That's not Samantha, Jack, that's her sister Serena!

[link]

I think that they should have left that dialogue in.

I wonder if, by not killing Donna outright, they are leaving an open door for a possible return?

And are we to think that the River woman is the daughter/descendent of OtherTen and Rose?

hate the end

it was well done , but I hate it.

I have to admit -- I can't think of how/where to end her memories so she won't know what she lost. But I don't like it. There should be a gain or a change. So she can have one more life . Or let her life end. ( she would have had two -- that is more than most of us get) Humans do have the gene of sacrifice. and so far all Donna's lives have ended with sacrifice for the world. Why should a third be different?

When I rewatched it the other day I just couldn't bear that scene when she was begging him no, no, no, and he took her memories out of her brain. It was horrible. God.

I want Jenny to show up and Donna to go into crisis, and remember everything. Once she gets cured, she gets to tear the Doctor a new one.

I like this scenario.

As opposed to the waffling "Does it need saying?"

I heard this.

Definitely caught the real accent on the word "universe;" I'll have to rewatch to see what I missed!

Love the cut dialogue, but Donna's closing makes me sad again.

And are we to think that the River woman is the daughter/descendent of OtherTen and Rose?

Eeenteresting. What made you think of that?

And are we to think that the River woman is the daughter/descendent of OtherTen and Rose?

If she is then... eewwww.

ooh! Jacob did a recap for DW season 4: [link]

And if you're not into recaps, skip to the very last page. It puts a beautiful perspective on Donna, and gets meta about how it relates to us as real people.

I must now go be awesome (I'll start by putting the dining room back together).

I just finished 4x09 The Library and I can't quit crying. I really thought I didn't have a "my doctor", but I guess I do now.

Oh, Jacob. How I've missed your recaps which aren't really recaps. I love how he just gets what's going on:

He doesn't turn people into things. That's a misconception. He doesn't change you. He doesn't make you stronger, or better, or smarter, or faster. He doesn't make you kinder, or make you love yourself more, or believe in yourself more. He doesn't give you anything you don't already have. He can inspire, and he can love, but nobody on this earth can change you. Nobody ever made you greater, and nobody ever made you crawl. Martha knew that: knew she was a soldier because she was a soldier. But it hurt to see him say it, because he'd been the one to inspire her. She was saving the world. I think the more he fought it, the more he complained about the guns and the salutes and the armies and the battles, the prouder she should be.

Serial, because Jacob's got me thinking about things I've noticed as the season went on.

When Donna met Martha, Donna asked The Doctor something along the lines of, "So? Is that what you do? Make your companions into soldiers?" It's an idea that unsettles the Doctor: That's never what he wanted for them, or even for himself. and poor Jenny, his sudden biological daughter: born a soldier. It's no wonder he resists the idea of her being really his.

And then look: all of his companions become soldiers. "The Doctor's Secret Army," as Harriet (poor Harriet) calls them. And that's a truth, if not perhaps the truth.

and then Sarah Jane, the companion that found him again, the bridge between the past and the present of the show, is the one to point out to him that these are his family. And he's still uncomfortable with that, because he's turned them all into soldiers, and he feels guilty for that. But like Jenny, how he feels about that doesn't make it any less true: Rose, Martha, Sarah Jane, Jack, Mickey, Donna and even Jackie, K-9, Luke, Gwen and Ianto -- this is his family, born (to borrow from Jacob) like Jenny on the battlefield, but there's nothing he can do about that.

And someday he'll realize that, but he hasn't yet. Or isn't ready to. He will, someday. That's what River Song tells us. That eventually, there's a time when he's able to allow himself to get close. Does it matter if River is his companion, his wife or his daughter? No, not much. What matters is that she's symbolizes hope for his future, which admittedly, looks bleak and lonely from where he's sitting right now.

And Donna? Donna's Agatha Christie showing up at the hotel, no memory of giant wasps and murders and a man from outer space. But some vestige of that remains. It can never entirely be erased. Agatha Christie goes on to be fantastic. And so will Donna. The Doctor didn't give her anything she didn't already have.