Review: A Good Man Goes To War
A Good Man Goes To War is the seventh episode of Season Thirty-Two of Doctor Who
So this is it: the episode where the mysterious identity of River Song is revealed so if you don’t want to be spoiled, stop reading!
Indeed, the reveal of River Song’s identity is the climax of “A Good Man Goes to War,” with the entire episode really constructed to get to that specific end point. Along the way there are explosions and fights, twists and turns, some great guest characters and excellent performances and production all round as the Doctor and Rory go off to find Amy and her baby. But - and there is a but - somehow it just misses the mark on being outstanding and in the end is simply very good.
The production quality of this episode is very high. Everything from the special effects of the cybermen blowing up to the Headless Monks to the spaceships to the flesh avatars disintegrating to the look and feel of the space station - it’s all very, very well done. I particularly loved the reveal of the Headless Monks which confirmed that they were indeed headless; loved the Jedi style swords. The make-up on the guest Sontaran and Silurian also deserves a shout-out for being brilliant.
The guest characters were also very good. I did scratch my head and wondered if we had actually met them all before (Dorium played by Simon Fisher Becker had appeared in “The Pandorica Opens” [31.12]) but they were new versions of the same aliens that Dan Starkey and Neve McIntosh had played before. The kick-ass Madame Vastra the Silurian and her equally kick-ass maid Jenny (Catrin Stewart) were excellent. Their great dynamic and relationship (implied through dialogue to be a romantic one) was one of the highlights of the episode and unsurprisingly has been a hit in fandom with calls for them to have their own show. But Dorium, the sweet Lorna Bucket (Christina Chong) and Commander Strax (Dan Starkey) were all great too. Strax in particular was funny and tragic. The final scene where he proclaims he is a nurse to Rory is especially touching given Rory, who is in full Last Centurion protective mode, is also at heart a nurse.
Arthur Darvill turned in another excellent performance as Rory. It was great to see him take up the mantle of the Last Centurion again in order to find and protect Amy and his new daughter. The best scene though has to be where he and Amy are reunited and fuss over their new daughter. It was very emotionally touching. Karen Gillan also outdoes her previous performances in this episode. She runs the gamut of emotions as she loses her daughter; finds her daughter; loses her daughter and…discovers who her daughter will become - because that is the big reveal: Amy and Rory’s daughter, Melody, is none other than River Song.
SHOCK!
Well, not so much as I worked it out as soon as Amy revealed the baby’s name was Melody Pond. But still the actual moment of revelation was well done - particularly the part where River told her gobsmacked parents. It was also revealed that as Baby Melody had been conceived in the TARDIS, her DNA had taken on Time Lord characteristics. Hence River is part human, part Time Lady. Again, Alex Kingston does a fabulous job with River.
Of course, the Doctor himself holds it altogether. Matt Smith is very good as the Doctor swings from smug satisfaction to anger to shock to grief. His hurt when Amy turns away from him is palpable; his angry manpain when River finally shows up and he demands to know where she’s been because he has always been there for her is fantastic. It’s a great performance.
The problem is that individual moments aside, the whole story just doesn’t quite achieve the same outstanding feel. This was meant to be the Doctor’s finest hour and his darkest, yet neither really feels like it comes to fruition. Yes, he saves Amy and takes Demons Run (and loved the bit where he faced down the army and told them to point their guns at him) but his finest hour? Really? After rebooting the universe in “The Big Bang” (31.13)? Equally, the twist that Madame Kovarian -- played with relish by an almost unrecognizable Frances Barber -- has fooled the Doctor by giving him a clone baby doesn’t seem big enough to call it his darkest hour since we’ve seen him die in the season opener and failed to save entire species in the previous season.
Possibly the problem is that the tragedy is offset by the immediate revelation that River; that no matter what Kovarian intends for Melody, that ultimately she becomes River and is redeemed. A better cliffhanger may have been to have kept the Doctor in his darkest hour and left the reveal for the next part of the story. It is frustrating that we suddenly have to wait months to get a resolution. I’m not a big fan of splitting seasons into two and having one part shown with a huge wait for the second. Doctor Who is successful enough that fans will undoubtedly be back for the second half but it’s annoying.
Overall, then “A Good Man Goes to War” is very much in line with the entire first part of this season: definitely good with moments of greatness but somehow just missing the mark on outstanding. Or maybe I just have impossibly high expectations.
Originally posted at GeekSpeak Magazine
So this is it: the episode where the mysterious identity of River Song is revealed so if you don’t want to be spoiled, stop reading!
Indeed, the reveal of River Song’s identity is the climax of “A Good Man Goes to War,” with the entire episode really constructed to get to that specific end point. Along the way there are explosions and fights, twists and turns, some great guest characters and excellent performances and production all round as the Doctor and Rory go off to find Amy and her baby. But - and there is a but - somehow it just misses the mark on being outstanding and in the end is simply very good.
The production quality of this episode is very high. Everything from the special effects of the cybermen blowing up to the Headless Monks to the spaceships to the flesh avatars disintegrating to the look and feel of the space station - it’s all very, very well done. I particularly loved the reveal of the Headless Monks which confirmed that they were indeed headless; loved the Jedi style swords. The make-up on the guest Sontaran and Silurian also deserves a shout-out for being brilliant.
The guest characters were also very good. I did scratch my head and wondered if we had actually met them all before (Dorium played by Simon Fisher Becker had appeared in “The Pandorica Opens” [31.12]) but they were new versions of the same aliens that Dan Starkey and Neve McIntosh had played before. The kick-ass Madame Vastra the Silurian and her equally kick-ass maid Jenny (Catrin Stewart) were excellent. Their great dynamic and relationship (implied through dialogue to be a romantic one) was one of the highlights of the episode and unsurprisingly has been a hit in fandom with calls for them to have their own show. But Dorium, the sweet Lorna Bucket (Christina Chong) and Commander Strax (Dan Starkey) were all great too. Strax in particular was funny and tragic. The final scene where he proclaims he is a nurse to Rory is especially touching given Rory, who is in full Last Centurion protective mode, is also at heart a nurse.
Arthur Darvill turned in another excellent performance as Rory. It was great to see him take up the mantle of the Last Centurion again in order to find and protect Amy and his new daughter. The best scene though has to be where he and Amy are reunited and fuss over their new daughter. It was very emotionally touching. Karen Gillan also outdoes her previous performances in this episode. She runs the gamut of emotions as she loses her daughter; finds her daughter; loses her daughter and…discovers who her daughter will become - because that is the big reveal: Amy and Rory’s daughter, Melody, is none other than River Song.
SHOCK!
Well, not so much as I worked it out as soon as Amy revealed the baby’s name was Melody Pond. But still the actual moment of revelation was well done - particularly the part where River told her gobsmacked parents. It was also revealed that as Baby Melody had been conceived in the TARDIS, her DNA had taken on Time Lord characteristics. Hence River is part human, part Time Lady. Again, Alex Kingston does a fabulous job with River.
Of course, the Doctor himself holds it altogether. Matt Smith is very good as the Doctor swings from smug satisfaction to anger to shock to grief. His hurt when Amy turns away from him is palpable; his angry manpain when River finally shows up and he demands to know where she’s been because he has always been there for her is fantastic. It’s a great performance.
The problem is that individual moments aside, the whole story just doesn’t quite achieve the same outstanding feel. This was meant to be the Doctor’s finest hour and his darkest, yet neither really feels like it comes to fruition. Yes, he saves Amy and takes Demons Run (and loved the bit where he faced down the army and told them to point their guns at him) but his finest hour? Really? After rebooting the universe in “The Big Bang” (31.13)? Equally, the twist that Madame Kovarian -- played with relish by an almost unrecognizable Frances Barber -- has fooled the Doctor by giving him a clone baby doesn’t seem big enough to call it his darkest hour since we’ve seen him die in the season opener and failed to save entire species in the previous season.
Possibly the problem is that the tragedy is offset by the immediate revelation that River; that no matter what Kovarian intends for Melody, that ultimately she becomes River and is redeemed. A better cliffhanger may have been to have kept the Doctor in his darkest hour and left the reveal for the next part of the story. It is frustrating that we suddenly have to wait months to get a resolution. I’m not a big fan of splitting seasons into two and having one part shown with a huge wait for the second. Doctor Who is successful enough that fans will undoubtedly be back for the second half but it’s annoying.
Overall, then “A Good Man Goes to War” is very much in line with the entire first part of this season: definitely good with moments of greatness but somehow just missing the mark on outstanding. Or maybe I just have impossibly high expectations.
Originally posted at GeekSpeak Magazine