DW 4x13 - Journey's End
I'm pasting here what I wrote on an entry in mrv3000's lj. Don't know if anyone's reading this, but it was far too long for a comment and I need to rant.
I.... I need to process this. Because my first reaction is that I hated it and I don't want to ever hate a Doctor Who episode.
Please take everything I say with a grain of salt, I'm very emotional and may sound harsh and I might change my mind when I'm calmer, but here goes. I hated that the Doctor stayed split in two. Just hate the plot device in itself. To me, it feels like a cop out. He wanted to make the Doctor/Rose fans happy, so he did this. I may be alone in this in the entire Doctor/Rose fandom, but I'd rather he'd separated them forever, than this. At the moment I can only see the negatives. I hated that he needs to be "humanized" to be able to tell Rose he loves her and to share a life with her. I hated that Rose had to give up THE LIFE SHE WANTED AND CHOSE AND HAD FOUGHT SO HARD TO GET BACK TO, only to do what feels like babysit a clone of the Doctor. I hated that the Doctor ended up alone and KNOWING that part of him is in the other universe with Rose but it won't ever be him. I hated that he gave up on a life with Rose. Deliberately. Because this is what it feels like to me. This isn't Doomsday, where all he could do was send an image through. He BROUGHT Rose to the parallel world, and tricked her into staying there, he LEFT her there. Sealed her off and didn't give her much of a choice. And his reason why is ridiculous! We're not talking two different sides of the Doctor here, one that loves Rose and one that doesn't, unfeeling TimeLord in the brown suit and loving man in the blue. No. They're BOTH the Doctor, biological differences (and Donna!bits) aside. And brown!Doctor, while loving Rose, needing Rose, wanting Rose, consciously chose to leave her behind. Just like he did every companion. And yeah, he did leave "himself" behind for her, and no, I don't know what else he could have done, but that's why I think the whole situation and plot device sucks big time. IT DOESN'T MAKE SENSE TO ME. Doomsday, for how much it hurt, did. This doesn't, and yeah we got a kiss, but it tastes so bittersweet I could have done without, had the FEELINGS been kept right. I don't think I'm making much sense, I feel like I'm just rambling on. Sorry.
And Donna. How could they do that to Donna? It feels like Astrid-as-stardust, and River saved in the mainframe. To erase all that she'd become, all that she'd CHOSEN (yes, I'm big on choices being denied here), to keep her alive? As the Donna of Turn Left? I'd rather she'd died. She deserved that kind of respect. Yeah, this year's DW team seems to be concentrating a lot on underlying the value of life, and somehow staying alive, over anything. But they don't seem to care about the QUALITY of life, which in my book is the most important part. I'd rather live happily, being true to myself doing what I love to do and with the people I love, even if only for a short time, than live forever unhappy and having to make do and settle.
There were also lots of things I loved about this episode (prior to Bad Wolf Bay), but right now I can only concentrate on the glass half-empty. I need to sleep on this.
I.... I need to process this. Because my first reaction is that I hated it and I don't want to ever hate a Doctor Who episode.
Please take everything I say with a grain of salt, I'm very emotional and may sound harsh and I might change my mind when I'm calmer, but here goes. I hated that the Doctor stayed split in two. Just hate the plot device in itself. To me, it feels like a cop out. He wanted to make the Doctor/Rose fans happy, so he did this. I may be alone in this in the entire Doctor/Rose fandom, but I'd rather he'd separated them forever, than this. At the moment I can only see the negatives. I hated that he needs to be "humanized" to be able to tell Rose he loves her and to share a life with her. I hated that Rose had to give up THE LIFE SHE WANTED AND CHOSE AND HAD FOUGHT SO HARD TO GET BACK TO, only to do what feels like babysit a clone of the Doctor. I hated that the Doctor ended up alone and KNOWING that part of him is in the other universe with Rose but it won't ever be him. I hated that he gave up on a life with Rose. Deliberately. Because this is what it feels like to me. This isn't Doomsday, where all he could do was send an image through. He BROUGHT Rose to the parallel world, and tricked her into staying there, he LEFT her there. Sealed her off and didn't give her much of a choice. And his reason why is ridiculous! We're not talking two different sides of the Doctor here, one that loves Rose and one that doesn't, unfeeling TimeLord in the brown suit and loving man in the blue. No. They're BOTH the Doctor, biological differences (and Donna!bits) aside. And brown!Doctor, while loving Rose, needing Rose, wanting Rose, consciously chose to leave her behind. Just like he did every companion. And yeah, he did leave "himself" behind for her, and no, I don't know what else he could have done, but that's why I think the whole situation and plot device sucks big time. IT DOESN'T MAKE SENSE TO ME. Doomsday, for how much it hurt, did. This doesn't, and yeah we got a kiss, but it tastes so bittersweet I could have done without, had the FEELINGS been kept right. I don't think I'm making much sense, I feel like I'm just rambling on. Sorry.
And Donna. How could they do that to Donna? It feels like Astrid-as-stardust, and River saved in the mainframe. To erase all that she'd become, all that she'd CHOSEN (yes, I'm big on choices being denied here), to keep her alive? As the Donna of Turn Left? I'd rather she'd died. She deserved that kind of respect. Yeah, this year's DW team seems to be concentrating a lot on underlying the value of life, and somehow staying alive, over anything. But they don't seem to care about the QUALITY of life, which in my book is the most important part. I'd rather live happily, being true to myself doing what I love to do and with the people I love, even if only for a short time, than live forever unhappy and having to make do and settle.
There were also lots of things I loved about this episode (prior to Bad Wolf Bay), but right now I can only concentrate on the glass half-empty. I need to sleep on this.