Devils run...

[hafital]

Doctor Whorific:

~ I must be the only person in fandom who was totally not expecting the reveal about River being Amy and Rory's kid. I only guessed it about a half-a-minute before the Doctor did. My immediate reaction was to think it was a little ooky, to be honest, and I am even more horrified about how she dies/lives forever than I was before, but I was sufficiently distracted by the Doctor's kissy face that I couldn't help but share his excitement and joy over the discovery.

~ I have no idea what actually happened in that episode. I'm not saying I didn't like it, because I'm pretty sure I did like it, but if someone were to ask me for a comprehensive summary, I don't think I could actually provide one. On the whole, I'd rather my show be less needlessly complex, and it feels like things are more than usually confuddled in this series than in previous years. And this episode had the dubious honor of being predictable AND confusing at the same time. But what the hey, Rory was Awesome and the Doctor made a kissy face. That's pretty much all of what I took away from the episode. LOL.

~ Was it just me or did those headless monks look like cloned Emperors from Star Wars? That was all I could think of each time they were silently drifting by, and then they had glow in the dark swords and that was really all I could think of. The headless thing was pretty gross and scary, though. And poor other half of the gay couple who lost his head! No mention of him at all.

~ Am I suppose to remember who the blue guy was from some previous episode?

~ Sign me up for the Victorian Inter-species Lesbians Solve and Fight Crime spin off. Pronto.

~ I'm simply *fascinated* by Eleven. He is like a shiny thing that sparkles in constant motion.

~ The "imprinting on young girls" thing only bothers me if the Doctor was more of a father figure/nurturer/guardian sort, which I don't think he really is. He saves Amy from monsters, but he's not in charge of Amy, and at no point was he in charge of Amy while she was growing up, and only now that she travels with him does he have any amount of say so in what she can and cannot do and only really when she listens to him which isn't often anyway. I find this less disturbing than the power imbalance dynamic that was prevalent with the younger woman/older man thing that Ten/Rose and Ten/Martha both had. And if the same holds true for River, which I'm actually not sure that it does which is pretty much where it feels ooky to me, then it doesn't bother me with River, either. At this point we only know that River's life was never the same after she first met him, which I can believe since that's what he does best, and she met him at a young age. But if it turns out that he *raised* her in any fashion or was like a kind but odd uncle to her, then yes, I will be seriously creeped out that they have a sexual relationship and I really really really hope that is not the case because I might then have to stop watching the show, tbh. Otherwise, kids (boys and girls) are gonna imprint on someone somehow, and if it's someone dangerous like the doctor, well, *shrug*. Clearly he IS dangerous because River ends up living forever in a computer taking care of make believe children. That is not an ending I would wish on anyone.

~ There was probably more I wanted to say...

Comments

[laurashapiro]

I don't think for one minute that the Doctor raised River. It would be highly atypical for him to have that longstanding a relationship with anyone, for one. Parenting requires a degree of focus and responsibility we haven't ever seen in him, and it would seriously compromise the character to change him that much. I agree it would be deeply icky to see that kind of parent/child relationship develop into a romantic and sexual one, but I don't expect the show to go there.

Moffat clearly has a thing about the Doctor being critical in the lives of little girls, but in every case it's a matter of a brief appearance in childhood followed by a gap of a decade or more when he doesn't interact with them at all. There's no reason to think the pattern would deviate here.

I would actually love to see the Doctor have a child as a companion for a while. Just not River!

[hafital]

I pretty much completely agree. We saw him be a parental figure with Susan, but that was lifetimes ago and considering how quiet and avoidy he gets whenever some asks him if he ever had kids, he hasn't gotten over the pain of it.

[laurashapiro]

Right, and Susan was practically a grown-up at the time. Can you imagine the Doctor trying to parent a 5-year-old? No way.

[violetisblue.livejournal.com]

The blue guy was the fellow that River bargained with in the tent during "The Big Bang"--the one who offered her a vortex manipulator "fresh off the wrist of a handsome young Time Agent" and then closed the box in disgust going, "I said, off the wrist!"

[hafital.livejournal.com]

Ah. I'm going to pretend I remember that. LOL.

[violetisblue.livejournal.com]

:-D You haven't missed anything stunningly important by not remembering that, don't worry.

[olympia-m.livejournal.com]

I agree that it was needlessly complex but (a)Rory was beyond AWESOME!, (b) Victorian Inter-species Lesbians Solving Crimes!!!!

I was screaming the whole time the ep. was airing: WHY CAN'T WE GET A SPIN-OFF WITH THEM???????????? (and I'm screaming it even now!)