In which the use of words, and names are very important; there is a big difference between knowledge/information/wisdom/myth; the Akashic Records, the Astral Plane and the Golden Ratio make a mystical appearance; there is a lot to say about form/emptiness, what the soul is made of and how things are more than the sum of their parts; the Doctor can ( Read more... )

In which there is dualism, Zoroastrianism and the Goddess Isis; the Doctor is a Magician, Emperor and the Monster in the mirror; the theme park is the cauldron of rebirth; Philip K Dick's Empire never ended; and there is form out of nothingness.

(  Everyone who had ever lived was literally surrounded by the iron walls of the prison; they were all inside it and none of them knew it. )

In which there is much riffing on the idea of the Bell Jar, both scientific and literary; some exploration of  Welsh Saints, mistletoe and Sir Gawain; some subversion of the way symbols have been used up until now; and those old favourites of a monster mirror, the x motif, the chair agenda and eye symbolism.

( The bright day is done, and you, my child, are for the dark. )

In which the World Tree is blatant, the Tardis is a Goddess, Clara's lessons about Death continue, the Doctor is in denial, Clara is most certainly not an android and a million other very interesting things occur.

( Secrets protect us. Secrets make us safe. )

In which we travel along the World Tree, the Forest is the Afterlife, there is both Love and Death, we are on the Road of Trials stage, the Doctor is Alec Palmer and River Song is everywhere.

( This isn't a ghost story, it's a love story )

This meta is late, late, late due to personal stuff, so I hope there is still interest in it ( Read more... )

...in which Who is totally aware of itself as myth, the World Tree is in play, the Leaf is life and death and life again, Clara eats the fruit of the Otherworld and is a contradiction, and the Doctor is a Sun God.

( Do you mind if I tell you a story, one you might not have heard? )

First of all, hurrah that the show is back and what a great ep! Secondly - well, nothing secondly, except here is meta! Featuring nursery rhymes and Celtic myth, the Question and the Quest, the mirrors and the web, forests and leaves. Oh, and Chairs.

( ...and remember )

Seriously guys, if you like reading meta and if you usually read mine and then comment on it, you really need to read this:

The Frozen Mirror by janie_aire

The nature of Who as myth, the ep as a meditation on death and grief, mirroring, the shadow self, ascension, the World Tree, the Question, the nature of Clara. It's all there and it's epic. Seriously. 

For me this was just a totally fantastic Christmas special. I don't have an awful lot to say about the actual plot involving the Great Intelligence, but there's a whole heap of stuff going on around the concepts of mirroring, memory, above/below, who Clara is and there's some links into the Pond era.

( Run you clever boy...and remember. )