DW 5.07. Amy's Choice.

[elisi]

"Come back."

That, for me, was the moment of the episode. It was the way the words were spoken - blankly, with incomprehension - the way a child might speak. It was just so utterly, absolutely perfect, that I can't really explain it. I just know that it showed Amy losing her whole world better than anything else.

Actually the whole scene was wonderful, especially the part where Rory cut off his ponytail - it was such a ridiculous, hideous thing, and then they managed to turn it into something incredibly moving - again, very much hanging on Amy's reaction. (Really the ponytail was utterly brilliant throughout.)

But back to the death scene. I loved Amy's "Save him. You save everyone; you always do. That's what you do." - because it's not true. Angel Bob for starters, as well as the other clerics, Octavian, Isabella, Guido... but it beautifully highlighted the difference between other people's lives and your own. (People get run over by cars every day. We know this, and yet if it happens to someone we love suddenly it's different.)

And can anyone tell me what Amy's 'Then what are you for?' is a callback to? It sounds incredibly familiar, but I can't place it. ETA: It's what Gwen says to Jack in EoD after Rhys is killed! (Thank you solitary_summer!) I've actually been pondering the parallels in the relationships, right down to both men being called Williams. :)

As for the Dream Lord - at first I thought it might be the Trickster, but once we got 'Only one person in the universe hates me that much' I started leaning towards... well, the girls are watching the Confidential right now, and I overheard this exchange:

TV: 'Only one person in the universe hates me this much'
Impish Girl: The Master!
Miss M: No it's himself!
Impish Girl: I know!
Miss M: But that means he hates himself.
Impish Girl: Awwww...

I'm reminded of the Red Dwarf episode where Lister's confidence and insecurities become real, although the Dream Lord was much more interesting (since the Doctor is somewhat more layered that Lister! *g*) Also I am terribly pleased that the Doctor's dark side sounds so much like the Master ('The man who makes people better. How sanctimonious is that?'). It was fascinating to re-watch it, actually, knowing that it was the Doctor, because it put a different spin on everything. I can't really process it all yet, so I'll probably come back to it later - it's all very complex and the Doctor is wonderfully twisted.

Btw there was one point where I wish they'd gone a little further - the bit at the end where the Doctor remarks something about how he shouldn't be alone, because 'you know what happens then'. Which... I don't think they do. So I wish it had gone on like this:

Amy: You... talk to yourself?
The Doctor: I go insane and get delusions of Godhood. Not pretty, trust me.

(Waters of Mars, how I love thee...)

I will just make the point that the Doctor is a tricky person to be with. The whole dream scape thing was essentially nothing more than the Doctor forcing Amy into making a choice. Of course it worked, but it was rather traumatising and dark. Not that I don't love it, it just highlighted how other the Doctor is. (Not in his aims, per se, but in how he achieves them.)

Must also point out how much I like Rory, partly because he's so unapologetic in his wishes. He wants a happy, normal life, and he is adamant that this is *not* inferior, or a lesser choice. The lovely scene at the beginning where the Doctor is bored out of his mind is great because of it. "What do you do?" "We live."

As for Amy's Choice then I couldn't help comparing it to Rose's in PotW...

MICKEY: If you go back, you're gonna die.
ROSE: That's a risk I've gotta take. 'Cos there's nothing left for me here.
MICKEY: Nothing?
ROSE: No.

Now it's not set up the same at all (it's different risking your own life as opposed to watching someone else die), but still - Rose does not want a life without the Doctor. Amy, in this ep, realises that she doesn't want one without Rory. That's just who they are. And I know that Mickey is taking a lot of flak at the moment (since everyone is obviously comparing him to Rory, and Mickey didn't shine until later), but I just want to say that his response to Rose is great:

MICKEY (with dignity): Okay, if that's what you think... let's get this thing open.

There is also the fact that Rory has know about (and been in the shadow of) the Doctor almost his whole life...

ETA: This also comes into play re. Amy choosing Rory, I think. Yes she has known the Doctor since she was 7 - a mystical, fantastical person, but Rory was there. And, being human, we tend take what we have for granted. I think Amy realised that Rory was her touchstone, the calm centre to keep her grounded, and without that she'd be lost. (Sorry if this is all v. obvious.)

Also (as selenak notes in her review) they mention the 'not growing up' aspects in conversation, and then the story follows up with making Amy grow up when she sees that her childhood hero can't fix anything. That's very nice writing. :)

ETA2: Another thing - yes, Amy chose Rory, but I think she very much chose *him*, but probably not his particular version of life. (The Confidential made clear that she had to choose between Rory's dream & the Doctor's.) She was obviously quite bored as a country doctor's wife, and I think Rory probably picked up on that, so hopefully once they leave the TARDIS they'll find something they can both enjoy. :)

Anyway I am THRILLED that we have a trio in the TARDIS, and there were tons of brilliant scenes that I want to remark on but haven't got the time - like the Doctor in the armless jumper. And now I have to run off and be busy...

Comments

[solitary-summer.livejournal.com]

And can anyone tell me what Amy's 'Then what are you for?' is a callback to? It sounds incredibly familiar, but I can't place it.

I wouldn't have noticed it myself, but rivier posted about it - Gwen said it to Jack in End of Days after Rhys was killed.

[elisi]

Oooh thank you! It's been forever since I watched End of Days, but I thought that might be the one. It's a very, very similar situation.

[kathyh]

Great review.

Anyway I am THRILLED that we have a trio in the TARDIS, and there were tons of brilliant scenes that I want to remark on but haven't got the time - like the Doctor in the armless jumper.

It was just full of funny, witty, clever and scary moments wasn't it. I really enjoyed it and am looking forward to rewatching it knowing that the Dream Lord is the Doctor's dark side, which I was completely fooled about.

[elisi]

Great review.
Thank you. It's a little all over the place, but I just needed it written down.

It was just full of funny, witty, clever and scary moments wasn't it.
It really was, and eminently quotable. :)

I really enjoyed it and am looking forward to rewatching it knowing that the Dream Lord is the Doctor's dark side, which I was completely fooled about.
It's absolutely brilliant, and gives the whole thing *such* a dark twist! I was almost sure it was some manifestation or other of the Master (because that's who he sounded like) but this was so much better. Lots of people all over squeeing about the possibilities of the Valeyard...

[zanthinegirl.livejournal.com]

Easily my favorite of the season so far. I was getting a little worried (I was disappointed in the Angels episodes, and the space-whale) but I think that this season is really starting to gel. I did twig to the twist a little before the characters (The Doctor never just leaves his old companions but visits from time to time? Rory becoming a doctor in just a few years?) but not a whole lot before they they did.

I adore Rory. I've seen the comparisons to Mickey too; and I can see their point The characters do serve similar functions as points of home reference. But an essential difference is that we see Rose in her very first scene as bored with Mickey and her life. Rose always chose the Doctor whenever she had a choice, and it's very much to Mickey's credit that he cracked open that console for her anyway. It was the first time I really cared about Mickey, and he became full-on awesome later. He needed to be out of Rose's shadow first.

Rory's a more developed character than Mickey was at a similar point in the series. Amy had to figure out that she loved him; it was a sucky way for it to happen, but I think that they'll all benefit from it. Cutting the ponytail was unexpectedly moving.

And I adore there being three people in the Tardis. I need to find or make an icon of all three in their ponchos that says "Team TARDIS for the fashion win" or something like that!

Though I do hope that old people aren't Steven Moffat's easy fall-guy like fat people were for RTD.

[elisi]

Easily my favorite of the season so far.
:)

But an essential difference is that we see Rose in her very first scene as bored with Mickey and her life.
*nods* Also Mickey's initial experience of aliens was to be kidnapped by living plastic, which must have been pretty traumatising.

Rory's a more developed character than Mickey was at a similar point in the series. Amy had to figure out that she loved him; it was a sucky way for it to happen, but I think that they'll all benefit from it.
I think it has to do with her childhood (I've got all these thoughts there might be more meta...) - she's an orphan, raised by a (rather neglectful) aunt, and Rory is clearly the one she's grown up with, the one person who's always cared about her.

And I adore there being three people in the Tardis. I need to find or make an icon of all three in their ponchos that says "Team TARDIS for the fashion win" or something like that!
Oh I've seen one a bit like that... *goes off to hunt down* here! :)

Though I do hope that old people aren't Steven Moffat's easy fall-guy like fat people were for RTD.
Well Moffat didn't write the ep, and seemed a bit bemused by the idea in the Confidential. :)

[joking.livejournal.com]

All the scenes with the Dream Lord and the Doctor conversing become a lot more interesting in light of the fact that it's the dark side of himself. "The old man prefers the company of the young," the Dream Lord says, while all around them, old people are consuming young people for their life force, leaving children as piles of dust on the ground. How is that not a metaphor for what the Doctor feels he does to his companions?

The Dream Lord confronts Amy with the lies the Doctor has told her, and himself. The Doctor says in the domestic dream, "I don't just abandon people after they leave the TARDIS." I laughed out loud at how blatant that lie was. The Dream Lord, lord as he may be of deceptions and tricks, is able to face the truth the way the Doctor cannot. He tells Amy, "Do you think you're the only one the Doctor trusts? The one he tells everything?" She says yes, and the Dream Lord laughs because Amy doesn't even know his name. River Song does, for reasons we still don't know, but even she isn't the one whom the Doctor trusts and confides in completely, no more than Amy is. By the end of the episode, I still don't think Amy understands what the Dream Lord admits and the Doctor cannot: he doesn't let his companions in, not really. Not ever. Amy isn't special, and when the time comes the Doctor will leave her behind and move on, just as he does with every other child he picks up and breaks like a china doll. Rory's right: one day the Doctor will move on, and she'll have to grow up despite all the pain he's caused her. She's not ready to face that.

Another interesting parallel is when Amy runs the dust of Rory's corpse through her fingers - it made me think immediately of PotW when Jack holds the dust of the Daleks and watches the TARDIS disappear. Amy has lost her entire world, and so has Jack in PotW, except Jack's nightmare isn't a dream after all. As with Amy, Jack thought the Doctor was his hero and could redeem him, could heal up all the broken places. Jack was forced to face the truth the way Amy has not yet done: the Doctor doesn't fix you. He breaks you, and then he leaves you alone. You have to build your own life without him, and if you find him again, you must relate to him as grown-ups do: on your own terms.

This was a fascinating episode that I think will reveal even more depths upon rewatching. Might I mention that I love the ending, in which the Doctor sees the Dream Lord reflected in the TARDIS console - a reminder that his dark side still lies behind his reflection?

[elisi]

I saw that you made a post, so will comment over there. So just this:

Might I mention that I love the ending, in which the Doctor sees the Dream Lord reflected in the TARDIS console - a reminder that his dark side still lies behind his reflection?
Oh yes. I touched upon this in my review of the vampire ep, but appearances matter - the fact that the Doctor, old, old man that he is, is walking around with such a youthful face is used, and beautifully so. It is in many ways a mask - just like Ten's happy go lucky persona was a mask to hide the darkness and danger lurking underneath. (I have a lot of thoughts percolating...) With Ten we got the Master as a mirror, here we get the Dream Lord, something much darker in many ways. But I shall go over to yours and continue I think...