Doctor Who 7x13 Thoughts
Dec. 24th, 2013 12:49 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
iariaThe Name of the Doctor
I enjoyed it.
• This episode got to me teary-eyed several times - Jenny apologizing then fading out during the conference call, the Doctor breaking down when Clara tells him what the man said, and then the Doctor/River goodbye.
• The truth about Clara - I both really liked it and was torn about it. I liked her choosing to go after the Great Intelligence in order to fix what he was breaking thus saving both the Doctor and the universe. I liked specifically that it was a choice. I enjoyed the scenes with her and the various Doctor's. I liked the callback with "I don't know where I am."
- I'm confused about how Clara's still alive and herself for the the Doctor to save at the end. I like Clara and don't want her gone but right now that doesn't make sense to me and feels like a cheat. The GI was destroyed so why exactly wouldn't Clara have been as well (that is the Clara we've been travelling with)? Where exactly were they at the end there? I find this all very irritating but I assume that it's set up for the 50th and it'll be dealt with then so I'll hold off until I see the explanation.
- I'm also confused about what exactly her role was in the Doctor's life - she went in to undue the Great Intelligence's efforts to mess with the Doctor's timeline so was she just fixing things when he messed with them or did she also interfere in other ways? I'd really prefer the former. Like, with One - in the original timeline he and Susan took the TARDIS, then the GI went and made it so the Doctor was going to take the wrong TARDIS, and thus Clara had to show up to push things back to their original configuration. I don't really like the idea that all along she is the reason why the Doctor chose his TARDIS.
- Also, perhaps because I have Rose on the brain, Clara's choice here and the effects of it really reminded me of Rose/Bad Wolf and The Parting of Ways. In that case Nine had to die to save Rose and I wonder if Eleven is going to have to die in order to really save (the original) Clara?
• Jenny and Vasta were great. Especially the scene during the conference call. I loved that whole scene. It managed to be very fun then turned sharply into sad with Jenny's fear and then realisation that she was being murdered. I'm really glad that she survived. I loved that Vastra coated Clara's letter in the soporific. Strax was also great. Loved his reaction to River. Actually I think this was most I've liked him all season.
• I loved the giant TARDIS and the fact that she will be the Doctor's tomb. It's fitting.
• I loved seeing River again. I'm guessing - based on the Doctor's reactions, Vastra's line wondering to River if he was still ignoring her, the Doctor saying she was his ex and the fact it's post-Library River we're seeing - that sometime between 'Angels Take Manhattan' and 'The Snowmen' the Doctor and River went on a few more adventures including to Derillium to see the Singing Towers after which River left for the Library and her death. That would make the Doctor pulling away from everything in 'The Snowmen' make even more sense. The only issue is that he gave her his screwdriver then and yet he still has it. I suppose he could have just gone to the Library to retrieve it after Ten and Donna left.
• The Doctor/River goodbye was pretty heartbreaking. I loved it a lot. The kiss, the goodbyes, her getting in one last secret over him and "spoilers", and this exchange (especially the Doctor's first lines):
Doctor: You are always here to me. And I always listen, and I can always see you.
River: Then why didn't you speak to me?
Doctor: Because I thought it would hurt too much.
River: I believe I could have coped.
Doctor: No, I thought it would hurt me. And I was right.
• Here is the great thing about River - she's never completely gone. Or at least she doesn't have to be. She died the first time we met her and it was only after that we got her story. She's died again here but there is always another River out there. That's how I'm choosing to look at this at least.
• I love that even after death River was still able to travel and see people instead of being stuck in the Library. Now I want a fic where she hangs out in the TARDIS going on adventures with the Doctor. Cold War would have been much more interesting with ghost River there offering commentary while the Doctor bites his tongue to keep from taking to her.
• Considering the name of the episode and the fact River was in it I figured that we'd actually get to see how River learned the Doctor's name. But nope. She tells Clara "I made him" - what does that even mean?! Why did the Doctor react as he did when he learned that she knew his name?? I didn't expect to learn the Doctor's name, I don't even really need to ever, but I really want to know how River knows it and why that's important.
• The Great Intelligence as the enemy was - weird, kind of? Why exactly did he hate the Doctor so much that he would destroy himself to take him out? It didn't really work for me.
• Also how does all tie into The Silence? It was Trenzalore that they were trying to prevent the Doctor from reaching because "silence will fall when the question is asked". The question, the Doctor's name, was asked so - we'll see 'the silence fall' in the 50th?
I enjoyed it.
• This episode got to me teary-eyed several times - Jenny apologizing then fading out during the conference call, the Doctor breaking down when Clara tells him what the man said, and then the Doctor/River goodbye.
• The truth about Clara - I both really liked it and was torn about it. I liked her choosing to go after the Great Intelligence in order to fix what he was breaking thus saving both the Doctor and the universe. I liked specifically that it was a choice. I enjoyed the scenes with her and the various Doctor's. I liked the callback with "I don't know where I am."
- I'm confused about how Clara's still alive and herself for the the Doctor to save at the end. I like Clara and don't want her gone but right now that doesn't make sense to me and feels like a cheat. The GI was destroyed so why exactly wouldn't Clara have been as well (that is the Clara we've been travelling with)? Where exactly were they at the end there? I find this all very irritating but I assume that it's set up for the 50th and it'll be dealt with then so I'll hold off until I see the explanation.
- I'm also confused about what exactly her role was in the Doctor's life - she went in to undue the Great Intelligence's efforts to mess with the Doctor's timeline so was she just fixing things when he messed with them or did she also interfere in other ways? I'd really prefer the former. Like, with One - in the original timeline he and Susan took the TARDIS, then the GI went and made it so the Doctor was going to take the wrong TARDIS, and thus Clara had to show up to push things back to their original configuration. I don't really like the idea that all along she is the reason why the Doctor chose his TARDIS.
- Also, perhaps because I have Rose on the brain, Clara's choice here and the effects of it really reminded me of Rose/Bad Wolf and The Parting of Ways. In that case Nine had to die to save Rose and I wonder if Eleven is going to have to die in order to really save (the original) Clara?
• Jenny and Vasta were great. Especially the scene during the conference call. I loved that whole scene. It managed to be very fun then turned sharply into sad with Jenny's fear and then realisation that she was being murdered. I'm really glad that she survived. I loved that Vastra coated Clara's letter in the soporific. Strax was also great. Loved his reaction to River. Actually I think this was most I've liked him all season.
• I loved the giant TARDIS and the fact that she will be the Doctor's tomb. It's fitting.
• I loved seeing River again. I'm guessing - based on the Doctor's reactions, Vastra's line wondering to River if he was still ignoring her, the Doctor saying she was his ex and the fact it's post-Library River we're seeing - that sometime between 'Angels Take Manhattan' and 'The Snowmen' the Doctor and River went on a few more adventures including to Derillium to see the Singing Towers after which River left for the Library and her death. That would make the Doctor pulling away from everything in 'The Snowmen' make even more sense. The only issue is that he gave her his screwdriver then and yet he still has it. I suppose he could have just gone to the Library to retrieve it after Ten and Donna left.
• The Doctor/River goodbye was pretty heartbreaking. I loved it a lot. The kiss, the goodbyes, her getting in one last secret over him and "spoilers", and this exchange (especially the Doctor's first lines):
Doctor: You are always here to me. And I always listen, and I can always see you.
River: Then why didn't you speak to me?
Doctor: Because I thought it would hurt too much.
River: I believe I could have coped.
Doctor: No, I thought it would hurt me. And I was right.
• Here is the great thing about River - she's never completely gone. Or at least she doesn't have to be. She died the first time we met her and it was only after that we got her story. She's died again here but there is always another River out there. That's how I'm choosing to look at this at least.
• I love that even after death River was still able to travel and see people instead of being stuck in the Library. Now I want a fic where she hangs out in the TARDIS going on adventures with the Doctor. Cold War would have been much more interesting with ghost River there offering commentary while the Doctor bites his tongue to keep from taking to her.
• Considering the name of the episode and the fact River was in it I figured that we'd actually get to see how River learned the Doctor's name. But nope. She tells Clara "I made him" - what does that even mean?! Why did the Doctor react as he did when he learned that she knew his name?? I didn't expect to learn the Doctor's name, I don't even really need to ever, but I really want to know how River knows it and why that's important.
• The Great Intelligence as the enemy was - weird, kind of? Why exactly did he hate the Doctor so much that he would destroy himself to take him out? It didn't really work for me.
• Also how does all tie into The Silence? It was Trenzalore that they were trying to prevent the Doctor from reaching because "silence will fall when the question is asked". The question, the Doctor's name, was asked so - we'll see 'the silence fall' in the 50th?
