The Doctor's Wife

4.09 "Forest of the Dead"

So I really liked the whole fake world in the computer. And I enjoyed Donna's existence in it. I felt like that could be a whole series in itself. But maybe it's way too Matrix-y. The jumping around in "time" and "space" based on impulses and directives was really interesting. And I spent time wondering if Donna's "husband" (Lee McAvoy, was it?) was experiencing things in the same way? Did he just jump to work and back and do some things at work as he thought about it? Did Doctor Moon have to spend that much time telling him to forget and remember things? Did Doctor Moon have to do that to all 4000-whatever people in CAL? I guess the key is that it works like a computer rather than like the real world so it's hard to translate it to something I could understand.

Anyway, I liked River Song more in this part. She was less...I don't know...macho, or something, and therefore less annoying. So I guess she's not someone we already know, as I'd been suspecting last week. Just his wife in the future. Also, the degree to which the Doctor was totally freaked out by her saying his name was pretty interesting. We've see the Doctor kind of dumbfounded or surprised by things before, but never on this level. It was kind of a pained shock (Long Live David Tennant!). Also, her story about what they did the last time she saw him, because he knew that she was going to her death because he'd always known it, was pretty damn sad and interesting and goes with that "Non-Linear Love Story" thing I mentioned last week. Now I'm wondering if this means that at some point he can go back and get her out of the computer the way they got all of the other saved people out. I briefly thought that it might end up being an end of the season thing, but then I realized that it at least had to be after the last time he sees her in his time line. Who knows? It was weird and sad no matter what.

And finally, I was really pleased with Donna asking if "Alright" is some kind of Time Lord code for "not alright", because clearly it is. And then not fretting about it and trying to make him or herself feel better but just accepting that they're both "Alright" was nice. I feel like I could go on a long thing about how miserable the Doctor's life is and how it always has been and always will be some degree of miserable with no respite, but I'll save it for some other time because I feel like it'll just make me depressed right now. It's a surprisingly depressing show.