{"id":194,"date":"2011-03-03T13:00:19","date_gmt":"2011-03-03T21:00:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/?p=194"},"modified":"2011-03-02T21:04:51","modified_gmt":"2011-03-03T05:04:51","slug":"mark-watches-doctor-who-s04e11-turn-left","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/2011\/03\/mark-watches-doctor-who-s04e11-turn-left\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark Watches ‘Doctor Who’: S04E11 – Turn Left"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the eleventh episode of the fourth series of Doctor Who<\/em>, Donna gets separated from the Doctor and WHAT THE FUCK HOLY SHIT GOOD GOD<\/em>. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to watch Doctor Who<\/em>.<\/p>\n

What if you could change just one event in your life? What would it be? Why that moment? Why do you believe that one act or decision would change where you are now? Can the ramifications of one moment change your entire life? \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Turn Left\u00e2\u20ac\u009d explores both this concept and parallel universes but in a much more disturbing way: What if you were forced<\/em> to make a crucial decision differently? And what if you never knew you were living a life so different from the one you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d experienced?<\/p>\n

Let me just get this out of the way so I can get back into the swing of things: the giant beetle is one of the worst things I have ever seen. I couldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t believe it. It looked like a giant toy. Unbelievably distracting, folks. Additionally, I groaned at the whole PERSON OF COLOR TRICKS WHITE PEOPLE INTO RUINING THEIR LIFE thing. NO. No thank you.<\/p>\n

OK. DONE WITH THAT. ON TO AWESOME.<\/p>\n

We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re heading to the final three episodes and \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Turn Left\u00e2\u20ac\u009d is less part of the final thrust and more of a set-up to what I imagine will be the main narrative focus of the end of series four. We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve seen how much Donna has acted as a foil and a mirror to the Doctor, even right from the beginning. She stopped him during his attack against the Racnoss; she showed him that he could<\/em> save people in \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The Fires of Pompeii.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d You get the idea. You don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t need me to go over all the examples! You\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re all EXPERTS compared to my Doctor Who<\/em> knowledge. Anyway, I had a feeling that this entire season would provide a much-needed analysis of the Doctor\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s actions, both positive and negative, and the way in which he affects his companions. As Donna makes the small decision to turn right, never meeting the Doctor, we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re treated to the events of the previous two years in a new light. What happens if Donna doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t meet the Doctor? Well, there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s no one to stop him during his destruction of the Racnoss, and he dies. THE DOCTOR DIES. WHAT? I thought he couldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t die!<\/p>\n

But if that was depressing, the chain of events to follow are heartbreaking. Martha Jones and Sarah Jane Smith are killed when the Judoon steal Royal Hope Hospital. There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s no one to stop the Titanic <\/em>from \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Voyage of the Damned\u00e2\u20ac\u009d from crashing to earth, and all of London is destroyed in an atomic blast. Davies, who penned this episode, uses this last moment to paint a terrifyingly eerie portrait of a world in constant attack. (I agree that this is not the Earth at war. There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s no war. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s all destruction with no hope of defense.)<\/p>\n

I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll get back to that point, as I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m sure most of you are squirming in your seats waiting for this. But as we find out the Doctor has died, a woman comes running up to Donna from behind her; she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s blurry, hard to make out, until she comes into focus and HOLY FUCKING SHIT IT\u00e2\u20ac\u2122S ROSE TYLER HOW THE FUCK DID SHE MAKE IT INTO THIS UNIVERSE WHAT THE GOD ALKSFJD A;KJ A;LKSDFH IO 453#$% AFG<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

I can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t. I CANNOT BELIEVE IT! Rose Tyler can TRAVEL IN BETWEEN UNIVERSES. Not only that, but we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve been seeing flashes of her because SHE FOUND OUT ALL UNIVERSES ARE COLLAPSING<\/em>.<\/p>\n

My god, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m not prepared for the end of this series, am I?<\/p>\n

I feel that, ultimately, as cool as it is to have Rose come back, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a bit underwhelming. However, I think that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a good thing this time around; this episode really works best as an examination of the Doctor through Donna, and I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m glad the story doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t distract from that. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Turn Left\u00e2\u20ac\u009d made me realize exactly how much Donna has changed since we first met her in \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The Runaway Bride.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d As Donna pulled farther away from the life we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d seen her life, I couldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t help but worry about how this was all going to come together. Why do so many people have such a bad feeling about Donna? River Song balked once she found out this was the<\/em> Donna Noble, and I feel like there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s another subtext to Rose hinting to Donna that she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s sorry for how the future unfolds.<\/p>\n

Still, aside from that, there is some phenomenal world-building here that I referenced here. As Britain sinks into chaos and the Nobles are forced to relocate to Leeds\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6.ok, sorry, I had to laugh. See, my buddy Kasper lives in Leeds and when Donna was livid<\/em> they were moving there, all I could think was, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153BUT YOU WILL GET TO HANG OUT WITH KASPER SHUT UP DONNA NOBLE<\/em>.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

WELL. Ok. Moving on. I seriously LOVED the way Davies created such an uncomfortable and unsettling atmosphere towards the end of Donna\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s \u00e2\u20ac\u0153life\u00e2\u20ac\u009d in the world without the Doctor. I was especially impressed that he included the allusions toward labor camps through Rocco. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s never the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153native\u00e2\u20ac\u009d population that gets sent to camps like that and, for all the times this show slips up with its portrayal of people of color, I was happy that they acknowledged that this is the sort of thing that historically happens to the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153other\u00e2\u20ac\u009d during times of war or chaos.<\/p>\n

I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m still unsure of the grand scheme of things. The resolution to \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Turn Left\u00e2\u20ac\u009d doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t seem to provide any answers as to what the Doctor and Donna are going to face in the series-ender, but it gives us one of the more depressing things this whole series. We have to watch Donna Noble die. (That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not what River Song was talking about, was it? DON\u00e2\u20ac\u2122T ANSWER THAT.) It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a sign that, even in this alternate world without the Doctor, Donna is courageous on her own<\/em>. For me, that is a beautiful, powerful statement. Donna does not need the Doctor to be a royal badass, and I love the message that sends.<\/p>\n

I was surprised that time reversed in a way that still allowed Donna to remember some details, at least enough to relay to the Doctor so that he could figure out the beetle was part of the Trickster\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Brigade. I also figured that whatever Rose whispered to Donna wouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t be known until at least the next episode or so, but Donna, confused as all hell, merely repeats the words to the Doctor:<\/p>\n

Bad Wolf.<\/p>\n

http:\/\/media.tumblr.com\/tumblr_lhgki2bCiN1qfvatb.gif<\/a><\/p>\n

I DON\u00e2\u20ac\u2122T EVEN CARE THAT I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122VE USED THIS GIF BEFORE. BAD WOLF BAD WOLF BAD WOLF HOLY GOD WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON<\/strong><\/p>\n

Never, ever prepared. I am in an eternal state of unpreparedness with this show, I swear.<\/p>\n

THOUGHTS<\/strong><\/p>\n