Doctor Who - The God Complex

[chloris]

So I never got to post about The God Complex last weekend what with being sick and then having too much time to think about it - meaning instead of a short bullet points post I have MANY THOUGHTS about the episode and some of how it ties into the rest of the season

Comments

[ericadawn16]

Okay, after this season or perhaps next, I'd love for someone to compare Amy with Gwen. I forgot how fairly degrading Gwen's role in the police was until rewatching the first episode and she's fetching tea! Yep, she was the Ianto there. Then, when married, Gwen insists on keeping her name and now she also has a baby. However, the domestic "bliss" with her husband and baby and no Torchwood seemed to be miserable for her and I'm curious how they're going to portray it for Amy. She hasn't seemed to like it before in "Amy's Choice" or "The Impossible Astronaut

[chloris]

The name thing is a small issue and, like I said, I understand what they were getting at but I wish they had done it in a different way. *shrug* I almost didn't even post about it here but I know there are a number of discussions going on around it so I decided it was worthwhile to bring up.

As for being old-fashioned I don't know how that relates to not seeing women as subservient to men. That is the old-fashioned way of seeing things after all, which is why using the name has so much baggage associated with it.

[beachy_geek]

One thing I haven't seen anyone mention is that whenever the Minotaur "fed" it seemed that so did Gibbis. The goldfish, scrounging food in the hotel kitchen, picking his teeth at the table after Rita was fed upon.

The Doctor also confronted Gibbis with his slyness, saying he used a ruse of fear but in reality he was sly and that was his true means of self-preservation. Frankly, I'm not sure the Minotaur was real either!

I still think somehow this will all echo back to the Time Lord Victorious, yet I'm not convinced RTD and SM would have colluded on a multi-series arc. Would they? (I'm also abstaining from spoilers BTW so that's just my own crackpot theory! I don't even know the title of any of the episodes including the one tonight.)

[chloris]

Oooh! Good point! Now I'm even more convinced that Gibbis was connected to the Minotaur.

The Minotaur did remain after everything stopped so I'm going with it being real but I doubt that it was there for the reason the Doctor thought.

They would not have had to colluded for it to be connected! RTD put it out there and now that Moffat is charge he can use it or not as he pleases the same with anything from the Classic series. However, I would be happy to see an explicit connection there since WoM raised so many questions about the Doctor.

[radiantbaby]

We only have the Doctor's word that the medication was dangerous. What if it wasn't? Eleven especially is wrong frequently. The TARDIS stabilized the paradox of two Amys so it is possible that older!Amy would not fade away just because younger!Amy left. Older, really angry Amy might still be out there. Can you imagine spending 36 years in hell fighting when you didn't have to? And can you imagine the Doctor post The God Complex having to confront her? How could he even fight her? She would be the walking embodiment of his failure.

Reading this made me contemplate if perhaps older!Amy survives, she somehow becomes the (obviously quite bitter toward the Doctor) Mme. Kavorian? That could be really interesting...

[chloris]

That could be! Or they could have done a switch on who is in the astronaut suit and we just think it's River. Just a few more days!

[tempusdominus10]

exactly. then again, moffat said we would have known all along... but how much material does that sweeping broad statement really cover, hrm? awesome!!!! OMG

[tempusdominus10]

That's the thing though; the Minotaur was unable to feed on the Doctor specifically BECAUSE he HAS no faith in himself. He believes wholeheartedly that he knows ( and this is his major delusion) exactly what his current limits are; it's everyone else and sometimes himself that he lies to to perpetuate this belief. And we all ought to remember that if we believe something, it's not faith. It's belief. different part of the emotional food pyramid. YOWZERS!!!!

Plus I think that neither of the Doctors we've seen is the real Doctor. I think RockThatToga!Jesus!Doctor is the real one, the Doctor (Compressed Time) Winston put in the Tower of London, as seen in the preview pics for The Wedding of River Song. OH BABY I'm BEATIN OUT A SAMBA.
It's threefold man, friends.

BORGES FTW

If I'm not right I'll eat a fez.

[chloris]

I don't see that. The Doctor HAD a room unlike Rory so we know (according to the discussion in the episode) that he has faith (not belief, faith or no room needed) in something. Just look at A Good Man Goes to War. He had SUCH faith that he would prevail and demolish his enemies. I know his faith is shaken given how that turned out but I do think he has to have faith in himself (even as he hates himself) or he wouldn't be able to even begin to convince people that he could save them.

As for there being fake!Doctors about that would not surprise me at all! However, much has been made of other Doctors as also being the Doctor so I'm not sure how that's going to play out. (I think it would annoy me for the Doctor not to remember much of season 6 since he wasn't there - other versions were. I don't mind time loops and resets so long as the main characters remember and are affected.)

[tempusdominus10]

That's just it!(ooo this is fun!) his faith is Not in himself. It's in those around him. He has faith in something, that much is clear by his room... if he's REALLY on the eleventh. It's just not in himself. It may be in soemthing that somehow negates the fact that it IS faith, preventing the Minotaur from eating his particular -faith-. Or it may just be a yummy yet infuriating continuity error.

[tempusdominus10]

no, but he would be there, having lived vicariously through the Ganger Doctors. hehHEH!