So I've just finished rewatching "The Unicorn and the Wasp," "Silence in the Library," and "Forest of the Dead." Here are thoughts! Mostly Donna related. There's a lot of foreshadowing about memory that I hadn't remembered.
Oh, Agatha Christie in "The Unicorn and the Wasp." Oh, Donna. All that about her being brilliant and her books being read forever when she thinks their rubbish and they'll be forgotten. Oh, oh, oh. And that line at the end, I don't remember exactly, but Donna says something about how she'll never even know that she's the best-selling author ever. Oh, Donna. I bawled my eyes out over that. I'm going to be a slobbery mess over "Journey's End" (again). Then of course the fact of Miss Christie's memory loss. It's all about the memory and the not knowing.
The moment with Miss Evangelista in "Silence in the Library" I had picked up on the first time I saw it, not as foreshadowing because I hadn't seen "Journey's End" yet, but as a throwback to "The Runaway Bride." Donna knows well what it's like to have everyone think you're stupid - and to think they're right. It's heartbreaking, and it's hard not to feel as though that's part of why the 'ghosting' is so horrifying to her (not that it isn't horrifying on its own, but she was far more affected than everyone else).
Not as much in "Forest of the Dead" but oh how I wish Dr. Moon's "and then you remembered" catch phrase could be foreshadowing, too. Pretty please?
OKAY ENOUGH ABOUT DONNA (who am I kidding, never enough about Donna) BUT SERIOUSLY IT IS TIME TO TALK ABOUT RIVER SONG.
I know I had already seen this episode before and so there were really no surprises but I just have so. much. curiosity. about her. AGHAGHAGHAG. And I know that we still don't know by the end of season 5! Hopefully at least we know a little more? Ugh. Why is the Doctor's name so important? Why can't he tell anyone? What is that one time he could? Why does she know it? WHO IS SHE?!
So her last scene was awful. By which I mean, I cried. Even though I'd seen it before and I knew that the Doctor was going to "save" her, it was awful. He just sat there and stared with the saddest look on his face. It was almost but not quite as awful as the wall scene in "Doomsday."
Speaking of Doomsday: the music that played when the Doctor set the diary and the sonic screwdriver down on the railing thing sounded quite similar to Rose's theme. Is this because of a love interest connection thing, or is it just related to the conversation about looking up Donna's ending? On that note... not looking it up because you don't want to know is such a reasonable response. Can you imagine, always knowing how things would end? Then think about the fact that the Doctor is going to know that about River, that he's always going feel it coming closer; he's always going to know when he sees her the last time that it's the last time.
Also: wouldn't she know they hadn't done the Byzantium because I've seen half of that and he's a different person then? She should know. I know I'm nit-picking and clearly the writers weren't foreseeing that far ahead, because how could they, but, ya know. Ya know.
And what happens in the computer? Do we ever come back to computer-River? Does the Doctor somehow free her? That seems like cheating. Also it fits the impossibility bill because then he would have to keep her forever which won't happen because, you know, actors. TV. Eventually she has to go. I guess she could just die again, but... meh. Doesn't seem right to bring her back from the dead. How do we know, though? How do we know when it's the last time... surely there's not going to be a whole episode about the Doctor showing up with a new haircut and a suit and taking her to the symphony and crying? And how does he know she wants to be saved? Why would she want to be saved? She's been relegated to Rose's fate, living out her life with no hope of rejoining the Doctor. And, presumably, forever. What could be worse than that?
EDIT: Also, Lee, and his stutter, and the ending, and Donna, and agghhhh. Everything about Donna's storyline is just the worst.
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