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| Fan art by Francesco Francavilla |
It’s back! After a quite enjoyable mid-season finale that left us with one big answer and even more huge questions, it’s time to strap on our bowties, call our Roman bodyguard husbands, and embark on a journey through time and space for the rest of this season of Doctor Who.
So now that we’re back, what’s going on?
Find out after the jump. Spoilers are discussed.
So, in case you missed it, here’s the basic round-up: River Song is actually Melody Pond, the daughter of Amy and Rory named after their friend Mels who is lost after the baby that we thought was real turns out to be a ganger baby. This episode introduces us to said friend Mels, who hops into the TARDIS with our crew for some adventures, toting a gun and saying, “Oh, let’s kill Hitler!” But instead of killing Hitler, they shove him in a closet and reveal the following information: Mels is short for Melody, meaning that Mels is actually Amy and Rory’s daughter who grew up with Amy and Rory who, if you remember, named Melody after their friend Mels because Mels helped them get together in the first place, which means Melody essentially named herself and ensured she was, you know, “created”. So Melody is part time-lord, and is also a weapon trained to kill the Doctor by the villainous new foes from A Good Man Goes To War, and regenerates into River who isn’t River because River doesn’t exist yet. The Doctor, Amy and Rory keep calling Melody “River” without any explanation (“Spoilers.”), which confuses Melody (although now she learns the phrase “spoilers,” which means that she gave herself one of her two catch phrases), and she then does what she’s supposed to and kills the Doctor. The Doctor manages to turn her around with his charming personality, at which point Melody understands she is River and adopts the new moniker River Song instead of Melody Pond, meaning once again that she named herself. However, now that she feels remorse for killing the Doctor, she uses up her remaining regenerations on him, thus explaining why she died without regenerating in the Silence in the Library two-parter. While laying in a coma, the Doctor leaves her a TARDIS-shaped notebook that we’ve seen her carry in future episodes, which means that River essentially gave herself the notebook.
Or, to cut a very long story short, River Song created River Song by River Songing everyone. It’s a bit of a headache.
The reason I chose to begin the review by attempting to explain some of this complex episode of time travel wonkyness (because, believe me, I barely scratched the surface) is simply to offer up an example of what Moffat’s run of this show has brought to the table in such a different way. Davies always had a great handle of the over arcing villainy that played out in the background of the seasons that he was the show runner, always offering up little clues for things like Bad Wolf and Vote Saxon rather than shove it all in our face. He waited for the last second, and while Davies certainly taught Moffat a lot, it’s clear that Moffat is taking what worked about the show and just going crazy with it. Forget the whole Big Bad theory of season dynamics; Moffat wants to keep us all guessing up until the last second, and even then he’ll throw in one tiny twist to make a question mark pop up over our heads like characters in Metal Gear Solid. This is Moffat’s idea of a good time, and to be quite honest, he does it quite well.
Of course, it is getting to the point where we have to question if this is style over substance. Don’t get me wrong, I quite adore the new run of Doctor Who. Matt Smith is fantastic as the Doctor, and I’ve grown to believe that Arthur Darvill as Rory Pond is perhaps one of the best companions the Doctor has ever had (he punches out Hitler and is sensitive – what more can a gal want?). On top of that, Alex Kingston is absolutely the star of the show in this episode with an exhilarating performance that takes River Song from “strong and mysterious” back to her Year One existence as a psychopath who murders the Doctor, and it’s beautiful to watch. But, despite the way threads begin connecting here, at a certain point in the revelations you get to a point as a viewer where you think, “Ok, I get it, that’s very clever.” This episode has as much to do with killing Hitler as eating a loaf of bread does – again, isn’t necessarily a bad thing – which sort of shows where the focus of the show is. It’s less about telling a singular good story, but rather about having an in-your-face attitude and one-upping the viewer at every turn. Part of me feels like somewhere in a room, Steven Moffat is just giggling at a computer and saying, “Oh, yes, that’s VERY clever!”
That’s sort of the one thing Davies will always have over Moffat. Davies liked to save the big guns for the end, using the entire season to tell good stories starring the Doctor before showing how it all tied together when you weren’t paying attention. It was quiet, involved some mental notes, and 9 times out of 10 offered up one giant “OH SHI-” moment before featuring the Doctor saving the day. Moffat is a bit more hyperactive than that, and its certainly interesting to watch him just go for it. That’s what Doctor Who is right now – it’s Moffat just going for it. It becomes a bit polarizing at points, but Moffat hasn’t steered the show ostensibly wrong yet aside from a few clunker episodes. I would hope, though, that Moffat thanks whatever higher power he may believe in that he has a cast as well put together as he does, because I can’t think of a show with better synergy and electricity in its multiple leads at the moment more than Doctor Who.
Either way, welcome back, Who. It’s always nice to have you here.
