More thoughts on "The Doctor's Wife"
Predictably, I’ve got more to say about The Doctor’s Wife. I was so “up” after it finished, and I knew I was missing things out or glossing over things in the post I wrote after the episode aired so I wanted to come back to them and mull over them for a bit.
First of all, I have to say that TDW felt like it was written by someone with Doctor Who in his bones. I’m far from an expert on Neil Gaiman and his writing (I’ve read some of his books, but not the comic-books) but the whole thing was just so spot on, with all the throwbacks and references to earlier eras of the show (the junkyard setting and the boxes for example) - nothing felt forced or tacked on, it was all just… there like it had been absorbed by a process of osmosis. It was interesting to hear SM say in the DWC (and that’s the first one I’ve watched since the start of S5, I think) that he could tell that Gaiman was a DW fan.
I said in my first post (and in some comments elsewhere) that this episode had heart. Anyone who’s read any of my other DW-related posts will know that this is something I’ve been banging on about repeatedly, and once again, it’s the star-guest writer who has made me feel like I’ve got my show back. That’s not to say that I think it should be full of hand-wringing each week - God knows, the “let’s see how miserable we can make Ten this week” game that was the final half of S4 can be difficult to cope with on a rewatch (it wasn’t quite so bad when watching episodes week to week) - but this was a fine example of how to handle emotion without becoming saccharine or overly sentimental.
I loved the setting. I have a thing for that sort of mismatched shabbiness in hi-tec environments, which I suspect started with Arthur Dent’s comment about old mattresses in HHG :-)
I was utterly entranced by Suranne Jones’ performance. She had an incredibly fine line to walk because it could easily have become too over the top, but she always kept to the right side of it. She was appropriately bonkers without being out of control and the bickering between her and the Doctor was funny and charming and there was a real sense that here were two people who had been together for ages and who had been through a hell of a lot together. And in the quieter moments, she had a wonderful dignity and pathos and her deep love for her “thief” just shone through.
She’s a very striking looking woman - maybe not conventionally beautiful, but then I don't imagine anything about the TARDIS is "conventional". I thought the costuming was perfect; did anyone else think she had a look of Elsa Lanchester in Bride of Frankenstein? (And before anyone yells at me, no, that’s not meant in any way to be a comment on Matt Smith’s looks!)
And speaking of Matt Smith, what a wonderful job he did as well. His childlike delight when he got the message was delightful - and clearly, he’s told both Amy and Rory about the Time War and his actions at some point off-screen because they both knew he was the last of his kind. And like Rusty’s “507” in the SJA, we get a throwaway line that indicates male Time Lords can regenerate into female ones.
The part about his wanting forgiveness was another of those moments that reminded me why I watch this show. I think it was massively important for Eleven to admit that out loud as well as to himself because I think it was something he wanted desperately as Ten. Ten needed to justify his actions to himself, which I think he did in EoT (his line about the way he chooses to remember the Time Lords was the key to that) and following on from that it makes sense that he’d have needed forgiveness as well… although of course he knew that could never happen. Eleven gets the false hope that it might here - and his anger when he realises that he is still alone after all is pretty scary.
His relationship with Idris/TARDIS is just perfect. In some ways, I’d like to have seen more of it, but I think this is the sort of thing you can only do once and which it’s best to leave on a massive high. I said in my previous post that the line about her taking him where he needed to go made me squeal out loud because that’s been so apparent to anyone watching over the years. And I thought MS played it beautifully. Once he’d got over the initial shock of discovering that the TARDIS’ consciousness had been placed into a human body, it was as though he was both in love for the first time and part of an old married couple. He’s awed and enthralled and absolutely delighted at being able to finally talk to his “old girl” not to mention smitten by her - and Matt was pitch perfect.
As for the goodbye scene… I admit that I cried. One of the things that always gets me about DW is the loneliness of the Doctor. With Ten, the idea that the Doctor who most needed human companionship, the most sociable (probably) Doctor of them all - died alone is an utter killer and is something that it always hurts to think about. And what hurts here is that Eleven and Idris know that this was a one-time, never-to-be-repeated thing. The TARDIS is his one constant, with him through thick and thin, before and after all others; for seven hundred years, they’ve looked after each other but have never been able to say “hello”. And when, through a sheer fluke, they can, it’s also “goodbye”.
*sniff*
And then, having said goodbye - he turns around and chillingly tells her to dispose of the entity that was threatening them.
Those final scenes, the Doctor tinkering around and then talking to her were so touching; he knew she wasn’t going to reply, but he had to try it anyway.
The Amy/Rory subplot wasn’t bad, and was genuinely scary in some places. Okay, so they killed Rory again (sort of - and I’ve seen some interesting theories as to why this might be happening) but I can let them off the hook for that one, seeing as it was part of House’s plan to mess with their heads. I thought that the way “old-man” Rory went for Amy was quite scary; love and hate are often called different sides of the same coin and it was so horrible, the way he turned on her in the scene where he accuses her of leaving him. BUT - that’s interesting because if it’s House messing with Amy’s head the implication is that she’s possessed of an element of guilt about the way she’s treated him, no? If that’s the case, then all I can say to that is that it’s about bloody time.
Oh - and *snerk* at the thing about the bunk-beds!
So thank you, Mr Gaiman, for writing such a stunning episode and for reminding me of what I love about this show. I know you’re a very busy man, but any time you feel like writing us another one…
First of all, I have to say that TDW felt like it was written by someone with Doctor Who in his bones. I’m far from an expert on Neil Gaiman and his writing (I’ve read some of his books, but not the comic-books) but the whole thing was just so spot on, with all the throwbacks and references to earlier eras of the show (the junkyard setting and the boxes for example) - nothing felt forced or tacked on, it was all just… there like it had been absorbed by a process of osmosis. It was interesting to hear SM say in the DWC (and that’s the first one I’ve watched since the start of S5, I think) that he could tell that Gaiman was a DW fan.
I said in my first post (and in some comments elsewhere) that this episode had heart. Anyone who’s read any of my other DW-related posts will know that this is something I’ve been banging on about repeatedly, and once again, it’s the star-guest writer who has made me feel like I’ve got my show back. That’s not to say that I think it should be full of hand-wringing each week - God knows, the “let’s see how miserable we can make Ten this week” game that was the final half of S4 can be difficult to cope with on a rewatch (it wasn’t quite so bad when watching episodes week to week) - but this was a fine example of how to handle emotion without becoming saccharine or overly sentimental.
I loved the setting. I have a thing for that sort of mismatched shabbiness in hi-tec environments, which I suspect started with Arthur Dent’s comment about old mattresses in HHG :-)
I was utterly entranced by Suranne Jones’ performance. She had an incredibly fine line to walk because it could easily have become too over the top, but she always kept to the right side of it. She was appropriately bonkers without being out of control and the bickering between her and the Doctor was funny and charming and there was a real sense that here were two people who had been together for ages and who had been through a hell of a lot together. And in the quieter moments, she had a wonderful dignity and pathos and her deep love for her “thief” just shone through.
She’s a very striking looking woman - maybe not conventionally beautiful, but then I don't imagine anything about the TARDIS is "conventional". I thought the costuming was perfect; did anyone else think she had a look of Elsa Lanchester in Bride of Frankenstein? (And before anyone yells at me, no, that’s not meant in any way to be a comment on Matt Smith’s looks!)
And speaking of Matt Smith, what a wonderful job he did as well. His childlike delight when he got the message was delightful - and clearly, he’s told both Amy and Rory about the Time War and his actions at some point off-screen because they both knew he was the last of his kind. And like Rusty’s “507” in the SJA, we get a throwaway line that indicates male Time Lords can regenerate into female ones.
The part about his wanting forgiveness was another of those moments that reminded me why I watch this show. I think it was massively important for Eleven to admit that out loud as well as to himself because I think it was something he wanted desperately as Ten. Ten needed to justify his actions to himself, which I think he did in EoT (his line about the way he chooses to remember the Time Lords was the key to that) and following on from that it makes sense that he’d have needed forgiveness as well… although of course he knew that could never happen. Eleven gets the false hope that it might here - and his anger when he realises that he is still alone after all is pretty scary.
His relationship with Idris/TARDIS is just perfect. In some ways, I’d like to have seen more of it, but I think this is the sort of thing you can only do once and which it’s best to leave on a massive high. I said in my previous post that the line about her taking him where he needed to go made me squeal out loud because that’s been so apparent to anyone watching over the years. And I thought MS played it beautifully. Once he’d got over the initial shock of discovering that the TARDIS’ consciousness had been placed into a human body, it was as though he was both in love for the first time and part of an old married couple. He’s awed and enthralled and absolutely delighted at being able to finally talk to his “old girl” not to mention smitten by her - and Matt was pitch perfect.
As for the goodbye scene… I admit that I cried. One of the things that always gets me about DW is the loneliness of the Doctor. With Ten, the idea that the Doctor who most needed human companionship, the most sociable (probably) Doctor of them all - died alone is an utter killer and is something that it always hurts to think about. And what hurts here is that Eleven and Idris know that this was a one-time, never-to-be-repeated thing. The TARDIS is his one constant, with him through thick and thin, before and after all others; for seven hundred years, they’ve looked after each other but have never been able to say “hello”. And when, through a sheer fluke, they can, it’s also “goodbye”.
*sniff*
And then, having said goodbye - he turns around and chillingly tells her to dispose of the entity that was threatening them.
Those final scenes, the Doctor tinkering around and then talking to her were so touching; he knew she wasn’t going to reply, but he had to try it anyway.
The Amy/Rory subplot wasn’t bad, and was genuinely scary in some places. Okay, so they killed Rory again (sort of - and I’ve seen some interesting theories as to why this might be happening) but I can let them off the hook for that one, seeing as it was part of House’s plan to mess with their heads. I thought that the way “old-man” Rory went for Amy was quite scary; love and hate are often called different sides of the same coin and it was so horrible, the way he turned on her in the scene where he accuses her of leaving him. BUT - that’s interesting because if it’s House messing with Amy’s head the implication is that she’s possessed of an element of guilt about the way she’s treated him, no? If that’s the case, then all I can say to that is that it’s about bloody time.
Oh - and *snerk* at the thing about the bunk-beds!
So thank you, Mr Gaiman, for writing such a stunning episode and for reminding me of what I love about this show. I know you’re a very busy man, but any time you feel like writing us another one…