Re: Doctor Who 6x11 "God Complex"
I have seen a range of reactions to yesterday's Doctor Who, but I'm beginning to wonder if what I want from TV shows is very different from what other people want from TV shows because I have yet to see a reaction that matches my own, which is that
THIS. EPISODE. IS WHAT I'VE WANTED. FOR SO. LONG!
Warning: Spoilers beneath the cut.
The most obviously notable event in this episode is the Doctor leaving Amy and Rory, so I know it sounds bad that I've been waiting for this episode. But that isn't the part I've been waiting for! I want Amy and Rory to come back; I think there is still so much that needs to be done with the two of them. At the same time, though, I figured that the plot point I've been anticipating would have to happen as Amy and Rory leave, and that plot point is Amy and the Doctor finally seeing each other for who they are.
FINALLY. FINALLY! *blows kisses into the air*
To me, the most interesting thing about the Doctor's relationship with Amy is that neither sees the other as a real person.
The Doctor forever sees Amy as little Amelia Pond, the first person he met in his new persona, who was strange and fun and wanted to go traveling with him. He picks her up twelve years late, when she's grown up into a sassy kissogram with a sort-of boyfriend (to whom she is engaged two years later), but first impressions last, and the Doctor is unable to see her as anything other than a little girl.
(Maybe it would help if Amy stopped being helpless every other episode, but that is a rant for another entry.)
Examples: As a child, Amy went by "Amelia." As an adult, she is "Amy" because "Amelia Pond" sounded "a bit too fairy tale." Nobody calls her Amelia anymore, but the Doctor still does. (More often, he calls her "Pond," perhaps because it's easier than remembering that she isn't Amelia anymore.) And when the TARDIS' voice interface takes on each of his recent companions' appearances, it stops after Donna on not Amy, but little Amelia, who was never actually in the TARDIS. My theory is that the TARDIS pulled Amelia's appearance from its psychic connection to the Doctor, who still imagines Amelia when he thinks of Amy. I'm sure there are many more examples, since I've been thinking about this since Series Five, but they're slipping my mind right now. Oh well.
On Amy's part, she hero worships the Doctor. I haven't paid much attention to this because Rose and Martha did, as well, but to Amy, the Doctor has always been particularly magical. She was seven years old, praying for someone to rescue her from the crack in her bedroom wall, and out he drops from the sky. He disappears, and over the years, she convinces herself that this impossible madman was just a story she made up-but then he comes back, thereby validating her sanity, closes the crack in her wall, saves the world, and scolds the giant alien eyeball. Then they go on adventure after adventure together, and she gets captured again and again (and again and again), but he always, always saves her.
(Which makes it really weird that her opening speech in "A Good Man Goes to War" was about Rory and not the Doctor. Yes, she loves Rory very much, but she has much more reason to believe that the Doctor is going to save her and her daughter. Rory would never ever give up on her, so perhaps in that respect she should have more faith in him, but really, it's always the Doctor who does the saving. That whole mini-speech of hers seems to have been inserted to advance this self-defeating love triangle, which I just don't get.)
SO WHEN THE DOCTOR ACKNOWLEDGED THIS RELATIONSHIP IN "THE GOD COMPLEX," I WAS ROLLING AROUND WITH GLEE. AAAAAAAAAAAAAH. ♥ I loved: His acknowledgement of his willingness to put people in danger because he is lonely and enjoys having a fan club, particularly in his current incarnation! (From "The Impossible Astronaut": "I'm being extremely clever up here and there's no one to stand around looking impressed! What's the point in having you all?") Him seeing Amelia instead of Amy until at last he calls her "Amy Williams," i.e. not-little-girl-Amelia-but-Amy-the-grownup-woman-who-is-married! Her losing faith in him! (Not that I want her to lose faith in him, but their friendship can never be truly genuine as long as she fails to see him as a man.) Ohhh, it was perfect.
Other things I loved about the episode:
But there is so much more I want out of Amy and Rory as companions:
I hope they come back and at least finish this series! (If anyone knows anything from press releases, do not tell me. I want to be completely surprised.) They must; they're too important to both the River storyline and the Doctor's death.
THREE GUESSES FOR WHOM THE DOCTOR SAW IN HIS ROOM?
1. Himself
2. River, whom even he knows will probably be the one to kill him
3. I'll come up with something.
Screencaps from Sonic Biro, whose name I read as "Sonic Bro."
THIS. EPISODE. IS WHAT I'VE WANTED. FOR SO. LONG!
Warning: Spoilers beneath the cut.
The most obviously notable event in this episode is the Doctor leaving Amy and Rory, so I know it sounds bad that I've been waiting for this episode. But that isn't the part I've been waiting for! I want Amy and Rory to come back; I think there is still so much that needs to be done with the two of them. At the same time, though, I figured that the plot point I've been anticipating would have to happen as Amy and Rory leave, and that plot point is Amy and the Doctor finally seeing each other for who they are.
FINALLY. FINALLY! *blows kisses into the air*
To me, the most interesting thing about the Doctor's relationship with Amy is that neither sees the other as a real person.
The Doctor forever sees Amy as little Amelia Pond, the first person he met in his new persona, who was strange and fun and wanted to go traveling with him. He picks her up twelve years late, when she's grown up into a sassy kissogram with a sort-of boyfriend (to whom she is engaged two years later), but first impressions last, and the Doctor is unable to see her as anything other than a little girl.
(Maybe it would help if Amy stopped being helpless every other episode, but that is a rant for another entry.)
Examples: As a child, Amy went by "Amelia." As an adult, she is "Amy" because "Amelia Pond" sounded "a bit too fairy tale." Nobody calls her Amelia anymore, but the Doctor still does. (More often, he calls her "Pond," perhaps because it's easier than remembering that she isn't Amelia anymore.) And when the TARDIS' voice interface takes on each of his recent companions' appearances, it stops after Donna on not Amy, but little Amelia, who was never actually in the TARDIS. My theory is that the TARDIS pulled Amelia's appearance from its psychic connection to the Doctor, who still imagines Amelia when he thinks of Amy. I'm sure there are many more examples, since I've been thinking about this since Series Five, but they're slipping my mind right now. Oh well.
On Amy's part, she hero worships the Doctor. I haven't paid much attention to this because Rose and Martha did, as well, but to Amy, the Doctor has always been particularly magical. She was seven years old, praying for someone to rescue her from the crack in her bedroom wall, and out he drops from the sky. He disappears, and over the years, she convinces herself that this impossible madman was just a story she made up-but then he comes back, thereby validating her sanity, closes the crack in her wall, saves the world, and scolds the giant alien eyeball. Then they go on adventure after adventure together, and she gets captured again and again (and again and again), but he always, always saves her.
(Which makes it really weird that her opening speech in "A Good Man Goes to War" was about Rory and not the Doctor. Yes, she loves Rory very much, but she has much more reason to believe that the Doctor is going to save her and her daughter. Rory would never ever give up on her, so perhaps in that respect she should have more faith in him, but really, it's always the Doctor who does the saving. That whole mini-speech of hers seems to have been inserted to advance this self-defeating love triangle, which I just don't get.)
SO WHEN THE DOCTOR ACKNOWLEDGED THIS RELATIONSHIP IN "THE GOD COMPLEX," I WAS ROLLING AROUND WITH GLEE. AAAAAAAAAAAAAH. ♥ I loved: His acknowledgement of his willingness to put people in danger because he is lonely and enjoys having a fan club, particularly in his current incarnation! (From "The Impossible Astronaut": "I'm being extremely clever up here and there's no one to stand around looking impressed! What's the point in having you all?") Him seeing Amelia instead of Amy until at last he calls her "Amy Williams," i.e. not-little-girl-Amelia-but-Amy-the-grownup-woman-who-is-married! Her losing faith in him! (Not that I want her to lose faith in him, but their friendship can never be truly genuine as long as she fails to see him as a man.) Ohhh, it was perfect.
Other things I loved about the episode:
- FEARS.
- RITA. (Can the Doctor have a South Asian companion, oh please, oh please?)
- HOTEL WITH ROOMS.
- RORY AND THE DOCTOR.
- "We've forgotten that not all victories are about saving the universe." (I am actually not sure whether he says "we've" or "you've," the latter of which casts quite a bit more uncalled-for disapproval on the Doctor but which also emphasizes Rory's more realistic view of the Doctor and his flaws.)
But there is so much more I want out of Amy and Rory as companions:
- Amy in an active, heroic role. Because, let's be honest, she is usually the damsel in distress. Rory may die a lot, but he spends a lot less screentime needing to be saved.
- Less of Amy as "the girl who waited" and more of Amy as "the girl with abandonment issues," although that would have been more appropriate for Series Five, when she didn't have parents.
- More acknowledgement (but understated acknowledgement!) of the 2,000 years Rory spent protecting Amy.
- A musical theme for Rory. I haven't noticed one in S6, and the closest we have in S5 are "Amy and Rory," which is an arrangement of "Amy's Theme," and "The Patient Centurion," which contains arrangements of "I Am the Doctor" and "Little Amy," so it definitely doesn't count as Rory's theme.
- More emphasis on Amy and Rory as small-town folks. I feel this is significant because they're the first long-running non-Londoner companions of new Who and because so much of "The Eleventh Hour" was spent showing Amy's network of neighbors.
I hope they come back and at least finish this series! (If anyone knows anything from press releases, do not tell me. I want to be completely surprised.) They must; they're too important to both the River storyline and the Doctor's death.
THREE GUESSES FOR WHOM THE DOCTOR SAW IN HIS ROOM?
1. Himself
2. River, whom even he knows will probably be the one to kill him
3. I'll come up with something.
Screencaps from Sonic Biro, whose name I read as "Sonic Bro."