Amy (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
such_heights) wrote2008-06-22 02:33 pm
such_heights) wrote2008-06-22 02:33 pm
Entry tags:
"I thought it was just the Doctor we needed. But it's both of you."
All right, and now some thoughts/enthusiasm about 'Turn Left' and one of the series arcs that was continued therein.
I could say lots of things about 'Turn Left', but I think what I loved most about it (out of a great many things that I loved) was the way it continued the companion arc that's been going so strongly this series. To wit, I have a few examples out of the many, many discussions about what it is to travel with the Doctor, and what it is to live afterwards:
*
"Still on your own?"
"Yup. Well, no. I had this friend, Martha, she was called, Martha Jones, she was brilliant. And I destroyed half her life. But she's fine, she's good. She's gone."
"What about Rose?"
"Still lost. I thought you were going to travel the world?"
"Easier said than done. It's like I had that one day with you, and oh, I was going to change. I was going to do so much. Then I woke up the next morning, same old life. It's like you were never there."
"Oh, I have missed all this, but you know. I'm good here, back at home, and I'm better for having been away."
"I've got the whole universe. Planets to save, civilisations to rescue, creatures to defeat, and an awful lot of running to do."
"Are you sure about this?"
"Yeah, positive. I can't do this any more. You'll be the same, one day."
"Not me, never! How could I ever go back to normal life after seeing all this? I'm gonna travel with that man forever."
"When you run with the Doctor, it feels like it will never end. But however hard you try, you can't run forever. Everybody knows that everybody dies, and nobody knows it like the Doctor."
"But if he was so special, what's he doing with me?"
"He thought you were brilliant."
"Don't be stupid."
"But you are. Just took the Doctor to show you that, simply by being with him. He did the same to me, to everyone he touches."
*
We all know all of this, of course, have done since 'Parting to the Ways' especially, but ooh how I'm enjoying it coming up again and again this series. Because, gradually, the tone's changing. Rose and Martha were broken, destroyed in some way by their experiences with the Doctor, with Sarah Jane and Jack serving as previous examples of the same heartbreak. And now it's all turning around, because all four of them are back, and they've found resolution and because they all are irrevocably changed by the Doctor, they've got new purpose, defending the Earth in all their different ways. They've become the Doctor, and this is made very clear time and again, reinforced once more last night with Rose even talking like him.
The influence spreads outwards, as Martha tries to improve UNIT, as Rose's travels end up making heroes of Mickey and Jackie too, as Jack and Sarah Jane find their teams and change their lives. And now, with Donna at the crux of it, it's all coming back around.
In 'Turn Left' we have the bleak version, where one by one they all die saving the world (I cannot begin to describe how much it kills me that Martha dies heroically when she hasn't even met the Doctor, gah). Now it's time for the flipside, for this chain reaction of heroism all started by the Doctor to come into play and save the whole multiverse, looks like. Because he isn't alone, not any more, and one of my favourite things about the newer series has been how the world of Doctor Who has been expanded outwards, through Torchwood and UNIT and recurring characters and a whole scale much grander than when it was just one lonely alien in a leather jacket with a blue box, who met one girl that led to all this.
The universe is in good hands, don't you think?
I could say lots of things about 'Turn Left', but I think what I loved most about it (out of a great many things that I loved) was the way it continued the companion arc that's been going so strongly this series. To wit, I have a few examples out of the many, many discussions about what it is to travel with the Doctor, and what it is to live afterwards:
*
"Still on your own?"
"Yup. Well, no. I had this friend, Martha, she was called, Martha Jones, she was brilliant. And I destroyed half her life. But she's fine, she's good. She's gone."
"What about Rose?"
"Still lost. I thought you were going to travel the world?"
"Easier said than done. It's like I had that one day with you, and oh, I was going to change. I was going to do so much. Then I woke up the next morning, same old life. It's like you were never there."
Donna & the Doctor, 'Partners in Crime'
"Oh, I have missed all this, but you know. I'm good here, back at home, and I'm better for having been away."
Martha, 'The Poison Sky'
"I've got the whole universe. Planets to save, civilisations to rescue, creatures to defeat, and an awful lot of running to do."
Jenny, 'The Doctor's Daughter'
"Are you sure about this?"
"Yeah, positive. I can't do this any more. You'll be the same, one day."
"Not me, never! How could I ever go back to normal life after seeing all this? I'm gonna travel with that man forever."
Donna & Martha, 'The Doctor's Daughter'
"When you run with the Doctor, it feels like it will never end. But however hard you try, you can't run forever. Everybody knows that everybody dies, and nobody knows it like the Doctor."
River, 'Forest of the Dead'
"But if he was so special, what's he doing with me?"
"He thought you were brilliant."
"Don't be stupid."
"But you are. Just took the Doctor to show you that, simply by being with him. He did the same to me, to everyone he touches."
Donna & Rose, 'Turn Left'
*
We all know all of this, of course, have done since 'Parting to the Ways' especially, but ooh how I'm enjoying it coming up again and again this series. Because, gradually, the tone's changing. Rose and Martha were broken, destroyed in some way by their experiences with the Doctor, with Sarah Jane and Jack serving as previous examples of the same heartbreak. And now it's all turning around, because all four of them are back, and they've found resolution and because they all are irrevocably changed by the Doctor, they've got new purpose, defending the Earth in all their different ways. They've become the Doctor, and this is made very clear time and again, reinforced once more last night with Rose even talking like him.
The influence spreads outwards, as Martha tries to improve UNIT, as Rose's travels end up making heroes of Mickey and Jackie too, as Jack and Sarah Jane find their teams and change their lives. And now, with Donna at the crux of it, it's all coming back around.
In 'Turn Left' we have the bleak version, where one by one they all die saving the world (I cannot begin to describe how much it kills me that Martha dies heroically when she hasn't even met the Doctor, gah). Now it's time for the flipside, for this chain reaction of heroism all started by the Doctor to come into play and save the whole multiverse, looks like. Because he isn't alone, not any more, and one of my favourite things about the newer series has been how the world of Doctor Who has been expanded outwards, through Torchwood and UNIT and recurring characters and a whole scale much grander than when it was just one lonely alien in a leather jacket with a blue box, who met one girl that led to all this.
The universe is in good hands, don't you think?
no subject
Absolutely! The interplay is the key thing there, I share your irritation with people who swing too heavily one way or the other.
Plus I always love a good what if and a good dystopian future.
Mmmm, yes, it was like the Year That Never Was all over again, yay. I'm such a sucker for that stuff, even if is inevitably going to get all retconned.
My heart broke about a million times this episode
Oh, I know. *wails* It was so tragic! I mean, the SJA kids, really? Was that necessary? And just as a side note, in a gap in the conversation, like no one was there to mark their passing, good grief. RTD really pulled no punches.
but in that conversation with Donna where she tells her she's brilliant it takes her away from that idea of herself - for me that's a hugely cathartic moment for Rose as well.
Yes, that's an interesting point! Because I agree, I was really worried her return was going to be All About The Doctor, and was relieved that it wasn't, that actually she has a whole existence of her own that involves saving multiple universes, awesome! This, this is the grown-up Rose that I would always have hoped for, she's looking fantastic.
The quote you used for your title has all my plot bunnies tingling. Right now that is very inconvenient.
I am not sorry in any way whatsoever, I'm afraid. :P (I'm kind of dreading the finale because of the AMOUNT OF FIC that clearly will have to be written afterwards, gah.)