Journey's End
Jul. 18th, 2010 07:32 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
peroxidepirateNo.
No.
NO.
NO.
I knew what was going to happen. And it does absolutely nothing to lessen the pain of seeing the Doctor destroy Donna Noble.
WHAT THE FUCK.
Take a fantastic ending to a mind-bogglingly amazing run of a wonderful show... and trash it all in the last six minutes. What the fuck?
Ok, human brain, timelord consciousness, of course it doesn't work. But why decide that means she has to lose everything she experienced with the Doctor? How awesome would it have been for her to go back to her usual level of intelligence, and just go on that way, and deal with being frustrated by having lost that momentary brilliance?
Or, ok, if the Doctor needs to be on his own to have the breakdown that's necessary as a step leading on to the next season... he could just be a complete dick and refuse to let Donna travel with him after he takes the timelordliness out of her brain. That wouldn't be out of character if he thought he was protecting her, and at least then she'd remember. At least then she'd still be Donna Noble, Child of Time.
Or, as much as I'd hate to see it, she could die. They could talk about it, and she could decide -- as I'm sure she would -- that she'd die rather than keep living but lose everything she had. And he could, say, LISTEN to that.
It's even worse as a contrast to Rose's happily-ever-after which I'm still not sure I completely trust, but nevermind that because, what, the platonic love has to just wink out of existence?
Also, I'm even more furious because most of "Journey's End" was awesome with awesome sauce on top. Everyone was in top form. It was a delight to see the best and most beloved of the show in one place. Martha was brilliant and Rose was scarily badass and Jack tricking the Daleks was made of win. I love how everything in Donna's story led to that one point. I love the Doctor's joy at finally seeing Rose again. I love Tosh's final gift to the Torchwood team, and Gwen's bravery, and Ianto's jealous glare when Jack mentions talking to a soldier in a bar. I love Mickey saying good-bye to Jackie and fully accepting that Rose is never gonna be in love with him again. I love Martha's mum and Donna's family and Sarah Jane's son (not that I've seen any of the Sarah Jane adventures, but still) and Gwen and Ianto all waiting, and mostly understanding. I love Harriet Jones, and her leadership and sacrifice, and the Doctor's pain when he learns of it. And, I gotta admit, I love seeing Daleks spin around like bumper cars.
... And then they landed at Bad Wolf Bay. From that point... as I said, I don't entirely trust the happily-ever-after. Did the Doctors talk to each other about what they were going to do, which one was going to stay with Rose? (Though, ok, maybe he'd thought about that in the past.) But I call bullshit on, "He was born of war, so he's bad, but really, he's exactly the same as me." LOGIC, Doctor? But, fine. Rose is already in the completely separateunless we need it somewhat unreal parallel universe, so I suppose sending a slightly unreal Doctor!clone to have quarter-timelord babies save the world with her doesn't make too much less sense than anything else.
Donna, though. Oh, outraged doesn't even half cover it.
No.
NO.
NO.
I knew what was going to happen. And it does absolutely nothing to lessen the pain of seeing the Doctor destroy Donna Noble.
WHAT THE FUCK.
Take a fantastic ending to a mind-bogglingly amazing run of a wonderful show... and trash it all in the last six minutes. What the fuck?
Ok, human brain, timelord consciousness, of course it doesn't work. But why decide that means she has to lose everything she experienced with the Doctor? How awesome would it have been for her to go back to her usual level of intelligence, and just go on that way, and deal with being frustrated by having lost that momentary brilliance?
Or, ok, if the Doctor needs to be on his own to have the breakdown that's necessary as a step leading on to the next season... he could just be a complete dick and refuse to let Donna travel with him after he takes the timelordliness out of her brain. That wouldn't be out of character if he thought he was protecting her, and at least then she'd remember. At least then she'd still be Donna Noble, Child of Time.
Or, as much as I'd hate to see it, she could die. They could talk about it, and she could decide -- as I'm sure she would -- that she'd die rather than keep living but lose everything she had. And he could, say, LISTEN to that.
It's even worse as a contrast to Rose's happily-ever-after which I'm still not sure I completely trust, but nevermind that because, what, the platonic love has to just wink out of existence?
Also, I'm even more furious because most of "Journey's End" was awesome with awesome sauce on top. Everyone was in top form. It was a delight to see the best and most beloved of the show in one place. Martha was brilliant and Rose was scarily badass and Jack tricking the Daleks was made of win. I love how everything in Donna's story led to that one point. I love the Doctor's joy at finally seeing Rose again. I love Tosh's final gift to the Torchwood team, and Gwen's bravery, and Ianto's jealous glare when Jack mentions talking to a soldier in a bar. I love Mickey saying good-bye to Jackie and fully accepting that Rose is never gonna be in love with him again. I love Martha's mum and Donna's family and Sarah Jane's son (not that I've seen any of the Sarah Jane adventures, but still) and Gwen and Ianto all waiting, and mostly understanding. I love Harriet Jones, and her leadership and sacrifice, and the Doctor's pain when he learns of it. And, I gotta admit, I love seeing Daleks spin around like bumper cars.
... And then they landed at Bad Wolf Bay. From that point... as I said, I don't entirely trust the happily-ever-after. Did the Doctors talk to each other about what they were going to do, which one was going to stay with Rose? (Though, ok, maybe he'd thought about that in the past.) But I call bullshit on, "He was born of war, so he's bad, but really, he's exactly the same as me." LOGIC, Doctor? But, fine. Rose is already in the completely separate
Donna, though. Oh, outraged doesn't even half cover it.
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(no subject)
Date: 2010-07-18 11:41 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-07-18 11:44 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-07-19 12:15 am (UTC)Yay, glad you watched it! It does suck about Donna though. :(
(no subject)
Date: 2010-07-19 12:51 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-07-19 12:19 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-07-19 12:49 am (UTC)Well, mission accomplished. :(
Now that I know how it goes (not just what happens, but exactly how), I think on subsequent watchings, I'll stop at Mickey, Martha and Jack walking away from the Tardis.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-07-19 01:28 am (UTC)It kills me a bit that it was okay for Rose to take the TARDIS into her head, but anyway. I promise that the s5 finale is brain-breaking in a totally different way.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-07-19 01:54 am (UTC)Well, Rose would have died if the Doctor hadn't taken the Tardis back from her mind, right? But she didn't have to lose the memory of it for him to take back the damaging part.
Anyway, thanks for the reassurance about the S5 finale! I haven't heard anyone expressing outrage over it, which is part of why I decided to watch it after the one I knew would upset me. :)
(no subject)
Date: 2010-07-19 01:20 am (UTC)(My two entries at the time:
Season 4 and Lie to Her.)
But I will say it anyway: WORD.
Also...the duplicate Doctor and Rose thing is infuriating too, because of this:
THE DOCTOR
Exactly, you were born in battle - full of blood and anger and revenge.
(to Rose)
Remind you of someone?
Rose knows who he means, but she won't say it.
THE DOCTOR (CONT'D)
That's me. When we first met.
(Rose looks at him with tears in her eyes)
And you made me better. And now you can do the same for him.
ROSE
(quiet, tearful frustration)
But he's not you.
THE DOCTOR
He needs you. That's very me.
Because, you know, women are responsible for healing male violence.
*Gag*
{{{*Hugs*}}}
(no subject)
Date: 2010-07-19 02:02 am (UTC)I was thinking about that as I was writing this, actually, and realizing it might be the first time you and I have had the same strong reaction to the same episode -- not that I disagree with your comments, generally, but the things you react to most strongly seem to be the things I don't notice as much, and vice versa. Too bad it had to be to such a miserable, angering thing, though.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-07-19 02:13 am (UTC)I will be interested in what you think of "The Waters of Mars" and "The End of Time" (it was those episodes that made me love him).
ETA: Another Journey's End reaction post of mine: First, Do No Harm.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-07-19 02:22 am (UTC)For what it's worth, I loved Ten already. I'm furious at him right now, obviously. But I'm also a big softie, and I'm pretty good at (eventually) disassociating parts of someone that might piss me off from other parts of the same person that I love. Works for fictional and real people, which I guess is something I developed as kid, due to my fairly messed up family background. I'm not sure that's a great thing, as it sometimes leads to letting things go when I maybe should hold people a little more accountable. But it's how I deal.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-07-19 04:07 am (UTC)It does help that Ten is completely devastated by it.
(Also, in "The End of Time" he refers to Donna as his best friend. That makes me happy.)
I wrote in Impossible Choices:
If I see Ten as a traumatized, damaged, broken man who is running from his past, who makes promises he can't keep because if he didn't believe in his ability to save people he would go mad, who is controlling because he is terrified of loss, who is vindictive because he is full of rage at the universe and at himself and that rage bubbles up out of him randomly, who can't bear reality and so lives in a fantasy of his own power...
...then I feel for him, deeply.
If I see what he did to Donna as a manifestation of all that, then I can forgive him for it.
Maybe. Sometimes I'm not sure.
But I do love him.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-07-19 11:53 am (UTC)Well, yeah, there's that.
(Also, in "The End of Time" he refers to Donna as his best friend. That makes me happy.)
Oh, that's fantastic! I'm so looking forward to watching the specials. (Specials first or Children of Earth first, though? Oh, decisions!)
(no subject)
Date: 2010-07-19 01:16 pm (UTC)Well, there's a scene in "The End of Time" that won't make any sense unless you've seen "Children of Earth" - so probably COE first...
(no subject)
Date: 2010-07-20 12:57 am (UTC)