Shades of Time Lord Victorious
It occurred to me that I should probably write my reaction post to 'A Town Called Mercy' before the next episode airs, so here it is.
Overall, I enjoyed this episode. It was fun, it was a western, and it had a bit of dark!Doctor action, and everyone knows that Izzy likes dark!Doctor. I quite enjoyed Matt Smith's performance as Eleven traveling on his own and the glimpse of his darkness.
I would like to point out, however, that this isn't a new thing. We KNOW that bad things happen when the Doctor travels alone. We KNOW he needs someone to stop him. We KNOW that if he allows himself too much distance from the people he's judging (and he totally judges them) it's quite possible for him to turn into a monster.
And we KNOW that the Doctor isn't just fun and games. We KNOW he's got a dark side. We've seen it with Nine and Ten, but also with Eleven. Remember the Dream Lord? He was everything the Doctor hated about himself, all of his rage and cruelty and brilliance devoted to causing Amy pain. Remember 'When A Good Man Goes to War,' and Colonel 'Runaway?' Remember when he told House that it had given him hope and taken it away, and that was enough to make anyone dangerous, but who knew what it would do to him? All of those instances hint at the darkness which has become a part of the Doctor's character.
In that vein, I really liked Jax's speech about fearing death. Because imagine how heavy the Doctor's burden would be, if he had to carry all the souls of the people he has wronged. Whose would be the heaviest? The people he sacrificed in the Time War, or the people who trusted him (Martha, Donna, Amy, Rory, River, Rose, Adric, Tegan, Gwen and Joan Redfern and Lynda with a Y and Jabe, et. al), the people he failed? And when the Doctor talks about mercy, yeah it can be reflected on him. That's how he knows. Remember in s1 when Nine takes Blon the Slitheen to that restaurant for her last meal? Remember what he tells her, that sparing one life (because he smiled, or he has freckles, or he begged) lets her live with killing thousands? Remember what she said to him? She said that only a killer would know that. And it's true. He knows about mercy, he knows about killing because he's done it.
I loved, loved LOVED the Doctor's speech about his own mercy, about how he's not going to help Jax because when he is merciful to bad people good people suffer. I think it's important to remember that in this Universe the Doctor is the closest thing to a god they have. He's over a thousand years old (Classic Who put him at around 900 years in his Seventh body, I think). He's a genius and he has ALL THAT KNOWLEDGE. He can speak almost every language (thank you TARDIS), he can travel in time, and he can SEE time and all its possibilities (remember The Fires of Pompeii?). Time and time again he's given people chances, and every time someone else, someone innocent ends up getting hurt.
Amy's response was a bit weak. Her simple 'we've got to be better than him' left me unconvinced. Something more along the lines of 'do this and you're just as bad as he is' would seem more effective, but that could be a personal choice.
Basically, it was decent but not spectacular, and I enjoyed the little bit of dark!Doctor we got to see.
Is it bad that I was mostly thinking about how I'm going to rewrite this episode? XP
Overall, I enjoyed this episode. It was fun, it was a western, and it had a bit of dark!Doctor action, and everyone knows that Izzy likes dark!Doctor. I quite enjoyed Matt Smith's performance as Eleven traveling on his own and the glimpse of his darkness.
I would like to point out, however, that this isn't a new thing. We KNOW that bad things happen when the Doctor travels alone. We KNOW he needs someone to stop him. We KNOW that if he allows himself too much distance from the people he's judging (and he totally judges them) it's quite possible for him to turn into a monster.
And we KNOW that the Doctor isn't just fun and games. We KNOW he's got a dark side. We've seen it with Nine and Ten, but also with Eleven. Remember the Dream Lord? He was everything the Doctor hated about himself, all of his rage and cruelty and brilliance devoted to causing Amy pain. Remember 'When A Good Man Goes to War,' and Colonel 'Runaway?' Remember when he told House that it had given him hope and taken it away, and that was enough to make anyone dangerous, but who knew what it would do to him? All of those instances hint at the darkness which has become a part of the Doctor's character.
In that vein, I really liked Jax's speech about fearing death. Because imagine how heavy the Doctor's burden would be, if he had to carry all the souls of the people he has wronged. Whose would be the heaviest? The people he sacrificed in the Time War, or the people who trusted him (Martha, Donna, Amy, Rory, River, Rose, Adric, Tegan, Gwen and Joan Redfern and Lynda with a Y and Jabe, et. al), the people he failed? And when the Doctor talks about mercy, yeah it can be reflected on him. That's how he knows. Remember in s1 when Nine takes Blon the Slitheen to that restaurant for her last meal? Remember what he tells her, that sparing one life (because he smiled, or he has freckles, or he begged) lets her live with killing thousands? Remember what she said to him? She said that only a killer would know that. And it's true. He knows about mercy, he knows about killing because he's done it.
I loved, loved LOVED the Doctor's speech about his own mercy, about how he's not going to help Jax because when he is merciful to bad people good people suffer. I think it's important to remember that in this Universe the Doctor is the closest thing to a god they have. He's over a thousand years old (Classic Who put him at around 900 years in his Seventh body, I think). He's a genius and he has ALL THAT KNOWLEDGE. He can speak almost every language (thank you TARDIS), he can travel in time, and he can SEE time and all its possibilities (remember The Fires of Pompeii?). Time and time again he's given people chances, and every time someone else, someone innocent ends up getting hurt.
Amy's response was a bit weak. Her simple 'we've got to be better than him' left me unconvinced. Something more along the lines of 'do this and you're just as bad as he is' would seem more effective, but that could be a personal choice.
Basically, it was decent but not spectacular, and I enjoyed the little bit of dark!Doctor we got to see.
Is it bad that I was mostly thinking about how I'm going to rewrite this episode? XP