset with her Grandfather, he understood her but could only do so much. At least Donna had him to talk to about things and he believed her.

As for Rose: personally I think the Doctor has out grown her. I think that traveling with Martha and more importantly traveling with Donna and meeting River, made him realize that. Not that he would simply out live Rose (I think he had gotten over that fear by the time he meets River) but they really were growing in different directions. Rose is in my opinion very selfish, and still needs a bit of growing up. She and the part human Dr would be better. He is more willing to be emotional in a way that rose wants the Dr to be. When she jumps into the part human Dr's arms, I wasn't quite shure that it was simply because she got the answer she wanted, but also to hurt the other Dr. Kinda like saying, "See what you will be missing." Sometimes people come into your life not to stay but to teach us something of ourselfs. He learned what he needed from Rose, not that he doesn't love her, but their time is over. So, I think the Doctor was right to 'set them up' with each other.

As for her staying in the other universe, I can think of a few reasons. Her Mom. Despite everything those two are very close. In the long run if she could not see her Mum again, I think that would tear her up long term. her Mom gets to be with the man she loves and they have a good life. Do you really want them to go back to low income housing? The human Dr. he can't go back to our universe, he would be killed.

Hopefully, Micky and Martha will join Torchwood. Micky has grown quite considerably and I think he would make a good addition. Martha and Jack have a very different relationship from any of the others of Jacks team. They respect each others abilities and are both in love with the Dr so they have a different way of relating (grin)

rumor has it that Rusty wanted to leave a clean slate for the next writers.

But gosh darn it... DONNA! (cries)

[eve11]

Though there was some foreshadowing of us losing Donna, permanently, at least this way there may be a way for her to come back some day.

Yeah, that is a silver lining. :) I do hope they figure out a way to give her her memories back. Heh, now I feel like going back and watching Partners in Crime, just for that pantomime scene where they finally find each other. so hilarious!

when the Doctor told her mother off.."Try teller HER that sometimes" I cheered. About bloody time someone told that women she has been emotionally abusive to her daughter.

Yes! Sylvia needed a serious talking-to! I cheered too :)

As for Rose: personally I think the Doctor has out grown her.[...] So, I think the Doctor was right to 'set them up' with each other.

Oh, I agree that the Doctor has outgrown her, actually, but I was hoping that Rose would realize that she'd outgrown the Doctor, in some sense. Come into herself as a person first, as opposed to just being dependent on him for her sense of self. And I suppose it was a good idea and a good resolution; I just think it was very poorly and clunkily executed. Like I said above, it would have been so much more satisfying if Rose had made the decision on her own, as opposed to being put into a position where she couldn't say no.

You bring up good points about Rose's life in the Alt-verse and her reasons to stay there. Except, did I miss the part where they said the human doctor would die if he stayed in the proper universe? I know that the original doctor wasn't too fond of the idea of his alter-ego running around his universe, but I didn't hear anything about imminent demise.

Mickey and Martha on Torchwood might be enough for me to start watching it! ;) I do love Mickey :)

[ginevra007.livejournal.com]

I think the Doctor said that if alt/Doctor where to stay, he would be put on trial and killed for the genocide of the Daleks. Even though I agree that he should have wiped them out. ( I mean really if the Doctor killed them all in the Time War, they sure didn't stay dead. There were an awful lot of them lol)

As to Rose making the choice on her own, I'm not sure she has grown enough. I think the Doctor knew that.

Torchwood, though I like the idea, I was gettign tired of the 90210 aspect of it. I'm hoping that with Martha and Micky it will change the tone a bit. I too, love Micky the tin dog no more. He really grew and I liked who he grew into.