Doctor Who 6x01 Review

[iaria]

The Impossible Astronaut

• The Doctor/River interactions were excellent. I love their snarky, bickering relationship. Their ‘hippy’/’archaeologist’ digs were amusing and said in such a way that it really felt like the affectionate snipping of people who have known each other a long time. I love their repeated “I hate you” / “No, you don’t”. I like that he doesn’t even need to hear it to know she said it. It’s kind of become an in-joke between them. In fact it kind of feels like how when people come up with a random phrase/exchange that doesn’t mean much of anything to other people but to them it’s how they say I love you. Like, in White Collar when El and Peter fought and he didn’t say ‘hon’ which was their shorthand for ‘I love you’. That’s kind of what it felt like. I love how much an equal River is to the Doctor and how they just get each other and understand things at the same time (River having noticed the phone, and him assuming that she would have.)

- Then there was the flirting. Oh, boy, were they flirting in this episode. I loved it. One thing I really loved was how the Doctor was starting the flirting as much as River was instead of her always being the one flirting with him. My favourite:

Doctor: And Doctor Song, you’ve got that face on again.
River: What face?
Doctor: (smiling) The ‘he’s hot when he’s clever’ face.
River: This is my normal face.
Doctor: Yes, it is.
River: (grinning) Oh, shut up.
Doctor: Not a chance.

♥♥ Well, someone has certainly gotten very comfortable with flirting with River!

- I also loved their exchange when he tells her to shout if she gets in trouble and she replies “Don’t worry. I’m quiet the screamer. Now there’s a spoiler for you!” LOL. I loved the Doctor’s reaction – his little smile after her line, his immediate defensiveness with Canton (“She’s just a friend”, sure), his uncomfortable grin when Rory points out that Canton was asking about the aliens. My reaction was shock that the show threw that joke in there. This is still a kids show and I kind of can’t believe they had her say that.

• I love the scene when River heads down for the second time into the tunnels because it gave some great character stuff. River tells Amy to look after the Doctor and Amy responds with an eyewink I loved. Then the Doctor asks Rory if he wouldn’t mind going with River which leads to this exchange which was hilarious: “Yeah a bit.” / “Then I’d appreciate it more.” I love the way Rory says that, the way the Doctor basically ignores what he said and doesn’t even wait for a response before wandering away and Rory’s very unenthusiastic “River wait for me”. I also love a lot the way that River and the Doctor each sent/asked a Companion to watch their back. It made me go ‘aww’ about them.

• “My past is his future. We’re travelling in opposite directions. Every time we meet I know him more and he knows me less. I live for the days when I see him. But I know that every time I do he’ll be one step further away. The day’s coming when I’ll look in that man’s eyes, my Doctor, and he won’t have the faintest idea who I am. And I think it’s going to kill me.” – River. Ouch. It makes the Doctor telling her to her face in earlier that day that he didn’t trust her retroactively even worse. So does this mean that they’re meeting in a strictly linear fashion, if in opposite directions? I was under the impression the River was meeting him in a more haphazard way. Sometimes when he’s older, sometimes when he’s younger but all mixed up. I prefer that much more. The two of them moving in the exact opposite direct just doesn’t work as well. I love how much River clearly loves him but at the same time that she says ‘she lives for the days she sees him’ makes me... itchy. I love the idea of River as someone just as independent as the Doctor, who has her own life and adventures and loves that even as she loves him. How she said it kind of makes it seem like that’s not actually true.

• We learned a couple new things: the future Doctor had his own diary – when did he start that and why didn’t anyone remark on it? And the TARDIS can apparently cloak/go invisible. The Doctor states that the scanner can’t work while the TARDIS goes invisible but then later he yells at River wondering if she got it working yet so clearly he was lying.

• “We’re his friends. We do what the Doctor’s friends always do. As we’re told.” My first thought was ‘since when?’ His Companion’s are always ignoring his orders, they constantly wander off, and first thing that came to mind was the way Amy told Vincent ‘of course, I’m not going to listen to him’. It’s practically expected for Companion’s not to listen. All of them do it.

• “Don’t play games with me. Don’t ever, ever think you’re capable of that.” Wow. Someone woke up on the arrogant side of the bed. It was very Time Lord Victorious of him.

• “Mysterious summons you just think I’m going to go?” Um. Yes? He’s the Doctor. He lives for the unknown and unexpected! I think he’s just sulking because his companions are keeping a big secret from him and he hates that. Normally he would be all over it in excitement and glee. I mean later when talking about how the warehouse was probably a trap the Doctor’s response is “Let’s see if anyone tries to kill us and work backwards.” He loves the unknown!

• “Now I love a bad girl, me, but trust you? Seriously?” Ouch. Poor River. That was purposefully mean. He is just a Mr. Grumpy Pants this episode isn’t he? I love that River didn’t blink or look away and didn’t show an emotion until he turned away and only then did she close her eyes in pain.

• I found it weird that we started the season with Amy and Rory not travelling with the Doctor. Why did the Pond's stop travelling with the Doctor? Who made that decision? I doubt it was Amy’s choice, I don't think it was the Doctor’s (especially considering his hijinks to get their attention) which leaves Rory. Then after the Doctor first refuses to go to 1969 he states he’s going to be dropping Amy and Rory off at home (and River to prison) instead of taking them off on some other adventure. What was up with that?

• I find it interesting that River’s envelope was labelled 2 and Amy (& Rory)’s was labelled 3. River assumes from the numbering that it indicates how much he trusts that person – so the letter numbered one is the person he trusts most in the universe. If that is true than that means he, the future Doctor, trusts River more than he does Amy. This is in direct contrast to the current Doctor who gets in River’s face with how much he doesn’t trust her and its Amy he puts his trust in.

• I was rather uncomfortable with the scene in the oval office. Its 1969, at the end of the civil rights movement. We have Peterson, a black man, as head of the secret service and then we have Canton, a white guy, with no status/position, and Canton proceeds to not only completely ignore Peterson’s commands but he specifically counters his authority, he denigrates his competency and at one point tells Peterson “shut up” and gives him an order. Now Canton is established from his first minute on screen as someone who has a problem with authority. It makes complete sense for the character to ignore orders. However when you set the story in 1969, put a black man in the position of authority and then have the white guy ignore him and tell him to ‘shut up’... um.

• It bothered me when people reacted to the Silence by not yelling. I can see River not screaming easily but why wouldn’t she immediately call out an alarmed ‘Doctor!’ when she first saw them? Rory I could see screaming or giving a startled yelp especially when they did visibly scare/startle him but at the very least he should have yelled out an alarmed ‘River!’ as he backed away from the door. It bothered me that he turned away from the unknown aliens to call out to River, essentially turning his back to them, when he knew nothing about them and they were standing right there! That didn’t make sense at all.

• A couple other things I really liked:

- The Doctor taking notes in the oval office and then casual waving at Nixon and Canton to keep talking.

- I love when the Doctor is all ‘absentminded professor’. I also loved him escaping all the secret agents and sitting casually in the president’s chair when they finally noticed.

- The Doctor/Amy exchange when he’s all ‘cool aliens’, and Amy replies that he’s certainly an alien and he’s all ‘oi’ was very cute.

- I’m very amused by Amy making Rory explain the truth to Canton because he’s the newest.

- Less happy but well done was Amy’s heartbroken ‘what do I do Rory’ while kneeling over the Doctor’s body.

- “Careful. I tried that once. Ever so dull.” – River And this is what makes the best Companions for the Doctor. Those people who thrill in the danger, who are curious and take the chances, who want the adventure and running and risk.

- River's reaction when she saw the younger version of the Doctor was perfect. I loved the slap and her expression when she saw him. Oh, and the way she said “spoilers”.

- I like that while River knows the Doctor’s style isn’t avenging it’s definitely River’s, especially with regards to the Doctor, and both times she’s thought he was dead now she’s reacted by immediately killing or trying to kill the being that did it.

- I loved the Doctor tapping River’s nose and her affectionate smile at him.