(no subject)

[rynne]

This was much better than Daleks in Manhatten. I am pleased. I was hoping Helen Raynor's two-parter this season would be better than last season's, and it looks like it will be.

I only have a couple big thoughts on this one. There were lots of little moments I liked, like Donna making the Colonel salute her and being SuperTemp, and the Doctor in the genius school, and how awesome Wilf is, but there were two majors things that stuck out to me.

Donna's conversation with Martha about their families. I liked it. I liked that Martha wanted to warn Donna, to share the benefits of her experience, and I am especially glad that Martha does not blame the Doctor for what happened to her family. On Donna's part, though, I was hoping for maybe a few references to The Runaway Bride, how Donna knew that TARDIS life could be hard and scary before she decided to travel with the Doctor. People got hurt at her wedding reception, after all--her family and friends, and Lance's. I am glad that Donna decided to visit her family, and at least tell Wilf what she was up to, but I think there could have been more there, with Donna.

Three times now, we've had past companions come and talk to current companions about this life, a conversation that sets the stage for the current companions' eventual decisions. Sarah Jane's message to Rose was that "some things are worth getting your heart broken for", which set the stage for Rose's decision to stay with the Doctor, and her heartbreak when forcibly separated from him. Jack's message to Martha (which I'm not sure was said explicitly or not; it's been a few months since I've seen Sound of Drums/Last of the Time Lords) was basically that even if you get really invested in the Doctor, you can still have a life of your own beyond him, which set the stage for her decision to leave. I'm not sure about Martha's message to Donna, though--maybe they'll have another conversation in the next episode. Or maybe the message will come later in the series. Hmmm. Will have to think about this.

Then there's the Doctor's "goodbye" speech. I figured from the beginning that Donna just wanted to visit her family, not leave, but I couldn't laugh, even when I think I was supposed to. It is a bit funny, that the Doctor was dense like that, but it's a lot more sad than it is funny. The first thing that occurs to him, when Donna says she wants to go home, is not "visit" but "leaving", because he's used to people leaving him. Abandonment issues up the wazoo, issues that are constantly reinforced with every companion's departure, and it is so very obvious that they hurt him. Not once during that goodbye speech did the Doctor ask Donna why, and from my experience, when you don't ask questions like that, it's because you think the answer will hurt. He went on about how wonderful Donna was as a form of defense.

Frankly this is giving me hope, but I'm not sure I want it to. So far, the S4 emotional arc is shaping up rather how I predicted it would, but my prediction ends with Rose staying with the Doctor, and if the season keeps progressing emotionally how I think it will, but the ending is totally different (for instance, Rose staying in Pete's World), I'm going to be so disappointed. But I see the Doctor with these issues, these very deep, impacting issues, and I keep thinking they're going to have to be addressed, and not just in a way that shows that yeah, he still has them. It's not the kind of thing that can ever really be solved, but he's the title character and he pretty much has to grow, as a character. The logical character growth I see, given this issue that has several times been brought to the forefront, is that it will be in some way ameliorated, and the most logical person to do that is the one who never wanted to leave in the first place.

But, given that this is Doctor Who and RTD, I'm not sure if I should be listening to logic. *g*

Show! Stop giving me hope! XD