i know it’s been said before, but it just needs to be said again: Steven Moffat is the master writer of Doctor Who. And last night’s conclusion to his two parter proves it. Picking up where we left off from last week, the Doctor and company escape from Proper Dave by blasting a hole in the wall. Donna, who we thought was dead turns out to be in an institution of some kind and seems to be having trouble with her memory. She is introduced to another patient by Doctor Moon who also happens to have a stutter, and they fall in love and get married (BTW, that was the same wedding dress Tate wore for The Runaway Bride). Over the years Donna and Lee have a couple of kids and while visiting his former patient, Doctor Moon disappears to be replaced by the image of the Doctor for a few seconds. Meanwhile in the Library, the Doctor discovers that the Vashta Nerada, who normally live in forests, have been living in the million million books that are stored in the library. While hiding out in another room, the Doctor’s sonic screwdriver seems to be acting funny. They look out of the skylight and see that the moon is rising. Lux explains it’s an artificial moon, which they call a doctor moon, that is supposed to keep the main computer core in check. They travel down to the core and Lux reveals that the computer core is actually his great aunt, who had a terminal illness as child. Before she died her mind was stored inside a computer and was given every book ever written so she could live where and whenever she wanted. As it turns out, Donna has discovered that she has been living a lie. She is contacted by a mysterious veiled woman who turns out to be Miss Evangelista. Miss Evangelista’s mind was also saved by the little girl and stored on the harddrive. The Doctor figures the only way to stop the computer core form self destructing is to upload his mind to the computer but is knocked out by River. When he comes to she is preparing to upload herself knowing full well it will kill her. As she does so, Donna’s world falls apart though she realizes she’s been living a lie. The last words to her husband were “I’ll find you!” before she fades out and is returned to the real world. All is well, Donna is back, though River has died. The Doctor speculates as to who River was, why he gave her his screwdriver and why it is she knew his name (something he’s never told anyone). But he and Donna decide not to look at River’s diary. Spoilers. As they walk away the Doctor suddenly understands why he gave River the screwdriver: it’s saved her conciseness. They manage to upload River to the computer where she can live with the little girl, her team mates and Doctor Moon.
Some geeky things to notice (besides Donna’s dress) are the fact that no one in a Steven Moffat story dies without being resurrected. The exception being Billy Shipton in last year’s Blink, but he died of natural causes. In the little girl;s house you can see a drawing of a blonde girl and a wolf. She also has a toy of Robby the Robot from Forbidden Planet.
Like I said, this was a really good episode, the special effects were movie quality, the resolution tied everything up and it had a bittersweet ending. The one thing that got me was seeing Donna’s “husband”, Lee, on a transporter pad trying to call out to her as she was walking away but couldn’t because of his stutter. Very sad. What did you guys think?

Add to your favorite social site: