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“Turn Left” is such a unique and phenomenal Doctor Who episode! It is so powerful and brilliantly performed! It is carried almost entirely by the companion, and the Doctor is barely in it. But it is still one of the best episodes of the show. At the heart of the story is not the alien standoffs and space adventures (even though it takes place in a parallel universe), but the very real human horrors and tragedies that do happen in real life, and that’s what makes this episode so heart-wrenching and raw. The plot is the story of Donna and her family and how horribly wrong her life and the life of the entire universe goes in a world where Donna and the Doctor never meet and never save each other.

It starts on such an optimistic note, showing how happy both Doctor and Donna are together, having adventures and exploring some new planet and having a blast, but Donna meets a trickster who asks if she wants to find out her future, but Donna is so content and at the height of her character development at that point, so she is already confident and HAPPY, and  doesn’t want to know, because she already has everything she needs to be happy at that very moment  and nothing else matters.

“I can see a man, the most remarkable  man…”, the trickster instantly sees and realizes how important this stranger’s presence is in Donna’s life and makes Donna reveal how she met the Doctor and how it changed her life. So, Donna gets tricked and it ends up creating a parallel world where Donna makes one wrong turn, accepts a different job and never meets the Doctor on Christmas, and he ends up dying because Donna wasn’t there, so there was no one to stop him. And things spiral from there, every single alien invasion and global disaster that happens afterwards, result in the world collapsing without the Doctor (with Donna by his side). And Donna keeps meeting Rose who jumps from another dimension and tries to make Donna believe that there was a different world where things were better because she did meet the Doctor and they were able to stop this nightmare from happening. But Donna doesn’t believe Rose at first.

The story is filled with so many raw and devastating moments that showcase how terrible everything is in this “what if…” world where the Doctor doesn’t exist. Donna and her family end up refugees and lose everything and everyone they knew.

Donna is still shouting at the world but nobody is listening.

Donna and the Doctor not meeting results in not just the Doctor’s death, but also deaths of multiple companions and friends, like Martha, Sarah Jane and the Torchwood team.

Rose tells Donna all of this, but Donna, wonderful and amazing Donna, in this world she thinks of herself even less than she did before meeting the Doctor in her own reality. She literally throws it in Rose’s face how she can’t fathom why Rose is telling her about these big events and how it all could have been saved by the Doctor, she can’t understand why Rose is telling Donna about this, why her, she’s just nobody and can do literally nothing. That’s the pain in that moment when Donna is laughing through tears at even the possibility of her own worth and importance. And she gets angry when Rose tries to get her to come with her to prove that what she’s saying is true, that stars are going out and Donna could help stop this from happening. But Donna just thinks Rose is messing with her.

And things keep getting worse and worse. The metaphorical and literal darkness engulfing the life Donna ends up in until there is not a single glimmer of hope left. The family Donna shares a place with, ends up getting sent into “labor camps” just because they are not English, and it is horrific because the same things happened before and Wilf knows it, and he already grieves this family who have become friends, because he knows what is going to happen to them and where they are really getting sent to… His heartbroken and tearful “It is happening again”, Donna running after the truck taking them away screaming “Where are you taking them???” all drive home the point of how hopeless things are.

When Donna tells Sylvia that she tried looking for a job but was rejected for “not being qualified” and adds a defeated "I guess I have always been a disappointment", she is getting the worst response from her own mother, a quiet “yeah…”

But the breaking point for Donna comes when her own grandad doesn’t fight for her anymore and ready to sell his most prized possession he never lets go of, his telescope, to make them some money for a living. Donna starts to believe in Rose’s words, when she and Wilf see the stars in the sky literally going out. That’s when Donna gives up and is ready to believe the impossible, that what Rose was saying about the Doctor is true.

And when she sees the TARDIS and hears about the Doctor’s brilliance, her first response is so heartbreaking! She honestly can’t understand how someone so extraordinary and smart and special would even want to spend time with her or need her at all. That’s how little Donna thinks of herself, and not just little, she thinks of herself as nothing, completely worthless person no one sees or hears or believes in. But the Doctor thought she was brilliant and that gives her hope.

But here comes another tragedy that in order for this terrible reality to be unwritten, Donna needs to literally kill herself…How truly horrible and awful is that? And how truly cruel it is for Donna to hear what she needs to do after being told that there is a whole life for her with the Doctor, a different better world where Donna Noble is worthy and full of potential for remarkable things. How awful it was to be given a glimpse of hope amongst all misery, being told that the world needs the Doctor and Donna Noble to stop the stars from going out, and then have it taken away because the only way out is dying….

But brave and remarkable Donna Noble does it anyway. And she does go back to her own reality and defeats the trickster and here we get the foreshadowing of the DoctorDonna because the trickster sees the incredible power in Donna “You are so strong. What are you? What will you be?”

Sylvia in the parallel world says to Donna “You think you’ll meet a man…”, and Donna does, just not the kind of man Sylvia implies. The kind of man who will  save her, and she will save him, and together they will stop the stars from going out and save this world and reality itself. That’s how powerful meeting the Doctor was for BOTH himself and Donna. It is a different kind of love that will save both Donna and the Doctor, and the world around them.

When Donna and the Doctor are reunited, it feels different because she already knows what it’s like to lose him and she rushes to hug him and catches him by surprise. He doesn’t know what it’s like to lose her (yet) but he will soon find out…and probably remember this hug as the last happy memory that he will cherish for millions of years and she will have to forget.

And the very next moment is a foreshadowing of not only the metacrisis DoctorDonna but also Donna millions of years later becoming the Doctor’s home. And when Donna once again dismisses her own importance, the Doctor instantly and without hesitation reminds her that SHE IS BRILLIANT, and she smiles at him because that’s exactly what she needed to hear and that is what he always tells her. Donna has seen the world without him and the world where she felt like nothing, and the Doctor wasn’t there to show her how wrong she was. But now all is right in the world again, the puzzle pieces are back in place, at least for a short while.

This story showed how intertwined the Doctor and Donna’s fates are. How them not meeting literally becomes their own undoing and results in a threat of the whole universe blinking out of existence. How their accidental Christmas meeting became their salvation. How without Donna the Doctor would die, and without the Doctor Donna’s life would become a nightmare. How one little detail can change so much.

“Turn Left” is such a masterpiece of drama and had such outstanding acting in it too, specifically by Catherine Tate. She carried this episode on her back (pun intended). 

And this episode is one more proof that Doctor Who is not just silly space adventures and camp and fun escapism, it is also impactful and meaningful stories about ordinary people capable of so many profound and extraordinary and truly great things, and all they need is for someone to believe in them and remind them they can do anything and be brilliant and fantastic.

[nerdybubblebee]

oop. official official. canon.

frank castle caressing karen page’s cheek, while they lay panting on the floor after a bomb went off. mcu canon. frank castle kicking over a chair and having a meltdown while categorizing karen's placement in his life to the level of david's wife in his. mcu canon. ✨mwah✨

[nerdybubblebee]

It drives me absolutely insane how Matt Murdock gave Karen literal crumbs, juuuust enough to keep her coming back, and we're supposed to believe this is the main couple of the show? Jfc. Karen deserves so much better than the crumbs MM is scattering.

(It's not at all surprising that she's drawn to Frank Castle. The man notices her from the outset. He values her opinion, trusts her, sees her for exactly how smart and bold she is. He's ride or die from the jump. She doesn't have to shrink herself for him, and that's how it should be).

[nerdybubblebee]

Idk why this scene makes me so emotional. Her walking in and softly taking him in. How much it saddens her to see him in that state again. A direct parallel to the first time she met him only this time he means everything to her. He is cuffed to the bed all beaten, cut up and bruised and in his most vulnerable state, asleep, and she just takes a chair and sits by his side until he wakes up. She is NOT gonna leave him.

And let's not forget that after they talk HE FALLS ASLEEP AGAIN. And she is RIGHT THERE when he wakes up again. he felt so comfortable with her that he just..dossed off. And ofc the shirt she wears which makes her look like she literally has wings meaning she is his angel looking over him. ALSO she knew about his fight with billy which means THEY KEPT IN TOUCH OFF SCREEN🤧

[nerdybubblebee]

People have said many times how Fourteenth Doctor is so much more open with feelings and emotions than Ten. But it is especially huge when it comes to Donna specifically. Ten was so reserved and held back so much when it came to expressing feelings and voicing them, that his companions never fully understood how much they meant to him. Ten was very flawed and very HUMAN and while he had so much love in him, he was equally afraid to express it, show it unabashedly. Did Donna ever truly understand how much he loved her? Did he ever tell her how much she meant to him on screen? When Ten knew he was losing Donna, and she was about to disappear in front of him, he knew this was his last moment with her, and the best he could do while she was conscious is hold her at arm’s length and tell her “We had the best of times”. You could see he was dying inside and this moment is killing him but he NEVER SHOWS it to her. While it’s all in his eyes, Ten still doesn’t tell her anything that would have an emotional weight or reveal the whole depth of his feelings.

Ten kept all his feelings bottled so deep inside, that when they finally started to bleed out, he made the worst mistakes possible. It ended up killing him. And the breaking point was losing Donna. He carried so much guilt over the way he lost her and the way he let her, his best friend in the whole wide universe, down, that it echoed over to the next regenerations, in Eleven’s guilt and Twelve’s face. That scene in the TARDIS in “Let’s Kill Hitler” where Eleven is poisoned, and the TARDIS is showing him images of former companions when Eleven asks “Give me guilt”. The TARDIS shows him Martha first, and there is so much to be guilty about when it comes to Martha, and then Eleven asks for “also guilt”, and the TARDIS shows him Donna, and when Eleven asks for “more guilt”, the image doesn’t change. It is still Donna, TARDIS is showing Eleven the best friend who got let down so hard by the Doctor. And the Doctor still carries that guilt and regret and heartbreak with him, because he loved his best friend and her attachment to him almost got her killed and hurt her in the worst way possible. “Stand too close, and people get burnt”, just like Martha said.

Fourteen though. He is a completely different person. He doesn’t just love Donna, he ADORES her, he is here FOR HER, this face is here BECAUSE OF HER. He tells a complete stranger he just met that he loves his best friend Donna, and repeats it twice.

When Donna honestly asks who would care about her 'cause she thinks she is just no one, Fourteen angrily  cries “I DO!”  because that’s his brilliant and amazing best friend who after all these years still thinks so little of herself and he hadn’t been there to remind her of that, and it is all his fault that she doesn’t remember how fantastic and special and extraordinary she has always been and how many times her brilliance saved worlds and lives, including the Doctor’s.

Fourteen is crying and screaming and breaking down, when he thinks Donna is about to die in front of him, all because he is so afraid of losing her again. Fourteen cradles Donna’s body and cries when he thinks he had lost her and tells the Meep’s soldiers to kill him, because he doesn’t care anymore, because someone he loves so dearly is dead in his arms, and it is all his fault.

When Donna gets her memories back, Fourteen almost immediately confesses how losing her KILLED HIM and how he remembers every second with her. He tearfully confesses that he has missed her for all those years they were apart, it’s been millions of years they spent apart for the Doctor. All those years the Doctor needed Donna who would make him laugh again, Donna who would keep him grounded, Donna who would call him spaceman and silently hug him when he needed it the most, Donna who would understand and be there and be his touchstone and anchor and guiding light.

Fourteen knows that she can’t stay with him forever like she used to want to, but he still gives her both of his hearts and tells her how much he cherishes their time together. He offers her coffee just the way she likes it, he remembers such small details about her after literally thousands, millions of years! And he shows it to her. Fourteen is so full of love and he is not afraid to show it, he is rushing to love, to express it before Donna is gone from his life again. And he is trying to make up for all those years as Ten when he couldn’t say these things to Donna, and she never knew just how much she meant to him. Donna never knew that she was his soulmate, that her presence made such an impact and her absence led to Ten’s death and that he died saving her grandad.

Fourteen kisses Donna’s hands and hair and hugs her like she is the most precious thing he knows. His hugs are also different from Ten’s. Fourteen wraps himself around Donna and holds her tight, this is how he shows his affection. He wants Donna to hear, know AND feel how much he cares. Because he already knows what it’s like to lose her and he wants her to know in case he has to let her go forever again.

When there is a threat of the world ending and his wonderful selfless Donna once again stresses that it is not about her, the Doctor solemnly replies that it really is. Because here right now in mortal danger he is willing to put her first and thinks of her wellbeing before anything else, because Donna Noble means the world to him.

Fourteen loves Donna so much, that he is willing to stay with her forever, staying still is not so bad when it’s with her. Fourteen is so tired and weary and bruised and exhausted but when he looks into Donna’s eyes, he doesn’t feel so tired anymore.

Fourteen got Ten’s face because he needed rest, but also maybe, just maybe, because Ten didn’t want to go so badly that he broke through and got the chance to come back so he could have another chance, to have a life and be with his best friend again and come home. Fourteen was born out of love that Ten had for Donna. And that love (and the TARDIS) brought him right to Donna’s doorstep, so he can hear her call him spaceman again and have the best of times for as long as they live and have a laugh with his family in their shared garden and find out what it’s like to be happy. Fourteen gives his love so openly and freely and he gets to receive it too, he gets to bask in it and revel in it. He finally gets the reward Ten was dreaming about.

[nerdybubblebee]

really love dynamics that are like 'it honestly doesn't matter if you view them as romantic or platonic, the point is that they love each other. the type of love is inconsequential, all that matters is that it's there'. gotta be one of my favorite genders.

[nerdybubblebee]

Them!!

[nerdybubblebee]

“Benedick and Beatrice are similar to the Doctor and Donna in some ways.” — Catherine Tate

[nerdybubblebee]

It’s been pointed out that during the end scene, fourteens waistcoat is completely undone, showing his inner layers - it had been done up by one struggling button before this… because fourteen was hanging on by a thread… now he can let go and open up

[nerdybubblebee]

[nerdybubblebee]

This interview of David Tennant and Catherine Tate talking about doing "Much Ado About Nothing" together is so precious! Like these two actors met on a Christmas Special of a tv show and became such good friends that they have done a million things together since then. And they are so excited to talk about any project they share because they love doing it together and hanging out, it's just so wonderful! And the fact that they were not cast to do a play because they have great chemistry, but chose to do it and not just with anyone but specifically with each other, because they wanted to do it together, is so special and lovely. David saying that everyone should see Catherine acting on stage because "she's terribly good" and saying doing something with a mate is so amazing. Their friendship is just so genuine and the way they choose to do projects together because they just love hanging out and doing anything together is always a joy. And that's why "Much Ado About Nothing" (2011) is so iconic, because it is done by good friends, for fun, and they had a blast doing it. And the same can honestly be said about literally every project David and Catherine have done together.

[nerdybubblebee]

"Let's be clear: I don't love her, okay? I just... miss her when she's not around, think about her all the time, and I imagine us one day running towards each other in slow motion and I'm wearing a brown suede vest." — The Tenth Doctor, Probably

[nerdybubblebee]

when the doctor absentmindedly hands donna the sonic.. and she grabs it. like it's a habit. and then looks at it like she recognizes something… i was throwing UPPP

[nerdybubblebee]

Catherine Tate on working with David Tennant

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NELSON, MURDOCK, & PAGE

[nerdybubblebee]

SCREAMS AND CRIES

[nerdybubblebee]

TODAY. HE RETWEETED THIS TODAY. FROM JULY 2022. HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO GET OVER THEM NOT EVEN JON DID