A Town called Mercy
Before I get too loss in gushing about A Town called Malice Mercy, I just want to say I LOVED THAT EPISODE!!! Haven't enjoyed an episode this much since ... I don't know ... The Impossible Astronaut? The Doctor's Wife?
I'm a sucker for stories that deal with revenge, redemption, forgiveness and moral grey areas. I love how Toby Whithouse did not take the easy way out by making either The Gunslinger and Kahla Jex more sympathetic/cruel than the other, that these are both characters who have reasons behind their past or current actions and who still stand by their decisions. I love how all the characters, even the townsfolk, are morally grey and how there are no extremists; no one is more right or wrong than the other and that takes skill to write. I sympathised with both The Gunslinger and Kahla Jex in the end, which made the storyline even better because I couldn't predict how it was going to end.
The writing, the characters and the dialogue for this episode were all amazing. the conversation between The Doctor and that 19-year-old just before the final act. Normally, in other stories, you'd have no sympathy for the lynch mob, but again Whithouse refuses to give an inch and make the characters even a little more black (or white), but instead gives us a boy who just wants to protect his friends and family. And that's why I loved this episode. No one is perfect. Everyone has and will make horrible decisions for whatever reason. At first I wanted to hate Kahla Jex, but couldn't bring myself to, because he really is decent, knows right from wrong, and made decisions not to be cruel or for personal gain, but essentially, to have a future without war.
The other theme I loved was the futility of revenge and how revenge is never ending, because it never affects just two parties. The Gunslinger had every right to be angry, and even though he tried to keep others out the crossfire, the townsfolk still ended up involved, either by getting shot (like Isaac) or just feeling threatened. It's possible that, if the Doctor didn't arrive, the townsfolk might have tried to attack the Gunslinger, which would have then put them on his hit-list as well, thus making revenge even more never-ending.
The acting was also good. Matt Smith actually had me scared when he aggressively pushed Kahla Jex out of the town. Before then, I was a bit repulsed by Kahla Jex, but then the Doctor went all Ten-in-his-dying-days, and I actually started feeling sorry for Kahla again. So props to Matt for doing such a good job.
Finally, just wanted to mention that Susan the Horse is hilarious and I respect his/her life-choices :D
I'm a sucker for stories that deal with revenge, redemption, forgiveness and moral grey areas. I love how Toby Whithouse did not take the easy way out by making either The Gunslinger and Kahla Jex more sympathetic/cruel than the other, that these are both characters who have reasons behind their past or current actions and who still stand by their decisions. I love how all the characters, even the townsfolk, are morally grey and how there are no extremists; no one is more right or wrong than the other and that takes skill to write. I sympathised with both The Gunslinger and Kahla Jex in the end, which made the storyline even better because I couldn't predict how it was going to end.
The writing, the characters and the dialogue for this episode were all amazing. the conversation between The Doctor and that 19-year-old just before the final act. Normally, in other stories, you'd have no sympathy for the lynch mob, but again Whithouse refuses to give an inch and make the characters even a little more black (or white), but instead gives us a boy who just wants to protect his friends and family. And that's why I loved this episode. No one is perfect. Everyone has and will make horrible decisions for whatever reason. At first I wanted to hate Kahla Jex, but couldn't bring myself to, because he really is decent, knows right from wrong, and made decisions not to be cruel or for personal gain, but essentially, to have a future without war.
The other theme I loved was the futility of revenge and how revenge is never ending, because it never affects just two parties. The Gunslinger had every right to be angry, and even though he tried to keep others out the crossfire, the townsfolk still ended up involved, either by getting shot (like Isaac) or just feeling threatened. It's possible that, if the Doctor didn't arrive, the townsfolk might have tried to attack the Gunslinger, which would have then put them on his hit-list as well, thus making revenge even more never-ending.
The acting was also good. Matt Smith actually had me scared when he aggressively pushed Kahla Jex out of the town. Before then, I was a bit repulsed by Kahla Jex, but then the Doctor went all Ten-in-his-dying-days, and I actually started feeling sorry for Kahla again. So props to Matt for doing such a good job.
Finally, just wanted to mention that Susan the Horse is hilarious and I respect his/her life-choices :D