Doctor Who 6x08 Review

[iaria]

Let's Kill Hitler

I really enjoyed it though the more I thought about it the more some things ended up bugging me.

Things I Liked/Loved

• Amy and Rory creating a crop circle of the Doctor’s name in order to contact him was great.

• I wasn’t sure about Mels in her first scene, it felt like the show was trying too hard with her, but I adored the flashbacks to her past with Amy and Rory. They were wonderful and managed to fit Mels into Leadworth pretty well. Getting to see Amelia again, little Rory (aw!), Mels using the Doctor as an excuse for all the bad things that happened in the past, Amy thinking Rory was gay (hee) and then him running away. I love that Amy ran after him. (So, wait, did River get her parent’s together then?) The flashbacks made me like Mels a lot more and I was interested to see her as a companion. Oh, well.

• “Right I’m putting Hitler in the cupboard.” – Rory. Hee. Rory’s the best at these lines because he’s got this perfect deadpan where he says ridiculous things and he just can’t believe he’s saying it and it makes me laugh. A lot. I also liked “Shut up Hitler.” Also I like the twist that they inadvertently ended up saving Hitler. Their reactions to dealing with him were amusing.

• The Teselecta, and its miniaturised crew, was very neat. What they were doing less so.

• "Who's River Song?" "... spoilers." lol.

• The Melody/Doctor assassination shenanigans were fun. It reminded me of Nine vs Margaret the Slitheen in Boomtown. Except a lot more like flirting. The inclusion of the banana makes me wonder if it was on purpose. Also how could she not notice the difference between a banana and a gun?

• Melody’s explanation to the soldiers about what she was doing there made me lol.

• The TARDIS interface upon being given the command “give me someone I like” giving him Rose, Martha and Donna in order made me so happy. There may have been a squee. It was just so wonderful to see them again. At the same time: “(Rose) Oh, thanks, give me guilt! (Martha) Also guilt. (Donna) More guilt. Come on there must be someone in the universe I haven’t screwed up yet.” Oh, Doctor.

• “You should always waste time when you don’t have any. Time is not the boss of you.” - Doctor. Hee. We've heard this before.

• I love that it was the TARDIS who taught River how to fly her.

• The whole sequence where the Doctor is dying and pleads with River to help him was wonderful.

• I loved the Doctor’s devotion to River in this episode. When she kisses him he kisses her back! He pleads with the TARDIS to help because “River needs me. She’s only just beginning.” and yells threateningly to the Teselecta crew that “Don’t you touch her! Don’t you harm her in any way!” and in the end states “She will be amazing.” as they leave her in the hospital.

• My first thought about what the Doctor whispered to River was his name and I can't really think what else it could be. Not how to save him. I doubt it was anything like 'I love you'. What would he need to whisper?

• The Doctor was great. I loved him returning to save everyone – having first taken the time to change into a tuxedo first. I loved the advice he kept giving Melody – “Never knowingly be serious” and “Never run when you’re scared” which are both very him. The sonic cane was great. His expression when he learned what the Teselecta crew were doing was wonderfully chilling. I have a feeling the Doctor has added something new to his to do list.

Things I Didn’t Like or Was Unsure About

• I wasn’t pleased that we didn’t get to see more of River/Amy/Rory after her revelation that she was their daughter. I really wanted to see that.

• “You know I will find her.” Actually the fact that Melody is River would make me think it would be less likely that the Doctor would find baby Melody and bring her back to the Ponds.

• While I loved watching the flashback it also has me - confused. Specifically about Amy who I'd thought had grown up lonely and always considered the 'odd' one and because of that was pretty confident and brash. I find it hard to reconcile what we know of Amy with her relationship with Mels. I feel like the person who grew up with troublemaker Mels as a BFF, who incidentally also wholeheartedly accepted 'the raggedy doctor' tales (and didn't Amy have issues with people not believing her?), would be a different person from the Amy we meet in season 5.

Or like, Mels is the 'bad girl' and thus Amy is regulated into being the responsible good girl in the flashback but that doesn't feel right either.

But then Amy's life has already been re-written when she was given back her parents at the end of season 5. I never really thought about it. Her having loving parents makes me wonder about her life-long friendship with Mels since I can't imagine they were pleased about the trouble Mels got into. Does the combination of Mels and parents change who Amy is between seasons 5 and 6? I feel like it has to.

... I feel like I need an explanation about who Amy is and who she was at this point.

• “I’m so glad I found you. ...You got to raise me after all.” – Mels. I’m not sure how I feel about the idea of River as Mels growing up alongside her parents. It’s weird. And despite what Mels says here Melody shows no interest in her parents after regenerating.

- Also the whole raising situation - no they really didn't. She was their friend not their daughter even if the show tried to frame their relationships as them having to take care of her.

- Was becoming Mels, friend to Amy and Rory, simply Melody's way of tracking down the Doctor or was she curious about her parents? How did she even know who they were? Does she know them from a previous incarnation? Which regeneration is River – three? Four?

• “She’s been brainwashed it all makes sense to her. Plus she’s a woman.” Really? Really? I just do not buy the Doctor saying something like that.

• I'm not sure about how fast Melody went from a self-described psychopath to using the rest of her regenerations (and possibly believing giving her life) to save the Doctor.

• Amy and Rory seemed more... removed from Melody/River than I was expecting. Amy names River as her daughter but it’s like the haven’t really connected Melody-River to their daughter. I mean it takes the Doctor saying ‘she’s your daughter, just stop now’ before Amy makes her attempt to save River. As her mother shouldn’t she, both of them, have been trying to save her life already?

Neither of them tried to reach out to Melody throughout the episode. Neither of them have significant reactions to their best friend actually being their daughter. When she asked them “is he worth it” Amy doesn’t even ask what she means before saying yes. What River was going to do could have killed her! Both just accept leaving River in the hospital and heading off for more adventures. There is no discussion about River being a weapon or her trying to kill the Doctor. It just felt very off to me.

• I wish that River hadn't used up all her regenerations saving the Doctor. Wouldn’t it make more sense for it to have just used one?

• I don’t really like that River apparently became an archaeologist in order to find the Doctor.

Other

• “You stay alive and I’ll marry you, deal?” Hmm, another mention of marriage with these two. Is River really the Doctor’s wife?

• “I might take the age down a little. Just gradually. To freak people out.” – Melody. I like that they threw that in as an explanation for why season four River looks younger but... can time lords actually change their appearance like that?

• So does this episode throw out the idea that the Doctor and River are moving in opposite directions along each others time line then? Oh, I hope so.

• “I’m looking for a good man.” So wait, is the ‘good man’ actually the Doctor after all? I was sure it would be Rory.