The Doctor's River.

[elisi]

First of all I want to point out that I am profoundly non-shippy when it comes to the Doctor. I’ve liked all his companions and enjoyed all the different relationships. This is just me delving into the meta side of things.

So - future companion River Song. I’ve only read a few other (reaction) posts, so I’m sorry if others have said this better already. Anyway I’ve been thinking, and I think that the most important thing about the Doctor/River relationship - what it all hinges on - is the fact that he knows how it ends. I know this seems obvious, and heartbreaking, but that’s not the point I’m trying to make.

A lot of people were put off by how very intimate and close the two of them seemed to be/become (old married couple?), but I think this is because he already knows how their adventures end - he knows that she is safe, that she won’t ever leave him (for good), or betray him, or want a normal life. Neither will he have to see her age and die, like he was probably dreading with Rose. He can literally trust her more completely than anyone else.

Which brings me to the whole ‘happily ever after’. Although first I must mention how much I loved the set up when they talked about Biographies in the start of the ep, and how people die at the end - brought full circle with the placement of River’s Diary amongst the other books. Except he can’t leave it there...

I have tedmaul to thank for this:

I suppose it depends on how you view these things, but it seems to me there's a slightly bitter aftertaste to the fact that the Doctor can't just let her go ... he can't let himself lose, so he sends her off to join her virtual friends in a virtual world forever. On one level, there's a sweet 'happy ever after' feel to it, but behind it there's a rather queasy sensation of a serious god complex at work...

Because it suddenly occurred to me that River’s ending is the *opposite* to the Family of Blood - one imprisoned, all of them lonely forever in a living hell, the other in the closest thing to heaven we have seen... but both groups held back from real death by the Doctor, unable to let go. And it reminds me of this...

COPPER: Of all the people to survive, he’s not the one you would have chosen, is he? But if you could choose, Doctor, if you decide who lives and who dies… that would make you a monster.
‘Voyage of the Damned’

But now I’m again getting into territory that I wrote about post S3 (essay here), since of course the Master showed us exactly what happens when a Timelord decides to play god for real. And the Doctor hovers on the line... how do you decide what is right, morally, when you are the highest authority there is? (This incidentally reminds me of the Doctor’s atheism - I think it is partly due to fear. Because if there really is someone up there, how will he judge the Doctor’s actions? He has the blood of his own people on his hands - as well as who knows how many others...)

Anyway, I think I started off talking about River. I really hope we get to see some of it play out on screen, because it’ll be a very interesting dynamic I think. I’m impressed that they still manage to find new ways of doing things. (Not maybe new in sci-fi terms, but new when it comes to companions.)

And that’s all for now, I really shouldn't be here...

Comments

[elisi]

But when he met River in the library he had no idea what her ending would be until it happened, so how does that explain anything?
This is where the biting-itself-in-the-tail part comes into play, because she already has a relationship so close to him that she signs her messages with a kiss and calls him 'Sweetheart' - and she has that closeness because her Doctor knows how it ends. She therefore project the closeness onto the current Doctor, who gets incredibly confused right until the end.

I'm sorry if I'm terrible at explaining it, it all makes sense in my head.