DW - Turn Left
I had high hopes for this one. Very high hopes. Russell has said for ages that this is Donna's episode and that Catherine knocks it out of the park with her performance, so I've been really waiting. I love Donna/Catherine, so it felt a bit like this episode was a love letter to me. And I love a good dystopian alternate reality, so that button was well and truly pushed too.
That's two-in-a-row for RTD as well. I'm sorry, I know most of his episodes are cheesy romps, but I really love him! I'm gonna miss him terribly!
I will say however that it was the most depressing episode ever! Gosh, towards the end there I just felt like curling up and going to sleep, just to make the sadness go away!
Catherine really did give her best performance yet. She was just on fire in some of the scenes. I loved the look back at pre-Runaway Bride Donna. So loud and overlooked, and so very selfish. During the Royal Hope scene she was so vile. Such a moving little tribute to Sarah Jane in particular, but Donna ranting over the top of it, missing the bigger picture and just being so careless.
Her reaction to the TARDIS was lovely. It's such a moment we've all seen before and we'll see again, but Catherine's reaction was brilliant. I loved her reaction to it the first time around (interesting to see it in reverse, with someone seeing the inside before they see the outside, rather than the oher way around), but this was possibly better.
Jacqueline King and Bernard Cribbins were magnificent. Bernard's had more to do in previous episodes, so Jacquline was the real surprise for me. That scene where Donna tries to cajole her into conversation, and the camera remains fixed on Sylvia's unblinking face was so hard to watch!
All three of them make such a convincing family unit.
Billie sounded like she was having trouble talking around a new set of dentures, bless her. It was clear that was struggling a bit in general, which maybe wouldn't have been so obvious if Catherine wasn't acting circles around her (the scene at the park bench in particular). I reckon when she's back opposite David she'll get back into the swing of things though. I've always liked her as Rose. I'm liking older Rose too. More self-assured, and sounding an awful lot like the Doctor, even before she confessed that she was trying to mimic him.
The beetle was atrocious. They should have CGId it - something like that creepy insect monster in the X-Files episode Folie A Deux - hidden in shadow and almost flickering, as if you can only see it out of the corner of your eye. That would have been more effective than that big plastic thing.
The CGI shot of Shan Shen looked very much like the rendering of The Library, but it was still lovely. I do so like seeing Donna and the Doctor enjoying themselves and each other. I keep thinking of what RTD said in the Radio Times this week; "The Doctor and Donna are the best of friends in the whole of time and space". It's a mangled sentence, but it still chokes me up a bit.
The idea that they're inextricably tied, drawn together by a series coincidences is very cool indeed! It makes me geek! The fortune teller's last words to Donna "You are too strong! What will you become!?" are anvilicious! They've been dropping them like mad all series of course, but my favourite so far was Rose's line about the time field (paraphrasing, natch) around Donna, that's been present since the day she was born. Iiiiintersting...
Those last few minutes. Oh my! BAD WOLF everywhere, and the cloister bell ringing mournfully. Then the trailer! Oh Lordy!
I'm babbling now! I could rabbit on about it all night, but instead I think I'll just re-watch ;) "Hurray! Marvelous!"
For the tl;dr crowd: Donna Noble = best thing since sliced bread, FACT.