#'that's very donna. that's _so_ donna!' even if it's mellowed out partially by 'SOMETIMES she thinks she's brilliant'. that she's not quite

[twelvedimensional]

also the depth the interiority that idle rambly monologue of the dr's holds, the fact that his offhand thoughts just coalesce into this wonderfully stark image (the tardis, revered, the tardis, reviled, the tardis, the center of a city and then all alone again at the edge of a sea)

#dw spoilers #and god that devastated FACE he makes after he finally opens up to 'donna' only to realize it's not her! and how it evidently jars him #enough back into his old ways of Repression even when he really REALLY wants to properly talk about it with donna at the end #him testing the waters to see if she'll even know what he's talking about before clamping it back down! #god he's so much more open than ten that you can SEE it hurts him to -- in that one shaken moment -- not feel fully able to confide in her #a LOT of really interesting characterization beats in this ep for both the dr and donna! how different donna feels too as we've already #started noticing in the previous episode; where now she feels a sense of belonging and worth at home and is insistent on treasuring it #yet at the same time the not-donna gnawing at her old insecurities and even the dr -- the real dr! -- playing into them even inadvertently #(that she's replaceable. that she thinks she's stupid. that this lack of confidence and self worth is so characteristic of her it warrants #'that's very donna. that's _so_ donna!' even if it's mellowed out partially by 'SOMETIMES she thinks she's brilliant'. that she's not quite #allowed to be different from the donna of a 15 years ago having grown in her sense of worth? or at least. that the dr didn't recognize #her for long enough that he almost accidentally replaced her with a parrot of a copy.) #SORRY LOTS OF CHARACTER THOTS ON THIS 1 #doctor who #donna noble #ten point two #i spy an original post