While on a little visit to France, Donna just happens to run into a handsome, charming prince of a lovely little out-of-the-way country called Goritania, which the Doctor's never heard of (not at all suspicious, that). One thing quickly leads to another, despite the Doctor's best efforts, and Prince Rudolph proposes to Donna.
Well, there's no way that will turn out badly, is it? After all, Donna can't have bad luck at every wedding, right? And the Doctor's got the mystery of how the heck he's never heard of this "Goritania" and its utterly bizarre five hundred years of peace to keep him out of trouble.
Tropes:
- Amazon Chaser: Relatively speaking. Donna's not exactly an amazon by 21st century London standards, but to a sheltered prince from the 1750s, she is. It's one of the reasons Rudolph crushes on her.
- Anachronism Stew: Invoked by Donna, who's teaching her subjects to read via Jackie Collins books.
- Backhanded Compliment: Donna calls the Doctor out on the fact he can't even properly compliment her (apparently quite large and ridiculous looking) wedding dress.
- Be Careful What You Wish For: Donna finally meets a fairy tale prince. Charming, gorgeous, rich... shame he's looking for a bride to sacrifice to an alien con-artist so he can keep his country safe.
- Buffy Speak: The "wheely thing", by which Donna means "roulette".
- Call-Back:
- Once again, someone mistakes the Doctor and Donna for romantic partners.
- Donna asks if the Doctor's going to ruin every wedding she's at. And once again, the man proposing only did so because he needs Donna for his own purposes (though Rudolph's nicer about it than Lance, and does genuinely love Donna).
- Continuity Nod: As the Doctor tries to reassure himself about Donna leaving, he laments how even K-9 left him. "Twice."
- Copycat Mockery: The Doctor briefly imitates the Mephistole avatar's extremely deep voice when responding to it.
- Cruel and Unusual Death: The Mephistole doesn't exactly reassure Donna when she asks if the death it's planning for her will be quick. Its response is a blunt no.
- Deal with the Devil: How the Mephistoles operate. They are the experts on perception filters, which only come with the teeny, tiny little problem that in order to maintain the contract, the odd person has to be sacrificed.
- Description Cut: Donna describing how she's enjoying all the perks of being royalty are met with her, unsurprisingly, complaining about something.
- Dramatic Irony: At the very end, Donna says she knows the only way she's going to get a happy ending is if she stays with the Doctor. Weeeellll... she's sort of right.
- Evil Sounds Deep: The Mephistole speaks in a deep, booming voice.Mephistole: I am Death. The price must be paid.
- "Eureka!" Moment: The Doctor realising the language on the Goritanian banner can't be read.
- Failed Attempt at Drama: The Doctor, trying to point out there's a problem, tells the Queen to look out the window. Er, not the one he's pointing at, obviously, that's stained glass. And the one next to it... and, indeed, so is every window in the room.
- Falling-in-Love Montage: Donna and Rudolph get one, despite some pretty spirited interruptions from the Doctor.
- Flashback Cut: Every time Donna tells the Doctor about the perks of royal living in the 1700s, it cuts to what she actually experienced.
- Gratuitous French: Donna engages in a bit of it at the beginning, despite the TARDIS translation circuits. The Doctor keeps pointing out she doesn't need to.
- Kick the Dog: The Mephistole tells the Doctor it's not good him trying to perform a Heroic Sacrifice in Donna's stead. He's after someone who's loved.Mephistole: After all, who loves you? No one.The Doctor: Hey, steady on...
- Know When to Fold 'Em: With their avatar destroyed and their army beaten up, the Mephistoles are convinced to just give up and go away, which they do, figuring they've already expended too much.
- Lighter and Softer: Even with Donna being lined up for a sacrifice, and the ominous sounding alien, the tone is still generally light.
- Moment Killer: The Doctor, any time Donna and Rudolph start getting... cosy. They eventually flee all the way back to Goritania just to get the heck away from him.
- Planet of Hats: The Mephistoles specialize in perception filters, alternating between con artists (albeit ones who do actually provide the service they're offering) or extremely evil lawyers.
- Punctuated! For! Emphasis!: If the queen's not being icy or snarky, she's this.
- The Revolution Will Not Be Villified: At the end, it's suggested Hortense the maid will probably overthrow the royal family and turn Goritania into a republic. Or, as the Doctor puts it, "Generalisimo Hortensia of the People's Republic of Goritania". He doesn't seem to mind the notion.
- Skewed Priorities: As a giant death cloud sweeps through Goritania, the queen decides to hold a wedding. Subverted when it turns out there is actually a good reason for this... just not a nice one.
