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DW Rewatch - 4x11, Turn Left
Turn Left is another stonking episode with an absolutely stunning central performance from Catherine Tate. I said when I started recapping S4 that I thought that one of the reasons that this series is so strong overall is because of her; partly because I think Rusty wanted to make sure that she was given things to do that would show people that thought she was ‘just a comedienne’ and 'not the right choice' a smack round the face.
Well. Blimey.
Unlike the other NET (Not Enough Tennant) episodes (Love and Monsters and Blink), Turn Left isn’t a standalone; it’s integral to the story arc that’s played out at the end of the series. It’s a classic ‘what if?’ story – the sort of thing usually left to the realms of fanfiction – that asks “what if the Doctor had died along with the Racnoss that day under the Thames?”
The central conceit is fabulously played out. All the disasters that were averted by the Doctor after The Runaway Bride now happen with devastating results because the he’s not there to fix things.
Martha and Sarah-Jane die when the hospital is ripped away by the Judoon;
- the replica of the Titanic crashes into London causing a nuclear explosion that wipes out the south of England;
- the Adipose wipe out half the US
- and then Gwen and Ianto die on board the Sontaran ship while ridding the world of the ATMOS.
I had to puzzle a bit as to why the Master and the Toclafane weren’t in there, but then I remembered that the Master needed the TARDIS and that no Doctor = no TARDIS. Sometimes, I can be a bit slow! *g*
Let’s have a look at some happy together Doctor and Donna. It’s the last time (sniff!)
Chantho The fortune teller is anxious to get to the decision which led to Donna meeting the Doctor
This scene between Donna and Sylvia is painful. Sylvia’s so bitter, you’ve got to wonder what she’s been through to have made her that way. Her harping on at Donna about wanting to find a man is downright nasty. If Donna’s grown up with that sort of constant criticism, it’s no wonder she doesn’t think much of herself.
And suddenly, we’re into what is about to become a terrifyingly different world…
Funny how some people seem to be able to see something there, or to sense it.
How come, if her universe is a bit ahead of Donna’s, Rose is surprised to discover that the Doctor is dead? She seems to have advance knowledge of a number of other, later events – but not this one.
Okay – and now the burning question. What the hell is up with Billie Piper’s teeth?! Did she have some work done or something? I mean she always had a gob that was too big for her face but – and I’m really not just saying this because I’m not a fan of Rose - I honestly found the teeth and the exaggerated sibilants to be very distracting.
The events of that Christmas impact on Donna directly and she loses her job
Another meeting with the mysterious blonde, who suggests a Christmas break.
How does Rose know that Donna’s so important? We find out later that her world is slightly ahead of ‘ours’ – but there’s no Doctor in her world anyway so how does she know about Donna? I know that, to some extent, Rose is taking the Doctor’s place in this episode as the ‘one in the know’, but she's NOT him, so how does she know? Does she use the Dimension Canon to travel in time or something?
You have to love Wilf in the antlers!
Tienes algo en tu espalda
The nuclear engines of the Titanic have irradiated the whole of Southern England. Donna and her family are relocated to Leeds.
Don't get all chippy with me, Vera Duckworth. Pop your clogs on and go and feed whippets.
Bwahaha!
But Wilf’s response - You're not going to make the world any better by shouting at it. seems to point to what Handy says later, about Donna shouting at the world but no one listening… *wibble*
Here’s home – with what seems like about fifty other people! The congenial Mr Colesanto is rather sickeningly so, I think. I suppose its one of those situations where if you didn’t laugh you’d cry and he’s trying to put a brave face on it and be grateful for the little they do have… still I could have understood Donna if she’d thumped him!
After the Adipose wipe out sixty million in the US, there’s going to be no help coming from that quarter
Sylvia’s so different to the woman we saw at the beginning. She’s tired and utterly defeated - and, of course, right. Donna’s doing her best to stay strong – but who does she have to lean on?
A quick burst of Bohemian Rhapsody - hah!
Another one who seems able to sense whatever it is that’s on Donna’s back
Finally, it’s time for Rose to tell Donna (mostly) the truth
*snerk* Rusty MUST have picked that one up from the fangirls!
There it is. There had been a lot of speculation before this about whether that was true, or whether the Doctor would have realised what he was doing and stopped himself and got out... but now we know that it really was Donna who saved him.
She just breaks my heart here… keeps insisting that she’s not important, that she’s NOTHING… Look at her. She's just so tired and worn out with everything that's happened, and with trying to be the strong one for Sylvia and Wilf.
Donna Noble, you're the most important woman in the whole of creation.
You can’t wonder that Donna thinks she’s taking the piss…
But you've got to be certain. Because, when you come with me, Donna... sorry... so sorry, but... you're going to die.
Again, I can't help wondering how she knows all this when there's no Doctor in her world anyway
It's the new law! England for the English, et cetera.
This scene is just… terrifying. I think my bottom jaw was scraping along the floor the first time I watched it
'Labour camps'. That's what they called them last time.
And then -
I suppose I’ve always been a disappointment.
God, this is just… that sound you can hear is my heart breaking for her even more :-(
The stars are going out!
And Donna knows it's time
I love the 'he makes everyone better' comment. It's one of the things I try to remember when I start feeling bitter about what happens to Donna in the end; even though she can't remember the Doctor, I like to think that he nonetheless had an effect on her and that she was changed for the better because of him - and that she made herself a good life as a result.
Donna's modelling a stylish backpack...
Seriously - it's the one thing that lets the episode down, and I'm really surprised TPTB let this go. Perhaps they'd run out of CGI money... or perhaps it's meant to look like a rubbish prop.
Donna's hysterical - she's had enough of the techno-crap.
They need the DoctorDonna...
This is to combat dehydtration *snort*
RTD says in the confidential that this is one of the best performances he's ever seen in nu-Who, and I have to agree with him.
Gah - I can't find the words to say how wonderful she is here. The hope in her expression and in her voice as she thinks she's worked it out and that she's heading to a better life -
- and then the change to bewliderment and fear when she realises that's not how it's going to work at all
But it's too late to change her mind - and there she is, landed back in Chiswick
with only four minutes to change the world - and (typically of the TARDIS!) in the wrong place!
It's just as well 'our' Donna doesn't fancy sitting in traffic
Two words...
Time-beetle dispensed with. You were so strong. What are you? What will you be?
Right on cue...
He doesn't know what's going on... but I don't think he really cares *g*
Yeah. Let's poke the dead bug with a stick
Eh. Pretty
Puzzled pretty.
You have to love the way he sounds so proud of the fact that Donna seems to be able to bend the universe around her!
The pretty is still puzzled - and now the eyebrow of doom is getting in on the act.
Bad Wolf
Oh, crap.
It's the end of the universe.
Riiiight. No pressure, then.
Screencaps from Whoverse Screencaps; transcripts from Who-Transcripts.
Well. Blimey.
Unlike the other NET (Not Enough Tennant) episodes (Love and Monsters and Blink), Turn Left isn’t a standalone; it’s integral to the story arc that’s played out at the end of the series. It’s a classic ‘what if?’ story – the sort of thing usually left to the realms of fanfiction – that asks “what if the Doctor had died along with the Racnoss that day under the Thames?”
The central conceit is fabulously played out. All the disasters that were averted by the Doctor after The Runaway Bride now happen with devastating results because the he’s not there to fix things.
Martha and Sarah-Jane die when the hospital is ripped away by the Judoon;
- the replica of the Titanic crashes into London causing a nuclear explosion that wipes out the south of England;
- the Adipose wipe out half the US
- and then Gwen and Ianto die on board the Sontaran ship while ridding the world of the ATMOS.
I had to puzzle a bit as to why the Master and the Toclafane weren’t in there, but then I remembered that the Master needed the TARDIS and that no Doctor = no TARDIS. Sometimes, I can be a bit slow! *g*
Let’s have a look at some happy together Doctor and Donna. It’s the last time (sniff!)
This scene between Donna and Sylvia is painful. Sylvia’s so bitter, you’ve got to wonder what she’s been through to have made her that way. Her harping on at Donna about wanting to find a man is downright nasty. If Donna’s grown up with that sort of constant criticism, it’s no wonder she doesn’t think much of herself.
And suddenly, we’re into what is about to become a terrifyingly different world…
Funny how some people seem to be able to see something there, or to sense it.
How come, if her universe is a bit ahead of Donna’s, Rose is surprised to discover that the Doctor is dead? She seems to have advance knowledge of a number of other, later events – but not this one.
Okay – and now the burning question. What the hell is up with Billie Piper’s teeth?! Did she have some work done or something? I mean she always had a gob that was too big for her face but – and I’m really not just saying this because I’m not a fan of Rose - I honestly found the teeth and the exaggerated sibilants to be very distracting.
The events of that Christmas impact on Donna directly and she loses her job
Another meeting with the mysterious blonde, who suggests a Christmas break.
How does Rose know that Donna’s so important? We find out later that her world is slightly ahead of ‘ours’ – but there’s no Doctor in her world anyway so how does she know about Donna? I know that, to some extent, Rose is taking the Doctor’s place in this episode as the ‘one in the know’, but she's NOT him, so how does she know? Does she use the Dimension Canon to travel in time or something?
You have to love Wilf in the antlers!
Tienes algo en tu espalda
The nuclear engines of the Titanic have irradiated the whole of Southern England. Donna and her family are relocated to Leeds.
Don't get all chippy with me, Vera Duckworth. Pop your clogs on and go and feed whippets.
Bwahaha!
But Wilf’s response - You're not going to make the world any better by shouting at it. seems to point to what Handy says later, about Donna shouting at the world but no one listening… *wibble*
Here’s home – with what seems like about fifty other people! The congenial Mr Colesanto is rather sickeningly so, I think. I suppose its one of those situations where if you didn’t laugh you’d cry and he’s trying to put a brave face on it and be grateful for the little they do have… still I could have understood Donna if she’d thumped him!
After the Adipose wipe out sixty million in the US, there’s going to be no help coming from that quarter
SYLVIA
What if it never gets better?
DONNA
Course it will.
SYLVIA
Even the bees are disappearing. You don't see bumble-bees anymore.
DONNA
They'll sort us out. The emergency government. They'll do something.
SYLVIA
What if they don't?
DONNA
Then... we'll complain.
SYLVIA
Who's going to listen to us? Refugees. We haven't even got a vote. We're just no-one, Donna. We don't exist.
Sylvia’s so different to the woman we saw at the beginning. She’s tired and utterly defeated - and, of course, right. Donna’s doing her best to stay strong – but who does she have to lean on?
A quick burst of Bohemian Rhapsody - hah!
Another one who seems able to sense whatever it is that’s on Donna’s back
Finally, it’s time for Rose to tell Donna (mostly) the truth
ROSE
None of this was meant to happen. There was a man. This... wonderful man, and he stopped it. The Titanic, the Adipose, the ATMOS, he stopped them all from happening.
DONNA
That... Doctor?
ROSE
You knew him.
DONNA
Did I? When?
ROSE
I think you dream about him, sometimes. It's a man in a suit? A tall, thin man, great hair. Some... really great hair.
*snerk* Rusty MUST have picked that one up from the fangirls!
ROSE
I was like you. I used to be you. You've travelled with him, Donna. You've travelled with the Doctor in a different world.
DONNA
I never met him, and he's dead.
ROSE
He died underneath the Thames on Christmas Eve, but you were meant to be there. He needed someone to stop him, and that was you. You made him leave. You saved his life.
There it is. There had been a lot of speculation before this about whether that was true, or whether the Doctor would have realised what he was doing and stopped himself and got out... but now we know that it really was Donna who saved him.
She just breaks my heart here… keeps insisting that she’s not important, that she’s NOTHING… Look at her. She's just so tired and worn out with everything that's happened, and with trying to be the strong one for Sylvia and Wilf.
Donna Noble, you're the most important woman in the whole of creation.
You can’t wonder that Donna thinks she’s taking the piss…
But you've got to be certain. Because, when you come with me, Donna... sorry... so sorry, but... you're going to die.
Again, I can't help wondering how she knows all this when there's no Doctor in her world anyway
It's the new law! England for the English, et cetera.
This scene is just… terrifying. I think my bottom jaw was scraping along the floor the first time I watched it
'Labour camps'. That's what they called them last time.
And then -
I suppose I’ve always been a disappointment.
God, this is just… that sound you can hear is my heart breaking for her even more :-(
The stars are going out!
And Donna knows it's time
ROSE
It's still trying to help.
DONNA
And... and it belonged to the Doctor?
ROSE
He was a Time Lord. Last of his kind.
DONNA
But if he's so special, what's he doing with me?
ROSE
He thought you were brilliant.
DONNA
Don't be stupid.
ROSE
Well, you are! It just took the Doctor to show you that, simply by being with him. He did the same to me. To everyone he touches.
I love the 'he makes everyone better' comment. It's one of the things I try to remember when I start feeling bitter about what happens to Donna in the end; even though she can't remember the Doctor, I like to think that he nonetheless had an effect on her and that she was changed for the better because of him - and that she made herself a good life as a result.
Donna's modelling a stylish backpack...
Seriously - it's the one thing that lets the episode down, and I'm really surprised TPTB let this go. Perhaps they'd run out of CGI money... or perhaps it's meant to look like a rubbish prop.
Donna's hysterical - she's had enough of the techno-crap.
DONNA
You told me I was special! But it's not me! It's this thing! I'm just a host!
ROSE
No, there's more than that. The readings are strange it's... it's like reality's just bending round you.
DONNA
Because of this thing!
ROSE
No, no! We're getting separate readings from you. And they've always been there, since the day you were born.
I thought it was just the Doctor we needed, but it's the both of you. The Doctor and Donna Noble. Together. To stop the stars from going out.
They need the DoctorDonna...
This is to combat dehydtration *snort*
DONNA
How do you know it's going to work?
ROSE
Hmm? Oh... yeah... we-- we don't. We're just... we're just guessing.
RTD says in the confidential that this is one of the best performances he's ever seen in nu-Who, and I have to agree with him.
Because I understand, now. You said I was going to die, but you mean this whole world is going to blink out of existence.
But that's not dying. Because a better world takes its place. The Doctor's world. And I'm still alive!
Gah - I can't find the words to say how wonderful she is here. The hope in her expression and in her voice as she thinks she's worked it out and that she's heading to a better life -
- and then the change to bewliderment and fear when she realises that's not how it's going to work at all
But it's too late to change her mind - and there she is, landed back in Chiswick
with only four minutes to change the world - and (typically of the TARDIS!) in the wrong place!
It's just as well 'our' Donna doesn't fancy sitting in traffic
Two words...
Time-beetle dispensed with. You were so strong. What are you? What will you be?
Right on cue...
He doesn't know what's going on... but I don't think he really cares *g*
Yeah. Let's poke the dead bug with a stick
Eh. Pretty
Puzzled pretty.
Sometimes I think there's way too much coincidence around you, Donna. I met you once. I met your grandfather. Then I met you again. In the whole wide universe, I met you for a second time. It's like something's binding us together.
You have to love the way he sounds so proud of the fact that Donna seems to be able to bend the universe around her!
DONNA
Don't be so daft. I'm nothing special.
THE DOCTOR
Yes, you are, you're brilliant.
The pretty is still puzzled - and now the eyebrow of doom is getting in on the act.
Bad Wolf
Oh, crap.
It's the end of the universe.
Riiiight. No pressure, then.
Screencaps from Whoverse Screencaps; transcripts from Who-Transcripts.