doctor who (re?)watch

part four ERM!


10.10.23

series 4

total season 4 average: ???/10

4.1 Partners in Crime 10/10 as far as direction goes probably one of my faves so far,, ten and donna are SO great together. the comedic moments this episode were AMAZING. love love loved the directorial parallels btwn ten and donna. loved their lipsinc convo. loved ten being such a Silly Little Guy peeking over the office dividers. the Situation of the episode + the stomach noises were a Bit Much. aside from that probably one of the most fun times ive had watching an ep!!!

4.2 The Fires of Pompeii 7/10 i mean sure! fun seeing peter capaldi there and stuff. pretty standard episode i think. nice to see the empathetic influence donna has on ten.

4.3 Planet of the Ood 9/10 i. i have a neocities of course i love this ep. highlights include the doctor almost getting yanked by a giant claw, YEAHHHHHH FUCK CAPITALISM!! catherine tate's gorgeousness, DOCTORDONNA FRIENDS!!!! and the song sharing scene :')

4.4 The Sontaran Strategem 7/10 idk no comments here.martha i love you. quote that killed me:

> MARTHA: They ended up imprisoned. They were tortured. My Mum, my Dad, my sister. It wasn't the Doctor's fault, but you need to be careful. Because you know the Doctor. He's wonderful, he's brilliant, but he's like fire. Stand too close and people get burnt.

4.5 The Poison Sky 7/10 i mean its an episode. this two parter was fun for donna family stuff and the return of martha but i kinda didnt give a fuck about the main conflict. pov california 2021 wildfires:

4.6 The Doctor's Daughter 8/10 if i were martha i would have jumped off a cliff at this point (4). fishy guy... :(. jenny was fun idk it felt kinda out of the blue that she just blasted off but like oh well ig. man poor ten. also again with the random parts of ten's dna making up pseudo timelords like. doesnt that have some Implications.

4.7 The Unicorn and the Wasp 8/10 like idk what was happening here but get it. i love agatha christie i mean who doesnt. the party hostess said alienfucker rights.

4.8 Silence in the Library 8/10 love the fucked up concepts and ideas. unfortunately ten was kind of an ass in this!! like be so fr he would not fucking say this to donna. minus ten milion point:

> DONNA: How are we safe?
> DOCTOR: We're not. That was a clever lie to shut you up.

minus another ten million points for:

> DOCTOR: Donna, let me explain.
(Donna teleports away.)
> DOCTOR: Oh, that's how you do it.

like EUGH. sure donna's abrasive and chatters a bunch but he shld know more than anyone how her insight can end up saving the day!!! ist this also literally after the doctor's daughter. lmao. haha. goofy asf.

4.9 Forest of the Dead 8/10 FUCKED! UP! ten million points for donna noble and her beautiful transgender husband. call me insane but i dont think trapping river in the computer for eternity was the best idea ever.

4.10 Midnight 9/10 FUCKED UPPPPPPP. this time we get to see the doctor's usual methods of going-about solving things totally flipped on its head and almost get him killed. spooky and really great all around! donna gets a spa day before The Horrors! good for her!

4.11 Turn Left 9/10 FUCKED UP. FUCKED UPPPPP. didn't rtd say he was gonna put labor camps in the s3 finale (commentary) but thought it was too much or smth??? cant remember if it was bc of budget or timing or tone reasons. anyways i guess that previous sentiment went flying out the window bye.

4.12 The Stolen Earth 8/10 YUHHHH CROSSOVER TIMEEEEE. prior to this i watched torchwood's pilot so that's fun. super enjoyable!!!! very grand setup!

4.13 Journey's End 6/10 girl what in the actual god damn shitballs fucking fuck. if i were donna i would jump off a cliff at this point BUT I WOULDNT EVEN FUCKING REMEMBER!!! LMAO!!!!!! WHAT THE SHIT MAN. this finale makes me want to commit vehicular felonies on the moon!! i had gripes about the 3rd season finale because of tinkerbell doctor but im actually fine with that finale now that theres this bs. like.

the main thing i have a gripe with is, of course, donna's fate. regarding the mindwipe or death choice, donna knew what was going to happen to her. you can see it in her fucking eyes, her last scene she puts the puzzle pieces together. donna knew and she SAID right there that she wanted to spend the rest of her life travelling as herself, as doctordonna. she understood the choice was between losing her memories or dying right then and there and she spends the last few seconds before the mindwipe PLEADING no. donna decided what was best for herself. and ten decided otherwise. he didn't let donna make that decision for herself cuz he cares about her too much and values life above all else. this time it's a really fucking ugly example of that trait with a horrifying fallout. girlie is gonna spend the next who knows how many years of her life unable to trust anyone around her because now they have to gaslight her, not to mention she isn't sent back to before runaway bride. shes sent back with two fucking whole years missing from her life. and the proof that she's missing something will be painfully all around her. it's not to say that she wont live a happy life later. im sure the narrative will show us that shes well adjusted so now ten gets to wallow in his angst. but in general im just fucking pissed at how the narrative did donna so fucking dirty and how ten violated her autonomy!

or i might just be ultra upset at this because i like growing as a person and by god if you told me you were gonna send me back to who i was two years ago i would sock you in the jaw. anyways whatever the fuck i guess im sure the 60th anniversary will be all well and good and solve everyones problems cuz donna has kids and stuff now so she doesnt have to get forced out of the tardis by the narrative. good bye

oh and regarding rose. dude PLEASE stop making decisions for other people i Swear To God. hes just like. "oh yeah erm about other me hes like kind of fucked up you can fix him right lmao ok bye"

okay besides that there were also some nice moments, especially the contrast between the tardis full of companions, finally having a full crew for the first time in who knows how long, and the doctor ending the season sad and alone as he always does this incarnation :(. also enjoyed this finale flipping previously comedic moments on their head and making them relatively horrifying.

4.14 The Next Doctor 7/10 didnt they kinda do this with daleks in manhattan? whatever i guess. cute but im still coping over journeys end.

4.15 Planet of the Dead 5/10 ended up skipping halfway through. i mean i guess its pretty sometimes. once again, cute but im still in copium mode.

4.16 The Waters of Mars 9/10 jeez these specials arent gonna get any happier will they orz,, this epside is another amongus style one, kinda like 42. or midnight. the Horrors. absolutely chilling moments here, especially the sequence where the doctor walks away from the station while the screams of the crew echo in the comms. This episode is kinda the most indicative of ten's like. fall. it's so clearly seen how much he's changed, from the stunningly cold "tough" to after dropping everyone off, "isn't anyone going to thank me?". once again, we see him playing god- choosing for others and assessing the value of people's lives- "saved some little people, but never someone as important as you. oh, i'm good." which adeline rightfully calls him out for. once again, we see an example of ten taking away people's choices to die on their own terms.

ten feels so, so lost in this episode. he was born out of love, but now he's gone through so much loss. he's hurt so many. he's so alone. he doesn't know what to do. hes so fucked up. it's extremely hard to watch yet SO interesting.

tbh it woul d have been real interesting to see the time lord victorious arc drawn out a bit over a couple eps but liiike i get it why its the way it is.

4.17 The End of Time 8/10 HELP. THERE IS JUST SO MUCH HERE. ten million points for the utterly bonkers horny energy radiating off this ep. okay first of all justice for lucy whadda hell. second of all i love how fucking goofy the premise of this finale is. okay i see how it is. insane emotional whiplash from having the master biden blast everyone and turn everyone on earth. into him. andthen cut to the most gut wrenching conversation i have ever witnessed. idk call me crazy but i fucking love the dual extremes. im still coping over donna. she is happy though at least :'). uhh third of all. the junkyard scenes w/ the doctor + the master WHAT IF I ATE GLASS. OKAY.

> MASTER: I had estates. Do you remember my father's land back home? Pastures of red grass, stretching far across the slopes of Mount Perdition. We used to run across those fields all day, calling up at the sky. Look at us now.

also i feel like i cant go without mentioning the master's fucking. dog collar. hello what was up with that. little Freak (affectionate). HE WAS LITERALLY PREENING. LIKE A CAT. im literally so unwell. okay im gonna shut up now.

4.18 The End of Time (2) 10/10 i think i need to lay down in a dark room for the next few hours. oh my god. the dialogue this episode. is everything. oh my god. guys. ALRIGHT first of all what the fuck is up with that bondage chair they just had david tennant look like that on national television on christmas day okay. ten million billion points for this bonkers interaction:

> DOCTOR: You're a genius. You're stone cold brilliant, you are. I swear, you really are. But you could be so much more. You could be beautiful. With a mind like that, we could travel the stars. It would be my honour. Because you don't need to own the universe, just see it. To have the privilege of seeing the whole of time and space. That's ownership enough.
> MASTER: Would it stop, then? The noise in my head?
> DOCTOR: I can help.
> MASTER: I don't know what I'd be without that noise.
> DOCTOR: I wonder what I'd be, without you.
> MASTER: Yeah.

OKAY ILL WRITE LIKE MORE LATER BUT I WANNA MENTION. HOW TEN USES HIS GUN TO SAVE. WILF IN GENERAL. THE DOCTOR AND THE MASTER PUTTING THEIR DIFFERENCES ASIDE. HE WILL KNOCK FOUR TIMES. AAAUGH.