Dr Who 6.13

[tari_roo]

\o/ for the set pieces and weirdo history all at once world

\o/ Rory! Gah, I love that man

\o/ for the Doctor outwitting the Silence

\o/ for the final question and season 7

but... did I like it? Don't know yet, will have to think about it some more. Perhaps I was expecting too much, a more... dramatic reveal. But still..

\o/ The Doctor married River!

Comments

[claudiapriscus.livejournal.com]

See, this is why I don't need to do reactions. You've got it covered! That is basically everything I would have said! No, not basically. It IS everything I would have said.

I think this episode needed to be a two parter. As much as a loved all the random smushed history details and the "telling the story" framework, it....seemed kind of disjointed, like when someone just sketches their 100k epic out for you in a few paragraphs.

Also, I was a bit disappointed by, "It was the doctor in a doctor robot!" because, um, well...there'd been hints of all sorts of crazy time-wimey stuff, and the flesh doctor, and so it all just kind of.... hmm. It was an easy way to get us out of the dead doctor conundrum, but it didn't really answer anything or accomplish anything like the last season finale did (or the half season finale). What exactly was up with the silence? It's a religious order AND creepy aliens? So they don't want the doctor to answer the damn question, how is that a bitter war? Is the show just going, "Religion! It never makes sense" or what? And river scolded him, told him it was his fault for being scary. And what is up with Rory always dying? I mean, fans and recappers joking about it is one thing, but then to make it a THING, but ignore it?

And about Amy and Rory... so are they just chilling now, or what? I mean, I know the Doctor dropped them off, but this episode reminded me that Amy'd still be worried about the Doctor dying, I guess?

[tari-roo.livejournal.com]

Ah, I have been thinking about this off and on all day, and I think (perhaps) the writers know how clever the fans are. We had a lot of false trails this season... the Flesh Doctor, the Doctor in a Tux during Let's Kill Hitler, coats vs suit jackets... they definitely kept us guessing the entire time. So... the reveal of the Robot!Doctor instead was 'cool' because I sure as hell did not expect it BUT was it good enough? I think the writers (and I'm not saying Moffat for a reason) is building something for season seven, letting six end on a half note, so that season 7 is more... interesting?

Or, I'm just overthinking it. Its a fine balance between a running plot and stand alone episode enjoyability. Season 5 did it great. Season 6 less so I think. BUT season 6 had a lot more - No way! moments.

Either way, with RTD season finales still fresh in my mind, I'm much happier with the season 6 finale in comparison, BECAUSE I am looking forward to season 7 now, and there was no melodrama. Just more poor Rory teasing.

[claudiapriscus.livejournal.com]

Oh yeah. Far better than the usual RTD finale. I'm not really upset or disappointed or anything by this finale, just more....puzzled. If I drew a doodle, I'd have a thought bubble with "???" in it.

And my puzzlement isn't so much "what the hell just happened" as it is, "how am I supposed to feel about this? What actually should I be taking from this?"

[tari-roo.livejournal.com]

Exactly! How are we supposed to feel about it?

Joy, because the Doctor lived (we knew he would)

Interest, because it is so confusing (probably)

Eh, I'm just going to go back and rewatch some of season 5 and 6. Maybe write a fic or two now that I can. :)

[claudiapriscus.livejournal.com]

I feel a bit like season 5 (which I keep having to remind myself is NOT "season 1") threw me a surprise birthday party and gave me a puppy.

And then this season handed me the bill and then took the puppy away and stuck it in a box in some complicated, ambiguously-motivated way, and now I'm like, "so...um....what?"

But yes! Fic is good. There seems to be precious little, though. Maybe I look in the wrong places? Maybe I'm just too picky. Either way.

I've had a short little one-shot open up on my desktop for quite some time that I'd like to get finished. It's basically pseudo-crossover silliness: an explanation for the weird SPN timeline via TARDIS mishap.

[tari-roo.livejournal.com]

Really? That sounds immensly intriguing! Dr Who is ripe for crossovers... but I'd like to try my hand at one shot first, something with Rory and the Doctor, without Amy. :)

[claudiapriscus.livejournal.com]

Rory and the Doctor. <3. Really, I love Amy, but Rory is so awesome as a companion I can't really describe it. I like his clear-eyed view on the Doctor and life on the TARDIS- he's not blinded by the adventure of it, or by infatuation. He doesn't desire that life, but he doesn't hate it or fear it either. He takes it in stride. And as much as I had assumed he was going to basically just be Mickey, and they did a lot to develop his character in the opposite direction...when I've rewatched the 11th hour, I realize how much of that they kind of implied- oh, with the coma patients.

[tari-roo.livejournal.com]

I've decided I need a Rory icon - pref in Roman get up.

Of the three male companions, Rory is by far the most well rounded, well developed and likeable character. Mickey is just flat out annoying and not even staying in an AR and becoming 'tuff' redeemed him. Jack just confuses me. Whereas Rory has realistic fears about his relationship with Amy and hers with the Doctor. He loves her whole heartedly but not to the subjurgation of his own personality, will and desires.

That scene in The Girl Who Waited at the end where he had to decide between old Amy and young Amy was just... so touching and well acted. But its the fact that he's a Nurse - the very deliberate jab at 'not' being a Doctor, but has demonstrated a far greater loyalty to Amy than the Doctor that wins me every time. Amy waited for the Doctor, but Rory waited 2000 years for Amy. Willingly. Lovingly. Gah... I'm smitten.

The Doctor is a hopeless romantic too, like in pushing Craig to admit his feelings in the Lodger, but he's not the ideal 'romantic' love. Too flighty, too damaged, too scarred. But Rory... oh hell, yes!

[claudiapriscus.livejournal.com]

Rory's quiet, or maybe...he doesn't have a need to be showy might be a better way to put it, and I think that made it easy for the show to trick viewers into underestimating him, dismissing him. Especially all the comments I've seen on earlier episodes along the lines of, "oh, he's the drippy boyfriend. The placeholder. What the hell is Amy supposed to see in him, anyway."

And I loved how much that's changed, without really changing HIM. Perspective shift rather than character shift. I mean, at first the whole Last Centurion thing might have seemed like Taking A Level in Badass, which it was...but they did a good job, I think, of showing that it merely revealed strengths he already had- tempering them, maybe- rather than the character shift they did with Mickey because they'd kind of painted themselves in a corner with him. (I actually liked Mickey. I felt sorry for him. And in different hands, maybe he would have been a more interesting character. His character had some justifiable complaints- it would have been interesting if they'd been given some weight, rather than dismissed as silly and pathetic.)

I honestly don't get the (rare) comments I see that say Rory is boring. what show are they watching, anyway?

[tari-roo.livejournal.com]

pffff.. not our Show certainly.

Perhaps I disliked Mickey so much because he was smitted with Rose and well.. that I just don't understand. I'm glad he got Martha in the end, someone who liked him for who he was, but yeah.

Rory and the Doctor, its just such an interesting combo.

[claudiapriscus.livejournal.com]

It is! They're so opposite in so many things, but then there's that core of steel...

[tari-roo.livejournal.com]

And the immovable loyalty. Dual sense of right and wrong. Unwavering courage in the face of loneliness and isolation.

\o/