aislynn | DW 4x11 "Turn Left" picspam recap/review

As soon as I watched "Turn Left," I had to pull a u-turn (mandatory driving reference ;) ) and watch it again as I took a few screencaps. A few as in 122, lol! ;) But don't worry, I'm not going to post them all here, just some of my favs as I chat you up with my (oh-so-not profound :D ) thoughts about the ep. ;)

Let's start with Ten and Donna having a blast exploring the local culture!

Are they not just the most adorable thing ever? ;) I love how they're just so clearly having a good time being in each other's company whilst having their latest adventure! (And getting the local equivalent of a milk mustache in the bargain! :P ;) )

I love how just looking back at him chatting up the natives makes her smile! But as Donna wanders away, she meets...

Chantho! (Okay, so she actually meets the same actress playing a different part. ;) But is it weird that I recognized her eyes even before I placed her voice? ;) )

The fortune teller tries to convince Donna to come in and hear her fortune but Donna declines.

Fortune teller: "Don't you want to know if you're going to be happy?"

Donna: "I'm happy right now, thanks."

*pauses for fangirl moment* Awwwwww! DoctorDonna, FTW! Ahem. ;)

But against her better judgment, Donna eventually agrees.

As the fortune teller presses her for the moment that led to her meeting "a man, a most remarkable man," Donna remembers the circumstances that led to her meeting the Doctor for the first time (back in The Runaway Bride) which was indirectly caused by one simple decision: turning left at a corner. Something moves behind Donna and the fortune teller urges her to go back and turn right. And somehow, she does!

And something attaches itself to Donna's back!

Me: "ZOMG NOOOOOO!!!!" *has major bug squick*

Back in the new!bad!past, Donna is out with her mates on Christmas instead of helping the Doctor handle the Racnoss.

But even though this Donna isn't quite the compassionate, more confident go-getter that she comes to be in her travels with the Doctor, she still runs towards the danger instead of away.

blurry!screencap is blurry, sorry... ;)

I admit it, even KNOWING they were going to press the big, hypothetical "undo" button somehow, this really made me feel sad hearing them talk about how the Doctor had died before he could regenerate. But at the same time, my inner Doctor/Rose shipper was going "ZOMG, HE LOVED ROSE SO MUCH HE LOST THE WILL TO LIVE WITHOUT HER!!!one1eleventyone!!111!!!" Yes, I still have my inner Doctor/Rose shipper, she just has a friend now called my inner Ten/Donna shipper. What? They coexist happily side-by-side, so who am I to judge? :P ;) I live to ship, even when they're completely conflicting ships. *adjusts halo* Besides, I enjoy Ten/Donna knowing that full well it's never going to be canon on the show. Short of cloning Ten (which is a darn fine idea, actually ;) ) so that there's a Ten for Rose and one for Donna, then I would definitely want him with Rose. (Though of course, my inner Doctor/Rose shipper is actually fairly set on Nine/Rose, not Ten/Rose. But that's unfortunately a moot point at this time in the show, barring a miraculous alt!universe!Nine showing up. ;) )

Ahem. I think I was talking about an episode in here, right? ;) *stops off-roading and gets back on the highway* <-- Yes, that was another mandatory driving reference. ;)

Yahoooo, Donna haz a Rose! :D Strangely, that jacket Rose is wearing looks like something from the '80s to me, I don't know why. So I keep thinking Look, it's 1980s!flashback!Rose. But I digress. ;)

Rose reacting to the news of the Doctor's death.

Rose: "I came so far..."

You just know that the only thing holding her together is the thought of the Big, Hypothetical Undo Button. She'll find a way to fix this and bring him back.

After Rose pulls her first Houdini act of the ep (she's got the whole disappearing act down pat! ;) ), Donna gets sacked (totally not caring about the news of the hospital vanishing, yet more proof of how her time with the Doctor has drastically changed her from when we first met her in "Runaway Bride") and returns home to hear the news on the telly that let's us know that we're now in the events of s3, ep 1.

Martha Jones saved this man's life at the cost of her own.

Nooooo, not Sarah Jane, too! :( But I loved knowing that even without the Doctor there to kinda lead the way, both Martha (who had never met him in this new!bad!past) and Sarah Jane (who never met Ten but who traveled with Three and Four) still stepped up, willing to sacrifice themselves in order to save other lives. *hugs them both*

And heeeeere's Rose again! (Still grooving that 1980s jacket... :P )

Rose has not quite perfected her "Great mother of pearl, you have something on your back but I'm REALLY VERY CALM ABOUT IT!" face. ;)

I'm still not sure how Rose knew about the raffle ticket Donna had or whether this was meant to imply that Rose somehow had rigged the raffle so that Donna and her family would be out of London before we blasted through s3 and ended up in "Voyage of the ~~Damned~~ Darned" (this censoring moment brought to you by the Aislynn Corporation For A Curse-word-free LJ Post. :P )

And here comes the Titanic charging down from space without the Doctor to prevent its devastating crash. I totally giggled at Donna's line: "The Titanic? Oh, don't be daft. Is that, like... a sequel?"

London is gone and the new!bad!past is about to get a lot worse.

Here comes Rose again and the next reference point to let us know that the events in 4x04 - 05 "The Sontaran Strategem" and "The Poison Sky" have just gone disastrously wrong without the Doctor's presence.

Donna: "Can't anyone stop it?"
Rose: "Yeah, they're trying right now, this...little band of fighters on board the Sontaran ship. Any second now..." *explosion sets the sky on fire*
Donna: "And that was?"
Rose: "That was the Torchwood team. Gwen Cooper, Ianto Jones, they gave their lives. Captain Jack Harkness is transported to the Sontaran homeworld. There's no one left."

Noooooo, not Gwen and Ianto! And Jack now in the hands of ruthless Mr. Potato Heads who'll no doubt want the secret to his immortality! Not that Jack probably cares that much about that right now if he knows that both Gwen and Ianto are dead. :(

On a less serious note, how MUCH did I *squee!* just to hear Rose say all of their names??? *does fangirl cartwheel* ♥♥♥!!! Only thing that could've been better was seeing them all meet! I'm still just dying for a good Jack and Rose moment where they see each other again! I'd originally figured that it would be a sort of Jack: "Yeah, so you made me immortal" and Rose: *gasp!* kind of thing but this Rose clearly knows what's the what about "our" world, so I can't imagine that she doesn't know about that already. But I'm still hoping for a mention of it somewhere in here! *fingers crossed*

Rose describes the Doctor to Donna: "A man in a suit, tall, thin man, grrreeat hair... Really great hair."

Heee, who couldn't love the way she emphasized his hair, lol! ;) But now we're getting to the heart of the matter.

Donna can't believe it as Rose is telling her that she saved the Doctor's life back in the real!past.

Donna: "What do you keep telling me for? What am I supposed to do? I'm nothing special, I mean, I'm...nothing special! I'm a temp! I'm not even that! I'm nothing!"

Rose: "Donna Noble, you're the most important woman in the whole of creation!"

Donna: "Don't. Just...don't."

Now, this was the moment when I had my epiphany as to just WHY I love Donna so very much. That look she gave Rose when she told her she was important... Donna wanted to believe it but she's been crushed too many times in the past for daring to believe something like that. She's been told she's nothing at all for so long that it hurts to even contemplate that maybe she could be more.

*draws hearts around Donna and then clutches her to me* Oh, do I know that feeling! This is exactly why I love her so: I've always WANTED to be Rose but in this respect I'm just so much closer to already being Donna. (Which is why I can't help but to want to see me -- uh, I mean her :P ;) end up with the Doctor at least in theory. She deserves to have the Hero fall madly in love with her and sweep her off her feet into a happily ever after of one mad-cap adventure after another in the TARDIS. I freakin' WANT DONNA TO WIN, darn it! I know that's not the way they're going to go, of course, but in the part of me that knows what it's like to say, "I'm nothing! I'm no one special at all!" I can't help but root for it anyway.

So darn it, Powers That Be, give my girl a happy ending with some great guy, woncha? She's earned it! *still has fingers crossed for the whole clone!Ten idea* A Ten for Rose, a Ten for Donna and a Ten to keep the show going would be particularly fab! I'm just saying... ;)

Now, that I've detoured off into Personal Epiphany-ville, let's get back onto this ep's on-ramp, shall we? (Those driving metaphors just keep a-coming! ;) )

One can only wonder why Donna seems to be wearing a version of Jack's greatcoat without the military accouterments as she finally decides to go with Rose. *contemplates* Nope, I've got nothing. I saw this shot in the promos and thought that they were covering up the "thing" on her back but as we now know in this ep, the thing isn't visible like that. So where'd the pseudo-Jack coat come from and how can I get one for myself? :D

The next surprise in store... They salvaged the TARDIS from beneath the Thames and are trying to harness her energy in order to make their own time machine (among other things, I got the feeling that it slices, it dices, it makes Julienne fries... All those good things! ;) ).

But the TARDIS is dying, *sob* though Rose says that she's still trying to help. *SOB* I love the TARDIS so much!

I loved Rose giving the "TARDIS explanation" to somebody else, by the way, since that, of course, has always been the Doctor's job.

Donna: "Were you and him...?"
Rose: *enigmatic look and very telling silence*

;) I loved that! It was so much better in my opinion than if Rose would've said, "Oh yeah, totally like rabbits every chance we got!" :P Not that I wouldn't have also enjoyed the "rabbits" answer as well, though, I have to admit... Lol! ;)

We hear that chittering noise of the "something" on Donna's back at that point.

The first cap can't do the moment much justice in the very caring way Rose runs her hand over Donna's shoulder and back. And what a strange look she gives her! Why did the "thing" respond like that to the question of Rose and the Doctor and does Rose understand why it did?

The improvised time machine, slicer, dicer, Julienne fry maker... ;) aka a ring of lights and mirrors!

Oh...my...goodness! I know they said that's a beetle but, dude, all I can see is Donna has a giant space roach on her back! *runs to find a giant can of Raid* ;) I mean, seriously? Even though this thing looked a bit plastic at times, just the IDEA of a roach-like thing on my back? That was enough to make me want to hide behind the couch! (You might recall me mentioning a bug squick earlier? ;) )

This scene is brilliantly played, IMO. You could feel the terror radiating off of her!

As Rose was explaining how the evil!space!beetle had caused her to turn right instead of left, thus making sure Donna never met the Doctor, I was momentarily confused when Donna screamed at her, "You LIAR!"

Rose: *smile falls*

Donna: "You told me I was special! But it's not me, it's this THING! I'm just a host!"

*fangirl heart breaks* Oh, Donna! Just the thing you feared: being told you were special and then finding out, nope, it's not actually you! *clutches her to me again*

Rose: "No, we're getting separate readings from you. And they've always been there since the day you were born."

How does she know that, I wonder? Just where did Rose get a file on Donna Noble since birth? Is Torchwood keeping an eye on her, even in a parallel world? Or is this something Rose learned in her Bad Wolf incarnation? But why didn't she seem to remember anything else from when she had the Time Vortex inside her (such as, say, the BEAUTIFUL KISS OF LIFE AND LOVE THAT NINE GAVE HER? [/end Ninegirl rant] ;) )? Curiouser and curiouser! ;)

Rose: (con't) "I thought it was just the Doctor we needed but it's the both of you. The Doctor and Donna Noble - together."

Okay, so I admit I totally *squeed* at that! It's been said before that Donna is a Doctor/Rose shipper; well, in my book that line kinda made Rose a Doctor/Donna (friend)shipper! ;) Woot, I'm feeling the love all around me now! ♥! ;)

Donna finally asks the question that I think Rose has been waiting for: "What can I do?" Now she's ready to take some action.

Rose: "You're gonna travel in time."

Donna, wearing the latest fashion in insulation against temporal feedback... ;)

Donna: "I'm ready, 'cause I understand now. You said I was going to die... you mean, this whole world. It's gonna blink out of existence. But that's not dying, a better world takes its place. The Doctor's world. And I'm still alive! That's right, isn't it? I don't die if I change things."

Rose: "I'm sorry."

Donna's big "What the frak???? O_O *is traveling through time*" moment. ;)

She made it, wooooooo! And yes, I made that icon. :P *points up* ;) I couldn't help it, the moment she put her arms up, I thought for sure she was going to "YATTA!!!" ;) Pesky copyright infringement issues... ;)

But soon she realizes that she's never going to make it physically to other!her in the car by the crucial time in order to argue herself into turning left again. She has to find another way to keep other!her from turning right.

Oh, that moment before she stepped out in front of the truck when she murmured, "Please..." *sob*

But it worked. The resulting traffic jam kept other!her from turning right and she made the left turn again instead. Donna Noble just saved the world with her sacrifice. *sniffle*

Oh, what a "Father's Day" flashback as Rose once again watches someone step in front of a vehicle to set right the flow of time.

Rose: "Tell him this... Two words..."

*SNIFF* And Donna is gone.

But we're back in the fortune teller's tent again and ding-dong, the evil!space!beetle is off Donna's back and is dead! *stomps on it with a big boot, just to be sure* ;)

Fortune teller: "You are so strong! What are you? What will you be?"

My prediction is, of course, that Donna will be the thing that somehow stops the oncoming darkness, probably by (again) sacrificing herself in some way. *goes into fangirl denial* What I WANT her to become is the thing that somehow stops the oncoming darkness, yet lives on in an extremely happily ever after way! *reminds Powers That Be of the clone!Ten idea; really, no need to even credit me for it or anything! It's my gift to you if you'll just do it!* :P ;)

Doctor: "O HAI THAR!"

Donna: *smishes*

Dude, I was so relieved to see him by that point I was practically *smishing* the screen myself! ;)

Donna: *goes back for seconds* ♥!

I love his delighted expression! He's such a hugger! ♥♥♥!!!

Doctor: *pokes dead!evil!space!beetle with stick*

So typical, lol! ;)

Doctor: "Somehow I think there's way too much coincidence around you, Donna."

And ZOMG his line about "something binding us together" just made me *squee* on SO many levels! *flaily hands*

Donna: "Don't be so daft. I'm nothing special."

Doctor: "Yes, you are! You're brilliant!"

Sorry, the caps don't do his adorable expression justice, lol! ;) *smishes them both*

Now Donna recalls Rose saying the same thing, that the Doctor thought Donna was brilliant. And she begins to tell the Doctor what she can remember of the woman who never gave her her name and who told her to warn him that the darkness was coming for ALL the worlds, not just that one parallel one.

Doctor: "Who was she?"
Donna: "I don't know."
Doctor: "What did she look like?"
Donna: "Blonde."
Doctor: "What was her name?"
Donna: "I don't know."
Doctor: (growing more quiet and alarmed) "Donna, what was her name?"
Donna: "But she told me to warn you... She said two words..."

Donna: "Bad wolf."

Oh man, I thought the Doctor was going to faint for a second there! And what floored me at that moment was that I thought he'd be all "YAYZORS ROSE IZ BACK!" but instead it was this sheer panic! O_O

And as he bolts outside, we see why...

Even on the TARDIS!!! (As soon as I saw it on the door and above the door, I thought, "Wow, what great icons those'll make!" ;) ) I wondered, though, had Rose changed all of the words to suddenly say Bad Wolf in her "I take the words and scatter them through time" moment in 1x13? Did she even manage to change the words on the TARDIS herself?? Or was this the TARDIS changing the words with her translation circuit so that everything just appeared to say Bad Wolf? Hmmmmm... *ponders*

Uh-oh! Red!TARDIS and the Cloister Bell ringing up a storm, that CAN'T be good!

Donna: "Doctor, what is it? What's 'Bad Wolf?'"
Doctor: "It's the end of the universe."

And it's also...the end of the episode and the conclusion of this picspam recap/review! Huge!picspam review is huge! O_O ;)

Okay, seriously, if you read all that, you deserve a cookie. You deserve several cookies! *gets out TARDIS cookie jar* Help yourself! ;) :P