The Doctor's True Loves...

[elisi]

I've been thinking about the Doctor and the love stories written for him (in New!Who), and how very, very, very differently RTD and Moffat approach this. And - just to point out that I'm not trying to say that one is better than the other - I'm going to borrow a quote from the_royal_anna and change some names:

If I started drawing a comparison of the Doctor/Rose and the Doctor/River relationships, I'd go on forever, but in all honesty, I don't know that there's anything to be gained by it. I don't know that we love in amounts. We love in ways.

A little demonstration of the immeasurable gulf between the two:





In most respects, they are as different as can be. Although they both stand up to Daleks like HBICs:

ROSE: 'cos if these are gonna be my last words, then you're gonna listen. I met the Emperor. And I took the Time Vortex and I poured it into his head and turned him into dust. Do you get that? The God of all Daleks... and I destroyed him.

DALEK: Records indicate you will show mercy. You are an associate of the Doctor's.
RIVER: I'm River Song. (aims gun) Check your records again.
DALEK: Mercy!


And, then there's the Doctor's view of them:





Rose is the Doctor's lodestone - he needs her innocence, her belief, her innate goodness, and it's no understatement to say that he wishes he could be Rose. Or, to quote onetwomany re. Wes and Fred, and changing some names again:

There's an innocence and vulnerability in Rose that the Doctor seems drawn to, even obsessed with. If he can be with her, protect her, win her love, then maybe he can preserve a part of himself that he fears he's losing (or has lost). The Doctor is looking to Rose to save him.

Oh Doctor...

Now when we get to River, we find someone who is much more like himself. He knows that he will one day 'trust her completely', but he's not there yet and I think he's curious about how he gets there. And yet - to borrow Anna's words again, re. Spike and Buffy:

Spike is one of the few people Buffy will ever hand control over to. There's always been that lovely irony where trust is concerned in their relationship – in a sense, Spike is the last person in the world Buffy would choose to put her trust in, but his physical strength makes him more trustworthy than anyone when she needs him to help out.

Substitute 'ability' for 'physical strength' or some such and you have a pretty good picture of Doctor/River at the moment.

Anyway, this whole train of thought came about via owlsie, who posted this (via The Telegraph):

“River’s had one too many. The Doctor’s getting lucky tonight”
— Matt Smith on Alex Kingston knocking over a glass of blackcurrent cordial that's meant to be wine

Because I realised that you could never ever ever have had the same thing with Ten and Rose...

Comments

[solitary-summer.livejournal.com]

Rose is the Doctor's lodestone - he needs her innocence, her belief, her innate goodness, and it's no understatement to say that he wishes he could be Rose.

*nods* And it's really fascinating, because in S2 of The Grand there's this on and off lovestory between Stephen, who served as a soldier in WW1, and Kate, and in the last episode they have a fight, and there's the following dialogue:

— Why?
— I let things happen. I'll even make them happen, I'll invite them. So that it can get spoiled. Cause when everything's fine, I'm just waiting. Waiting for the bad news. It always comes.
— But why, though?
— Cause I met this kid once. He must have been, sixteen? Glasses, and, and, and, he was eating away, eating a pie or something. Stuffing his face.
— So?
— So... I killed him. Before he killed me. Cause that was my job. A soldier's job. The things I've done, Kate. And I hated it. I hated it so much. But anything I did, it was cause I was a soldier, and not Stephen Bannerman. And now I've got all this, and I've got you, and I don't deserve it.
— It doesn't matter what you've done. I still love you! (pause) But what about me? All I've become is Stephen's health. It's like a job, like I'm a nurse. And it doesn't matter who I am.

And a bit later, talking to Miss Harkness, she wonders, 'Is it right to love a man if he needs you? Cause, I mean, that's not love, is it, if he needs you?'

And that's the Doctor and Rose in a nutshell, isn't it? The war survivor looking for salvation and his lost innocence. It's a kinder, more family friendly version on DW, but underneath it's the same story...

[elisi]

Mmmmm. Oh that's excellent. I forget, have you watched S3 of Being Human? It tackles this issue very well.

Anyway, it's a fascinating subject (so much of Buffy/Angel and Wes/Fred in there) and a very complicated one. Thank you for sharing that story, it's perfect. (You rarely see characters acknowledge the problems inherent in this!)

[solitary-summer.livejournal.com]

Being Human lost me during S1 (or maybe more precisely, while I loved the pilot, I never really warmed to the changed cast), and I never picked it up again, although what I read about S3 sounds definitely interesting.

And don't get me started on Welsely/Fred. Such a trainwreck in so many ways...

[elisi]

I'd say give Being Human another chance (S2 is flawed, but the parts that work, work beautifully and S3 just made me flail in incoherent delight). When Torchwood is over maybe?

And don't get me started on Welsely/Fred. Such a trainwreck in so many ways...
Uh-huh.