Asylum of the Daleks. DW S7.1
These thoughts are going to be brief - not because there's not a lot to dig into, but because this week is so busy I can't describe it. So I'll touch on the major imagery and leave it at that for now...
Eggs
First things first: Props to Moffat for not just poking at every single egg-terminate joke ever, but for also making large swathes of the audience crack up when Rory picked up what he called an 'egg' - because everyone knows that it's a Dalek bump... And if you don't know why this is laugh-out-loud funny, then make haste and watch The Curse of Fatal Death, Moffat's first outing writing DW. (It's a Comic Relief 'sketch' and beyond brilliant.)
But - there is a more serious side to this. Eggs are a symbol of life (and rebirth). A Dalek would never need an egg - it is a weapon, something deformed/mutated and dead (as in - unable to reproduce naturally). And this is where it ties in with the story: Amy and Rory's break-up might be a tad contrived (although it is the exact sort of thing Amy would do, and absolutely fits in with her reasoning), but looking beneath the surface all the metaphors fall into place: The souffle was burned (again), and Amy can't have children - eggs and milk, these are the key. Also it's about looking beneath the surface damage or issues. The Doctor wonders where Oswin got the milk, and the damage to Amy isn't just emotional, it's physical. All the eggs are broken...
Eyes (windows/mirrors)
There has always been a lot of eye imagery in Moffat's Who, and it's really drawing together now. It is tied in with all kinds of things - such as self-perception and looking out versus looking in. Most obviously we see this with Oswin, whose image of self is completely at odds with reality - but of course she is a mirror for the Doctor, whom the Daleks call 'Predator': That is, someone more dangerous than they are themselves. It also goes the other way of course - Oswin looks like a Dalek - has been completely converted - yet she has managed to cling onto her humanity. Essentially: Don't always trust your eyes. Also, I am struck by all the one-eyed-ness (Daleks have one eye, all those eye patches last season), and of course Davros' third eye... I will probably write something more on this at a later date.
Memory etc.
The theme of S6 is very much carried forward here. Then it was physical death, now it is death of a different kind - the Daleks forget him, and this is huge. They've been around since the very, very beginning, and this kind of erasure is... fascinating, and possibly not entirely good. Oh it's marvellous on many levels, but the man who could turn an army around at the mention of his name is slowly being dismantled - and where will that leave him? Which ties in with who-ever-it-is who is pulling all the strings. (Oh hai there multi-season arc, I love you.) Plz be Omega!
GIRL IN A BOX
This is the point where I have to give up. Because I could talk about Oswin forever (her name, the way she is like a nightmare version of CAL, Carmen, dancers, all that red, human/monster, souffles, dreams etc etc), but I'll have to wait. But she is a mirror absolutely EVERYTHING, and I think I know who she is, and it all ties together beautifully and I... really can't talk about it all now.
In conclusion: Moffat still owns ALL THE METAPHORS, the show is still like poetry, and I feel like I'm slightly lost in a hall of mirrors - I need to work out which ones are real and which ones are reflections, and then I can work out what's happening...
Eggs
First things first: Props to Moffat for not just poking at every single egg-terminate joke ever, but for also making large swathes of the audience crack up when Rory picked up what he called an 'egg' - because everyone knows that it's a Dalek bump... And if you don't know why this is laugh-out-loud funny, then make haste and watch The Curse of Fatal Death, Moffat's first outing writing DW. (It's a Comic Relief 'sketch' and beyond brilliant.)
But - there is a more serious side to this. Eggs are a symbol of life (and rebirth). A Dalek would never need an egg - it is a weapon, something deformed/mutated and dead (as in - unable to reproduce naturally). And this is where it ties in with the story: Amy and Rory's break-up might be a tad contrived (although it is the exact sort of thing Amy would do, and absolutely fits in with her reasoning), but looking beneath the surface all the metaphors fall into place: The souffle was burned (again), and Amy can't have children - eggs and milk, these are the key. Also it's about looking beneath the surface damage or issues. The Doctor wonders where Oswin got the milk, and the damage to Amy isn't just emotional, it's physical. All the eggs are broken...
Eyes (windows/mirrors)
There has always been a lot of eye imagery in Moffat's Who, and it's really drawing together now. It is tied in with all kinds of things - such as self-perception and looking out versus looking in. Most obviously we see this with Oswin, whose image of self is completely at odds with reality - but of course she is a mirror for the Doctor, whom the Daleks call 'Predator': That is, someone more dangerous than they are themselves. It also goes the other way of course - Oswin looks like a Dalek - has been completely converted - yet she has managed to cling onto her humanity. Essentially: Don't always trust your eyes. Also, I am struck by all the one-eyed-ness (Daleks have one eye, all those eye patches last season), and of course Davros' third eye... I will probably write something more on this at a later date.
Memory etc.
The theme of S6 is very much carried forward here. Then it was physical death, now it is death of a different kind - the Daleks forget him, and this is huge. They've been around since the very, very beginning, and this kind of erasure is... fascinating, and possibly not entirely good. Oh it's marvellous on many levels, but the man who could turn an army around at the mention of his name is slowly being dismantled - and where will that leave him? Which ties in with who-ever-it-is who is pulling all the strings. (Oh hai there multi-season arc, I love you.) Plz be Omega!
GIRL IN A BOX
This is the point where I have to give up. Because I could talk about Oswin forever (her name, the way she is like a nightmare version of CAL, Carmen, dancers, all that red, human/monster, souffles, dreams etc etc), but I'll have to wait. But she is a mirror absolutely EVERYTHING, and I think I know who she is, and it all ties together beautifully and I... really can't talk about it all now.
In conclusion: Moffat still owns ALL THE METAPHORS, the show is still like poetry, and I feel like I'm slightly lost in a hall of mirrors - I need to work out which ones are real and which ones are reflections, and then I can work out what's happening...