The benefit of the Pond family is that they have a twofold relationship, they are parents and child, but they also grew up as agemates and best friends.
So they can do practically anything that a normal family or group of twenty-something friends would do. Go bowling, mow the lawn, go to a concert, have dinner, etc. The fun part comes with the characterizations, it's because their relationships are so complex that all those mundane things can become hugely fun and interesting in ways that "normal" families aren't.
For example, say they all went to a concert, and Amy and River got in trouble and Rory had to bail them out. Well, on the one hand, they were all a group of twenty-something friends who had gone to a concert together as friends. But at the same time you could have Rory bawling them out in "dad" mode after bailing them out, because River is his daughter and he expects better of her, and yet, at the same time, River is actually the older and more experienced woman, so she's not going to react the way a chastened twenty year old daughter would, especially not when her "father" is both the same age as her, and considerably younger and less well traveled at the same time.
While Amy, being Amy, would chime in on both sides of the conversation, because she's the most adaptable one to this weird family dynamic, especially considering she has memories of both having, and not having, parents all her life.
So, basically, have them do anything you want. Make lemonade and kabitz on the porch, go shopping for shoes, bake brownies, work on the car, invade each other's privacy, whatever. It's their reactions that made the story interesting. Because they don't react the way "normal" families would. And even if they do, it's the very fact that they aren't a normal family that would make any "normal" reaction hilarious, because they are all so aware that they aren't normal.
That's really insightful! I hadn't thought about that dynamic -- peers AND parents. It speaks to the easy camaraderie between River and Amy and Rory in the episodes before they knew who she was.
And I really like what you said about Amy being the one who can switch between sides of the equation the most easily of the three.
There's something about River though, that we didn't see in the glimpses we got of Mels. I think River craves the mother / daughter connection and finds it easier than Amy to slip into that mode. Rory, of course, never really left the father mode!
So -- to take this further -- if you lock them in a room and let them talk, what kinds of discussions could you see happening?
So they can do practically anything that a normal family or group of twenty-something friends would do. Go bowling, mow the lawn, go to a concert, have dinner, etc. The fun part comes with the characterizations, it's because their relationships are so complex that all those mundane things can become hugely fun and interesting in ways that "normal" families aren't.
For example, say they all went to a concert, and Amy and River got in trouble and Rory had to bail them out. Well, on the one hand, they were all a group of twenty-something friends who had gone to a concert together as friends. But at the same time you could have Rory bawling them out in "dad" mode after bailing them out, because River is his daughter and he expects better of her, and yet, at the same time, River is actually the older and more experienced woman, so she's not going to react the way a chastened twenty year old daughter would, especially not when her "father" is both the same age as her, and considerably younger and less well traveled at the same time.
While Amy, being Amy, would chime in on both sides of the conversation, because she's the most adaptable one to this weird family dynamic, especially considering she has memories of both having, and not having, parents all her life.
So, basically, have them do anything you want. Make lemonade and kabitz on the porch, go shopping for shoes, bake brownies, work on the car, invade each other's privacy, whatever. It's their reactions that made the story interesting. Because they don't react the way "normal" families would. And even if they do, it's the very fact that they aren't a normal family that would make any "normal" reaction hilarious, because they are all so aware that they aren't normal.
I hope that helps.
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And I really like what you said about Amy being the one who can switch between sides of the equation the most easily of the three.
There's something about River though, that we didn't see in the glimpses we got of Mels. I think River craves the mother / daughter connection and finds it easier than Amy to slip into that mode. Rory, of course, never really left the father mode!
So -- to take this further -- if you lock them in a room and let them talk, what kinds of discussions could you see happening?
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