A Clifhanger? How do you have a cliffhanger with no cliffs in it?
I'm wrong about (nearly) everything!
OH! Oh, oh, oh! This is basically my reaction to the episode, but also, I was trying to figure out where to start this and somewhere in my meandering thoughts I realized that the reason River couldn't be at the Battle of Demons Run was that she couldn't cross her own timeline--she couldn't be there until baby!River wasn't there anymore! And also why the Doctor had to leave without River--can't find baby!River with adult River along. (Which seems like it makes a lot of sense until you think about the Impossible Astronaut/Day of the Moon, which would technically be full of River crossing her own timeline. So one of these thing must be wrong. Or Moffat is breaking the rules again, which he does all the time, so who knows.)
I'm not surprised, exactly, at River's identity... I feel like if I'd really thought about it I might have pieced it together (Moffat is a pretty tight storyteller, and Amy and Rory's child was obviously of greater importance than just being Amy and Rory's child)... but it still feels weird. Especially since this episode was meant to be a cliffhanger, and things more or less felt wrapped up, at least for a Moffat episode.
And yet there are a lot of questions. Especially about that ridiculous bassinet. Why would the Doctor say it was his? How would it have River's name on it while still being excessively old? Is River also the Doctor? Can we make the shipping any more awkward for this cast? Who's to say River isn't actually a weapon? Who's to say she isn't being used against the Doctor right now? WTF do the headless monks have to do with anything? Does Moffat just have a thing for inventing enemies? (Though I guess if you've been thinking about certain things for at least sixteen years, you probably have a good cache of ideas to pull from. Also, and somewhat irrelevantly: this reminds me of some of the now-famous musicians I used to see around alt.music.tmbg and the like, back in 1998 or so. Guys, people in fandom do go on to be famous. Or at least they did web 1.0. I dunno about now. But anyway...) Where do the Silence fit into this?
Did Moffat have some kind of contest with RTD for 1) kitchen sink guest-alien episodes and 2) gay couples? (I am still mostly convinced that a measurable percentage of Moffat's writing, especially in finales, is a parody of RTD's bombastic approach. Especially after the "thin/fat gay married Anglican marines" exchange.)
Isn't Forest of the Dead like, 80 times more heartbreaking now that the Doctor realizes he knows how River dies? (Fair disclosure: I didn't find it all that heartbreaking, so for me it now stands at about a 40 in total heartbreak, but, you know, as a general measure...) Will he deem it a proper death, or will he go back and retrieve her consciousness? What is the point of having an actual half-human/half-Time Lord? Is River's voluminous hair a symptom of time-head? Is there a risk of metacrisis? (Is that something to do, maybe, with the regeneration scene?)
In re: The Impossible Astronaut, what was the Doctor running from, anyway? Fear of his reputation? Or did River's little speech at the end have no effect on him and he's off to be terrible and justify his own reputation, only to repent later and finally submit to his execution at the hands of the mysterious Apollo suit?
Why are we killing Hitler?? Is it because everybody kills Hitler on their first trip? (Why is this the next part of a two-parter? Why is this a two-parter? Why do we have to wait until September?)
So... in a way I think I understand how Moffat meant this as a cliffhanger. There's a near-infinity of questions. And yet... it has none of the trappings of a real cliffhanger. No one is in peril. We all know the baby lives. We just don't know how the psychological fallout will land... and unfortunately, after the end of last season revealed exactly zero exploration of the psychological fallout, I kind of don't expect it here. Which is a shame. On the other hand... where else are we going to go with this?
I love being confused (for once, it doesn't feel like Moffat is really trying to be smarter than us. Maybe we've finally hit the point where the universe is larger than what he's holding in his hands?)
P.S. Moffat, I see your 1996 self and I see what you said about the Doctor and asexuality and... and goodness help me when I get my hands on a TARDIS... Omg what if I am Pat1974? ...People, please keep me away from a TARDIS. On the other hand, I get to smugly call Moffat an idiot. On the other, other hand... this argument is already more than 15 years old and I'm still bringing up versions of it. Provided I had a third hand... Moffat, if you try to grandfather your way into winning an argument that you had on the internet 15 years ago... you totally had it coming. Though obviously by the second page the real Pat1974 has gotten me away from his keyboard.
Congratulations, guys, you made it through. I'm pretty sure this'll be my last crazy Doctor Who post for a while. Now I can go back to posting about stalking NPR affiliates and my ridiculous job (argh, ridiculous job) and how the weather in Chicago hates me. And how I'm going to be bored next weekend without something to watch and pontificate on.
OH! Oh, oh, oh! This is basically my reaction to the episode, but also, I was trying to figure out where to start this and somewhere in my meandering thoughts I realized that the reason River couldn't be at the Battle of Demons Run was that she couldn't cross her own timeline--she couldn't be there until baby!River wasn't there anymore! And also why the Doctor had to leave without River--can't find baby!River with adult River along. (Which seems like it makes a lot of sense until you think about the Impossible Astronaut/Day of the Moon, which would technically be full of River crossing her own timeline. So one of these thing must be wrong. Or Moffat is breaking the rules again, which he does all the time, so who knows.)
I'm not surprised, exactly, at River's identity... I feel like if I'd really thought about it I might have pieced it together (Moffat is a pretty tight storyteller, and Amy and Rory's child was obviously of greater importance than just being Amy and Rory's child)... but it still feels weird. Especially since this episode was meant to be a cliffhanger, and things more or less felt wrapped up, at least for a Moffat episode.
And yet there are a lot of questions. Especially about that ridiculous bassinet. Why would the Doctor say it was his? How would it have River's name on it while still being excessively old? Is River also the Doctor? Can we make the shipping any more awkward for this cast? Who's to say River isn't actually a weapon? Who's to say she isn't being used against the Doctor right now? WTF do the headless monks have to do with anything? Does Moffat just have a thing for inventing enemies? (Though I guess if you've been thinking about certain things for at least sixteen years, you probably have a good cache of ideas to pull from. Also, and somewhat irrelevantly: this reminds me of some of the now-famous musicians I used to see around alt.music.tmbg and the like, back in 1998 or so. Guys, people in fandom do go on to be famous. Or at least they did web 1.0. I dunno about now. But anyway...) Where do the Silence fit into this?
Did Moffat have some kind of contest with RTD for 1) kitchen sink guest-alien episodes and 2) gay couples? (I am still mostly convinced that a measurable percentage of Moffat's writing, especially in finales, is a parody of RTD's bombastic approach. Especially after the "thin/fat gay married Anglican marines" exchange.)
Isn't Forest of the Dead like, 80 times more heartbreaking now that the Doctor realizes he knows how River dies? (Fair disclosure: I didn't find it all that heartbreaking, so for me it now stands at about a 40 in total heartbreak, but, you know, as a general measure...) Will he deem it a proper death, or will he go back and retrieve her consciousness? What is the point of having an actual half-human/half-Time Lord? Is River's voluminous hair a symptom of time-head? Is there a risk of metacrisis? (Is that something to do, maybe, with the regeneration scene?)
In re: The Impossible Astronaut, what was the Doctor running from, anyway? Fear of his reputation? Or did River's little speech at the end have no effect on him and he's off to be terrible and justify his own reputation, only to repent later and finally submit to his execution at the hands of the mysterious Apollo suit?
Why are we killing Hitler?? Is it because everybody kills Hitler on their first trip? (Why is this the next part of a two-parter? Why is this a two-parter? Why do we have to wait until September?)
So... in a way I think I understand how Moffat meant this as a cliffhanger. There's a near-infinity of questions. And yet... it has none of the trappings of a real cliffhanger. No one is in peril. We all know the baby lives. We just don't know how the psychological fallout will land... and unfortunately, after the end of last season revealed exactly zero exploration of the psychological fallout, I kind of don't expect it here. Which is a shame. On the other hand... where else are we going to go with this?
I love being confused (for once, it doesn't feel like Moffat is really trying to be smarter than us. Maybe we've finally hit the point where the universe is larger than what he's holding in his hands?)
P.S. Moffat, I see your 1996 self and I see what you said about the Doctor and asexuality and... and goodness help me when I get my hands on a TARDIS... Omg what if I am Pat1974? ...People, please keep me away from a TARDIS. On the other hand, I get to smugly call Moffat an idiot. On the other, other hand... this argument is already more than 15 years old and I'm still bringing up versions of it. Provided I had a third hand... Moffat, if you try to grandfather your way into winning an argument that you had on the internet 15 years ago... you totally had it coming. Though obviously by the second page the real Pat1974 has gotten me away from his keyboard.
Congratulations, guys, you made it through. I'm pretty sure this'll be my last crazy Doctor Who post for a while. Now I can go back to posting about stalking NPR affiliates and my ridiculous job (argh, ridiculous job) and how the weather in Chicago hates me. And how I'm going to be bored next weekend without something to watch and pontificate on.