![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Entry tags:
Speak Softly And Be River Song (meta on River in the Library through the lens of TWoRS)
So, I watched the Library episodes for the first time in... years. I'd loaned them out, and then I wanted to see River’s story play out, and then I was just worried that I’d be a complete mess. Not that I don’t know great parts of the dialogue off by heart, but - it’s different watching it. (As it happens I wasn’t a mess, but that's a topic for a different day.)
The other thing was continuity - I knew the *story* continuity was fine, but that a lot of people have been very unhappy with the second half of S6, due to River’s characterisation, so I was curious how well that would hold up. As in, how well would calm, stoic, older Library!River fit with young, impulsive, dangerously determined younger River?
And you know what? They fit perfectly. As a matter of fact I see so much of younger!River in older!River that it’s quite ridiculous. River is River is River, just like the Doctor is the Doctor is the Doctor... And older!River isn’t all that stoic. Oh no.
I will begin with a vid, which illustrates my first point beautifully:
Because this was probably the part that hit me the hardest:
RIVER: This is the Doctor in the days before he knew me. And he looks at me, he looks right through me and it shouldn't kill me, but it does.
It’s the way her voice cracks on ‘does’. She knew it was coming, and just like she suspected it’s killing her (not the words of someone all that composed and together). But she tries. She tries really, really, really hard to keep it together (and she’s good at that - just like her mother she knows how to clamp down on her emotions), but it’s hard work. Because it's not just distrust or hostility. Look at the crash of the Byzantium, when he’s prickly and difficult and suspicious, yet he's still focussed on her, intrigued by her, relying on her. But here... He doesn’t. He just looks right through her. It's not just about him not being 'her' Doctor - it's about the fact that he doesn't acknowledge her as his.
And it’s killing her. Remember that.
Because in the second episode she begins to crack.
The Vashda Nerada are picking them off one by one, and the team are now questioning River’s faith in the Doctor - especially as he’s not returning the favour...
So we get this:
RIVER
Well, use the dampers.
DOCTOR
It doesn't have dampers.
RIVER
It will do one day.
She shows him her sonic.
DOCTOR
So some time in the future, I just give you my screwdriver.
RIVER (smiling)
Yeah.
My guess would be that she thinks this will somehow settle things. Future!Doctor must have given her the screwdriver for a reason, and which better reason than to prove how much he trusts her? She’s kept it away from him until then (doing a very good job of being calm, professional, aloof and gently teasing in their interactions), but now she actually makes a point of it. She just wants something in return for the unswerving cheerleading she’s been doing so far.
Except then things go from bad to worse:
DOCTOR
Why would I do that?
RIVER
I didn't pluck it from your cold dead hands, if that's what you're worried about.
DOCTOR
And I know that because...?
She says her line with a smile - a private little injoke that he doesn’t get yet (albeit a somewhat macabre one) - but... he takes her completely seriously. (Remember the Byzantium? He discovered that she might kill him, and his reaction was essentially: ‘I find this intriguing and wish to subscribe to your newsletter.’ No such luck here.)
And I think this is the last blow. This is the man who has shaped her entire life. This is the man she killed, and then brought back to life at the expense of her own immortality. This is the man who told her that she was always and completely forgiven. Most of all, this is the man whom she was ready to destroy the entire universe in order to save, and he questions her love and faith. It’s not just being unknown, it’s open hostility and distrust, and she’s never had that... So she goes on the attack. She’s been Miss Unequivocal Support so far, but she’s had enough.
RIVER
Listen to me. You've lost your friend, you're angry, I understand. But you need to be less emotional, Doctor. Right now...
DOCTOR
Less em... I'm not emotional!
RIVER
There are five people in this room still alive, focus on that. Dear God, you're hard work young!
DOCTOR
Young? Who are you?!
One moment to mention here is that even when he was dying himself, he was focussed squarely on saving a) her and b) her parents. It’s what made her stop and reconsider her opinion of him, and decide to help... It’s not a fair comparison really, but it’s still a valid one, certainly from her own point of view - he was kinder to her then, when he was dying from her poison, than he is now. And that has to hurt.
MR LUX
Oh, for heaven's sake! Look at the pair of you! We're all gonna die right here, and you're just squabbling like an old married couple.
They look at each other, and she must remember the ridiculous lengths she had to go to in order to get him out of his defenses/get him to marry her, even with the universe at stake. She is one half of an old married couple, and knowing him as she does I think that she decides that - you know what? Screw it. Patience and rational arguments have brought her precisely nowhere, time to go get out the big guns. He’s not her Doctor yet? Well, she’ll create him, the way he created her, making sure he knows exactly what they mean to each other.
RIVER
Doctor... one day I'm going to be someone that you trust completely, but I can't wait for you to find that out. So I'm going to prove it to you. And I'm sorry. I'm really very sorry.
She whispers something in his ear, something that stuns him completely.
RIVER
Are we good? Doctor... are we good?
DOCTOR (lost in thoughts)
Yeah... Yeah, we're good.
RIVER
Good.
What struck me watching it this time, is that there were probably a thousand other ways of proving to him that she was trustworthy/special/important. But this is the woman who declared her love more important than the lives of endless billions, and when you push her into a corner, she’ll get out a sledge hammer.
Because that’s what this is. She with a single word breaks through every barrier, and claims him: She will no longer be ignored, or dismissed, or be the subject of suspicion. He will look at her, and he will know, beyond any doubt, that she is unlike anyone else in the whole universe, and that she will become the single most important person in his life (just as he is the most important person to her): She is unique, not just another Companion (no matter how beloved his Companions are).
And that’s what she needs him to know. She can’t force him to love her, or to be the man she loves, because both those things will come in time. But for now he will no longer look through her, and she will no longer be slowly dying.
(Really, it’s the equivalent of writing ‘Property of River’ on his forehead in indelible marker. This is a very silly image, but it amused me, so I'm sharing it. Although it goes the other way too - I think a lot of it is about the fact that she's always been his. 'My bespoke psychopath' he calls her, at their first real meeting from her perspective. And she is. Bespoke, that is. The Child of the TARDIS, created just for him, and although she can't tell him any of that, she certainly makes sure that he knows that she is deeply, deeply involved in his story.)
It’s interesting that it’s after this that she lets her frustration and disappointment show much more clearly...
DOCTOR
Spoilers! Nobody can open a TARDIS by snapping their fingers. It doesn't work like that.
RIVER
It does for the Doctor.
DOCTOR
I *am* the Doctor.
RIVER
Yeah. Some day.
She's much closer to her 'normal' self, not worried about criticising him or voicing her opinion, because she's more than earned the right. (Or, in other words: She starts writing him, telling him his own story, the way she will for the next many, many, many years, as their stories intertwine and her story causes his to change its path.)
(Of course it's all a lovely mirror for how the Doctor shows River who she could/is going to be, in LKH.)
Anyway, all this allows me to bring up my gorgeous new icon which kathyh made for me - I even made a ‘sketch’ when I was puzzling out which images I wanted:
Because I just love the gulf between the two scenes, the vast amount of time (and love) stretching between the moment when he first truly sees her, and the moment when he finally surrenders completely, accepting her as his equal. [see my Wedding meta & the whole chess thing] From stunned silence, mind reeling, to 'Wife, I have a request...'
And both times the moments are borne from the fact that she will rather cause worlds to collapse (whether real, or the ones in his head) than be ignored... (And, as this vid shows perfectly, it goes both ways. Indifference is the one thing they can't cope with from each other):
[Addendum]
The other thing was continuity - I knew the *story* continuity was fine, but that a lot of people have been very unhappy with the second half of S6, due to River’s characterisation, so I was curious how well that would hold up. As in, how well would calm, stoic, older Library!River fit with young, impulsive, dangerously determined younger River?
And you know what? They fit perfectly. As a matter of fact I see so much of younger!River in older!River that it’s quite ridiculous. River is River is River, just like the Doctor is the Doctor is the Doctor... And older!River isn’t all that stoic. Oh no.
I will begin with a vid, which illustrates my first point beautifully:
Because this was probably the part that hit me the hardest:
RIVER: This is the Doctor in the days before he knew me. And he looks at me, he looks right through me and it shouldn't kill me, but it does.
It’s the way her voice cracks on ‘does’. She knew it was coming, and just like she suspected it’s killing her (not the words of someone all that composed and together). But she tries. She tries really, really, really hard to keep it together (and she’s good at that - just like her mother she knows how to clamp down on her emotions), but it’s hard work. Because it's not just distrust or hostility. Look at the crash of the Byzantium, when he’s prickly and difficult and suspicious, yet he's still focussed on her, intrigued by her, relying on her. But here... He doesn’t. He just looks right through her. It's not just about him not being 'her' Doctor - it's about the fact that he doesn't acknowledge her as his.
And it’s killing her. Remember that.
Because in the second episode she begins to crack.
The Vashda Nerada are picking them off one by one, and the team are now questioning River’s faith in the Doctor - especially as he’s not returning the favour...
So we get this:
RIVER
Well, use the dampers.
DOCTOR
It doesn't have dampers.
RIVER
It will do one day.
She shows him her sonic.
DOCTOR
So some time in the future, I just give you my screwdriver.
RIVER (smiling)
Yeah.
My guess would be that she thinks this will somehow settle things. Future!Doctor must have given her the screwdriver for a reason, and which better reason than to prove how much he trusts her? She’s kept it away from him until then (doing a very good job of being calm, professional, aloof and gently teasing in their interactions), but now she actually makes a point of it. She just wants something in return for the unswerving cheerleading she’s been doing so far.
Except then things go from bad to worse:
DOCTOR
Why would I do that?
RIVER
I didn't pluck it from your cold dead hands, if that's what you're worried about.
DOCTOR
And I know that because...?
She says her line with a smile - a private little injoke that he doesn’t get yet (albeit a somewhat macabre one) - but... he takes her completely seriously. (Remember the Byzantium? He discovered that she might kill him, and his reaction was essentially: ‘I find this intriguing and wish to subscribe to your newsletter.’ No such luck here.)
And I think this is the last blow. This is the man who has shaped her entire life. This is the man she killed, and then brought back to life at the expense of her own immortality. This is the man who told her that she was always and completely forgiven. Most of all, this is the man whom she was ready to destroy the entire universe in order to save, and he questions her love and faith. It’s not just being unknown, it’s open hostility and distrust, and she’s never had that... So she goes on the attack. She’s been Miss Unequivocal Support so far, but she’s had enough.
RIVER
Listen to me. You've lost your friend, you're angry, I understand. But you need to be less emotional, Doctor. Right now...
DOCTOR
Less em... I'm not emotional!
RIVER
There are five people in this room still alive, focus on that. Dear God, you're hard work young!
DOCTOR
Young? Who are you?!
One moment to mention here is that even when he was dying himself, he was focussed squarely on saving a) her and b) her parents. It’s what made her stop and reconsider her opinion of him, and decide to help... It’s not a fair comparison really, but it’s still a valid one, certainly from her own point of view - he was kinder to her then, when he was dying from her poison, than he is now. And that has to hurt.
MR LUX
Oh, for heaven's sake! Look at the pair of you! We're all gonna die right here, and you're just squabbling like an old married couple.
They look at each other, and she must remember the ridiculous lengths she had to go to in order to get him out of his defenses/get him to marry her, even with the universe at stake. She is one half of an old married couple, and knowing him as she does I think that she decides that - you know what? Screw it. Patience and rational arguments have brought her precisely nowhere, time to go get out the big guns. He’s not her Doctor yet? Well, she’ll create him, the way he created her, making sure he knows exactly what they mean to each other.
RIVER
Doctor... one day I'm going to be someone that you trust completely, but I can't wait for you to find that out. So I'm going to prove it to you. And I'm sorry. I'm really very sorry.
She whispers something in his ear, something that stuns him completely.
RIVER
Are we good? Doctor... are we good?
DOCTOR (lost in thoughts)
Yeah... Yeah, we're good.
RIVER
Good.
What struck me watching it this time, is that there were probably a thousand other ways of proving to him that she was trustworthy/special/important. But this is the woman who declared her love more important than the lives of endless billions, and when you push her into a corner, she’ll get out a sledge hammer.
Because that’s what this is. She with a single word breaks through every barrier, and claims him: She will no longer be ignored, or dismissed, or be the subject of suspicion. He will look at her, and he will know, beyond any doubt, that she is unlike anyone else in the whole universe, and that she will become the single most important person in his life (just as he is the most important person to her): She is unique, not just another Companion (no matter how beloved his Companions are).
And that’s what she needs him to know. She can’t force him to love her, or to be the man she loves, because both those things will come in time. But for now he will no longer look through her, and she will no longer be slowly dying.
(Really, it’s the equivalent of writing ‘Property of River’ on his forehead in indelible marker. This is a very silly image, but it amused me, so I'm sharing it. Although it goes the other way too - I think a lot of it is about the fact that she's always been his. 'My bespoke psychopath' he calls her, at their first real meeting from her perspective. And she is. Bespoke, that is. The Child of the TARDIS, created just for him, and although she can't tell him any of that, she certainly makes sure that he knows that she is deeply, deeply involved in his story.)
It’s interesting that it’s after this that she lets her frustration and disappointment show much more clearly...
DOCTOR
Spoilers! Nobody can open a TARDIS by snapping their fingers. It doesn't work like that.
RIVER
It does for the Doctor.
DOCTOR
I *am* the Doctor.
RIVER
Yeah. Some day.
She's much closer to her 'normal' self, not worried about criticising him or voicing her opinion, because she's more than earned the right. (Or, in other words: She starts writing him, telling him his own story, the way she will for the next many, many, many years, as their stories intertwine and her story causes his to change its path.)
(Of course it's all a lovely mirror for how the Doctor shows River who she could/is going to be, in LKH.)
Anyway, all this allows me to bring up my gorgeous new icon which kathyh made for me - I even made a ‘sketch’ when I was puzzling out which images I wanted:
Because I just love the gulf between the two scenes, the vast amount of time (and love) stretching between the moment when he first truly sees her, and the moment when he finally surrenders completely, accepting her as his equal. [see my Wedding meta & the whole chess thing] From stunned silence, mind reeling, to 'Wife, I have a request...'
And both times the moments are borne from the fact that she will rather cause worlds to collapse (whether real, or the ones in his head) than be ignored... (And, as this vid shows perfectly, it goes both ways. Indifference is the one thing they can't cope with from each other):
[Addendum]