Doctor Who episode reactions
Sep. 18th, 2011 12:55 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tardis_stowawayI decided to post about "The God Complex," then realized that I never posted about "The Girl Who Waited." I'll cover TGWW briefly first, then move on the the latest episode.
I loved "The Girl Who Waited." It's easily my second favorite episode of S6 after "The Doctor's Wife." I appreciated that they addressed the fact that being known for waiting for the Doctor is really problematic. I love that older Amy had built herself a sonic probe and shown just how capable she can be on her own. Of course she was broken as well as badass; decades without another human presence will do that to a person. Karen Gillan's acting was amazing, which quite frankly surprised me. My general impression was that she wasn't bad, but somewhat more limited than some of the talented people who have filled companion roles in New Who. Karen, I'm happy to be proven wrong.
The idea of companions becoming versions of the Doctor is one of my favorite of DW's recurring themes. I was excited to see it in play again here in both older Amy's sonic device (and solitary brokenness) and Rory's protest about the Doctor forcing him to choose an Amy. I loved the Amys seing each other, younger Amy seeing how much she is capable of and older Amy seeing how much potential for happiness and love her younger self had. Older Amy forgives her younger self's naivete and blind, foolish faith in the Doctor and changes her own history. (You know, if they'd taken older Amy away in the TARDIS instead of younger Amy, she would have had much less of a problem in "The God Complex.")
So, on to The God Complex! This was an interesting episode with many things I enjoyed, but not 100% successful and with a few things that really irritated me. I liked the premise of the hotel full of nightmare rooms that broke a person's brain until they went gladly to be eaten by the minotaur, though for me the episode wasn't quite as scary as I would have liked. (Exception: the ventriloquist dummies were creepy as hell.) Rita was an excellent single-episode character, and I admit to being amused by the running gag of the guy from the universe's most-conquered planet. (My initial impulse was to wonder how a place got attacked more than Earth in the Whoniverse, but I guess Earth is often attacked but rarely actually conquered.)
So, we never found Rory's room and the minotaur couldn't feed off him. Rory Williams has neither fear nor faith in any external forces. Has the show decided to take the characterization of Rory entirely from Rory Williams facts then? I don't know how I feel about that. Rory is an awesome BAMF, but taking BAMFhood to an extreme without allowing weakness just flattens a character.
I hadn't foreseen the twist that the creature was feeding not on fear but on faith. Of course we then had to have a "Curse of Fenric" moment with the Doctor breaking Amy's faith in him. I really liked the intercutting between grown Amy and wee Amelia. I really, really disliked the Doctor dubbing her "Amy Williams." I literally said "fuck you!" at my screen when he said that, not sure if I was talking to the Doctor or the writers.
I guess the show was trying to use a marriage name change as shorthand for leaving behind her childish self and growing up, but that's an offensively patriarchal way to do it. (Meaning no offense to anyone who does choose to change their name at marriage! Your choice is valid. However, while we don't know what's on her official documents, every indication we have on the show is that Amy chose to marry Rory but keep her own name, and the Doctor needs to respect that choice.) To quote IO9's review of the episode, it's "as if he's finally transferring ownership of her from himself to Rory? Or saying that she should become her own person, by becoming an extension of Rory?" While Rory mildly objected to being called a Pond at their wedding, it was a pretty token protest and afterwards he seemingly decided to accept the delightfully nonconventional dynamics of their marriage (and the fact that Pond is just a more interesting name than Williams. Pond is a superhero name.) I get that the Doctor had to be an asshole to destroy Amy's faith in him, but that was just an unnecessary attack on her selfhood. Tell her to stop being the girl who waited, but do it by telling Amelia Pond that it's time to be the hero of her own fairytale, unattached to him.
I wasn't expecting the Ponds to get left behind at this episode, though I wasn't sad since I'm pretty certain this isn't the last of them. At the very end of a series I'd believe it, and maybe even right in the middle of the series, but this late in the series is a weird place to wrap up a companion arc since there's not time to establish anyone new. Also, there's those casting spoilers for next year (though I would love it if there was a fake out on that). I liked the goodbye scene with Amy, though I'm pissed off at the Doctor for denying Rory a goodbye.
Finally, it was really fortunate that breaking only Amy's faith was enough to let the minotaur die. If they'd had to break cowardly dude's faith in the power of surrender, they'd be in trouble. If they'd had to break the Doctor's faith, they'd have been up shit creek. When Amy asked the Doctor what he believed in and he changed the subject, I'm sure I'm not the only person who got really excited because we know what the Doctor believes in.
He believes in Rose Tyler, and the devil himself couldn't shake that belief. Eleven might not need her at his side to function any more, but I don't think regeneration is more powerful than Satan at destroying beliefs.
I loved "The Girl Who Waited." It's easily my second favorite episode of S6 after "The Doctor's Wife." I appreciated that they addressed the fact that being known for waiting for the Doctor is really problematic. I love that older Amy had built herself a sonic probe and shown just how capable she can be on her own. Of course she was broken as well as badass; decades without another human presence will do that to a person. Karen Gillan's acting was amazing, which quite frankly surprised me. My general impression was that she wasn't bad, but somewhat more limited than some of the talented people who have filled companion roles in New Who. Karen, I'm happy to be proven wrong.
The idea of companions becoming versions of the Doctor is one of my favorite of DW's recurring themes. I was excited to see it in play again here in both older Amy's sonic device (and solitary brokenness) and Rory's protest about the Doctor forcing him to choose an Amy. I loved the Amys seing each other, younger Amy seeing how much she is capable of and older Amy seeing how much potential for happiness and love her younger self had. Older Amy forgives her younger self's naivete and blind, foolish faith in the Doctor and changes her own history. (You know, if they'd taken older Amy away in the TARDIS instead of younger Amy, she would have had much less of a problem in "The God Complex.")
So, on to The God Complex! This was an interesting episode with many things I enjoyed, but not 100% successful and with a few things that really irritated me. I liked the premise of the hotel full of nightmare rooms that broke a person's brain until they went gladly to be eaten by the minotaur, though for me the episode wasn't quite as scary as I would have liked. (Exception: the ventriloquist dummies were creepy as hell.) Rita was an excellent single-episode character, and I admit to being amused by the running gag of the guy from the universe's most-conquered planet. (My initial impulse was to wonder how a place got attacked more than Earth in the Whoniverse, but I guess Earth is often attacked but rarely actually conquered.)
So, we never found Rory's room and the minotaur couldn't feed off him. Rory Williams has neither fear nor faith in any external forces. Has the show decided to take the characterization of Rory entirely from Rory Williams facts then? I don't know how I feel about that. Rory is an awesome BAMF, but taking BAMFhood to an extreme without allowing weakness just flattens a character.
I hadn't foreseen the twist that the creature was feeding not on fear but on faith. Of course we then had to have a "Curse of Fenric" moment with the Doctor breaking Amy's faith in him. I really liked the intercutting between grown Amy and wee Amelia. I really, really disliked the Doctor dubbing her "Amy Williams." I literally said "fuck you!" at my screen when he said that, not sure if I was talking to the Doctor or the writers.
I guess the show was trying to use a marriage name change as shorthand for leaving behind her childish self and growing up, but that's an offensively patriarchal way to do it. (Meaning no offense to anyone who does choose to change their name at marriage! Your choice is valid. However, while we don't know what's on her official documents, every indication we have on the show is that Amy chose to marry Rory but keep her own name, and the Doctor needs to respect that choice.) To quote IO9's review of the episode, it's "as if he's finally transferring ownership of her from himself to Rory? Or saying that she should become her own person, by becoming an extension of Rory?" While Rory mildly objected to being called a Pond at their wedding, it was a pretty token protest and afterwards he seemingly decided to accept the delightfully nonconventional dynamics of their marriage (and the fact that Pond is just a more interesting name than Williams. Pond is a superhero name.) I get that the Doctor had to be an asshole to destroy Amy's faith in him, but that was just an unnecessary attack on her selfhood. Tell her to stop being the girl who waited, but do it by telling Amelia Pond that it's time to be the hero of her own fairytale, unattached to him.
I wasn't expecting the Ponds to get left behind at this episode, though I wasn't sad since I'm pretty certain this isn't the last of them. At the very end of a series I'd believe it, and maybe even right in the middle of the series, but this late in the series is a weird place to wrap up a companion arc since there's not time to establish anyone new. Also, there's those casting spoilers for next year (though I would love it if there was a fake out on that). I liked the goodbye scene with Amy, though I'm pissed off at the Doctor for denying Rory a goodbye.
Finally, it was really fortunate that breaking only Amy's faith was enough to let the minotaur die. If they'd had to break cowardly dude's faith in the power of surrender, they'd be in trouble. If they'd had to break the Doctor's faith, they'd have been up shit creek. When Amy asked the Doctor what he believed in and he changed the subject, I'm sure I'm not the only person who got really excited because we know what the Doctor believes in.
He believes in Rose Tyler, and the devil himself couldn't shake that belief. Eleven might not need her at his side to function any more, but I don't think regeneration is more powerful than Satan at destroying beliefs.
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(no subject)
Date: 2011-09-18 09:08 am (UTC)*high five*
And now I'll slink away.
(no subject)
Date: 2011-09-18 09:09 am (UTC)And they'd have had a real nail-biting episode. With an empowering message. Just sayin'.
(no subject)
Date: 2011-09-18 08:44 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2011-09-18 07:41 pm (UTC)I don't buy that. That is what the show was suggesting, but I don't think it's true. Rory may be a lot braver than he was, and he's certainly tougher, but he was pretty freaked out as recently as the dollhouse episode. But as it turned out, the minotaur wasn't feeding on fear, anyway, so it was sort of a moot point.
I think Rory does have faith in things and people as well, although perhaps he doesn't have a guiding faith that would be strong enough for the minotaur to feed on. Someone else mentioned that Rory's biggest faith is his faith in Amy, but that isn't a blind faith--he does see and acknowledge that she's not perfect. So maybe it was too down to earth as faith goes?
(no subject)
Date: 2011-09-18 08:56 pm (UTC)I don't actually think it's true either, which is why I'm a little miffed that it's what the show implied. Certainly Amy being dead/rejecting him would be a huge fear for Rory. I like your point that the monster perhaps couldn't feed on Rory because he lacked a single guiding faith, even if he wasn't entirely faithless. I wouldn't characterize Rory's feelings for Amy as faith. He sees her faults, and he has on occasion doubted whether she loves him more than the Doctor.
(no subject)
Date: 2011-09-20 11:02 am (UTC)What eventually drives them back however, is the Doctor's faith — as he chants the names of his former companions, the haemovores scream and retreat. The Doctor explains that faith forms a psychic barrier that the haemovores cannot penetrate.
(no subject)
Date: 2011-09-22 03:16 am (UTC)