The Whovian Files: hmmm
This episode was... On the whole disappointing. Not from a plot point of view, or an excitement point of view, or even, to some extent, a writing point of view. No. I have my reasons and shall state them in a minute.
I feel I should say that I did actually try to update you guys on my life. You see, yesterday I wrote a massive post. It was over 1000 words and it was all about my stomach pain (for my clueless readers - I'm have stomach pain 90% + of the time and no-one knows what's wrong with me). It was cathartic and explained all my feelings because I desperately needed some of my friends to understand, because my real life ones never will. And there was even a feminist comment in there which I think would have interested you guys no end.
But alas, the new LJ format confuses me and I lost it all while putting it under and LJ cut (I pressed enter twice accidentally when writing the cut text and THE WHOLE POST AFTER THE CUT DISAPPEARED). In fact, that was the last straw and I ended up sobbing uncontrollably and falling into a deep depression which lasted all evening and night. It's ok though cos I watched Avatar and got better eventually :P
Anyway. One day soon I'll attempt to write it all again, because I want to, but in the meantime have this Doctor Who review.
1: The Misogyny
So. I recently found out Moffat is a huge misogynist. Yes, I know the signs were there and maybe I'm a bad person for not picking up on them (I think it's cos I tend to take things at face value unless I suspect there's something else going on so yeah). But anyway, now I know I can't stop seeing it. Also IMO I think he's got worse in the latest season but whatever. And this episode was just... All of his misogyny. All of it.
WHY IS IT AUTOMATICALLY ON CENTRE OMG I HATE THE NEW FORMAT
To continue then. There were two main misogynystic things that jumped out at me in this episode. First, and worst, the way the Doctor talks to and about Amy. He is constantly patronising her (which has gone beyond the teacher-like charm it originally had to downright ickily condescending) and treating her like an idiot when she has on many occasions proven herself to be beyond average intelligence. What he said about her... Well, let's allow the lines to speak for themselves, shall we?
"A judgement death machine... yeah, sounds like Amy."
In fact that's the only one I can remember but I know there was at least one more when I was like OH NO HE DIDN'T.
And this is just... the most upsetting part of Moffat's misogyny. I can cope with him underwriting Amy (more about this in a sec). I can cope with him constantly putting her in outfits that show off her legs (cos let's face it, they are gorgeous). What I CANNOT cope with is how he is CORRUPTING THE DOCTOR. By channelling his own opinion of women through one of the best and longest loved characters in the history of British television, he is defacing a legend (yes I know that word can't strictly be used in any other sense than physically defacing something but fuck it, I think the meaning is appropriate here) and betraying the millions of fans who have admired the Doctor's character for generations. For whatever his flaws, until now I'm fairly certain the Doctor couldn't be called a misogynist.
But Moffat seems determined to rectify that.
The other misogynist thing that is pissing me off is Rory upstaging Amy. Now, don't get me wrong, I adore Rory. I do. And his character development is one of my favourites of the entire show and his part in this episode was wonderful and made me love him more.
But this should not have been done at the expense of Amy. Because she basically just stood there THE ENTIRE EPISODE (I'll come to her action to protect River in my next point) while Rory was all awesome. Last season she would have been as active as he was, talked way more, and just basically have had a bigger role in the episode and had more character. Moffat seems to be going back to the old idea of two companions, which is great, but what is decidedly not great is how he's bringing back outdated ideas about men taking action while women watch. Ugh. I want them both to be doing stuff and being awesome.
2: OOC Amy
I've already touched on how Amy's been sort of losing her character this season. Well, this episode was a perfect example of how the Amy we knew is disappearing. She's become this bossy/overbearing wife/woman stereotype, who doesn't actually do anything that important. I could go over and analyse where this has happened in the past season (and don't worry, I know there are times when this assessment has not been true at all, and such occurences are sources of hope for me) but I really cba and I doubt you want to read it either. Let's just take this episode as an example, shall we?
She's criticised the whole time for being bossy, judgemental etc etc. She is hardly the rushing around, adventuring Amy we knew. And oh yes, there's another thing.
SHE JUST LOST HER CHILD.
Maybe it's Moffat's fault for the writing or direction, maybe it's Karen's downfall acting-wise, but I cannot see ANY EVIDENCE of this OBVIOUS TRAUMA in Amy. Losing a child, especially if your child has been kidnapped by a cult which you know is going to brainwash her (there were plenty of hints in the preceding episode, what with her being created as a weapon) would dramatically harm any mother's psyche, maybe irrepably so. But in this episode I saw no sign of distress, worry, grief, or depression in Amy. She isn't trying to get the Doctor to find her daughter, and when she does rarely talk about her she's flat and dispassionate.
Please don't get me wrong. I adore Karen Gillian's acting and characterisation of Amy. Karen's acting has brought me to tears many a time (because of the truth of her conveyance of Amy's feelings, not because her acting's bad lol). I have no clue what went wrong this episode because to me she seemed a little flat and wooden.
Anyway let's move on to my main point.
Remember that bit when Melody's being tortured in the bubble and Amy's on the ship watching the Doctor die and her daughter in intense pain?
Remember how she just stood there, showing no emotion but worry, hiding in Rory's arms?
I don't know about you, but I know if my daughter were being tortured, maybe to death, by people I was less than 2 feet away from and if I weren't restrained...
Well. I would go BESERK. I would tear that ship apart. I would tear those PEOPLE apart until they stopped causing my daughter pain. I would have screamed and screamed and...
I could go on but I'm sure you get the picture. And from the amount of distress I see my mum in when I'm in pain and she can do nothing, I doubt I'm alone in feeling this way.
Again, I'm sure this was partly a writing and direction fault. But when Amy eventually sprang into action, after basically being told what to do and being nagged into doing it, there was hardly any passion. Karen certainly didn't convey the depth of urgency and force that I feel a mother would be oozing in that particular situation (yes, one can ooze urgency and force, I have decided).
Anyway you get my point. This was disappointing on so many levels and definitely, DEFINITELY out of character for Amy.
3: Hitler
I'm sorry, but when Hitler is portrayed as a bufoon I find it very upsetting. Why? Well, if he is shown to be incompetant, silly, pathetic, or in any way amusing in this fashion, basically as anything less than the atrocious villian he was, it belittles him. And it belittles everything he did. He orchestrated the deaths of millions of people, and if he is portrayed as a fool, particularly one who can be locked in a cupboard for an entire episode, well.
I'm not making myself clear here because it's very hard to express the impression this gives me. I just feel that someone who did what he did shouldn't be shown in anything other than a harsh, truthful portrayal.
I hope you guys get what I mean. And I bloody hope no-one gets offended by what I just said, and I don't see how anyone could, because offence was the exact opposite thing to what I was trying to convey.
Oh well. It's past midnight and I'm tired.
4: Plot Stealing
The question that no-one knows, that will make silence fall. The first question. The most important question in the universe.
HMM SOUNDS FAMILIAR
OH YES BECAUSE IT'S ONLY THE CENTRAL PLOT OF ONE OF THE GREATEST CULT SCI FI BOOKS EVER WRITTEN
Moffat is a monster.
But wait! I said ON THE WHOLE disappointing, didn't I? That must mean I liked something about the episode.
What could that be?
:D
RIVER
Her characterisation, the additions to her story and overarching journey, her relationship with the Doctor, EVERYTHING THAT SHE WAS IN THIS EPISODE I ADORED.
And that kinda redeemed the episode for me, so I guess that's alright.
~Lili
I feel I should say that I did actually try to update you guys on my life. You see, yesterday I wrote a massive post. It was over 1000 words and it was all about my stomach pain (for my clueless readers - I'm have stomach pain 90% + of the time and no-one knows what's wrong with me). It was cathartic and explained all my feelings because I desperately needed some of my friends to understand, because my real life ones never will. And there was even a feminist comment in there which I think would have interested you guys no end.
But alas, the new LJ format confuses me and I lost it all while putting it under and LJ cut (I pressed enter twice accidentally when writing the cut text and THE WHOLE POST AFTER THE CUT DISAPPEARED). In fact, that was the last straw and I ended up sobbing uncontrollably and falling into a deep depression which lasted all evening and night. It's ok though cos I watched Avatar and got better eventually :P
Anyway. One day soon I'll attempt to write it all again, because I want to, but in the meantime have this Doctor Who review.
1: The Misogyny
So. I recently found out Moffat is a huge misogynist. Yes, I know the signs were there and maybe I'm a bad person for not picking up on them (I think it's cos I tend to take things at face value unless I suspect there's something else going on so yeah). But anyway, now I know I can't stop seeing it. Also IMO I think he's got worse in the latest season but whatever. And this episode was just... All of his misogyny. All of it.
WHY IS IT AUTOMATICALLY ON CENTRE OMG I HATE THE NEW FORMAT
To continue then. There were two main misogynystic things that jumped out at me in this episode. First, and worst, the way the Doctor talks to and about Amy. He is constantly patronising her (which has gone beyond the teacher-like charm it originally had to downright ickily condescending) and treating her like an idiot when she has on many occasions proven herself to be beyond average intelligence. What he said about her... Well, let's allow the lines to speak for themselves, shall we?
"A judgement death machine... yeah, sounds like Amy."
In fact that's the only one I can remember but I know there was at least one more when I was like OH NO HE DIDN'T.
And this is just... the most upsetting part of Moffat's misogyny. I can cope with him underwriting Amy (more about this in a sec). I can cope with him constantly putting her in outfits that show off her legs (cos let's face it, they are gorgeous). What I CANNOT cope with is how he is CORRUPTING THE DOCTOR. By channelling his own opinion of women through one of the best and longest loved characters in the history of British television, he is defacing a legend (yes I know that word can't strictly be used in any other sense than physically defacing something but fuck it, I think the meaning is appropriate here) and betraying the millions of fans who have admired the Doctor's character for generations. For whatever his flaws, until now I'm fairly certain the Doctor couldn't be called a misogynist.
But Moffat seems determined to rectify that.
The other misogynist thing that is pissing me off is Rory upstaging Amy. Now, don't get me wrong, I adore Rory. I do. And his character development is one of my favourites of the entire show and his part in this episode was wonderful and made me love him more.
But this should not have been done at the expense of Amy. Because she basically just stood there THE ENTIRE EPISODE (I'll come to her action to protect River in my next point) while Rory was all awesome. Last season she would have been as active as he was, talked way more, and just basically have had a bigger role in the episode and had more character. Moffat seems to be going back to the old idea of two companions, which is great, but what is decidedly not great is how he's bringing back outdated ideas about men taking action while women watch. Ugh. I want them both to be doing stuff and being awesome.
2: OOC Amy
I've already touched on how Amy's been sort of losing her character this season. Well, this episode was a perfect example of how the Amy we knew is disappearing. She's become this bossy/overbearing wife/woman stereotype, who doesn't actually do anything that important. I could go over and analyse where this has happened in the past season (and don't worry, I know there are times when this assessment has not been true at all, and such occurences are sources of hope for me) but I really cba and I doubt you want to read it either. Let's just take this episode as an example, shall we?
She's criticised the whole time for being bossy, judgemental etc etc. She is hardly the rushing around, adventuring Amy we knew. And oh yes, there's another thing.
SHE JUST LOST HER CHILD.
Maybe it's Moffat's fault for the writing or direction, maybe it's Karen's downfall acting-wise, but I cannot see ANY EVIDENCE of this OBVIOUS TRAUMA in Amy. Losing a child, especially if your child has been kidnapped by a cult which you know is going to brainwash her (there were plenty of hints in the preceding episode, what with her being created as a weapon) would dramatically harm any mother's psyche, maybe irrepably so. But in this episode I saw no sign of distress, worry, grief, or depression in Amy. She isn't trying to get the Doctor to find her daughter, and when she does rarely talk about her she's flat and dispassionate.
Please don't get me wrong. I adore Karen Gillian's acting and characterisation of Amy. Karen's acting has brought me to tears many a time (because of the truth of her conveyance of Amy's feelings, not because her acting's bad lol). I have no clue what went wrong this episode because to me she seemed a little flat and wooden.
Anyway let's move on to my main point.
Remember that bit when Melody's being tortured in the bubble and Amy's on the ship watching the Doctor die and her daughter in intense pain?
Remember how she just stood there, showing no emotion but worry, hiding in Rory's arms?
I don't know about you, but I know if my daughter were being tortured, maybe to death, by people I was less than 2 feet away from and if I weren't restrained...
Well. I would go BESERK. I would tear that ship apart. I would tear those PEOPLE apart until they stopped causing my daughter pain. I would have screamed and screamed and...
I could go on but I'm sure you get the picture. And from the amount of distress I see my mum in when I'm in pain and she can do nothing, I doubt I'm alone in feeling this way.
Again, I'm sure this was partly a writing and direction fault. But when Amy eventually sprang into action, after basically being told what to do and being nagged into doing it, there was hardly any passion. Karen certainly didn't convey the depth of urgency and force that I feel a mother would be oozing in that particular situation (yes, one can ooze urgency and force, I have decided).
Anyway you get my point. This was disappointing on so many levels and definitely, DEFINITELY out of character for Amy.
3: Hitler
I'm sorry, but when Hitler is portrayed as a bufoon I find it very upsetting. Why? Well, if he is shown to be incompetant, silly, pathetic, or in any way amusing in this fashion, basically as anything less than the atrocious villian he was, it belittles him. And it belittles everything he did. He orchestrated the deaths of millions of people, and if he is portrayed as a fool, particularly one who can be locked in a cupboard for an entire episode, well.
I'm not making myself clear here because it's very hard to express the impression this gives me. I just feel that someone who did what he did shouldn't be shown in anything other than a harsh, truthful portrayal.
I hope you guys get what I mean. And I bloody hope no-one gets offended by what I just said, and I don't see how anyone could, because offence was the exact opposite thing to what I was trying to convey.
Oh well. It's past midnight and I'm tired.
4: Plot Stealing
The question that no-one knows, that will make silence fall. The first question. The most important question in the universe.
HMM SOUNDS FAMILIAR
OH YES BECAUSE IT'S ONLY THE CENTRAL PLOT OF ONE OF THE GREATEST CULT SCI FI BOOKS EVER WRITTEN
Moffat is a monster.
But wait! I said ON THE WHOLE disappointing, didn't I? That must mean I liked something about the episode.
What could that be?
:D
RIVER
Her characterisation, the additions to her story and overarching journey, her relationship with the Doctor, EVERYTHING THAT SHE WAS IN THIS EPISODE I ADORED.
And that kinda redeemed the episode for me, so I guess that's alright.
~Lili