Who Review Round 10: Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead

I'm going to get my bias out front: the two-part story Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead represents everything great about the Tenth Doctor.

Bold, I realize. But hear me out.

This two-parter, featuring the Tenth Doctor (David Tennant) and Donna Noble (and later, curiously, River Song), set in a library that takes up an entire planet, is Steven Moffat at his level best. It's scary, it's funny, it's touching, it's mysterious, and it leaves breadcrumbs backwards and forwards in the Doctor's personal history. And, critically, it explores some of the weird and incongruous side-effects that traveling in time leads to.

For the Doctor, this includes his first (though her last) meeting with River Song, a mysterious figure who holds a special place in the Doctor's heart- or will, someday. If you've ever wondered what it would be like to meet someone you were close to before you officially "met" them (say, meeting a boyfriend or girlfriend when they're a kid), this story gives an idea of what that would be like. For River, they've shared a whole life together and shared numerous adventures. But as far as the Doctor knows, she's just a stranger who happens to know a little too much personal information about him. This leads to a drastic measure on River's part to quickly gain the Doctor's trust:



One interesting thing is that the Doctor and Donna both meet someone that they become very close to- and subsequently lose them. Donna loses a man she marries while trapped in a virtual world after they're both liberated but fail to find each other in the real world. And the Doctor never finds out who River is before she sacrifices herself to save his life.

Which brings me to one particular moment. Several bloggers have talked about the importance of the "fuck yeah" moment. The Doctor has had more than his fair share over the years, especially since the 2005 relaunch. One of the distinctive qualities about this character is that he gives you "fuck yeah" moments that are just as likely to have you crying as well as pumping your fist and yelling "Go! Go! Go!". For me, the quintessential "fuck yeah" moment for the Tenth Doctor comes when he realizes that the future version of himself would have spent years trying to think of a way to save River- and then discovers how, when he sees that the sonic screwdriver he gave her in the future contains a neural relay device, which happens to contain the (weak and fading) last trace pattern of River's consciousness. He's found a way to save her- if he's quick, and clever. Which he is. (Watch both videos.)





This scene is the Doctor at his absolute best. By virtue of being clever, he's in a uniquely confident position of being able to save lives. It isn't always so, and plenty of people do die in spite of (or even because of) his best efforts. But every now and then, when it really, really matters. When the wind stands fair, and the Doctor comes to call. He's just quick enough, and just clever enough, and everybody lives.