Warning: Major Spoilers for “A Good Man Goes To War” which hasn’t aired in the US yet as of June 4.
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So many folks on the Internets had already guessed that River would turn out to be Amy and Rory’s daughter but it was quite nice to get it confirmed. Plus, I have to say the reveal itself was quite clever even if Amy going all postpartum on River was a bit freaky. It also explains why River said what she said to Rory earlier in the episode about not being able to help the Doctor until the end – otherwise she would cross her own path, albeit as a much younger version of herself.
Now what I’m still curious about is whether young River/Melody was the one in the astronaut suit who killed the older Doctor in the season premiere. I’m inclined to say no because a) it didn’t seem like she intentionally putting on a show for Amy and Rory by pretending that she didn’t know what happened, b) she would effectively be crossing her own path if that were the case, and c) she tried to shoot what would in fact be her younger self if that was the case. But I could very well be wrong on this!
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It was good and it’s going to be good to discuss the details of the program and what each bit can mean…
[spoiler] Loved the start of it though and when the warrior nurse said I’m a nurse, not a warrior, I thought Rory would have said - I’m a nurse too. Considering that they reversed roles[/spoiler]
[spoiler] I thought the same thing in the scene. And it’s a nice parallel with the whole Doctor/warrior comparison in addition with the Sontaran, since Rory is a nurse, who’s garbed in Centurion armor.
Yes, it wasn’t at all surprise, since people have been speccing it for quite some time, and even at the beginning of the episode, you get smacked with a name like Melody. But surprise or not, I really liked all the scenes about it, it’s an interesting direction for the show and the dynamics between The Doctor and his companions who are now basically sort of his inlaws, what it means for River Song to have confirmed half timelord DNA, and I am definitely curious as to how this will all play out for the rest of the season.
Oh, on River killing the greatest man she’s ever known? I’m now thinking it’s actually Rory/her dad she kills (accidentally? with good reason?) and not The Doctor. So whatever that whole thing is going on with the astronaut girl I’m thinking it’s something else entirely.
Likes:
I kind of love the play on word order, that we really should have been calling River Song Song River all along.
“I’m old. I’m fat. I’m blue. You can’t need me!”
“I can produce magnificent quantities of lactic fluid!”
The whole discussion of when Melody was conceived was flawless. Hee!
Now I feel like checking out all the previous River/Rory/Amy interactions.
Dislikes:
The one eyed lady’s motivations seemed a bit flimsy and slapped on, and the headless monks remind me too much of Star Wars. The season arc about the baby/multi season River arc was great, but the standalone elements of the episode with felt a bit messy and shallow (especially for the guest characters who were helping them, they seem like they were just window dressing for the ep), execution wise, especially for a Moffat penned episode.
Let’s kill Hitler! I hate that we have to wait a few months for the rest of the season. No!
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[SPOILER]
Well as far as the reveal. If you didn’t know the back story this was a WOW. It was quite well handled. I agree some of his quest colleagues were kinda just set pieces. They did keep up the pace so that you didn’t see what was really going on. Moffat did do the care/battle reversal in both Rory and the Sontaran then the Doctor’s image. The bit with the Headless monks was a bit much. Wonder if we are going to see them again. At this point the Time child is River. How this all gets resolved is still to be shown. Who is in the suit out of the lake is another question yet. (So she is then The Lady of The Lake). With the next episode title. That is more then likely going to tie in with the first part of the first episode this series.(The doctor tunnel digging in WWII.) [/SPOILER]
These are the kind of episodes that make me wish that Moffatt had been leading the show all along. But at the same time, the torrid pace he sets makes me happy that he wasn’t. I don’t know if my heart could take it!
[spoiler]I was a little disappointed with the way they’ve kind of made it seem like The Doctor was the father. With Amy telling him first about her pregnancy in The Impossible Astronaut, and then right up until the reveal when he brought out the baby bed, looked at the baby, and said “It’s mine… (long pause) The cot, it’s mine.” It just seemed trite and completely unnecessary to the narrative of the story.[/spoiler]
[SPOILER] All season they have been playing around with the Whose ya Daddy question. In it it makes sense they were going to play it out. As was shown there is no question the Doctor saves River. Otherwise she wouldn’t have been in front of him. How he does it, that’s for the rest of the season. Just about everything we have seen this season has been a misdirection. Give ya enough then pull it out from ya. All to keep you guessing. I mean we all know what we saw in the opening wasn’t the end for the Doctor. Otherwise why have Canton Delaware there to provide the gasoline. Everything is a setup. Just have to ride it through to see how it’s resolved. I’m Game.:D[/SPOILER]
[spoiler] Oh, I don’t doubt the overall season arc would be well worth it - we still have the whole Lodger time machine contraptions to deal with too since we saw them in this season again, and I can’t wait to find out how that relates - I liked the parts in this episode concerning River Song and the pregnancy reveal and appreciated the fact that it was something logical (if not too surprising for some) rather than a WTF reveal that came out of nowhere. It makes sense, and should lead to some interesting plots in the future. But as a Moffat penned episode it ranks…the lowest of all his DW episodes for me, because the rest of the story feels too flashy and less poignant than his usual tightly written episodes from before. It’s still a good episode with some great bits and funny dialogue, but it just didn’t come together like they usually do as well. Maybe I’m just too spoiled! :D[/spoiler]
[spoiler]Yeah, with the introduction of the Flesh, I’ve become fairly certain that the Doctor we saw die in The Impossible Astronaut was a Flesh avatar. It’s just the way The Doctor rolls, turning technology intended to harm him or his friends right back on those who would seek to do harm.
Like I said though, the whole “who’s the father?” business seems out of place and unnecessary to tell the story.[/spoiler]
[spoiler] I think that, in addition to the beginning where it sounded like Amy was talking about The Doctor but was actually talking about Rory, is the reason why I’m starting to think (and worry that) Rory is the guy who River killed (for whatever reason) and not the Doctor. Maybe the whole point of the “switheroos” silliness is to foreshadow that in River’s previous talks about killing the greatest man she’s ever known (and getting arrested for it), it’s actually another Rory/The Doctor switheroo. And so it’s her father Rory- lots of daughters think the greatest man ever are their dads - she was talking about, not The Doctor.
Though, I don’t know how that works into the whole impossible astronaut scenario where obviously, it’s the Doctor/flesh Doctor who bites it![/spoiler]
[Spoiler] I think that River is in Jail for the death of her father. I also think that the doctor we saw die was the ‘ganger’ doctor, and he was killed by the ‘real’ doctor.
Also, the Ganger doctor is also the doctor that River Travels with and not the ‘real’ doctor, but she never really knows it. thats why their diarys never match up at all, but rivers did match up with the 'gangers" diary.
IMHO. [/spoiler]
