Series 7 Mini Review Con't - "A Town Called Mercy"
~ A TOWN CALLED MERCY ~
The Doctor in a Western? That head & bow legs of his were just begging to wear a stetson & ride a horse.
Impressions: This was one of the episodes that I was really excited for in this series. The first clips in the first trailer were largely of this episode so in a way it had a lot to live up to since it was the public's first impression of the coming series. The tone & writing style of this episode took me a bit by surprise at first. I have to admit I wasn't quite ready for all the details & subtle things that gave this episode life the first time I watched it. So, although my initial impression of this episode wasn't being blown away, I was able to appreciate the writing, the intriguing character progression & contrasts, along with the moral issues that were the clear underlying theme of this story. As for the tone, I believe it truly felt like a Western, with the camera angles and the music (Murray Gold is so versatile). As great as I could see this episode was, however, I was sadly a bit detached from the emotional journey on my first viewing. Second time around (on my laptop with headphones), I really got to appreciate the side characters a lot more. There was a greater sense of depth to Isaac (Ben Browder), Kahler Jex (Adrian Scarborough), Dockery (Sean Benedict), and the Gunslinger (Andrew Brooke) as I understood their characters through watching more closely a second time. As there was depth in the characters (& acting on their part) there was depth in story as well, and here I was thinking that this was just going to be another romp of an episode but with cowboys in the wild west (of "Spain"). Not to say that the comedic moments in there weren't played out brilliantly as well. They were inserted so well as a credit to the Matt's comedic genius but also along with the impressive directing of Saul Metzstein. All Matt had to do was put a toothpick in his mouth & walk into the saloon and I started to giggle. The little scene of the Doctor trying to stomp his way into the egg-shaped spaceship was smartly edited to add some light humor. The greater undertone of this episode was a much more solemn one, however. So many moral issues with a variety of characters' point-of-view on them that was there to contemplate about. There were a lot of interesting moments in this episode but I don't want to go into it further, lest this review be mini no more, thus I shall merely say, "Great quality stuff."
In the end: This may considerably be one of the best written and directed episodes I've seen but the scale of it was so huge that I think it was cut down to leave out some of those establishing scenes, somewhat key information, and extra emotional ties to the story & characters. Nowdays people can easily rewatch Doctor Who episodes (as I clearly do) to catch all those subtleties and to understand more about the particulars of the story development, so perhaps putting in extra time into clarifiying and rooting the mood/characters/backgrounds further isn't as necessary as it used to be. And because the direction under Saul Metzstein, the acting from the cast, and the post-production are so brilliant, an avid fan can go back and catch all those extra "tells" to figure out all those details that have been gnawing at their subconscious. It's still a shame, however, that they didn't have the opportunity to play/have fun with the story/setting/characters more to add into what, at its core, is a strong episode. Back when they did "The Gunslingers" with the First Doctor, William Hartnell, where they last went to the wild west, there was a set of around five, 25 minute episodes around one story so there was a lot of scenes that didn't actually develop the main plot very much & could be seen as just "filler," but at least they could really establish the setting. With great writing, directing, acting, and post-editing like this, I think the story could do with more of that. Imagine if at the scene where the Gunslinger pointed his blaster at the little girl in the church, that he remembered his time during the war as another innocent face looked back at him but he couldn't control himself from shooting. Little things like that seemed to be missing, and if they had added more such hair-raising embellishments, I'd have been happy with the episode being 2 hours long. I digress, because although this episode could have been enhanced so much more with further information/scenes about the Kahler, character connection & relationship establishment between the Doctor and everyone else, little moments by the "extras" to enhance the town as a real place, and more reflection on the "crimes" committed by the Doctor & Jex, with the short amount of time allowed in this one episode, Toby Whithouse & Saul Metzstein did a fantastic job to keep the core intact and keep the details in mind. Thank you Steven Moffat for serving up a Doctor Who western episode and for the interesting progression the characters are taking.