The Whovian Files: hmmm

[delta_mai]

This episode was...  On the whole disappointing.  Not from a plot point of view, or an excitement point of view, or even, to some extent, a writing point of view.  No.  I have my reasons and shall state them in a minute.

Comments

[longerthanwedo]

EVERYTHING HERE A;LSDKJF;LAWEJRA GAH JUST. PLEASE FIX AMY'S CHARACTER PLEASE AND HAVE HER AND RORY BE BFF BUT NOT MARRIED BECAUSE IT RUINS THEM BOTH FOR ME BECAUSE UGHHHH RORY YOU ARE NOT GOOD TO YOUR WIFE AND YOU ARE EVEN RUBBING OFF ON THE DOCTOR A LITTLE BIT. Or, you know, just, STOP IT MOFFAT YOU SUCK or something along those lines. I just feel like Moffat's taken the objective of making this an "epic" follow-up to season five and pushed it too far, to the point where some of the emotion is leaking away and I just, like. Amy would never have been that flat and unemotional in season 5. She may have had trouble dealing with her emotions, but at least THE WRITING GAVE HER SOME IN THE FIRST PLACE.

So yeah um I might have some rage in general, but RIVERRRRR River is fabulous and I'm really excited to see more of her storyline.

[delta_mai]

I'm glad you agree! Though I adore Amy and Rory, and even though yes, the comments Moffat makes with their marriage and how he is writing them as married are ATROCIOUSLY ICKY, I like that they're together. And I adore Rory. I just ignore his misogynistic comments and chock them up to OOC Moffat ickiness.

(I do like his insecurity about Amy loving him and low self esteem because I think that's part of who he is, so I'm ok with how he constantly tests her feelings for the Doctor. I just think it's realistic. But I don't like Moffat milking that too much and any further than that is OOC for moi)

Yeah, River redeems everything.

[longerthanwedo]

I really liked them together in season 5 actually, and Rory's actions and insecurities all made sense, but it's gone too far and so much about the marriage situation and the Moffat comments make me uncomfortable that it's hard for me to enjoy them together anymore. Which is sad.

[delta_mai]

That's true. I got that feeling in the latest episode, but luckily it's the first time Moffat's spoiled it for me. I adored Rory and Amy in the last episode before the hiatus, despite the fact that it was the typical princess-in-a-tower-being-saved-by-a-big-strong-man plot. I still loved his dedication to her, how epic he was, and how touching their reuniting scene was.

But yeah, Moffat just does so much ick with them as a couple I can't even

[mfirefly10]

Moffat is a misogynist, no doubt but I don't really see it creeping into his writing that often. Much as I wish Amy had more to do this season, I think it was more storyline-dictated than anything else. And I was bothered by Amy + Rory's non-reactions to most of what happened in this episode but I chalked it up to both of them being so completely overwhelmed and the writers not wanting to make them too angry (which is a bit ridiculous since they should both be furious at the UNIVERSE by now but it is a kids' show

[delta_mai]

Doctor Who is NOT, nor has EVER BEEN, a kids' show.

It's a family show, one whichwas written so that the whole family could sit and watch, but it is not written exclusively for kids and its rare that you'll come across something in the plot that was editted out for kids.

Sorry, but that's just not true. And it certainly doesn't apply in this case - the writers have never spared the viewers from seeing true anguish before (see: just about any David Tennant scene in his last season) and I doubt that was happening now.

Argh i'mma have to reply to your other wonderful comments later but I think my laptop has a virus and dad;s nagging me to let him take a look :LS

[mfirefly10]

Sorry, I meant family show, not kids show.

But I still think Moffat has tried to keep his verison of the show...idk...emotionally lighter?...than the earlier seasons. Like...Rory keeps dying over and over again but we never really get to see how that impacts either Rory or Amy. And we've only had one conversation, between Rory + the Doctor instead of Rory + Amy, abuot Rory spending 2,000 years as a plastic soldier waiting for Amy to return. We've seen none of the effects of Amy missing out on her entire pregnancy. And now, we're not seeing how the Ponds are dealing with losing their daughter. IDK...I feel like Moffat's doing this on purpose to try and keep the show as light as possible in those areas so he can go darker with the Doctor's 'death' and the monsters of the week. I feel like RTD spent more time on the emotional impact the storylines had on the characters than Moff has and I think that's intentional.

[delta_mai]

Omg how did I not reply to this

[squint13]

*hugs* Glad to hear you're feeling better now :)

Ah, River. She was amazing, wasn't she? She was. So good. And she looked very good, too. ^^ I loved her in that hat - she should get a proper captains hat and a proper jacket and then go meet up withJack and they could have all sorts of shenanigans together and also torment Eleven because god, the two of them flirting with each other and with him? He wouldn't know what to do with himself! As witnessed in the scene where she was all "watch out, that bowtie" and he was on the desk all *ahem* and uncomfortably shofting around *grins* Understandable though *nods* I'd be flustered too XD

late post is late lol

[delta_mai]

SHE IS BLOODY GORGEOUS OMG and YES I APPROVE to the Jack and River adventures because omg. That show. Would be so epic all other shows would simultaneously cease to exist because it's too awesome. And yeah, the relationship between River and the Doctor was just the best part of the episode and, to me, made it worth the stuff I didn't like. The development!!! The dramatic irony!!! The angst!!! The chemistry

[riversabine]

I completely agree about Amy's lack of response to the fact that her baby was taken from her to be turned into a weapon... I thought maybe they wanted us to be okay with this because Melody was Amy's childhood friend and she has known River... so her daughter has been in her life in some capacity and she turns out okay, but that seems like a flimsy justification for the fact she's not freaking out; at the very least she should seem devastated. I definitely blame this on the writing. Moffat wanted the story without keeping the characterizations real, which is a shame because if he could have captured that emotional facet, the episode would have had some resonance and been infinitely more satisfying... this whole season has felt off for me, which is kind of a bummer... I've been watching some older episodes to cheer myself up;)

[delta_mai]

YES THIS THIS EXACTLY

That's exactly how I feel. It's just like there's this quick fix and, yeah, that's how the viewers will get over THEIR minimal upset over Amy's baby being taken but NO WAY would it be a fix for Amy. I don't care if she wasn't aware she was pregnant (because she was on some level, I'm fairly certain that's been established in canon) and she wasn't that attached to her baby. No. She was when the writers wanted her to be and now this kind of devastation will interrupt the story and that pisses me off. Because as fantastical as the stories can get, I like my character development to be realistic and this isn't realistic to me. AT ALL.

So yeah basically I agree with everything you just said :D

[noybusiness]

"Well. I would go BESERK. I would tear that ship apart. I would tear those PEOPLE apart until they stopped causing my daughter pain. I would have screamed and screamed and..."

If it was a typical mother/daughter relationship, yes. In Amy's place I probably would have reacted exactly as she did, because knowing intellectually that Melody is her daughter and feeling that connection/thinking of her that way are two different things.

[delta_mai]

Yeah I guess. But for the friend connection alone, both with Melody and River, I feel Amy would have acted differently. Just pisses me off.

[noybusiness]

With how confused things were, I'd not know what to do and ask the Doctor too.

[delta_mai]

You'd ask the Doctor to tell you how to feel?!