Alright, so... it is the 60th Anniversary of Doctor Who, so it'd be rather bad of me to not do something in the month of November to acknowledge that... even if I am about six days too late. Whoops!
And I'm sure the Fiction Corner stories will be finished at some point in the future, but I doubt we'll be seeing the rest of them in 2023 for sure.
That said...
Last time, Jenny and the Doctor were in a big ass kerfuffle. When that was all said and done, though, they went back to where they were before. With her newly-regenerated father somewhat addled and trying to repair the TARDIS, Jenny attempts to use the scant lessons she's learned to try and keep the TARDIS flying.
She fails, unfortunately, and she and her daughter crash into...
The Eleventh Hour... and Amelia Pond's back garden.
With the addition of Jenny, things go a little bit differently as they do on that night in the PT. We still get the Doctor's post-regeneration antics involving food and the discovery of the crack in the wall of Amy's bedroom. Also, despite both the Doctor and Jenny insisting that they'll be back in five minutes, Amelia is once more left waiting for her Raggedy Doctor and the Soldier.
When they return fourteen years later, they find a certain
The Doctor and Jenny would arrive again two years later to take Amy away on her wedding night.
Thus, we lead into The Beast Below, where Jenny actually questions the Doctor's drawing a conclusion from a crying child that there's a totalitarian police state. Nevertheless, they get distracted by the hijinks that follow, Jenny picking a fight with the Winders when they first pop up to cause trouble and even taking one down before realizing that they're not robots. Also, the tiny bits of the Doctor talking about the Time Lords and the Time War are a bit more meaningful with Jenny presence.
Amy ends up voting to forget and thus leading into the Doctor having his rant and, eventually, Amy getting Liz Ten to save the star whale from its eternal torment. When Amy makes her comment about why the Doctor saved the star whale, and how the two are alike, Jenny has to agree. Although, as she puts it, the Doctor isn't alone. Not anymore.
Victory of the Daleks comes next and, while Amy doesn't recognize them, the Doctor and Jenny definitely do recognize the Daleks and that they are bad news. Being that these Daleks survived this timeline's version of Journey's End, they also recognize Jenny. However, her testimony does not work as the Doctor's does and thus they are forced to go with Plan B. When the Doctor pops off to get onboard the Dalek mothership, Jenny sneaks aboard through the TARDIS back door (yes, there's a back door, listen to Zagreus). As he faces down the Daleks, Jenny digs through the toolbox beneath the TARDIS and finds a key on a string from before she was born. Recognizing a perception filter, she puts it on.
The Doctor recognizes what Jenny is doing, trying to distract the Daleks. The New Dalek Paradigm emerges... and find their ship about to fall apart between the Spitfires attacking and Jenny using a Dalek plunger to deactivate the auto-destruct system, locking it out from the Dalek controls with her own sonic screwdriver - its light the same blue of her father's previous one. The Daleks freak out and activate Bracewell's detonation sequence prematurely.
The new Dalek Supreme escapes in an escape pod while the Doctor and Jenny rush back to Earth and, with Amy's help, disarm Bracewell. Less "victory" for the Daleks, but they do survive... they always survive, in the end. With the wrap up, the Doctor and Jenny have a moment where they discuss the Daleks and how they always seem to survive no matter what. The Doctor laments that this is not the final end for his old foes, but - much as Amy does in the broadcast episode - Jenny tells him that they did save the Earth, which is worth the cost in the end.
The two also note that Amy not remembering the Daleks is more than a little worrisome.
The Time of Angels sees the return of River Song into the lives of the Doctor and Jenny. Jenny is rather enthusiastic about seeing River again, though the Doctor warns her about alterations to the timeline. This makes when he calls River 'Professor' even funnier, River expressing amusement and surprise at it and Jenny giving the Doctor such a look. Her enthusiasm does take a turn, however, when she learns that River was imprisoned in the Stormcage for murder.
When Amy gets entrapped by the Angel, the Doctor and River rush to get her out while Jenny gets every piece of explosives she can get her hands on and arrives with them all just as Jenny arrives with enough ordnance to put a hole through a moon... and is left standing there with it once Amy gets out, seemingly alright.
From there, things progress as broadcast with the Doctor, Amy, Jenny, River, and the clerics entering the wreck of the Byzantium proper and discovering... the Angels.
This leads into Flesh and Stone, which goes much the same way as broadcast. Jenny witnesses the Crack and, though she tries to get Amy to not, she looks at it regardless and is further traumatized. With Jenny's help, Amy's trek through the forest is a little easier, but still not great and they are saved at the last minute by River.
The Angels are taken out just as they are in the broadcast episode with the Crack sealing up behind them. The Doctor tells Amy and Jenny about the nature of the Cracks, so far as he can understand them, and explains why they can remember what went into it when the others can't. Nature of a time-traveler and all that. Jenny presses the Doctor in private, saying that she felt absolute terror from the Crack and felt an instinct to get as far away from it as possible. The Doctor nods in agreement, telling her that she's showing Time Lord in herself already.
We get to the final scene, and we avoid the terrible sexual assault overtones, but it becomes clear that Amy has the hots for the Doctor following her horrific near death experience. Needing to right things and quickly, the Doctor shoves both Amy and Jenny into the TARDIS and we head into The Vampires of Venice.
In Venice, the episode goes mostly as originally broadcast. Jenny and Amy both pose as Rory's sisters and get into the Calvierri school. Calvierri sees through the psychic paper as in the PT, but finds a far more martially inclined Jenny proves to be too much for her guards and she holds them off for a time. Eventually, though, Francesco manages to get the better of her and takes a drink of her blood, finding it "intoxicating". He asks his mother for her, but the Doctor, Rory, and Guido soon arrive and they escape.
Unfortunately, as in the original episode, they are not able to save Isabella and she later becomes fish food. As Jenny recovers from the best medical care that the Doctor can provide her, they discuss their plans and the Doctor goes to confront Lady Calvierri, having worked out her species. Once more, she attempts to coax the Doctor into an alliance, but he refuses her because she couldn't tell him Isabella's name... and her son tried to eat his daughter.
From there, instead of Rory getting a comedy fight with Francesco, Jenny squares off with him in a magnificent sword fight through the streets of Venice. With her combat training, she proves to be quite adept against him as the two meet blow for blow. Like in the original episode, it is the assistance of Amy with a mirror reflecting the sunlight that ultimately does him in. Amy and Rory kiss in reconciliation and the trio head off to assist the Doctor, leading into the rest of the episode.
In departing, an enthused Jenny tells the Doctor of some maintenance she'd taken care of on the TARDIS and the Doctor is amused and impresssed... until Rory's words from earlier about how he makes people more dangerous comes to mind, making him muse on the thought of when Jenny might be driven to be too dangerous...
Next comes Amy's Choice, which still has the same issues brewing as the broadcast episode. The four members of the TARDIS crew find themselves shifting between the TARDIS interior and Leadworth years in the future, all by the power of the Dream Lord. The Dream Lord, who seems to hold a particular contempt not only for the Doctor, but for Jenny as well. Instead of just Rory's first death of many in Leadworth, we get Jenny's death as she gets dissolved in acid trying to save Amy and the Doctor. Both deciding that they don't want to live in a world without their future husband and daughter, respectively, the Doctor and Amy break free from the Leadworth dream... and then the Doctor frees them all from the influence of the psychic pollen.
Happy reunions all around and, when the Doctor sees the Dream Lord in the reflection of the glass on the TARDIS consoles... Jenny sees him as well, just for a second, she and her father sharing a meaningful look.
The Hungry Earth comes next and we can pretty much go as was broadcast. Jenny would travel with Rory for the first bit, following Ambrose and Eliot about during that time leading into them learning about Amy's disappearance. When Eliot is later found to be out getting his headphones, Jenny is the one who goes out after him and fights off the Silurian. Tony still takes the tongue to the neck, however. When Jenny gives her father a description of it, the Doctor confirms it with the infrared specs and he, Jenny, and Rory trap it.
From there, things go as broadcast up to the Doctor and Nasreen heading down in the TARDIS to confront the Silurians. Jenny remains on the surface (the Doctor telling her pointedly that he remembered to lock up the back door this time) and is there for Alaya's ranting and raving about how the war between the humans and Silurians is nigh. Jenny's response?
"Not on my watch."
She draws upon her own origin and channels her father in a speech, trying to encourage Ambrose and Tony to be people that never would. Rory tells her that her father would be very proud of her to see her do this. This, however, makes it even worse when Ambrose decides to pull an Ambrose and kills Alaya anyway in the next episode...
Cold Blood follows on from this, where the aforementioned terrible event occurs. Rory is unable to save Alaya and she dies.
We get a set up of Restac as a sort of dark mirror to Jenny, both raised to be warriors but one having seen a better way. While Jenny tries to reach out and save her from that path, it becomes clear that Restac has no interest in learning anything from "stupid apes".
Apart from that, the episode goes more or less as broadcast. The Silurians have their domestic strife, Eldane sets up the gas that will put the entire city into sleep for a millennia, and Restac trying to kill Rory. Rory is consumed by the Crack in Time and Amy, tearfully, is pulled into the TARDIS by the Doctor. Jenny, terrified, follows as the Doctor locks the doors and gets them back up to the surface. Amy soon enough forgets Rory... and later sees just herself waving from the horizon.
When Jenny confronts him later, she brings up Donna, which clearly is still a very understandably sore spot for the Doctor.
JENNY: So she'll just forget him, then? Is that what people have to do? Like you forgot Donna?
DOCTOR: ...
JENNY: Dad, say something! Please!
DOCTOR: I didn't forget.
JENNY: What?
DOCTOR: I don't forget, Jenny. I remember all of them. All their faces, all their names, all their stories. I remember it, because sometimes... they don't.
He also shows her the fragment of the TARDIS he pulled from the Crack. When she asks him what it means, the Doctor has no answer for her.
Vincent and the Doctor goes off more or less without a hitch. Not really anything to change there, although Jenny would no doubt get a few knowing looks exchanged with her father in the scene where Vincent points out that Amy is crying and doesn't know why.
Likewise The Lodger would not be any different. I see Jenny being stuck on the TARDIS with Amy, and thus being out of most of the events of the episode as she attempts to help her fellow companion get the TARDIS back to where it's supposed to be.
The Pandorica Opens is where we'll see some changes again. The Doctor, Amy, and Jenny follow the coordinates left by River on a cliffside on the oldest planet in the universe, and arrive in what is seemingly Britain during the Roman occupation. The Centurions mistake the Doctor for Caesar and Jenny for his daughter Julia and they are brought before "Cleopatra" - River. When River shows them the Van Gogh painting, Jenny immediately brings up the TARDIS fragment that her father pulled from the Crack in Wales. While the Doctor insists that the Pandorica is a fairy tale, he's visibly worried about the implications of such a painting.
They discover the Pandorica and Jenny is the first one to realize that Rory is very much alive. The reunion is short-lived, however, as basically all of the Doctor's enemies descend on Stonehenge. Jenny is not there to witness her father's badass monologue, instead going with River back to the TARDIS.
Things go mostly as broadcast for the Doctor, Rory, and Amy. River and Jenny find the TARDIS behaving strangely and they find themselves back at Amy's house in 2010, both terrified about what it all means and knowing that things have gone wrong... and they're about to get much, much worse.
The Big Bang goes off up to the point where the Doctor saves River and Jenny from within the exploding TARDIS, him musing on the fact that the TARDIS' instinct was to not only provide light and heat for the Earth, but also to protect Jenny and River. She freaks out at the appearance of the dying Doctor and later cries out for blood when the Stone Dalek kills her father. River grabs Jenny's arm, whispering something into her ear that gets her to go with Amy and Rory. The three find that the Doctor has disappeared and River arrives after dealing with the Dalek to reiterate Rule #1: The Doctor lies.
The Doctor plans to fly the Pandorica into the heart of the explosion, which should reset everything back to the way it was: Big Bang 2. When she learns that he'll be erased from existence, Jenny is more than reluctant - not just for her own existence, but his. However, the Doctor reminds her that she's a Time Lord... and she was born from a complicated space-time event. River promises the Doctor and she'll look after Jenny and he bids his goodbye, flying away in the Pandorica with that one last "Geronimo!".
When the universe resets, Jenny finds herself in a familiar place - Leadworth. Confused and disoriented, she rises to a familiar voice.
RIVER: Hello, sweetie!
JENNY: Did... did it happen? Is it...?
RIVER: Yes. It's done.
JENNY: My Dad's gone.
RIVER: Yes, that's right. Now we have to do our part.
JENNY: Our part? What... w-what do you mean?
RIVER: Can't you hear the bells? We've got a wedding to get to.
She hands Jenny a light blue dress and the two share a smile as Jenny realizes what she means.
We finally reach that heartwarming moment where all the things swirling around in Amy's head finally come into focus. Seeing River and Jenny in the window, as well as the blank version of River's diary, she's able to remember and brings the Doctor and the TARDIS back. Cue the happy ending for all parties involved. After questioning what the Silence is and if it will return, the Doctor and Jenny take Amy and Rory off for the honeymoon to end all honeymoons, capping off this universe's version of Series 5.
What's next for the intrepid TARDIS crew? Something a little more off-script, more than likely, but we'll see how that goes when we get there. Next time, we're going to be looking into a branching timeline from a different universe... namely, that of Supernatural. When we last left the timeline branching off from Mystery Spot, Lucifer's on the rise and Team Reset has its work cut out for it. Will they succeed in stopping the Apocalypse and resetting the timeline? The only way to find out is to tune in next week.
Be there!
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