7 Reasons Why I Love River Song
Who_Daily Link: < a href="http://persiflage-1.livejournal.com/366957.html">7 Reasons Why I Love River Song by < lj user=persiflage_1> (Spoilers: S4; S5.04)
I've seen a lot of people airing their dislike for River Song, so I decided it was time to redress the balance a little by listing my reasons for loving River Song.
- she's sassy, intelligent, witty, elegant, and got lots of poise.
- she's confident in herself and her abilities - which, where women were concerned, we didn't get to see much of during RTD's era.
- she has a great deal of trust in the Doctor. She trusts the Doctor to come when she needs his help - and the dialogue clearly indicates that he always does. I've seen people complaining that the Doctor trusts River too much, insofar as we've not yet seen her earn his trust on-screen - but it cuts both ways. Why does River trust the Doctor so much? The only other on-screen encounter between them results in her death, after all. I like the hints at stories yet untold/adventures as-yet unseen - and hope Alex will keep coming back to help Moffat build up the details of their relationship so we can see them earning each other's trust.
- she's got a grown-up relationship with the Doctor (personally, I think it's friends-with-benefits, rather than marriage) - not just in terms of sex (or not), but more importantly (for me) she doesn't fawn over him, or worry too much about pleasing him - she banters with and teases him almost mercilessly. And it's a complex relationship too, owing to the timey-wimey nature of it - which I think is a good thing. Personally, I think there ought to be more relationships like this between the Doctor and others - it's hinted (in City of Death) that the Doctor has a sort of timey-wimey friendship with da Vinci, for example (when Four leaves a note that says 'See you earlier). And there's a similar hint about the friendship between the Doctor and Shakespeare (City of Death, again, and The Shakespeare Code).
I love that the Doctor (probably a later incarnation) has taught her Old High Gallifreyan, and that someone (also probably a later incarnation) has taught her how to fly the TARDIS. I LOVE IT! It gives me hope that he'll actually allow someone to love him as he needs to be loved, just like anyone else. I love that he's willing to share that kind of thing with her.
Confession: The timey-wimey aspect of the Doctor's and River's friendship is actually what I've hoped for in the case of Martha Jones (in my fanon it actually exists that way) - although we'll probably never see it now.
- I like to see the Doctor's ego punctured occasionally. He can be pretty arrogant on occasion (especially Ten) because he knows more than most of the people he meets - so it's nice to see someone who knows at least as much as he does, and in some respects, more (in this aspect River reminds me of Romana).
- I think Eleven was feeling some guilt, which is why he was Mr Grumpyface - after all, as far as on-screen canon goes, the last time the Doctor met River was when she died, and he was with Donna. That's Donna, who now can't remember any of her adventures with the Doctor because of his mindwipe, and don't forget River's mind is now eternally trapped in a computer.
- I like River's interaction with Amy. Some people accused her of being mean to Donna, in the Library 2-parter, but hindsight shows that she was just trying to protect both Donna and the Doctor from the knowledge of what the Doctor would do to save Donna's life after the meta-crisis took hold. Here we get to see proper interaction between Amy and River, with them both giggling and gossiping about the Doctor behind his back, and the way she reacted when the Doctor told River to hug Amy for being brilliant - it was obvious River agreed with him.
I've seen a lot of people airing their dislike for River Song, so I decided it was time to redress the balance a little by listing my reasons for loving River Song.
- she's sassy, intelligent, witty, elegant, and got lots of poise.
- she's confident in herself and her abilities - which, where women were concerned, we didn't get to see much of during RTD's era.
- she has a great deal of trust in the Doctor. She trusts the Doctor to come when she needs his help - and the dialogue clearly indicates that he always does. I've seen people complaining that the Doctor trusts River too much, insofar as we've not yet seen her earn his trust on-screen - but it cuts both ways. Why does River trust the Doctor so much? The only other on-screen encounter between them results in her death, after all. I like the hints at stories yet untold/adventures as-yet unseen - and hope Alex will keep coming back to help Moffat build up the details of their relationship so we can see them earning each other's trust.
- she's got a grown-up relationship with the Doctor (personally, I think it's friends-with-benefits, rather than marriage) - not just in terms of sex (or not), but more importantly (for me) she doesn't fawn over him, or worry too much about pleasing him - she banters with and teases him almost mercilessly. And it's a complex relationship too, owing to the timey-wimey nature of it - which I think is a good thing. Personally, I think there ought to be more relationships like this between the Doctor and others - it's hinted (in City of Death) that the Doctor has a sort of timey-wimey friendship with da Vinci, for example (when Four leaves a note that says 'See you earlier). And there's a similar hint about the friendship between the Doctor and Shakespeare (City of Death, again, and The Shakespeare Code).
I love that the Doctor (probably a later incarnation) has taught her Old High Gallifreyan, and that someone (also probably a later incarnation) has taught her how to fly the TARDIS. I LOVE IT! It gives me hope that he'll actually allow someone to love him as he needs to be loved, just like anyone else. I love that he's willing to share that kind of thing with her.
Confession: The timey-wimey aspect of the Doctor's and River's friendship is actually what I've hoped for in the case of Martha Jones (in my fanon it actually exists that way) - although we'll probably never see it now.
- I like to see the Doctor's ego punctured occasionally. He can be pretty arrogant on occasion (especially Ten) because he knows more than most of the people he meets - so it's nice to see someone who knows at least as much as he does, and in some respects, more (in this aspect River reminds me of Romana).
- I think Eleven was feeling some guilt, which is why he was Mr Grumpyface - after all, as far as on-screen canon goes, the last time the Doctor met River was when she died, and he was with Donna. That's Donna, who now can't remember any of her adventures with the Doctor because of his mindwipe, and don't forget River's mind is now eternally trapped in a computer.
- I like River's interaction with Amy. Some people accused her of being mean to Donna, in the Library 2-parter, but hindsight shows that she was just trying to protect both Donna and the Doctor from the knowledge of what the Doctor would do to save Donna's life after the meta-crisis took hold. Here we get to see proper interaction between Amy and River, with them both giggling and gossiping about the Doctor behind his back, and the way she reacted when the Doctor told River to hug Amy for being brilliant - it was obvious River agreed with him.