Doctor Who: The Wedding of River Song
Oct. 1st, 2011 07:55 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
beccaelizabeth:-)
That was so simple. Everyone knew the answer since the first episode. So we spent the whole season waiting to see what we already knew. So the episode was about something else.
... a completely altered reality where everything happens all at once? Interesting for the lols but only for that.
It was a lot of handwaving to make us wait for one or two minutes of meaningful, really.
Things I liked:
The sad bit. The Doctor phoning up and hearing the Brigadier is dead. :-(
It was good to see the moment he got sad too. I mean, we know it would matter to him, but we could see it then, it mattered a lot.
So he was running and happy to keep on running up until that. Something he always knows will happen but can't fix now. Like his best friend can't run so it's time to face the music.
Still, sad now. Reality has more sadness than stories and when they team up is all the sad at once.
I did like his list of things he could do. Go to all Jack's stag parties in one night? Like it's the epic pub crawl to end all.
Also, Jack gets married. A lot. :-)
I like that River didn't let them use her. I was very worried about that bit. But she isn't what they made her, she's awesome instead. Fixed it for you! Broken weapon! Time beacon!
... slight difficulty with time going boom.
Having mucked around with the laws of time so much they have now drawn a firm line under the LAWS bit.
I'm trying to think of what else I liked. The skulls were wicked spooky. I liked that.
And Rory, being brave and in agony. Rory is brave and enduring in any reality.
... and I'm kind of on to things I don't like now.
Amy and Rory getting together in any reality kind of bugs me. I have this weird theory that people fit together due to getting to know each other and through shared experiences. If you change who they are and what experiences they share then they don't get together. Simples.
... except in the Who 'verse several people seem to get together in several realities now. Like destiny. Like it's something that just happens without working on it.
Except they weren't together because Amy was stuck on some picture in her head and not seeing him, which is the same like the other universe in quite a different way. So that was kind of cute instead.
But I also have this weird theory that the important thing about Rory isn't the being a soldier, which was forced on him over and over by the alteration of reality and waking up a Roman and so on, but the being a nurse, which he chose and worked towards and wants to go back to. (There's a whole thing about masculinity and which paths get valued that could go in here, but maybe later.) It's just, Rory the NURSE, not the roman, not the soldier. He decided to be a nurse. It was even another dream scape where he was a doctor. Nurse is him. His own choices should be the ones that count. Valuing him for being a nurse would be more better.
... yes I know it's all the writer's choices, but what the writers are saying is something weird and lopsided about what is worthwhile about him, the healing or the hurting. Healing is better! Please to show?
For those keeping score at home the subtitles *again* didn't have all the words.
... also, sometimes I put my hand over the subtitles because I could see the Doctor was about to be embarrassed again.
I kind of like that he was lurching around not in control for the whole time that Time was broken.
I just can't watch people be daft without feeling all squirmy.
I'd like Amy getting a machine gun and saving Rory again except for the bit where machine guns are not the answer.
It was wrong and evil to make humans kill the Silents on sight. It just was. Nobody has said that on the TV. It needs saying. So killing them all again? Bothers me.
Amy killing someone and then being upset about being a killer was a good moment, but then there was fixing it by magic application of the Doctor. Like, once he's alive, moral questions aren't something you have to answer yourself? BIG PROBLEM.
Season finales that leave me wanting to go visit the 'verse so I can give them all a piece of my mind: not satisfying.
But he did it all so he could stop being the big shouty everyone knows him version.
Maybe he'll be different next?
I don't know.
Fixed points can't be changed, but the meaning of them can. They saw the Doctor killed, but he put on a weird suit and secretly survived instead. Okay, good trick, kind of what we expected, bored now.
The Doctor getting married... I do like that. I like that the 'ceremony' was not with the rings but with the ties, and was the much abbreviated for near end of world situation version. I, er, don't like that he didn't ask her.
I also don't like that she thinks her pain is more painful than the whole universe. I mean, that's wrong. She's wrong. Love isn't supposed to make you selfish like that. It's the wrong polarity if it does.
Falling for someone who kills him, marrying someone and making it into the moment he gets killed... Doctor has issues.Master shaped issues.
I do like how they're flirty together.
I'm not so sure I like how marriage and violence are wound up together. I mean, Rory killed Amy, River killed the Doctor, that's really very messed up. It made great dramatic tragic story, but, er, message?
Could they not just be united against the world?
The eye patches being clever display thingies rather than a sign of disability eases that problem a lot.
But surely a photo of a silent on the inside of your glasses would do the same thing?
Well it wouldn't electrocute you in dramatic fashion, but the useful parts.
And I'm dissatisfied with the way River just tells Amy. I mean, if the point is to fake out your enemies, so you invite friends to make it look real, and then lie your arse off out loud both to them and when recounting it when you know Silents are listening, doesn't it rather undermine the whole complex plot if River just tells her mum and they stand in the garden being happy? I mean... logic.
... must not apply logic?
Also, something that relies on large chunks of what we're told being lies is always irritating.
Not as bad as literally laughing at the people who believed it, just irritating.
We're the Doctors friends, but he doesn't even tell his friends things.
Want to tell him off.
For reaction moments though, the one where Amy realises she's the Doctor's mother-in-law was rather nice.
... needs another drink.
... er, except my alcohol issues are showing, and I hate when that's even suggested as a solution to emotional problems. Needs a *hug*.
... okay, I did LOL at her face, but clearly also hugs...
I did like "And Doctor Song? In prison all her days?" "Her days, yes, her nights... well, that's between her and me."
:-)
I don't know. Last year's finale was all squeeful and pulled all the elements together to make a glorious inevitable clever yaay. It set the bar quite high.
But this one... it pulled all the bits together and juggled them fast so you wouldn't see it didn't matter.
There were pretty and interesting bits - live chess was cool - but... too much but.
No squee really.
:-(
Also, while headless monks and carnivorous skulls are cool, they're not remotely scientific now.
I know, complaining about the science in Doctor Who, hiding to nothing.
Just... dead and rotted skulls turn into bitey things, but the not rotted versions watch entertainment on wifi? Where do the personalities go? Do they rot away with the brains? It mixes sciencey bits with... nonsense, really. Cool creepy nonsense, but... *wrinkles nose*
Okay, verdict? Blah.
Which is sad.
There were good bits. But the plot was not among them. Just a couple of emotional notes.
It went out of its way to leave us with questions though. If he didn't say his name then, when does she learn it? Was it a proper wedding or a cover story? And then the one they want us to ask, Doctor Who?
... except we know the answer that mattes, after this many years, so what answer could we possibly remain interested in?
... I end the season feeling meh about it.
... which beats the hell out of previous endings feeling rage about it, but still.
That was so simple. Everyone knew the answer since the first episode. So we spent the whole season waiting to see what we already knew. So the episode was about something else.
... a completely altered reality where everything happens all at once? Interesting for the lols but only for that.
It was a lot of handwaving to make us wait for one or two minutes of meaningful, really.
Things I liked:
The sad bit. The Doctor phoning up and hearing the Brigadier is dead. :-(
It was good to see the moment he got sad too. I mean, we know it would matter to him, but we could see it then, it mattered a lot.
So he was running and happy to keep on running up until that. Something he always knows will happen but can't fix now. Like his best friend can't run so it's time to face the music.
Still, sad now. Reality has more sadness than stories and when they team up is all the sad at once.
I did like his list of things he could do. Go to all Jack's stag parties in one night? Like it's the epic pub crawl to end all.
Also, Jack gets married. A lot. :-)
I like that River didn't let them use her. I was very worried about that bit. But she isn't what they made her, she's awesome instead. Fixed it for you! Broken weapon! Time beacon!
... slight difficulty with time going boom.
Having mucked around with the laws of time so much they have now drawn a firm line under the LAWS bit.
I'm trying to think of what else I liked. The skulls were wicked spooky. I liked that.
And Rory, being brave and in agony. Rory is brave and enduring in any reality.
... and I'm kind of on to things I don't like now.
Amy and Rory getting together in any reality kind of bugs me. I have this weird theory that people fit together due to getting to know each other and through shared experiences. If you change who they are and what experiences they share then they don't get together. Simples.
... except in the Who 'verse several people seem to get together in several realities now. Like destiny. Like it's something that just happens without working on it.
Except they weren't together because Amy was stuck on some picture in her head and not seeing him, which is the same like the other universe in quite a different way. So that was kind of cute instead.
But I also have this weird theory that the important thing about Rory isn't the being a soldier, which was forced on him over and over by the alteration of reality and waking up a Roman and so on, but the being a nurse, which he chose and worked towards and wants to go back to. (There's a whole thing about masculinity and which paths get valued that could go in here, but maybe later.) It's just, Rory the NURSE, not the roman, not the soldier. He decided to be a nurse. It was even another dream scape where he was a doctor. Nurse is him. His own choices should be the ones that count. Valuing him for being a nurse would be more better.
... yes I know it's all the writer's choices, but what the writers are saying is something weird and lopsided about what is worthwhile about him, the healing or the hurting. Healing is better! Please to show?
For those keeping score at home the subtitles *again* didn't have all the words.
... also, sometimes I put my hand over the subtitles because I could see the Doctor was about to be embarrassed again.
I kind of like that he was lurching around not in control for the whole time that Time was broken.
I just can't watch people be daft without feeling all squirmy.
I'd like Amy getting a machine gun and saving Rory again except for the bit where machine guns are not the answer.
It was wrong and evil to make humans kill the Silents on sight. It just was. Nobody has said that on the TV. It needs saying. So killing them all again? Bothers me.
Amy killing someone and then being upset about being a killer was a good moment, but then there was fixing it by magic application of the Doctor. Like, once he's alive, moral questions aren't something you have to answer yourself? BIG PROBLEM.
Season finales that leave me wanting to go visit the 'verse so I can give them all a piece of my mind: not satisfying.
But he did it all so he could stop being the big shouty everyone knows him version.
Maybe he'll be different next?
I don't know.
Fixed points can't be changed, but the meaning of them can. They saw the Doctor killed, but he put on a weird suit and secretly survived instead. Okay, good trick, kind of what we expected, bored now.
The Doctor getting married... I do like that. I like that the 'ceremony' was not with the rings but with the ties, and was the much abbreviated for near end of world situation version. I, er, don't like that he didn't ask her.
I also don't like that she thinks her pain is more painful than the whole universe. I mean, that's wrong. She's wrong. Love isn't supposed to make you selfish like that. It's the wrong polarity if it does.
Falling for someone who kills him, marrying someone and making it into the moment he gets killed... Doctor has issues.
I do like how they're flirty together.
I'm not so sure I like how marriage and violence are wound up together. I mean, Rory killed Amy, River killed the Doctor, that's really very messed up. It made great dramatic tragic story, but, er, message?
Could they not just be united against the world?
The eye patches being clever display thingies rather than a sign of disability eases that problem a lot.
But surely a photo of a silent on the inside of your glasses would do the same thing?
Well it wouldn't electrocute you in dramatic fashion, but the useful parts.
And I'm dissatisfied with the way River just tells Amy. I mean, if the point is to fake out your enemies, so you invite friends to make it look real, and then lie your arse off out loud both to them and when recounting it when you know Silents are listening, doesn't it rather undermine the whole complex plot if River just tells her mum and they stand in the garden being happy? I mean... logic.
... must not apply logic?
Also, something that relies on large chunks of what we're told being lies is always irritating.
Not as bad as literally laughing at the people who believed it, just irritating.
We're the Doctors friends, but he doesn't even tell his friends things.
Want to tell him off.
For reaction moments though, the one where Amy realises she's the Doctor's mother-in-law was rather nice.
... needs another drink.
... er, except my alcohol issues are showing, and I hate when that's even suggested as a solution to emotional problems. Needs a *hug*.
... okay, I did LOL at her face, but clearly also hugs...
I did like "And Doctor Song? In prison all her days?" "Her days, yes, her nights... well, that's between her and me."
:-)
I don't know. Last year's finale was all squeeful and pulled all the elements together to make a glorious inevitable clever yaay. It set the bar quite high.
But this one... it pulled all the bits together and juggled them fast so you wouldn't see it didn't matter.
There were pretty and interesting bits - live chess was cool - but... too much but.
No squee really.
:-(
Also, while headless monks and carnivorous skulls are cool, they're not remotely scientific now.
I know, complaining about the science in Doctor Who, hiding to nothing.
Just... dead and rotted skulls turn into bitey things, but the not rotted versions watch entertainment on wifi? Where do the personalities go? Do they rot away with the brains? It mixes sciencey bits with... nonsense, really. Cool creepy nonsense, but... *wrinkles nose*
Okay, verdict? Blah.
Which is sad.
There were good bits. But the plot was not among them. Just a couple of emotional notes.
It went out of its way to leave us with questions though. If he didn't say his name then, when does she learn it? Was it a proper wedding or a cover story? And then the one they want us to ask, Doctor Who?
... except we know the answer that mattes, after this many years, so what answer could we possibly remain interested in?
... I end the season feeling meh about it.
... which beats the hell out of previous endings feeling rage about it, but still.
no subject
Date: 2011-10-02 06:06 am (UTC)No, seriously, I thought it was a good way to end the season. They had a mopey Doctor for much of the year, then subverted all the darkness they built up by bringing back clever happy Doctor right at the end. Compare to the relatively sombre endings of the Davies seasons.
no subject
Date: 2011-10-03 12:23 pm (UTC)When was Amy turned into Flesh Amy? If the Doctor asked Amy to witness so the Silence would see through having that Flesh Amy sent along then that makes sense. He knew the Silence were listening and the Doctor lies so we can't trust what he said even though it's sweet. It would be true, but not the whole truth. But if she were Flesh already then it happened before the season started.
It would mean she wasn't there her own self, with her awesomely multiversal brain.
So, anyway, if she didn't remember at the Lake, when did she?
Not the summer with Mels because River could drop in and say hi to her mum.
That leaves only after the Doctor dropped them off at their own blue house.
Possibly immediately after he left?
She got mopey because she knows he's dead and now he's gone too?
She could remember at any time because all times were 5.02pm
And remembering after the Doctor leaves means keeping the Doctor's timeline straight.
It just... doesn't make a hell of a lot of sense, really.
having read everyone else noticing these bits
Date: 2011-10-03 12:35 pm (UTC)Which makes it much different from Rose and her two universes die so she can get back to her boyfriend.
It's unselfish in little ways and is River trying but failing to get the hang of this caring lark and it is condemned.
River Song and the Doctor's timeline
Date: 2011-10-05 09:39 am (UTC)I suspect it's the first time she marries him but possibly not the first time he marries her.
But we don't know what we'll get to see or when or how the Doctor lied.
If he was telling lies about having lived those diary things that's a whole different problem.
But then they could never trust each other not to spoiler.
... a relationship built on 'The Doctor lies' don't exactly sound healthy to me.
Also does this mean they're now going to be flirty without any of that squirmy stuff where she knows more than him? It's fun when she sometimes knows more than him.
Leaving her in the Library sounds less fun the more we know her. She at least got out of Stormcage sometimes.