Jon,

I caught as much as I thought I could without going back and watching every episode to figure out what that was in reference to. I'm still not entirely sure.

DW 4x13: Anyone catch the reference to

I thought it was a natural enough moment the way it was. Both the Doctor and Rose, upon seeing her, at the same time together could only but go "woah!"

Torque, she played the servant at the funeral parlor who sacrificed herself to save Charles Dickens, Nine, and Rose in Season 1.

After exile to the ass-end of beyond for the weekend, I finally caught up with DW 4.13:

Donna, Doctor!Donna, so. frigging. awesome. Along with 10.5. I could watch an entire season of that. Alas, won't happen. I cried huge, schmoopy tears and my mascara ran all over the place when he wiped her memories. And when he went back into the kitchen to say good-bye and she just dismisses him with a "whatever" kind of throwaway. I get this feeling, though, that her mother will let her know she is special, even if she can't say why. And this Donna will be something special.

Wilf, I love you, man. Wilf cried, I cried.

Rose, could that chick get more memememe, let me stomp my foot? She got her 10(.5), now kiss him, shut up and go away. Sorry, I have Rose issues. Didn't cry for Rose.

Doctor, I wanted more from him. He was too damn quiet when Davros was taunting him. That is very un-Doctorlike. He doesn't give up and that's what it felt like. Not happy at all about the way he wiped Donna's memories. I would rather he let her come to the decisions herself, because she would have. OTOH, though, it almost felt like he did it that way because he was punishing himself by doing it. He knew he was responsible and she would never know it, but he would always remember. She wouldn't feel violated, so he had to feel that for her. I'm a little peeved with him, though, that he felt he had to stick 10.5 in the parallel universe, because "he commited genocide." Yah, think? He's you! The Doctor really hates himself. I cried more.

And, Doctor 10.5. The Ood told the Doctor everything must end, that his song would end, too. And so it will. 10.5 is human. And, he has Rose. Both what he wanted and what he may never be able to have if she doesn't get over herself. I feel more sorry for him than I do 10. 10 has the hope of finding new companions at some time. 10.5 is stuck with Rose. I really, really cried over that!

As far as the Doctor not giving Donna any time to accept the mind wipe, it seemed to me (and I'll check on the rewatch) that she was in a crisis of brain-melty proportions and he had to be wiped pretty quickly.

Trudy, I think I'm just having flashbacks to Angel and Buffy in IWRY. It just reminds me too much of Angel making a decision that affected both of them without consulting Buffy.

I think this has been my favorite season of DW. So many callbacks to previous episodes of both this and previous seasons. A truly compelling arc that got me so totally invested in the well-being of the characters I laughed, cried, hurt and felt joy right along with them. Right now, DW is my very favoritest TV show of all time. Maybe even more than Buffy (gasp!)

I think this has been my favorite season of DW.

Same here.

DW 4x13:

A thought occurs to me about 10.1 (or 10.5...) (Or Doctor Who X 10.5 or...) is that he's Still. The. Doctor. Sure he's human, and he's got a bit of Donna in him, but he's still got the clever and the smarts to build a time/space ship to get off the Earth.

He and Rose can go bopping about the galaxy together, even now. He just can die, so there's a bit of an issue, but Hey...

Maybe all he has to do is get to a spot in the galaxy where something like Tardi grow...or grow one himself.

Who 4x13

Trudy, you said the Doctor not giving Donna any time to accept the mind wipe, it seemed to me (and I'll check on the rewatch) that she was in a crisis of brain-melty proportions and he had to be wiped pretty quickly.

and I get that was a possibility, but it wasn't conveyed enough for me to sit easy over his haste. On the other hand, it shows that he's willing to do all sorts of wrong things without hesitation for Donna's to go on living, damn the cost, which I suppose can be interpreted as sweet and holding her life on a higher pedestal than the entire universe. For the universe, he waffled and almost got it blinked out of existence, but with Donna, he'd do anything. Maybe he was even seeing Doctor Donna as not being Donna anymore, so her protests weren't really Donna's protests. I don't know!

I've also decided (did I already say this?) that I wish Rose had never been a part of this season. She should have been brought back, if at all, at some other time, some other way, when the Doctor had no awesome companions to share the spotlight with, and maybe Rose would still be wonderful. I mean, RTD could have saved her for one of the specials, she slipped through to his universe when the walls were weak during 4x12 and 13, but never found him (until one of the Christmas specials).

I tend to agree with you there, Juliebird, but the Rose stuff had, apparently, been planned since Billie Tyler left the first time. I had a definite sense of RTD trying to cram all his leftovers into this series as it's the last chance he's got. Roll on Moffat!

This season has been good, and I enjoyed Catherine Tate miles more than I expected to, but for me nothing has matched that run of episodes 8-11 in Season 3: Human Nature, Family of Blood, Blink, and Utopia.

episodes 8-11 in Season 3: Human Nature, Family of Blood, Blink, and Utopia.

I loved all those episodes, too, but for an entire season I'll take season 4. I liked that Donna had a very distinct arc of her own. Martha's just didn't seem to jump out at me (she came across as just a companion and a bit of a space filler at times) and my dislike of Rose kind of blinds me to any movement she made in seasons 1 and 2. Yeah, you could see her maturing somewhat, but she always came across to me as foot-stompy. It could be, too, that Catherine Tate can act circles around both Billie Piper and Freema Angyeman, so I really believed in her so much more.