Doctor Who 6. Something Let's not name the episode which is actually pretty nifty
The most amazing thing among many amazing thing is that with the exception of the teaser and three or so scenes, this was basically a four characters bottle show. In other words, exactly the kind of character study that with the exception of the Neil Gaiman episode I've been missing in the first half of the season. Kudos, Moff, kudos.
Okay, trivia out of the way first: am I ever glad that the Hitler part of Let's Kill Hitler was really a three minute gag that did not trivialize any of the very real horrors of the Third Reich and even worked as a neat twist to the way the whole Nazi subject is usually engaged by Angloamerican Sci Fi (i.e. time line gone wrong so the Nazis win, Our Heroes have to put it right; here, time travellers were about to kill Hitler several years ahead of schedule (though this is an accident, as we later find out, they simply arrived too early), and the Doctor & Co. end up saving his life by TARDIS crash landing). The whole MacGuffin of the episode - the time travellers dealing out "justice" to historical war criminals by "giving them hell" shortly before their historical deaths - is a dark twist on the time travel concept which is unusual because it's not the usual "villains meddle with history" thing, the motivation is understandable, and yet the result is very, very wrong. Which is brought homet to the audience not via Hitler but via River. Because never mind the MacGuffin, this is basically the "River Song: The Origin" episode.
I must admit that when Mel showed up I was a bit annoyed Moffat would retcon a bff to Amy's and Rory's childhood (btw, great to see Amelia again and meet Rory as a child), and did not guess what was fairly prepared both by the name and the way she behaved. (I can't wait to rewatch, because that was well done by the actress playing Mel, just as Alex Kingston is awesome in giving us a young River who is and isn't familiar because she's so much less experienced afterwards.) So: little-girl-in-suit regenerates in New York into Mel, Mel finds Amy and Rory as children, grows up with them the slow way (with conditioning by the Silence intact), regenerates into River-to-be in Berlin. As rabbits out of hats go, this was a great way to give Amy her wish to raise her daughter without having to write either a child in the TARDIS growing up through various seasons or Amy out as a regular companion. It also settled one of my worries, because Mel doesn't meet the Doctor until she's an adult in her twenties, so River, while being brainwashed to kill him from early childhood onwards, doesn't imprint on him in a positive way as a little girl the way Amy and Reinette did. (Three little girls would have been too many.) I also like that the episode, via Amy's question, pointed out newly-christened-River isn't necessarily free of her conditioning baggage already; she just managed one albeit important step. To quote the Doctor, as first dates go, that's a mixed signal. :)
Speaking of: he was in great form throughout, and it was understandable both that Mel-turning-River would be impressed (though yet undeterred) and eventually swayed by how he chose to spend his last 32 minutes. My favourite Doctor character moment (among several, such as his reaction when finding out about the MacGuffin's mission and his question to Rory before hugging Amy) was the entire sequence in the TARDIS, from the Rose-Martha-Donna guilt trip (and all treated equally) to Amelia (not Amy) "before I screwed things up" as the last interface and the saving by custard and fish fingers.
Question: what he whispers to not-yet-River when he's dying. Yes, it could be the tip with the regeneration energy, but my own immediate impression was that he tells her his true name, and that's why Ten is so shocked when she says it to him, because he only can say it when he's dying (without regenerating).
Back to River again: that's another reason why I don't mind the few-minutes Nazi part of the MacGuffin, because I can so see a young River deciding using time travel to kill Hitler is just a great idea, and with a show where time travel is a central concept, someone sooner or later would bring it up anyway.
Amy came across as active throughout, and I'm taking that as a good omen for the second half of the season.
This entry was originally posted at http://selenak.dreamwidth.org/709526.html. Comment there or here, as you wish.
Okay, trivia out of the way first: am I ever glad that the Hitler part of Let's Kill Hitler was really a three minute gag that did not trivialize any of the very real horrors of the Third Reich and even worked as a neat twist to the way the whole Nazi subject is usually engaged by Angloamerican Sci Fi (i.e. time line gone wrong so the Nazis win, Our Heroes have to put it right; here, time travellers were about to kill Hitler several years ahead of schedule (though this is an accident, as we later find out, they simply arrived too early), and the Doctor & Co. end up saving his life by TARDIS crash landing). The whole MacGuffin of the episode - the time travellers dealing out "justice" to historical war criminals by "giving them hell" shortly before their historical deaths - is a dark twist on the time travel concept which is unusual because it's not the usual "villains meddle with history" thing, the motivation is understandable, and yet the result is very, very wrong. Which is brought homet to the audience not via Hitler but via River. Because never mind the MacGuffin, this is basically the "River Song: The Origin" episode.
I must admit that when Mel showed up I was a bit annoyed Moffat would retcon a bff to Amy's and Rory's childhood (btw, great to see Amelia again and meet Rory as a child), and did not guess what was fairly prepared both by the name and the way she behaved. (I can't wait to rewatch, because that was well done by the actress playing Mel, just as Alex Kingston is awesome in giving us a young River who is and isn't familiar because she's so much less experienced afterwards.) So: little-girl-in-suit regenerates in New York into Mel, Mel finds Amy and Rory as children, grows up with them the slow way (with conditioning by the Silence intact), regenerates into River-to-be in Berlin. As rabbits out of hats go, this was a great way to give Amy her wish to raise her daughter without having to write either a child in the TARDIS growing up through various seasons or Amy out as a regular companion. It also settled one of my worries, because Mel doesn't meet the Doctor until she's an adult in her twenties, so River, while being brainwashed to kill him from early childhood onwards, doesn't imprint on him in a positive way as a little girl the way Amy and Reinette did. (Three little girls would have been too many.) I also like that the episode, via Amy's question, pointed out newly-christened-River isn't necessarily free of her conditioning baggage already; she just managed one albeit important step. To quote the Doctor, as first dates go, that's a mixed signal. :)
Speaking of: he was in great form throughout, and it was understandable both that Mel-turning-River would be impressed (though yet undeterred) and eventually swayed by how he chose to spend his last 32 minutes. My favourite Doctor character moment (among several, such as his reaction when finding out about the MacGuffin's mission and his question to Rory before hugging Amy) was the entire sequence in the TARDIS, from the Rose-Martha-Donna guilt trip (and all treated equally) to Amelia (not Amy) "before I screwed things up" as the last interface and the saving by custard and fish fingers.
Question: what he whispers to not-yet-River when he's dying. Yes, it could be the tip with the regeneration energy, but my own immediate impression was that he tells her his true name, and that's why Ten is so shocked when she says it to him, because he only can say it when he's dying (without regenerating).
Back to River again: that's another reason why I don't mind the few-minutes Nazi part of the MacGuffin, because I can so see a young River deciding using time travel to kill Hitler is just a great idea, and with a show where time travel is a central concept, someone sooner or later would bring it up anyway.
Amy came across as active throughout, and I'm taking that as a good omen for the second half of the season.
This entry was originally posted at http://selenak.dreamwidth.org/709526.html. Comment there or here, as you wish.