Doctor Who Season 7 Episode 5...Spoilers

[rabid1st]

Here's a huge surprise...I liked it. There's been a lot of restraint this season and it suits me. But, of course, that probably means something.

I loved the voice-over from the detective guy. I only wish that we hadn't switched to River and that the Doctor had been reading the original book. Remember when the Doctor used to have these brilliant flashes and figure stuff out without someone holding his hand all the time? I do. But okay, River takes over in a jarring note. Is it another of those jarring notes we find in, what I'm going to call, this parallel season? Possibly it is on purpose and in REAL time the REAL Doctor was reading about the first detective and just wanted to investigate. I haven't really discussed it here, but I feel the season is running a parallel of Ganger Doctor and Real Doctor doing stuff. Hence the bow tie switching, though, to be fair, that could be about time passing.

The feeling I have that was brought on by Matt Smith being less annoying this season. I feel that, like Amy acting as if she was 7 years old through S5 and really irking me, this personality shift of Matt's is on purpose and means something. As for bow ties, eggs and what have you...go ahead and wonder about them if you like. To me, it is Matt being less annoying that is the biggest clue by far to something being quite off with the Doctor. Also, two Doctors running parallel will be able to save Oswin and also Amy and Rory. I'm just saying.

So, what else? Angels. Creepy as ever. The Statue of Liberty delighted me, even though it probably made the least amount of sense. I saw it coming from the moment we flashed on it. But someone is ALWAYS watching the Statue of Liberty, so it would never shift. That would be like the perfect Angel trap. Also, we have River, nailing it on the head about what is wrong with Moff's Doctor, her marriage and her entire "I am so cute you have to love me" routine. It is sad and pathetic. SIGH! But if you love River you can't process how sad it is that she is acting out a pretend life and must be young and entertaining forever, because her supposed husband is unable to handle the natural stresses of human life.

This is the core of what went so very wrong at Journey's End. But while Moff addresses it, here, there is no sign that it truly is going to impact his work. I am left with the impression that he feels that it is just the way it is. That it is fine for the Doctor to be this false god and play with people while they can keep up with him. This is underlined in The Power of Three, too. "Oh, but I can't handle reality. It is too slow and boring for me. You people are my young and entertaining toys. Don't ever age or die." Tom Baker should be outraged. William Hartnell is wondering where it all went so wrong. As I've said a hundred times...THAT is why going with Rose was so very important for the Doctor as a character. When RTD failed to show the Doctor was a hero (aka a person able to face his fears) he undermined the character and Moff ran with that.

Sad we have to see this eye-opening moment from River just before the Ponds depart, because it leaves a really bad odor hanging behind it. But, fans of Eleven won't notice. And Amy and Rory (especially Rory) were pretty magnificent. I wish they didn't have to contend with two petulant children like The Doctor and River, but at least River shows signs of growing up here. And we know she wouldn't want to change a thing, in the end, so she's obviously a better woman than me. I just couldn't tolerate such nonsense. True love, for lesser mortals, won out when Amy stepped up on that ledge. And, in previous episodes, we saw that Amy and Rory were growing tired of the make-believe world of River and the Doctor anyway. But, of course, it is fun for a time. Again, Peter Pan syndrome in full swing there Moff. SIGH!

I see people are talking about the Paradox factor in all of this. Well, Moff made that up. And it is only 1938 and the real question is why Rory still had any life energy to steal once he had it stolen in the first place? However, I am going with Rory is extra special with cream sauce due to his extra long life span as a Centurian and maybe some TARDIS mojo tossed in for good measure. So, he had a couple of lifetimes to give to the Angel cause. And here I mean...he was zapped back to 1938 and then back again. But so was the detective. So, perhaps it is all explained by another form of zapping...one that doesn't take years off of you. I've always wondered about those years anyway, because you still are free to live them in another time. So, maybe all the Angels need to do is send someone back and back and back. It is just that the people die on them. I suspect though that this is one of those things that Moff just pulled out of his head and went with it. I shall maybe watch again to see if I see some explanation. The graveyard is linked to the Paradox, because that's where the Ponds gravestone will appear at the end. So, when the TARDIS tries to get through the ongoing Paradox, it ricochets to the point it will need to be after all is said and done. K? Sorted!

I am pleased to report that I did cry when Amy said her goodbye. Then Matt ruined it with his blubbering and River went on with inappropriate flirting, showing little concern for parents she never seemed to care much about anyway. I would think being Amy's best friend would make her somewhat connected to them. But she can't have those feelings, part Time Lord maybe. So tiresome. But there you go.

Comments

[asahifirsa.livejournal.com]

I thought Amy's goodbye has two problems: 1st it was too rushed (I'm not even going to mention that Rory didn't get one at all), 2nd it was basically the Doctor telling her to ditch her husband and keep traveling with him.

Something like "Have a fantastic life, Pond" once he realized she would go after Rory would have made it a million times better.

[rabid1st.livejournal.com]

For some reason my first reply didn't seem to go to you. It was some further ranting, see below. But, I did like this episode. And I did find Amy and Rory dignified in the end, despite the continuing childishness of the Matt/Moff Doctor.

[asahifirsa.livejournal.com]

Oh, I thought Amy and Rory were fabulous in this ep! My beef is with the Doctor and the time they gave the viewer to say goodbye.

[rabid1st.livejournal.com]

Well, the Doctor is now a God/Child and so it is all about him. This is what I see, I see Moff's childish man reflected in his creation. RTD maybe wasn't able to face killing Rose and so he couldn't do what needed to be done. But Moff just feels this is all the way it should be and so the magnificent Doctor from Old School is gone...and so is the gravitas of the show as a whole. As you say, it was rushed, and we feel the impact of how disposable people are to him. He used to leave people behind all the time. But with dignity and grace, not blubbering.

[asahifirsa.livejournal.com]

I think this has become a recurring topic: The Doctor isn't able to do something, so the others have to do it for him.

I noticed it in Waters of Mars (she had to commit suicide), but we had it recently in Mercy (he had to commit suicide) and Manhattan (River had to break her wrist as the Doctor wouldn't do it for her). There were many other instances, but I can't recall them right now.

In short, he does not want to face the consequences of his doing.

[sensiblecat.livejournal.com]

As I've said on my own LJ, the Doctor seems to have deteriorated from emotional cripple to emotional vampire. I have a friend whose dad moved back in with his mother when his wife had a baby. I see a lot of that in Eleven. The only child Amy is allowed to have is him. He doesn't even want Rory around really. I found the little scene where he fixes River's wrist very sad, because basically she's the daughter telling her mother to leave her abusive father while she still can, before he damages her so much she can't bring herself to go. However, none of it is really followed through. We don't see the journey that River has been on, that's led to her becoming completely disillusioned with the total self sacrifice she offered Eleven when she married him.

What's she getting out of this marriage, really? He comes and goes as he pleases. He cares more about Amy than her. River, for all her sass and awesomeness, is the mistress basing every life decision on her part-time lover. It's a male fantasy personified. And then, if you stop and think for two minutes about the ghastliness of River's childhood, all inflicted on her because of what was going on between the Doctor and his enemies, you wonder how she can stand the sight of him.

I hope you're right, that there's something up with him. When Ten went off the rails, at least you could see his fall had begun with warped moral authority, the intention to do good perverted. And I'm not sure SM intends to have Eleven redeem himself morally. We'll have to see.

Do you think it's possible that all the S7 episodes leading up to TATM actually happen after those events - ie, Eleven is breaking the rules by slipping back to visit them? After all, if he's been erased from the world's files (though in that case, how can Kate Stewart remember him), that's a scary lack of accountability.

[rabid1st.livejournal.com]

I do think that something is up with the Doctor, but I am not sure that Moff knows that Eleven should be morally redeemed for these atrocities. What saddens me is that Moff has taken things that RTD set in motion in School Reunion and made them essential parts of the Doctor's character. As I said at JE though, that was the logical conclusion to draw, that the Doctor was a coward and a selfish prig at hearts.

The Lonely God idea, was, I believe, meant to be refuted. But River arrives in the library episodes by Moff and underscores how her Doctor is a God. Snapping his fingers at the TARDIS? Such arrogance. Now River is the Mortal woman sacrificed on the altar of love. And there can be no true love with a Doctor who is at best acting out a play where he keeps River happy and at worst is, as you say, an emotional vampire preying on her vulnerability. Those of us who continue to be fans of Rose, liked the Doctor uncovering some deeper communion with humanity. And instead we have him alienated and truly unlikable at the core now.

As for emotional continuity, well, we never have that with Moff. We are simply asked to accept most of the River love on faith anyway. Had he started with her great conceit and then taken the time to prove her to us, I might have been converted. But we have never seen any evidence of a deeper devotion between them, beyond superficial "Yowza"s. My feeling is that Moff, himself, has no deeper emotions than those on display here. So, I don't expect him to realize how repugnant it all is. I am slightly surprised he had the balls to address any of this, but his explanations given in The Power of Three that the Doctor is running TOWARD great stuff...is probably all he thinks we need.

In other words, what River and Amy and Rory got out of the relationship was a chance to hold on to a God for a few seconds, to hang out in his world. I can just see Rose Marion Tyler sapping about like that and calling him a God. HA! But that was the problem that people like Moff had with her...she didn't worship their Doctor, she was just to plain and familiar for their God.

I do think that the S7 episodes are turned about on themselves in some way. It is Moff's standard trick. And I feel that the erasing of his identity from the files of the universe leads to the continued Doctor Who question, which (again, RTD started and) Moff has corrupted into something very annoying. I need to rewatch Episode 1 to see how familiar Oswin is with him. Of course, I'm not sure that she sees him until he arrives at her Dalek self.

I should go read your thoughts now.

[asahifirsa.livejournal.com]

You're right about Rose. She loved him, but not as "The Doctor" but as another person. From face to face so to say. That's what I really liked about her. The only other companion in new Who that took him at face value from the beginning was Donna. Let's see what Oswin/Clara will bring to the table.

[phdelicious.livejournal.com]

I think we do have a messed up timeline here - but I don't think its a Ganger. At one point the Doctor mentions his age and there's a huge gap from what I remember it being. I think we've been watching the linear timeline from Rory/Amy's perspective, but seeing a future Doctor at least part of the time. Hence the moment in Dinosaurs.

I had some issues with the pacing and the plot similar to those you've pointed out, but emotionally I'm more satisfied with this ending for the Ponds than I've been for anyone else other than Martha.

Actually - my biggest problem with this half-series so far isn't with Moff being Moff, but with the fact that he seems to be thumbing his nose at the previous seasons of New Who and presenting RTD's ideas as if they're his. -Never had a gang before -Don't travel alone -Better with 3 etc.

[rabid1st.livejournal.com]

I hear you about that presentation of RTD ideas as Moff's. Perhaps, it was always there underneath. I am almost hopeful that it means something and Rose's Bad Wolf is going to make an appearance for the anniversary, what with the two references to her that I spotted so far. And if anyone was ever a false god, it is Eleven. But, that's just my idea, probably Moff is only out of ideas of his own and wants to clarify stuff for us.

So, to sum up, if I thought that Moff was going to do anything to redeem this Doctor, if I thought he realized that we NEED redemption, I might find it all more interesting. But I think Moff is just excusing the Doctor's childish worldview and laying it back on RTD, who did, in fact, start it.

[rabid1st.livejournal.com]

I enjoyed the Pond's exit. It has slim competition though, with Donna and Rose being shafted, so...:grin:

Rae