some musings
In lieu of any reaction post for The Rebel Flesh / The Almost People (because really, I can't be expected to type the noises I made at the end of that two-parter), here's a little snippet of what's been bouncing around in my head since the episode aired.
I didn't realize until today how deep the connection between Amy and the Doctor actually is. Now, I am an 11/Amy shipper, but not in the sense that I expect, or even hope, that they're somehow going to end up together anymore. I firmly believe that Amy loves, and belongs with, Rory. However, I also believe that the Doctor loves her deeply. I think that his feelings for her are romantic on some level, yes. That being said, there is so much more to their connection than what can be neatly categorized as "romance." I don't think the Doctor has had a bond this strong with any previous companion (that I've seen anyway). Amy is the very first person he meets after regenerating, and she's a little girl. The Doctor was a dad once. Children are absolutely precious in his eyes. And he meets this little girl who and is just the most sensible child he's ever met -- she asks all the right questions and none of the wrong ones and she doesn't bat an eye at his weird cravings and not once does she even consider not believing the insane magic man before her -- and she takes his hand and looks up at him and trusts him completely, and in that moment she's stolen his heart. He doesn't even have a chance: she's completely won him over. And even after all their adventures that follow, he still sees her as that little girl. And he loves her fiercely for it, the way a father loves his daughter. But there's more to it than that. Because after all the time he spends looking after her and fixing her and saving her and trying to make her all better no matter what happens -- sacrificing himself and his TARDIS just so that his Amelia can finally have a family again -- after all that, she stands up and remembers him back into existence. She's not just saving his life. She's almost creating him, in a sense. She imagines him into being. And I think the Doctor's just astounded. Not because he didn't expect her to be able to do it or anything like that, but just astounded by her. Who wouldn't be? He gave her every reason to never believe him and never trust him again, after what she went through growing up, and yet when he asked her to, she believed in him and trusted him so hard that he became real. He owes her everything, and he knows it. When someone gives you that kind of faith, you know you have to live up to it. That's why the Doctor has spent most of this season worrying himself sick over Amy. We know now that this episode's aired that the Doctor has been slowly working out that the Amy who's been traveling with him is actually Amy's consciousness plumbed into a Ganger body, and that the real Amy is trapped somewhere, and he doesn't know how to save her. He would do anything for her. And so he does. He's going to raise an army to rescue her. He's done this once already: he went to war to save the universe from the Daleks and the Time Lords. And now the Doctor is going to go to war for Amy Pond. Because he's all right with letting her be with Rory, get married, and stop thinking about him in that way. He'll be all right with her leaving the TARDIS to start a life and a family in Leadworth, when the time comes. But he is not all right with anything happening to her. The moment you hurt Amy Pond, the Doctor becomes the most dangerous man in the universe. And I cannot wait to see what happens when he does.
Also, a glimpse into my head canon, which I kind of really want someone to write a story about:
So, in my personal canon, Amy steals future!Eleven's bowtie before they cremate him in The Impossible Astronaut. And she keeps it with her with all her stuff in their room in the TARDIS, and sometimes in the middle of the night she gets up and sits there and just holds it and worries, or cries, or tries to think of some way to save him. And eventually she starts carrying it around in her pocket, and then she ends up forgetting she has it until years later, after loads more adventures and monsters and running, when she and Rory have saved the Doctor after all and said goodbye and left the TARDIS and gone home to Leadworth and started a family and then one day Amy’s doing laundry and emptying out all the pockets of her old jeans that she hasn’t even touched in years and she pulls out this bowtie that she totally forgot was there and she starts laughing and crying and Rory comes into the laundry room like “What’s up?” and she just holds up the bowtie and he puts his arms around her and they laugh and cry and remember for a while, and then Amy puts the bowtie up on the wall somewhere in their house, like in the dining room or something, and then when their first little boy starts growing up he asks his mommy and daddy about the bowtie, and Amy and Rory smile at each other, and then that little boy gets to have the best bedtime stories ever for the rest of his childhood.
Y/Y?
Finally, some thoughts from this week's Confidential:
I try not to ship Matt/Karen too hard. I really do. I mean, I know they’ve both got significant others and their love lives are really none of my business.
But guys, you can’t go on Confidential and tell a story about how you were hanging out one night and she asked you to walk her back up into her flat above the dentist’s because she was scared and not expect SOMEONE to go THAT’S REALLY ADORABLE AND SWEET AND I THINK YOU SHOULD GET MARRIED. Especially not when said story then devolves into giggling and peering into rooms to make sure they’re safe and something about blood on a door and setting the fire alarm off. All I can think when I hear that is THEY HAD SCARY GIGGLY SHENANIGANS SNEAKING UP INTO KAREN’S FLAT AT NIGHT. THEY ARE IN A ROMCOM.
So really it’s their own fault.
I didn't realize until today how deep the connection between Amy and the Doctor actually is. Now, I am an 11/Amy shipper, but not in the sense that I expect, or even hope, that they're somehow going to end up together anymore. I firmly believe that Amy loves, and belongs with, Rory. However, I also believe that the Doctor loves her deeply. I think that his feelings for her are romantic on some level, yes. That being said, there is so much more to their connection than what can be neatly categorized as "romance." I don't think the Doctor has had a bond this strong with any previous companion (that I've seen anyway). Amy is the very first person he meets after regenerating, and she's a little girl. The Doctor was a dad once. Children are absolutely precious in his eyes. And he meets this little girl who and is just the most sensible child he's ever met -- she asks all the right questions and none of the wrong ones and she doesn't bat an eye at his weird cravings and not once does she even consider not believing the insane magic man before her -- and she takes his hand and looks up at him and trusts him completely, and in that moment she's stolen his heart. He doesn't even have a chance: she's completely won him over. And even after all their adventures that follow, he still sees her as that little girl. And he loves her fiercely for it, the way a father loves his daughter. But there's more to it than that. Because after all the time he spends looking after her and fixing her and saving her and trying to make her all better no matter what happens -- sacrificing himself and his TARDIS just so that his Amelia can finally have a family again -- after all that, she stands up and remembers him back into existence. She's not just saving his life. She's almost creating him, in a sense. She imagines him into being. And I think the Doctor's just astounded. Not because he didn't expect her to be able to do it or anything like that, but just astounded by her. Who wouldn't be? He gave her every reason to never believe him and never trust him again, after what she went through growing up, and yet when he asked her to, she believed in him and trusted him so hard that he became real. He owes her everything, and he knows it. When someone gives you that kind of faith, you know you have to live up to it. That's why the Doctor has spent most of this season worrying himself sick over Amy. We know now that this episode's aired that the Doctor has been slowly working out that the Amy who's been traveling with him is actually Amy's consciousness plumbed into a Ganger body, and that the real Amy is trapped somewhere, and he doesn't know how to save her. He would do anything for her. And so he does. He's going to raise an army to rescue her. He's done this once already: he went to war to save the universe from the Daleks and the Time Lords. And now the Doctor is going to go to war for Amy Pond. Because he's all right with letting her be with Rory, get married, and stop thinking about him in that way. He'll be all right with her leaving the TARDIS to start a life and a family in Leadworth, when the time comes. But he is not all right with anything happening to her. The moment you hurt Amy Pond, the Doctor becomes the most dangerous man in the universe. And I cannot wait to see what happens when he does.
Also, a glimpse into my head canon, which I kind of really want someone to write a story about:
So, in my personal canon, Amy steals future!Eleven's bowtie before they cremate him in The Impossible Astronaut. And she keeps it with her with all her stuff in their room in the TARDIS, and sometimes in the middle of the night she gets up and sits there and just holds it and worries, or cries, or tries to think of some way to save him. And eventually she starts carrying it around in her pocket, and then she ends up forgetting she has it until years later, after loads more adventures and monsters and running, when she and Rory have saved the Doctor after all and said goodbye and left the TARDIS and gone home to Leadworth and started a family and then one day Amy’s doing laundry and emptying out all the pockets of her old jeans that she hasn’t even touched in years and she pulls out this bowtie that she totally forgot was there and she starts laughing and crying and Rory comes into the laundry room like “What’s up?” and she just holds up the bowtie and he puts his arms around her and they laugh and cry and remember for a while, and then Amy puts the bowtie up on the wall somewhere in their house, like in the dining room or something, and then when their first little boy starts growing up he asks his mommy and daddy about the bowtie, and Amy and Rory smile at each other, and then that little boy gets to have the best bedtime stories ever for the rest of his childhood.
Y/Y?
Finally, some thoughts from this week's Confidential:
I try not to ship Matt/Karen too hard. I really do. I mean, I know they’ve both got significant others and their love lives are really none of my business.
But guys, you can’t go on Confidential and tell a story about how you were hanging out one night and she asked you to walk her back up into her flat above the dentist’s because she was scared and not expect SOMEONE to go THAT’S REALLY ADORABLE AND SWEET AND I THINK YOU SHOULD GET MARRIED. Especially not when said story then devolves into giggling and peering into rooms to make sure they’re safe and something about blood on a door and setting the fire alarm off. All I can think when I hear that is THEY HAD SCARY GIGGLY SHENANIGANS SNEAKING UP INTO KAREN’S FLAT AT NIGHT. THEY ARE IN A ROMCOM.
So really it’s their own fault.