Scarlettgirl + Season 4 = TruLove
I haven't said a lot about DW this season, mostly because I was afraid to jinx it. I mean, it's been good. Like, astonishingly good. I can appreciate S3 for what it was and enjoy it, and while I do love the Doctor when he is dark and tortured, it wasn't a lot of fun and at times extremely uncomfortable to watch. Season 4 is fun. More than fun, it's taking taking irreverent swipes at it's own tropes and you just have a to love a show that takes the piss out of itself and saves you the worry.
Then there's Donna. Oh, Donna. I was really looking forward to her return because if The Runaway Bride did one thing right, it gave us a complete character arc in one single show. The Donna that walked away from the Doctor at the end of the show was not the same woman who stood inside the TARDIS screaming "What?!" I wanted to see what she had happened to her.
To say that she's exceeded those expectations would be an understatement. From "Donna. Human. No!" I was lost. She is the first real grown-up companion we've seen this series. She's not starstruck or lovestruck or running away from something, she's grabbing adventure with both hands and it scares the crap out of her. There is also a real, tangible difference in maturity between Donna, Martha and Rose. Both Rose and Martha handled their own but they were still at an age where life was full of endless possibility and opportunities were waiting around every corner. Donna knows better. It's easy to say "Someday I'll....." when you're 19 or 23. When you're in your late 30's you start seeing an expiration date on those "somedays" It's subtle, but it's there. Donna has lived a life of missed opportunities and she's not letting another one pass. I love that about her.
She's also clear-eyed enough to question everything yet naive enough to think she's right. She has a provincial world view and I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing. It makes her question all the little details that often get lost in the big picture. I think that is perhaps the most important quality a companion can bring to the twisted Doctor/Companion relationship. Rose had it in S1 but lost a good chunk of it in S2. Martha gave us flashes of it but her story got so mired down it got buried under the avalanche of angst. I hope Donna hangs onto it and doesn't get blinded by the flash.
I can also tell how much I'm enjoying the show by how much I'm willing to handwave. And when I'm liking a show I can handwave enough to practically take flight. ;) For example:
The scene in "The Poison Sky" where Donna is sitting, tied up in knots of uselesness, I'm okay with it. My first thought it was a really nice echo to "The Christmas Invasion" where we see a companion totally out of their depth. It's always been my impression that the Doctor is a sort of "get out of jail" free card. Sure, you see horrible and frightening things and your life is, apparently, in constant peril but as long as the Doctor is there (and your name is in the title sequence) it's going to be okay. It's like riding the roller coaster with your Dad when you were seven. Scary as all shit but he wouldn't let anything happen to, right? But once that element of safety is removed, it's like a fog is lifted and you realize that you're in for it now. I can apply that so easily to Donna in that scene. She is stuck on an alien space ship, all on her own, surrounded by proper aliens. The Doctor isn't there, he can't save her. She is scared and the viewer is scared for her. The scene where she is crouching behind the support as the Sontaran's marched by? Eeeeee!
It was a bit harder to handwave the fact she just didn't redial the last number called the mobile but, again, I put it down to uncertainty, being out of her element and being afraid of doing the wrong thing, calling the wrong person.
My, isn't the view nice from up here? *flap flap flap* ;)
And don't even get me started on setting the atmosphere on fire - that was awesome! And the Doctor crossed his fingers! At that point I'm firmly in the "it's only SciFi to me" camp. And for the record, I also loved The Core Armageddon, Deep Impact and Day After Tomorrow. Dodgy SciFi FTW!
See? It's love
But the thing I love best is that we have a companion who has managed to bridge the vast chasms of The Mighty Ship War. The lion and lamb lie down together in their admiration of The Mighty Donna. I adore seeing the vast majority of flist enjoying the show again. I joked last year about "One Donna to Rule Them All" and I think that is indeed the case. How can you not love a companion, or a writing team, that takes the well worn new series tropes and grinds them under the unsympathetic eyeroll of La Donna? It's a breath of fresh air that, for now, is making me giddy.
Then there's Donna. Oh, Donna. I was really looking forward to her return because if The Runaway Bride did one thing right, it gave us a complete character arc in one single show. The Donna that walked away from the Doctor at the end of the show was not the same woman who stood inside the TARDIS screaming "What?!" I wanted to see what she had happened to her.
To say that she's exceeded those expectations would be an understatement. From "Donna. Human. No!" I was lost. She is the first real grown-up companion we've seen this series. She's not starstruck or lovestruck or running away from something, she's grabbing adventure with both hands and it scares the crap out of her. There is also a real, tangible difference in maturity between Donna, Martha and Rose. Both Rose and Martha handled their own but they were still at an age where life was full of endless possibility and opportunities were waiting around every corner. Donna knows better. It's easy to say "Someday I'll....." when you're 19 or 23. When you're in your late 30's you start seeing an expiration date on those "somedays" It's subtle, but it's there. Donna has lived a life of missed opportunities and she's not letting another one pass. I love that about her.
She's also clear-eyed enough to question everything yet naive enough to think she's right. She has a provincial world view and I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing. It makes her question all the little details that often get lost in the big picture. I think that is perhaps the most important quality a companion can bring to the twisted Doctor/Companion relationship. Rose had it in S1 but lost a good chunk of it in S2. Martha gave us flashes of it but her story got so mired down it got buried under the avalanche of angst. I hope Donna hangs onto it and doesn't get blinded by the flash.
I can also tell how much I'm enjoying the show by how much I'm willing to handwave. And when I'm liking a show I can handwave enough to practically take flight. ;) For example:
The scene in "The Poison Sky" where Donna is sitting, tied up in knots of uselesness, I'm okay with it. My first thought it was a really nice echo to "The Christmas Invasion" where we see a companion totally out of their depth. It's always been my impression that the Doctor is a sort of "get out of jail" free card. Sure, you see horrible and frightening things and your life is, apparently, in constant peril but as long as the Doctor is there (and your name is in the title sequence) it's going to be okay. It's like riding the roller coaster with your Dad when you were seven. Scary as all shit but he wouldn't let anything happen to, right? But once that element of safety is removed, it's like a fog is lifted and you realize that you're in for it now. I can apply that so easily to Donna in that scene. She is stuck on an alien space ship, all on her own, surrounded by proper aliens. The Doctor isn't there, he can't save her. She is scared and the viewer is scared for her. The scene where she is crouching behind the support as the Sontaran's marched by? Eeeeee!
It was a bit harder to handwave the fact she just didn't redial the last number called the mobile but, again, I put it down to uncertainty, being out of her element and being afraid of doing the wrong thing, calling the wrong person.
My, isn't the view nice from up here? *flap flap flap* ;)
And don't even get me started on setting the atmosphere on fire - that was awesome! And the Doctor crossed his fingers! At that point I'm firmly in the "it's only SciFi to me" camp. And for the record, I also loved The Core Armageddon, Deep Impact and Day After Tomorrow. Dodgy SciFi FTW!
See? It's love
But the thing I love best is that we have a companion who has managed to bridge the vast chasms of The Mighty Ship War. The lion and lamb lie down together in their admiration of The Mighty Donna. I adore seeing the vast majority of flist enjoying the show again. I joked last year about "One Donna to Rule Them All" and I think that is indeed the case. How can you not love a companion, or a writing team, that takes the well worn new series tropes and grinds them under the unsympathetic eyeroll of La Donna? It's a breath of fresh air that, for now, is making me giddy.