what do monsters have nightmares about?
Dear self,
Beginning a new fic means this: taking up pen&paper and/or putting fingers to the keyboard, and then actually writing it. It does not, however, mean spending two days doing nothing but:
No love (no seriously get down to business already you lazy sod),
Your Brain.
Also: The God Complex, though much belated. But this is Paperwork Week at university.
Man, what a, er, complex episode. If I ever end up doing that DW essay I was talking about the other day, this'll play heavily into it. So I'll only address the bits that only affected me emotionally here, not necessarily intellectually (because honestly, it would take thousands of words to deal with it all):
And it ends with a gorgeous hug, as it should.
Beginning a new fic means this: taking up pen&paper and/or putting fingers to the keyboard, and then actually writing it. It does not, however, mean spending two days doing nothing but:
- searching for inspiring screencaps/art
- making a shiny playlist to write the story to
- imagining nothing but the romantic/sex-related bits of the story, especially when said story is meant to be remarkably plot-driven.
No love (no seriously get down to business already you lazy sod),
Your Brain.
Also: The God Complex, though much belated. But this is Paperwork Week at university.
Man, what a, er, complex episode. If I ever end up doing that DW essay I was talking about the other day, this'll play heavily into it. So I'll only address the bits that only affected me emotionally here, not necessarily intellectually (because honestly, it would take thousands of words to deal with it all):
- the concept of a hotel housing your every fear in each of its rooms - a multi-dimensional hotel with eighties wallpaper and a bar, that twists and changes as you walk along - is really fucking fantastic. I love this kind of setting, and this episode had a very Hotel California vibe to it, which was magnificent. I loved the premise before even watching it, and the execution was perfectly handled; it never went too far, never was too cliché. I especially adored the way it kept showing Rory ways out; I think it meant a lot as to his relationship with the Doctor and their lives together.
- RITA WAS ALL THE AMAZING. And so was that cop girl in the very beginning, I'd gladly have seen more of her.
- I really like the Greek mythology premise as well - I was ridiculous pleased with myself when I realized that they are seven visitors in the hotel, for the seven youths forced into the labyrinth every seventh year in the original myth (well, yeah, okay, it's actually fourteen - seven young men and seven young women, but clearly seven is the operative number here). I love it when scriptwriters do their research well.
- I would have liked to see Rory's room. As for the Doctor's, I'm firmly in the camp of those who think he saw himself - the TARDIS' cloister bell sound emphasizes it, unless he's seeing her burn - I think it's obvious by now that the Doctor is dangerous to everyone he meets, himself included; all the more so because he outlives them all. It's also interesting, considering Ten's triumphant ME! in The Girl In The Fireplace when little!Reinette asks him what monsters have nightmares about (I'd always adored that line; it pretty much redeems the entire episode to me); Eleven's run has been rather explicit and double-edged as to the Doctor's state of half-good man and half-monster. The ramifications of the Doctor's characterization, I can't even.
- speaking of the Doctor as a complex character - and god, I love it, I love that he isn't two-dimensional; I love that he's so deeply paradoxical and two-sided and yet always genuine, let me tell you my feelings - they did go pretty heavy on the concept that the title refers not only to the Monster Of The Week but also to the Doctor himself as well, didn't they? the water reflections scene in the spa was especially lovely, but strangely enough, it didn't strike me so much during the Doctor's little speech in the end (for such a creature, death would be a gift; that's a ohshit moment if I ever saw one) as it did when he told little!Amelia I wanted to be adored. It seems so simple, and yet so distantly terrible. Whether or not he was actually telling the truth doesn't matter - Amy and the Doctor's relationship, which had clearly been altered in TGWW, has been irrevocably changed after this episode.
- because, of course, the entire idea that he must destroy Amy's faith in him in order to be able to save them all is gorgeous and utterly terrifying - because it takes the Doctor, who is more of a Peter Pan figure than any character in fiction has managed to be since Peter Pan himself, and suddenly this man who has taken us on a thousand adventures, who has asked us to trust him again and again and again, is telling us to stop believing. And that's. Devastating. This is I believe in faeries, I do, I do in reverse. It's profoundly heartbreaking. (Oh, god, fairytales. Because season 5 was a fairytale; season 5 was a story about stories, about good wizards and sleeping beauties and courageous knights. Season 6 takes this and then brutally smashes it to pieces.)
- regardless, I think this is one of the best companion departures in DW. Of course, we know Amy and Rory will appear in the finale, and they've been scheduled for the next season, though apparently not as regulars - but nevertheless, I do think this is the end of their run. That's the way they leave, and if they return, it'll be only sporadically. This TEAM TARDIS has disbanded. But it's a beautiful goodbye - it's not the tearful heartbreak of Bad Wolf Bay, and it's not Donna's horrible ending; it's almost akin to Martha's leaving voluntarily (Martha ♥). What's more, it's the Doctor letting go of his companions. It's the Doctor intentionally reverting to his state of loneliness, which is... well. The very last scene in the TARDIS is terrible, and with the music slowly coming to slow, long, stopping notes, it was strangely beautiful.
And it ends with a gorgeous hug, as it should.