Doctor Who RXN
Sep. 18th, 2011 01:15 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rangersylSome vague spoilers for today's episode -- and speculation.
Some thoughts -
I've read several people speculate what was in the Doctor's room - but I thought it was clearly little Amelia. I.e. they were in the Doctor's room at the end. Or was it Amy's room where little Amelia waits and waits and no one ever comes back for her?
The Doctor died within the first ten minutes of the start of this season. It stands to reason, then, that the rest of this season would be about how the Doctor ended up at that desert lakeside. More to the point, how the Doctor came to accept and even cooperate in his own execution.
It's clear now that the Doctor's journey has been one where he's chipped away bit by bit, where he's in effect beaten down to the point of accepting his death sentence. It's very sad to see him despondent.
I can only hope that Moffat will maintain his track record of narrative payoff commensurate with the buildup it takes to get there! Because if the payoff isn't stupendous, I'll feel really down in the dumps about this season. I watched Night Terrors, The Girl Who Waited and The God Complex all in a row tonight and I've got to tell you - it feels like I've been emotionally bludgeoned. It's a huge risk to have three downer episodes all in a row -- I have faith in Moff, but by gum, this better be good!
On the one hand the Pond's departure rings true -- and this just reinforces to me that Eleven is the most emotionally mature of all the Doctors. He is remarkably self-aware (in a way I'm not used to seeing from the Doctor) and made the right choice, given the risks involved. I feel certain this is not the last we'll see of the Ponds, they're surely involved in the finale and to an extent in next season, by several accounts.
I will miss them terribly. But I'm also glad that thusfar, they have not been overly screwed over by the narrative (like all of the RTD companions.)
Yet there's unfinished business. After all the beatings the Doctor has taken this season -- is it time for someone to stand up for him? Surely, he is due for a life-affirming event of some kind? Validation, maybe? So far we've only heard the Silence's spin on the Doctor's life and friendships -- the point of view that he's a purely destructive force who destroys those who love him. As viewers of the show know, that's only one perspective of his narrative. He's also a hero who makes things better, who stands up to tyranny etc.
Will the Doctor's heroic narrative return in the season finale? And how? The official description of the final episode probably sheds some light on this. And oh, I hope so.
Speculation ahead: the Doctor's execution has to do with the Silence, obviously. There are a couple of possibilities -- by the way, I've always assumed that it was River in the astronaut suit and still think that is the case.
The Doctor must be willing to either die or fake his death to get the Silence off his back -- or more likely break their hold on River. It has to be about River, and his own desperate need to repair some of the damage he caused the Pond family.
Does he, like Dumbledore, enlist River's help to kill him? Or does he enlist River's help to fake his death? Faking his death almost certainly involves the use of the ganger!Doctor on some level. And it would truly be karmic for the Doctor to fake out Kovarian the same way she faked him out. The thing about the fake death is it might be too much of a stretch to assume that ganger!Doctor would be able to produce the regeneration fireworks needed to convince the witnesses.
And! If River 'kills' him, which River is it? Does River in The Impossible Astronaut KNOW what happens? By the internal logic of her timeline, it seems that she must. Older Doctor and TIA River were able to sync their diaries. Watch River closely during that two-parter. She's very careful about what she says and does. She diverts Amy away from the issue of the Doctor's death. She says 'Of course not' when she can't kill the Doctor's executioner. And, she's fixated on that spacesuit. I've always felt she treaded very lightly during that story.
We know that the finale involves some serious paradoxes -- so a reset button of some kind is a definite possibility. And more probably, at least to me.
Ooh, one wonders if the paradoxes are the result of a universe where the Doctor really does die? What if River uses a vortex maniuplator to give the Doctor his dose of 'It's a Wonderful Life'. Well, it's a thought.
Looking forward to finding out -- but I'm ready now for some triumphant, happy Doctor now, please? Pretty please?
Some thoughts -
I've read several people speculate what was in the Doctor's room - but I thought it was clearly little Amelia. I.e. they were in the Doctor's room at the end. Or was it Amy's room where little Amelia waits and waits and no one ever comes back for her?
The Doctor died within the first ten minutes of the start of this season. It stands to reason, then, that the rest of this season would be about how the Doctor ended up at that desert lakeside. More to the point, how the Doctor came to accept and even cooperate in his own execution.
It's clear now that the Doctor's journey has been one where he's chipped away bit by bit, where he's in effect beaten down to the point of accepting his death sentence. It's very sad to see him despondent.
I can only hope that Moffat will maintain his track record of narrative payoff commensurate with the buildup it takes to get there! Because if the payoff isn't stupendous, I'll feel really down in the dumps about this season. I watched Night Terrors, The Girl Who Waited and The God Complex all in a row tonight and I've got to tell you - it feels like I've been emotionally bludgeoned. It's a huge risk to have three downer episodes all in a row -- I have faith in Moff, but by gum, this better be good!
On the one hand the Pond's departure rings true -- and this just reinforces to me that Eleven is the most emotionally mature of all the Doctors. He is remarkably self-aware (in a way I'm not used to seeing from the Doctor) and made the right choice, given the risks involved. I feel certain this is not the last we'll see of the Ponds, they're surely involved in the finale and to an extent in next season, by several accounts.
I will miss them terribly. But I'm also glad that thusfar, they have not been overly screwed over by the narrative (like all of the RTD companions.)
Yet there's unfinished business. After all the beatings the Doctor has taken this season -- is it time for someone to stand up for him? Surely, he is due for a life-affirming event of some kind? Validation, maybe? So far we've only heard the Silence's spin on the Doctor's life and friendships -- the point of view that he's a purely destructive force who destroys those who love him. As viewers of the show know, that's only one perspective of his narrative. He's also a hero who makes things better, who stands up to tyranny etc.
Will the Doctor's heroic narrative return in the season finale? And how? The official description of the final episode probably sheds some light on this. And oh, I hope so.
Speculation ahead: the Doctor's execution has to do with the Silence, obviously. There are a couple of possibilities -- by the way, I've always assumed that it was River in the astronaut suit and still think that is the case.
The Doctor must be willing to either die or fake his death to get the Silence off his back -- or more likely break their hold on River. It has to be about River, and his own desperate need to repair some of the damage he caused the Pond family.
Does he, like Dumbledore, enlist River's help to kill him? Or does he enlist River's help to fake his death? Faking his death almost certainly involves the use of the ganger!Doctor on some level. And it would truly be karmic for the Doctor to fake out Kovarian the same way she faked him out. The thing about the fake death is it might be too much of a stretch to assume that ganger!Doctor would be able to produce the regeneration fireworks needed to convince the witnesses.
And! If River 'kills' him, which River is it? Does River in The Impossible Astronaut KNOW what happens? By the internal logic of her timeline, it seems that she must. Older Doctor and TIA River were able to sync their diaries. Watch River closely during that two-parter. She's very careful about what she says and does. She diverts Amy away from the issue of the Doctor's death. She says 'Of course not' when she can't kill the Doctor's executioner. And, she's fixated on that spacesuit. I've always felt she treaded very lightly during that story.
We know that the finale involves some serious paradoxes -- so a reset button of some kind is a definite possibility. And more probably, at least to me.
Ooh, one wonders if the paradoxes are the result of a universe where the Doctor really does die? What if River uses a vortex maniuplator to give the Doctor his dose of 'It's a Wonderful Life'. Well, it's a thought.
Looking forward to finding out -- but I'm ready now for some triumphant, happy Doctor now, please? Pretty please?
no subject
Date: 2011-09-18 10:28 pm (UTC)I think that was Amy's room.
The Doctor died within the first ten minutes of the start of this season. It stands to reason, then, that the rest of this season would be about how the Doctor ended up at that desert lakeside.
That's a good point, and one I hadn't thought of before. Even if the standalone episodes often don't feel connected to the Doctor/River arc, they still lie in its shadow.
And it would truly be karmic for the Doctor to fake out Kovarian the same way she faked him out.
Or the other way around: Kovarian succeeds in having the original Doctor killed, but is taken down by his Ganger. After all, Gangers are people too.
no subject
Date: 2011-09-19 05:44 am (UTC)Theoretically the Flesh Doctor could be the new Doctor, but I somehow don't think that the show would go that direction. Even though gangers are people too.
What I really don't want is a cop out - sending ganger!Doctor off with River, for example.
Crossing fingers!