[165] doctor who: 5x13 - the big bang recap
happy belated birthday to fleshflutter, freudian_fuckup, vanitykidman, allhisengines and givingtofindyou!
first off, I PASSED MY DRIVING TEST!!! i'm 10 fucking years late, but yo. i got it on my first try and that's saying something - considering how rarely i operate automobiles
I'M SO FREAKING HAPPY! now i just need the rest of my life to fall into place so i can become a productive member of society once more and have the finances to buy a car.
the comments on the ginny-bashing thread that i linked to last night continue to aggravate me. i need to stop reading this shit, i really do. isn't it awesome how even faithwood's thoughtful explanation, which is the most sensible one of the lot, got told off? not.
anywhooooo, now i will finally tell you what i thought of the doctor who finale! aren't you excited? don't lie, i know you are
tl;dr version: I LOVED IT TO BITS.
he's in a tux. and dancing like a complete dork. OMG I LOVE IT.
i loved the plot, how certain loose ends were tied up, and some were not. we found out why amy's house has too many rooms, and how her parents were eaten by the crack. we even got to meet her parents, who were very likeable indeed! we got to see what eleven told her when she was seven. [how tender was the bedside scene with amelia where he talked about being "a daft old man who stole a magic box"? oh, doctor].
i was pretty smug when eleven ended up using river's vortex manipulator to get out of the pandorica, but the best part was how it was grownup!amy sitting inside, being assisted by little amelia, which isn't something i [or anybody i know] considered. i was RIDICULOUSLY happy to see the jacket!doctor theory come true b/c i would've been extremely disappointed if it had remained elaborate fandom speculation. again, i'm happy that the theory didn't pan out exactly as we had assumed it would - instead of the doctor using the cracks to "fix" the universe, he jumped through time to close them. it's as if moffat took all our guesses and expectations and twisted them enough to make them even MORE fabulous, y'know? he ended up doing a "reset" after all, but he did it well, and without disappointing me in any way. WE EVEN GOT A HAPPY ENDING, GUYS!
however, there's still something ominous waiting for us. we don't know how the cracks appeared and who's to blame, and the doctor/river song confrontation is coming up as well. and i LIKE that. i like that part of the mystery has been solved in a neat way, but we still have a number of things to stew over while we wait long months for new episodes. [btw eleven mentions "egyptian goddess on the orient express in space" at the end of the ep. will we meet poirot? I MIGHT DIE OF JOY
]
eleven was MARVELOUS. STUPENDOUS. BRILLIANT. i don't have enough adjectives but he was magnifique, man. literally popping in and out of time? WEARING A BLOODY FEZ? carrying a mop? SO ENTERTAINING. talking about the tardis in such a loving manner [doctor/tardis OTP 4 LYFE, YO] but inserting clues just the same? oboy. then there were the bits where he would act like a complete child at times, but would then exude a feeling of extreme age the next moment. i've said this a number of times before, but it bears repeating - matt smith does a REALLY good job of pulling that off. take the AWESOMESAUCE wedding scene at the end where HE PROCEEDS TO BURST MY OVARIES BY APPEARING IN A SHINY TUX AND TOP HAT, and in the very next scene ACTS LIKE A COMPLETE SPAZ BY DANCING IN A SILLY FASHION WITH THE CHILDREN ♥ x infinity!
i also really enjoyed his interaction with the other characters. he seemed all icked by amy and rory making out [AHAH HE'S SO ALIEN, I LOVE IT] and the exchanges with river song were ~alluring~ and charged with mystery. and of course he had to do what he always does - put the entire universe [ALL the universes in this case] before himself. OH, DOCTOR. always sacrificing yourself. the scene where he kept rewinding made me sad, especially when he seemed heartbroken that he would be forgotten by all. BUT HE WASN'T FORGOTTEN B/C AMY REMEMBERED HIM!!!
i've said before that i started off loving amy pond, but that diminished somewhat during the last few episodes. i seem to have bounced back with the help of the finale! i don't completely adore her yet, but i find her interesting. she's definitely headstrong and set in her ways, and i'm not terribly fond of the way she seems to talk down to rory, but on the other hand, i like that she's feisty. i like that she's outrageously flirtatious - and i especially like that part of the flirting may be due to confidence in herself, and part of it may be due to lack of self-confidence. it's a dichotomy! i love it. i also enjoy that she's clever enough to get out of numerous binds, that she jokes around with the doctor, and that she cares for him enough to REMEMBER HIM BACK TO EXISTENCE.
what i DON'T like is how part of fandom seems set on harping on about the inappropriateness of her comments about "kissing the bride" and "snogging in the shrubbery". THEY'RE MEANT IN JEST. hasn't amy proven how heartbroken she is without rory? she might not express it in the typical fashion, but it's pretty damn obvious. and seriously - i bet if a male character behaved in that same manner, a LOT of the people complaining now wouldn't have any problems at all. here's a wonderful post by kerrikins that discusses this topic in more detail [and with more finesse than i possess!]
as for rory, THE BOY WHO WAITED 2,000 YEARS [for the girl who waited for the doctor] - OH. MY. GOD. guarding her through time as a centurion! punching eleven in the face! wanting a ridiculous miracle [and getting it!] agreeing to the moniker of mr. pond! i love him SO much. i'm thinking the reset turned him back into a proper human, but he still retains his memories of being a plastic [you hear him saying something like "i was plastic!" right before the tardis appears on the dance floor]. think about it - plastic!rory had human!rory's heart and memories b/c of amy's memories, so it makes sense that human!rory would have plastic!rory's memories for the same reason. it would be wicked cool if he retained more than just his memories though, i.e. if he also got to keep his knowledge and survival skills. HE'S TECHNICALLY OLDER THAN THE DOCTOR, ZOMG! it was wonderful to see his and amy's wedding, and i'm really looking forward to seeing BOTH of them as the doctor's companions.
and last but not least, RIVER SONG. i have been a staunch fan of river ever since we first met her in "silence in the library" / "forest of the dead", and i've only grown to love her more with every encounter. SHE KILLED THAT DALEK DEAD. she blew up the doctor's fez in style [even though i love the silly hat, hee]. she seemed genuinely heartbroken that he might not ever meet her due to big bang 2. she somehow managed to survive the reset and return to amy's time, and leave behind "something borrowed, something blue, something old and new". she had a couple of entertaining flirty scenes with eleven where she managed to confuse him and keep him on his toes - which is one of the things i LOVE about her. she even delivered her trademark "spoileeerrrs" line! and best of all, she made a ~suspenseful~ exit that has me really looking forward to the revelations about her character.
what did YOU think of the finale? was there anything missing from your list of wishes? what do you expect from the christmas special and the next season? please share your thoughts with me!
one last thing of note: i have been posting this video EVERYWHERE since i discovered it 2 nights ago. it's already been plastered all over my twitter and facebook and the music forum i participate in [several times, in fact], and now it will grace my lj. LADIES & GENTS, MATT SMITH PERFORMS THE DOCTOR WHO THEME WITH ORBITAL AT GLASTONBURY. BEYOND WICKED. SERIOUSLY. SO AWESOME.
i never knew this was a fantasy of mine until it happened. UGH MATT SMITH, BE MINE FOREVERMORE ♥
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