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DOCTOR WHOOOOO
I am going to try to make this a coherent post, instead of just posting excited keysmashing in size billion font, but if you want to talk about how this show is problematic or what aspects of the finale disappointed you, you will have to wait; I am too full of giddy joy.
There were so many great little touches: LIVE CHESS is perhaps my favorite, because oh my god, chess as an extreme sport, how much do I love it. I also liked the sign asking you to please not feed the pterodactyls, and the Silence remain fucking terrifying on a second appearance, probably because Moffat understood that their monster rules were already horrifying and didn't try to change them.
I got a bit choked up about the Brigadier. It's probably good they didn't have the Doctor try to phone Sarah Jane instead, or I would've started sobbing.
I love that they've circled back around to the notion of Amy's amazing mind that can juggle the memories of loads of different dimensions, and how she can get shit done in all of them. I am also so stupidly sold on Amy and Rory's epic love. One of my favorite single moments of the episode was Rory's clench-handed last stand, and how Amy came back for him and gunned down the Silence. PONDS. POOOONDS. I also love Amy basically killing Madam Kovarian -- not the murder itself, really, but Amy pointing out that River got plenty of the badassery from her mum, and also Amy afterwards feeling deeply uncomfortable for committing a murder, even in a dimension that no longer exists.
Though I still wish we had more followup on Amy and Rory trying to rescue their baby daughter rather than just going "Eh, well, she grows up all right," (because um this is OBVIOUSLY NOT TRUE RIVER IS SO WORRYING but I will get to that shortly) I ... am mostly okay with it now? Like, there is enough plot spackle over the problem that it niggles me in a "fix it with fic" way rather than an "oh god WHY SHOW WHY" way. And I firmly believe that Amy and Rory and River hang out all the damn time now and generally act like extremely weird found family.
Partway into the episode I also had an exciting revelation, which is that Moffat wants to make serials. The problem isn't necessarily that he wants to leap into things mid-story; the problem is that this tendency makes emotional continuity difficult, because there just isn't enough time. Once I realized this, just slipping into the episode was much easier, and I suspect it will make rewatches much easier too.
Other things it is important to realize: not only does the Doctor always lie, and not only does River always lie, but haha so does Moffat. "Guys the Doctor is DEAD FOR REAL, it is NOT A FAKEOUT, I SWEAR," oh Moff. I like that it was a tiny-people-in-robot-suit solution rather than a Flesh solution, mostly because I find it more elegant and clever but mostly because I never much liked the Flesh as a concept to begin with, whereas with tiny people in robots, SIGN ME UP apparently.
In other Moffat narrative lies, now I really want to know what the hell River whispered in Ten's ear the first time he met her. I mean, I suppose it's possible that Eleven tells her his name eventually, since Ten says so, and also since whispering in Ten's ear, "I saw you inside a robot version of yourself, my love," just ... isn't very likely to inspire trust. Eh, whatever, props for having Ten say that and setting up a red herring for two seasons and change later.
Finally, RIVER. I don't know if I could possibly love Doctor/River more? (I mean, I hope I will! Presumably there is MORE RIVER in future!) I love how many bits of River we see; I don't know if the River of Demon's Run, who gave the Doctor his dressing-down, would have done exactly the same completely mad thing this River does. She's so young, claiming that her pain in losing him is greater than the pain of the whole universe, oh sweetie. It was around that point that I suddenly went, "So ... why does the notion of River destroying the universe to get to the Doctor make me weak in the knees with joy, whereas Rose punching through dimensions for him just makes me a bit uncomfortable?" But the answer is pretty simple, and that is: what River is doing is wrong, it is totally bugfuck insane, it is stupid and mad and terrible, and the narrative knows this. Let's be honest, I am a complete sucker for all the stories about psychopaths in love and lying to each other and always being out of temporal synch and, apparently, being willing to get married in order to KILL THEMSELVES AND SAVE THE UNIVERSE, even though that is all a lie too. Like. What I am trying to say here is that Doctor/River is like a PERSONAL GIFT TO ME.
Anyway, um. I am sure there were things wrong with it? But fuck it, I don't care, I loved it to pieces.
Also, I love that the question is doctor who? just because lol, a question hidden in plain sight, WHEN A JOKE IS THAT AWFUL I APPRECIATE IT. I am not entirely sure what the question means, though; it seems awfully existential. Eh. We shall see!
There were so many great little touches: LIVE CHESS is perhaps my favorite, because oh my god, chess as an extreme sport, how much do I love it. I also liked the sign asking you to please not feed the pterodactyls, and the Silence remain fucking terrifying on a second appearance, probably because Moffat understood that their monster rules were already horrifying and didn't try to change them.
I got a bit choked up about the Brigadier. It's probably good they didn't have the Doctor try to phone Sarah Jane instead, or I would've started sobbing.
I love that they've circled back around to the notion of Amy's amazing mind that can juggle the memories of loads of different dimensions, and how she can get shit done in all of them. I am also so stupidly sold on Amy and Rory's epic love. One of my favorite single moments of the episode was Rory's clench-handed last stand, and how Amy came back for him and gunned down the Silence. PONDS. POOOONDS. I also love Amy basically killing Madam Kovarian -- not the murder itself, really, but Amy pointing out that River got plenty of the badassery from her mum, and also Amy afterwards feeling deeply uncomfortable for committing a murder, even in a dimension that no longer exists.
Though I still wish we had more followup on Amy and Rory trying to rescue their baby daughter rather than just going "Eh, well, she grows up all right," (because um this is OBVIOUSLY NOT TRUE RIVER IS SO WORRYING but I will get to that shortly) I ... am mostly okay with it now? Like, there is enough plot spackle over the problem that it niggles me in a "fix it with fic" way rather than an "oh god WHY SHOW WHY" way. And I firmly believe that Amy and Rory and River hang out all the damn time now and generally act like extremely weird found family.
Partway into the episode I also had an exciting revelation, which is that Moffat wants to make serials. The problem isn't necessarily that he wants to leap into things mid-story; the problem is that this tendency makes emotional continuity difficult, because there just isn't enough time. Once I realized this, just slipping into the episode was much easier, and I suspect it will make rewatches much easier too.
Other things it is important to realize: not only does the Doctor always lie, and not only does River always lie, but haha so does Moffat. "Guys the Doctor is DEAD FOR REAL, it is NOT A FAKEOUT, I SWEAR," oh Moff. I like that it was a tiny-people-in-robot-suit solution rather than a Flesh solution, mostly because I find it more elegant and clever but mostly because I never much liked the Flesh as a concept to begin with, whereas with tiny people in robots, SIGN ME UP apparently.
In other Moffat narrative lies, now I really want to know what the hell River whispered in Ten's ear the first time he met her. I mean, I suppose it's possible that Eleven tells her his name eventually, since Ten says so, and also since whispering in Ten's ear, "I saw you inside a robot version of yourself, my love," just ... isn't very likely to inspire trust. Eh, whatever, props for having Ten say that and setting up a red herring for two seasons and change later.
Finally, RIVER. I don't know if I could possibly love Doctor/River more? (I mean, I hope I will! Presumably there is MORE RIVER in future!) I love how many bits of River we see; I don't know if the River of Demon's Run, who gave the Doctor his dressing-down, would have done exactly the same completely mad thing this River does. She's so young, claiming that her pain in losing him is greater than the pain of the whole universe, oh sweetie. It was around that point that I suddenly went, "So ... why does the notion of River destroying the universe to get to the Doctor make me weak in the knees with joy, whereas Rose punching through dimensions for him just makes me a bit uncomfortable?" But the answer is pretty simple, and that is: what River is doing is wrong, it is totally bugfuck insane, it is stupid and mad and terrible, and the narrative knows this. Let's be honest, I am a complete sucker for all the stories about psychopaths in love and lying to each other and always being out of temporal synch and, apparently, being willing to get married in order to KILL THEMSELVES AND SAVE THE UNIVERSE, even though that is all a lie too. Like. What I am trying to say here is that Doctor/River is like a PERSONAL GIFT TO ME.
Anyway, um. I am sure there were things wrong with it? But fuck it, I don't care, I loved it to pieces.
Also, I love that the question is doctor who? just because lol, a question hidden in plain sight, WHEN A JOKE IS THAT AWFUL I APPRECIATE IT. I am not entirely sure what the question means, though; it seems awfully existential. Eh. We shall see!
no subject
He whispers something to River there, too, maybe THAT was his name...
Just a thought...
And I have nothing else to say, I am still emotionally dead for this episode...
Moffat fucks every emotion, then turns it around and hits you in the face... I hate this man... And the question's really THAT?
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I loved it. I'm not quite ready to disuss it in depth because im still absorbing but.
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What I want to know is when the hell that one scene with Amy at home with River and Rory happened in Amy's timeline. Is it right after Day of the Moon? In that case AGMGTW is b0rked because Amy knows River is her daughter already. Is it after he drops them off at the end of God Complex? I think that's probably what Moff meant, but... in my head after AGMGTW River started dropping by the Ponds' place for drinks whenever Mels wasn't around, which makes the lack of urgency about baby Melody a bit less disturbing to me. Because yes, it is upsetting that they didn't get to raise their kid, but if they've spent all summer hanging out with the older version of her (and the younger version, not that they know it) that doesn't make it better but it might take the edge off the feeling that they don't know their own kid.
Also, at what point did Amy become able to remember the alt timeline? XD If it's, y'know, simultaneously with when it happened/didn't happen (Moffat, you make me need a Gallifreyan verb tense system), then she has full recall of it immediately after it collapses, and again, the reveal in AGMGTW is b0rked. If it's sometime later... why then?
no subject
That's what I was wondering too!
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Um... like literally.
BUT YES. The show is doing things that I seriously approve of right now. I love how just... YOUNG and naive River was... because she was younger and didn't have all that experience and I BELIEVED EVERY BIT OF IT. I do share your niggling disapproval of "River's okay, so we're okay" thing... but um, Amy keeps ALL UNIVERSES IN HER HEAD... and her love for Rory is EPIC... and ARSGSTRJHFSTDHJWR
I AGREE WITH EVERYTHING YOU SAID AND I'M GONNA BE OVER HERE BEING IN CAPSLOCK BECAUSE I CANNOT BE ARTICULATE.
no subject
HAH! No, probably not, but it might explain Ten's 0_o look when she does whisper whatever she does.
I rewatched River's "Yes, I love you that much" speech a number of times and I've come to the conclusion that it's a brilliant bit of character development hidden behind a total narrative cliche. There's this romantic notion that love is stronger than anything and that our love is the most important thing. River, being raised as a psychopath, takes this to the extreme. Seeing how her obsession/focus on the Doctor twists from murderous to a more "positive" emotion and how this plays out is fantastic.
And the fact that the Doctor seems to reciprocate at least some of this affection says something about him, too.
Overall I found it to be an uneven season but goodness, so much love for this finale.
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But in a gleeful and squee-filled way, because Steven Moffat is absolutely psycho and also a lying liar who lies, and yet it does not fill me with RAEG as it did when it was RTD doing it; it just makes me insanely happy. I can't explain it, and I don't care.
no subject
And I totally adore how River is so crazy and the Doctor calls her on it and yet at the same time, he kind of loves her for it, too. She's him without his power and his ages of experience.
Also, I agree with you in terms of the difference between River and Rose. River is doing this because she is insane and the Doctor repeatedly tells her that. And at the same time, he echoes that madness, he echoes her love.
no subject
Yes, that would be TERRIBLE. But also pretty damn cool on another level.
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no subject