Welcome to the Hotel California
After two excellent birthday bashes, a Doctor Who/My Little Pony party (OMG John de Lancie playing Discord but was just pretty much Q as a weird goat dragon creature = WIN), and a shit ton of laundry, I relaxed, finished up my latest set of nesting dolls, and rewatched “The Girl Who Waited” and “The God Complex”.
Oh god, another episode that broke me. I wasn’t expecting it to. Honestly, I was like “Wait, another episode with things that will terrify me?” FUCK YOU, GUYS. FUCK YOU VERY MUCH. YOU KNOW HOW I CAN’T HANDLE INANIMATE OBJECTS AND CREEPY DOLLS.
ANYWAY, that was a world of awesome. I seriously did not expect a Pond farewell, though I had seen the spoilery pic of Amy kissing the Doctor on the forehead, which was a good implication.
WHATEVER, I’M IN DENIAL. Despite the Ponds peacing out before the finale, I will be surprised if they don’t show up two episodes from now.
* RITA. The second that the Doctor started laying on his “Y HALO THAR, POTENTIAL COMPANION” schtick, I knew she was doomed. Lovely Rita.
* I WAS HAVING MAJOR SHINING ISSUES THROUGHOUT THIS EPISODE. I kept expecting the Doctor to bump into twin girls at the end of one of those hallways. Also also, at the very beginning when you see a shadow moving out of the bathroom, I was full on expecting the dead naked woman from Room 237 to come out. Instead, it was a man in a gorilla costume, WHICH COULD VERY WELL BE just as scary.
Sidenote: It doesn’t help that I now have a slight fear of old hotels, thanks to discovering that Stephen King wrote a decent chunk of The Shining and other novels at Mohonk Mountain House, which is where my fam had a reunion at in 2003 (right when the big black out happened, GOOD TIMES).
* This is the second time a Rubix cube has shown up this season. The first time, the Doctor didn’t know how to solve it, but in this episode, he did. THIS IS SIGNIFICANT.
* I loved that we didn’t see the Doctor’s room, only heard the Cloister Bell. I initially thought last night that his fear would be that the TARDIS would die, but now I think he just saw himself. Also, it was behind door no. 11.
* I enjoyed David Walliams’ character, though I had to go look up what his name was. I like his little mole-man face with short white hair.
* “How did you know that was my favorite car?” “You showed me a picture once and said, “That’s my favorite car.” <3 <3 <3
* Him calling her Amy Williams instead of Amy Pond rubbed me a little bit in the wrong way. I *know* that it wasn’t meant to be a “grow up, learn your place and take your husband’s name” sort of dig, but if The Sarah Jane Adventures has taught me anything, “life on Earth can be an adventure too... you just need to know where to look.” Amy Pond does not need to hang up her time-traveling superhero cape just because the time-traveling adventures are coming to an end, nor does she need to change her name. Does that make sense? My brain isn't functioning at the moment. Anyway, it only irked me a slight bit.
* That being said, despite the Ponds unexpectedly leaving the TARDIS, I think that was one of the more… mature departures of a companion that I’ve seen in a long time. The last time I thought someone left on a high note was Martha, and even then, even though Martha chose to leave, I had some minor issues with it. Here, the Doctor, once again, made the choice for Amy to leave… but I didn’t find it as offensive for some reason. Maybe it was because Amy could see how much it was hurting the Doctor to stop their adventures together, and instead of getting angry about being abandoned and left behind by the Doctor again, she kind of “grew up” in that moment. And of course, Matt Smith did that thing where just after she kisses him on the forehead, he looks up and looks like a little boy for a second and she's the adult. OH, MY HEART.
Anyway, like I said, I sincerely don’t believe this is the last we’ll see of the Ponds. There’s still more to River’s story. ONLY TWO MORE EPISODES. Thank god it won’t be as big of a break until the Christmas special (as well as the thing those school kids are putting together).
* I wonder how long the Doctor had been planning to take the Ponds back? New house, new car, obviously not Leadworth. Had he always had this as a back-up and just would take them there the second it was time to call it quits? Hmmmm.
Oh god, another episode that broke me. I wasn’t expecting it to. Honestly, I was like “Wait, another episode with things that will terrify me?” FUCK YOU, GUYS. FUCK YOU VERY MUCH. YOU KNOW HOW I CAN’T HANDLE INANIMATE OBJECTS AND CREEPY DOLLS.
ANYWAY, that was a world of awesome. I seriously did not expect a Pond farewell, though I had seen the spoilery pic of Amy kissing the Doctor on the forehead, which was a good implication.
WHATEVER, I’M IN DENIAL. Despite the Ponds peacing out before the finale, I will be surprised if they don’t show up two episodes from now.
* RITA. The second that the Doctor started laying on his “Y HALO THAR, POTENTIAL COMPANION” schtick, I knew she was doomed. Lovely Rita.
* I WAS HAVING MAJOR SHINING ISSUES THROUGHOUT THIS EPISODE. I kept expecting the Doctor to bump into twin girls at the end of one of those hallways. Also also, at the very beginning when you see a shadow moving out of the bathroom, I was full on expecting the dead naked woman from Room 237 to come out. Instead, it was a man in a gorilla costume, WHICH COULD VERY WELL BE just as scary.
Sidenote: It doesn’t help that I now have a slight fear of old hotels, thanks to discovering that Stephen King wrote a decent chunk of The Shining and other novels at Mohonk Mountain House, which is where my fam had a reunion at in 2003 (right when the big black out happened, GOOD TIMES).
* This is the second time a Rubix cube has shown up this season. The first time, the Doctor didn’t know how to solve it, but in this episode, he did. THIS IS SIGNIFICANT.
* I loved that we didn’t see the Doctor’s room, only heard the Cloister Bell. I initially thought last night that his fear would be that the TARDIS would die, but now I think he just saw himself. Also, it was behind door no. 11.
* I enjoyed David Walliams’ character, though I had to go look up what his name was. I like his little mole-man face with short white hair.
* “How did you know that was my favorite car?” “You showed me a picture once and said, “That’s my favorite car.” <3 <3 <3
* Him calling her Amy Williams instead of Amy Pond rubbed me a little bit in the wrong way. I *know* that it wasn’t meant to be a “grow up, learn your place and take your husband’s name” sort of dig, but if The Sarah Jane Adventures has taught me anything, “life on Earth can be an adventure too... you just need to know where to look.” Amy Pond does not need to hang up her time-traveling superhero cape just because the time-traveling adventures are coming to an end, nor does she need to change her name. Does that make sense? My brain isn't functioning at the moment. Anyway, it only irked me a slight bit.
* That being said, despite the Ponds unexpectedly leaving the TARDIS, I think that was one of the more… mature departures of a companion that I’ve seen in a long time. The last time I thought someone left on a high note was Martha, and even then, even though Martha chose to leave, I had some minor issues with it. Here, the Doctor, once again, made the choice for Amy to leave… but I didn’t find it as offensive for some reason. Maybe it was because Amy could see how much it was hurting the Doctor to stop their adventures together, and instead of getting angry about being abandoned and left behind by the Doctor again, she kind of “grew up” in that moment. And of course, Matt Smith did that thing where just after she kisses him on the forehead, he looks up and looks like a little boy for a second and she's the adult. OH, MY HEART.
Anyway, like I said, I sincerely don’t believe this is the last we’ll see of the Ponds. There’s still more to River’s story. ONLY TWO MORE EPISODES. Thank god it won’t be as big of a break until the Christmas special (as well as the thing those school kids are putting together).
* I wonder how long the Doctor had been planning to take the Ponds back? New house, new car, obviously not Leadworth. Had he always had this as a back-up and just would take them there the second it was time to call it quits? Hmmmm.