Bad thought about the Who finale
So I re-watched Silence in the Library / Forest of the Dead last night in anticipation of the finale, and this morning I had a thought...
...River's been married to the flesh!Doctor the whole time.
I still think we've been having adventures with the flesh!Doctor since at least the midway point of s6, and I've always assumed he was the one who died in Utah. But now I'm thinking he might also be the one that River knew as her husband, the man who took her so many places and who she described so glowingly throughout her various episodes.
It would kind of make sense...I mean, whenever she described them having a romantic date, there was always a sense of "wow, that...really doesn't sound like the Doctor." And so maybe it wasn't.
And that would really irritate me, because one of the coolest things about the second half of s6 has been seeing the Doctor actually learn from his mistakes. Hell, it's been amazing even watching him acknowledge his own mistakes out loud, something his predecessors have almost never been able to do. And if that's taken away; if we find out that the Doctor who's gained so much wisdom and maturity over the past six episodes isn't in fact the "real" Doctor - if we find out that all that experience and growth doesn't "count" - then it'll be like Donna Noble all over again.
Yes, okay, it would solve a lot of problems writing-wise: what are the two things the Doctor can never do if the series is to continue? Die, and get married. But the thing is, we know he's been capable of maturity and responsibility before ("I was a dad once"), and I'd love to have him be capable of it again, at least in some theoretical future that hasn't happened to him yet.
Either way, I hope this isn't the end of River's story arc, because I really love having her show up to shake things up every now and again.
And either way, I want the Doctor, our Doctor, THE Doctor, to be "the best man I ever knew"...not a separate character whose experiences can be erased with no real consequences to the show via one big Deus-Ex-Flesh!Doctor.
Q