The 10 Most Emotional Episodes of New Who (Part 2)

5. Turn Left

It is pretty darn difficult to beat Vincent and the Doctor in terms of emotion, but these next five episodes did it for me. Turn Left was an episode based around a rather horrific idea: What if all the aliens from the Doctor Who universe were real, but the Doctor wasn’t around to stop them? What would happen to Earth? The answer is that it would become an incredibly dark and dystopian society that resorted to establishing labour camps to keep the peace and try to put their world back together. Only Donna Noble can return things to normal. This episode leads Donna to an emotional climax in which she realizes that she is important and that she matters. Which ends up setting us all up for some heartbreak later.

4. The End of Time

One of the more divisive episodes of the new series, and it is divisive even in my own mind. Certain parts of this episode dragged, like the farewell tour, but it was all worth it to me for one of the best emotional scenes ever: When Wilf knocks four horrible times on the glass. David Tennant perfectly portrays the Doctor’s frustration with the irony of the situation, and his final decision to let Wilf go free gets me every time. It is a beautiful piece of writing, but Tennant and Bernard Cribbins bring it to a whole new level.

3. The Stolen Earth/Journey’s End

My least favorite finale for so many reasons, The Stolen Earth/Journey’s End is nevertheless packed with emotion. When I first watched the triumphant scene of flying the Earth back home, I knew that the episode was setting us up for something awful in the next 15 minutes. And I was right. First, the character development of Donna Noble is completely and utterly destroyed, leaving her revelation at the end of Turn Left completely forgotten and she returns to a state of self-depreciation that was so heartbreaking to watch in the previous episode. But then it only gets worse as we realize that the Doctor is now completely alone. When Wilf promised to look up at the stars to remember the Doctor for Donna, he officially became my favorite “companion” of all time, and his message is so meaningful. Because everyone needs someone looking out at the stars and wondering where they are.

2. The Girl Who Waited

This is not an episode about an alien world or invasion. This is not even an episode about the Doctor, or at least not as the protagonist. This is an episode about Amy and Rory and one heartbreaking decision. Which wife does Rory choose? And it is so heartbreaking to watch the older Amy locked outside the TARDIS, not allowed to come in, while Rory listens to her final words. It is without a doubt in my mind the best performance from Arthur Darvill and Karen Gillan and I was left looking stunned at my TV screen until the music in the next time trailer for The God Complex came on and slapped me out of it. This episode was incredible.

1. The Time of the Doctor

I am sure I will get some opposition for this one, and I have to say I’m sorry to anyone who was expecting Army of Ghosts/Doomsday. This episode is very personally emotional to me because Eleven is my Doctor. He is the first Doctor I really ever watched and also the Doctor I have felt the strongest connection to, and this episode was all about his character.

As was mentioned at the very beginning of his run, Eleven can’t bear to watch children cry. And I believe that’s why he stays in the town of Christmas. He is such a genuinely good character for so much of his era, and it’s heartbreaking to see this come through and cause his regeneration. This whole episode I just wanted him to run away from Christmas with the TARDIS and just let Trenzalore get blown apart. But he never did it, and that’s why this episode was so emotional for me.

Once again, I’m sorry if some of your most emotional episodes weren’t mentioned, and many of these episodes, especially Time, won’t be as emotional for you if you don’t have the same connections to the stories and characters as I do, but I’m sure everyone can find something in each of these episodes that causes at least a little bit of emotion.