Doctor Who Christmas 2015 Instant(ish) Reaction Post
I watched "The Husbands of River Song" last night, but I was way too tired to write an Instant Reaction Post at the time. Anyway, here it is, a little less instantaneous than usual:
I hate to say it, but that was pretty underwhelming. As a light, funny romp, it was enjoyable enough, I guess, though nothing amazing. And as a Doctor/River character piece, it had some truly lovely moments; it took a while for the chemistry between them to really take off, but once it did, they were as adorable together as I had expected.
But continuity-wise, it's a mess, isn't it? Like a lot of River Song stories, it's really difficult, if not impossible, to make it fit with what we already knew about her. (Actually, I'm not sure how much of the problem is "this contradicts established canon" versus "this contradicts my unwritten fanfic ideas", but either way, it irritates me.) For instance:
How is it _possible_ that they didn't do Darillium before now? It almost _had_ to have happened during Eleven's run, didn't it? Because he was convinced, more than once, that he was about to die for good, and so surely he would have made sure to tie up this particular loose end, wouldn't he? Otherwise, it would have been a giveaway that he was somehow going to see her again. (Personally I'd have placed Darillium just before "The Snowmen", but that really is just personal opinion; almost anywhere would work).
And now River knows, or at least strongly suspects, that Darillium was their next-to-last date and that her own time might be getting short. But that doesn't seem to fit at all with what we see in the Library two-parter; there, she doesn't seem surprised to see the Doctor again, or to worry much that this encounter might be their very last. It's not that it's a flat-out contradiction - there are probably plenty of ways of making it all work - but it doesn't _feel_ right, the pieces don't snap together naturally.
Anyway, that was Christmas. Didn't hate it, didn't love it. I'm glad it wasn't Moffat's last episode, I'd like to see him go out on a better episode than that (preferably, a few years and one more Doctor from now).
This entry was originally posted at http://c-carol.dreamwidth.org/47373.html. Please comment wherever.
I hate to say it, but that was pretty underwhelming. As a light, funny romp, it was enjoyable enough, I guess, though nothing amazing. And as a Doctor/River character piece, it had some truly lovely moments; it took a while for the chemistry between them to really take off, but once it did, they were as adorable together as I had expected.
But continuity-wise, it's a mess, isn't it? Like a lot of River Song stories, it's really difficult, if not impossible, to make it fit with what we already knew about her. (Actually, I'm not sure how much of the problem is "this contradicts established canon" versus "this contradicts my unwritten fanfic ideas", but either way, it irritates me.) For instance:
How is it _possible_ that they didn't do Darillium before now? It almost _had_ to have happened during Eleven's run, didn't it? Because he was convinced, more than once, that he was about to die for good, and so surely he would have made sure to tie up this particular loose end, wouldn't he? Otherwise, it would have been a giveaway that he was somehow going to see her again. (Personally I'd have placed Darillium just before "The Snowmen", but that really is just personal opinion; almost anywhere would work).
And now River knows, or at least strongly suspects, that Darillium was their next-to-last date and that her own time might be getting short. But that doesn't seem to fit at all with what we see in the Library two-parter; there, she doesn't seem surprised to see the Doctor again, or to worry much that this encounter might be their very last. It's not that it's a flat-out contradiction - there are probably plenty of ways of making it all work - but it doesn't _feel_ right, the pieces don't snap together naturally.
Anyway, that was Christmas. Didn't hate it, didn't love it. I'm glad it wasn't Moffat's last episode, I'd like to see him go out on a better episode than that (preferably, a few years and one more Doctor from now).
This entry was originally posted at http://c-carol.dreamwidth.org/47373.html. Please comment wherever.