dk323 | S4.9: The Forest of the Dead

It's been about a week since I saw the episode. I hoped to do this earlier, but I never got around to it. Always a day or two before the next new one! Ah well, anyway, it looks like I missed a few things in the first part (hazard of watching it online & being subjected to unwanted buffering). I did deduce that the girl, CAL, was behind it all...so of course she was the computer. I didn't see the Dr. Moon connection...I should have though...the moon watching over the Library - the virus checker. I thought it was a cool idea to do something like that - to actually have those things personified. The hard drive explaining how everyone was "saved" - ha! That makes sense. :p

I felt so much for Donna and what she had to go through in the dream world. Meeting a great guy, marrying him, starting a family...and then the sheer sense of dread that it wasn't real. She went through the emotional wringer in this part (she wasn't the only one by a long shot, but still...). When the kids said that they believed they weren't real because every time they closed their eyes and Donna wasn't there - that they didn't feel like they existed...how horrible! And the creepiest moment had to be when Evangelista told Donna to look at the children...and I wasn't sure what to expect. The multiple copies of the same two kids was pretty freaky...and just wrong.

I thought it was an interesting twist that the Doctor's first meeting with River was when she would sacrifice herself to save him. I felt so sad for the Doctor when he was handcuffed & couldn't stop River from going through with it. He looked so miserable! :-( I liked the moment of realization by River when she knew why her Doctor came by not too long ago to take her to the singing towers...giving her the sonic screwdriver. And the sonic screwdriver did have a point to it - other than just being a nice prop. Nice that the future!Doctor wanted to insure a way for River to survive. Glad to see that the Doctor managed to connect the dots so fast.

Considering the lack of Ten-Donna interaction in this part, I *loved* the little moments between them at the end. The decision to not look into the diary ("Spoilers...") considering Donna's worry of what would happen to her based on River's never seeing her (but at least it looked like the Doctor mentioned Donna to her, so, yay. :-)) - was pretty strong on Donna's part. Life's more interesting without being spoiled anyway...;-)

Not to mention the "I'm alright" moment - it's just like Donna to call him on that! I liked the strong sense that they were equals in that scene. They've both been through so much in this episode -- and that quiet moment highlighted why they're so good for each other. Donna's definitely not the type of person to let the Doctor be evasive with her - and he needs someone to just be by his side.

One big annoying 'What were they thinking?!' in this part was River in the flowing white dress being all maternal. That didn't seem like her - is that really what she would have wanted in her 'dream world' - to settle down and be a mother? Yes, it's nice that she was saved, but I don't see her being happy for long with this sort of life. She was an archaeologist, an explorer - why would she change her tune and be completely fine with settling down?

The Doctor snapping his fingers to open the TARDIS - I thought it was cool and just fit with the mood of the ending - the sense of awe that what River told him could actually be done. BUT then, (after reading others' episode reactions) I feel guilty for not considering the fact that the TARDIS has feelings too and shouldn't be treated like a servant. Suppose he was kinda asking the TARDIS to slam the doors in his face "Don't snap your fingers at me! Time Lord or not, I don't serve you mister!" I think for that moment, it was all right, but it would get annoying really fast if it was repeated in every episode. I liked the shock on the Doctor's face when the finger snapping actually worked - the way that the light shone as the doors opened was beautiful against the darkness of the Library.

It would be nice to see River again (particularly her first meeting with the Doctor), but since now we know how the story ends; it loses some of the mystery. Not sure I could take a whole season of her - maybe in a handful of episodes just so her timeline is preserved. There's no way out of it now - the Doctor has to meet her and develop a relationship with her to keep her timeline intact.

I'm glad that what she whispered in his ear was revealed. I wasn't too surprised it was his real name - that's the only thing really that he doesn't tell many people. Blech, after the whisper fiasco on Supernatural (waiting a whole half season for the reveal, which turned out to be a big letdown anyway) it was nice to just get it only a few minutes later. :-)