Doctor Who - Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead, 4.09/4.10

I love Doctor Who. Luckily I've already written about it, so I don't have to praise and gush about the show in an introduction here; that's already done. I haven't talked about Tennant as the Doctor, but I don't have much to say about him other than I think he's brilliant and perfect. Simple.

I was excited for the Moffat-penned "Silence in the Library" and "Forest of the Dead," his first two-parter since series 1's "The Empty Child"/"The Doctor Dances" (my favorite episodes so far), for numerous reasons: 1) I wanted to see how he would write my favorite companion, Donna, 2) I love libraries and forests and the fairytale-like happenings that often populate them, 3) I absolutely adore the never-corny emotional poignancy of his stories, 4) I think his villains are consistently fantastic, and 5) the caliber of his episodes is (arguably) higher than anyone else's.

"Silence in the Library" didn't quite live up to all my expectations, but I wasn't disappointed, either. Awesome monsters: check (reminded me of Crichton's Prey nanobots). Quippy Doctor/Donna lines: check. Intriguing world/universe/setting: check. Sufficiently creepy plot: check. Etc.

Wonderfully nightmarish details (that I always love to see in Who) include:

• Donna stuck in a world that progresses like a dream -- I loved this bit.
• The Vashta Nerada disintegrating meat on bones in less than a second
• Miss Evangelista appearing to Donna dressed in black/the quick flashback-like sequence that accompanied Donna remembering her
• Donna/Doctor in the Library events appearing on the little girl's television screen
• Dr. Moon/the "Doctor Moon" above the Library
• Miss Evangelista's warped face
• Donna's husband stuttering her name

I'm not sure of the mechanics behind River Song saving everybody in the end, but I'm not complaining. What a wonderful scene with her and the Doctor.

"Everybody knows that everybody dies. But not every day. Not today... Some days, nobody dies at all." - River Song

Like "The Doctor Dances" -- everyone lived! Moffat likes this theme: the Doctor faced with so much inevitable death that he often can't bear, sometimes there are small victories in which everybody lives. And at the end of each chapter, the Doctor is "all right," which very well may be Time Lord-speak for "not all right at all." Small victories are a reason to live; there are "always things to live for" ("The Doctor's Daughter"). Part of the reason I love this show is because beneath the quips and general wackiness of individual episodes, there is a lot of melancholy in the life of a near-immortal time traveler (who must part ways with everyone he loves because everyone dies), and the show never forgets that.

(Tennant wears this well when his voice cracks when he briefly mentions Rose to Martha, or when he is visibly anguished at the supposed death of a woman he knows he will love in the future.* Eccleston did a similarly spectacular job as the Doctor's even more heavily burdened ninth regeneration, the only survivor of the Time War.)

So, which Doctor did River know? I assume it's his final regeneration, because I also assume he would only tell her his name if he were about to die. Or, future-Doctor (Thirteen?) knew the only way Ten would trust River, which was integral to solving the Library, would be to tell her his name to pass on to his past self. Right now I'm leaning toward the former, because Time Lord names are pretty serious business.

Wow, these episodes were good.

* Future love, you say? Yeah. I went there.