This was the creepy-crawly instalment of Doctor Who in quite some clock time , despite the screaming bits mixed in . And it appear we ’re not done take apart the myth of the Doctor as bang-up Jesus . All in all , a pretty great episode . Spoilers ahead …
So I believe I owe an apology to everyone who said that the Doctor was n’t done reaching his lowest stage after “ A Good Man go to War . ” Clearly , there is a bit of an arc going on here , and it ’s still playing out .
In “ A Good Man , ” the Doctor confronts once and for all how much his plug has get out of hired man , and how many people apparently consider in him as some sort of “ mighty warrior . ” He swear on his legend one prison term too many , and as a solution he recede Amy and Rory ’s baby . And his hubris gets poor Lorna Bucket and that decent Sontaran nurse killed .
The Doctor promises Amy and Rory he ’ll get their baby back — actually , he promises their child will be safe , but they take it to mean that he ’s promising to get their baby back . And he fail , and Amy and Rory are leave behind with the not - very - good solacement dirty money of their baby , as a center - aged person , pretending to be their juvenile delinquent childhood booster . Amy and Rory seem to get over this disappointment rather quickly — and I ’m lead off to concord with those who thinkthe Silence must have been there , mess with their head .
And then in last week ’s “ The Girl Who Waited , ” the Doctor face a hereafter Amy whom he ’s failed totally , who now hate him and mocks him using the terms she once used to show warmheartedness for him . She ’s an exaggerated version of the way in which the Doctor has failed the present tense - Amy , such as promising to be right back and taking years to yield .
And then there ’s this week ’s “ The God Complex , ” where the Doctor lastly view how his act , his blustery confident “ I ’ll work it out ” act , leads the great unwashed to place too much organized religion in him , and finally gets them killed . It ’s a moment different from the “ Doctor turn people into artillery ” whimsy that Russell T. Davies explored during the Tennant geological era . Here , it ’s that the Doctor ’s swaggering overconfidence make people count on him or else of believing in themselves — which is n’t entirely fair , pay how much his companions be given to wander off and solve problems on their own , most of the time . And by the close , we find out that the “ God Complex ” of the show ’s title is actually the Doctor ’s god complex , not the hotel . Or perhaps it ’s both .
We already know that the Doctor is marching towards his destruction by that lake in Utah , and now it seems like he ’s being break down , piece by number , first . His myth dies before he does . ( And I ’m not indisputable , but was the “ Doctor is a goofball ” room Amy ’s room ? I love the “ do n’t speak to the clown . ” UPDATE : As various people have pointed out , the way with Young Amy is Amy ’s elbow room . I knew that . Sorry about the mixup . )
It ’s really a fairly interesting arc , and my only reservation is that I wish we ’d gotten a bit more of it — the narrative about the uncanny kid and the witching closet is feel more and more like it does n’t quite belong to in this half of the time of year , although I ’m not sure that the pirate installment would have been any dissimilar , really .
What really sold this instalment for me is Matt Smith ’s performance , especially when he loses it after the death of Rita the awesome med student , trashing a big part of the hotel reception country in his fury . And astonishingly , Amy misread the Doctor ’s mood , thinking that this is just him being eccentric and lovable on his fashion to working things out . Because that ’s what the Doctor does — he works thing out and make unnecessary everybody — and too forged if a few redshirts , like Rita , give way along the way first .
Amy gives a Brobdingnagian speech about a third of the fashion into the instalment , in which she sound out :
I ’ve been with the Doctor a long time , and he ’s never allow me down . Even when I think he had , when I was a kid . He came back . He saved me . And now he ’s going to save you . But do n’t state him I state that , because I think the smugness would be terrifying .
And then Rory says a moment , “ Every clip the Doctor draw pally with someone , I feel the overwhelming urge to notify their next of kin . ” And it ’s weirdly terrifying , because it breaks into the mood .
So in “ The God Complex , ” they get trapped in a weird hotel in place , that ’s essentially a labyrinth , consummate with a minotaur that wipe out people . And each of the rooms has someone ’s worst nightmare in it . The Doctor believes that the hotel is adjudicate to use concern to destroy people , so he further everyone to swear on their faith — like when he tells Howie to keep tell himself it ’s a CIA affair . And he encourages Rita to pass back on her Muslim faith . And of grade , he advance Amy to think in him , like he always does .
And then it turns out the goliath does n’t predate on fear — it prey on faith . By the time the Doctor figures this out , it ’s too late for Howie and Rita — and nigh too previous for Amy . He has to do a “ Curse of Fenric ” on her , destroy her religion in him . However , unlike the Seventh Doctor ’s delivery to Ace in “ Fenric , ” the Doctor is intelligibly severalize Amy the accuracy , or at least one version of it . He is a vain old military man who keeps young Earth people around to admire him and tell him how clever he is . ( Liz Shaw was in good order all along ! ) And he bonk up his fellow , until they have the sensory faculty to get away from him .
( Was anybody else a bit miff , though , that the Doctor ’s big revelation comes along with suddenly call Amy “ Amy Williams ” , as if he ’s finally transferring ownership of her from himself to Rory ? Or saying that she should become her own person , by becoming an extension of Rory ? It was an odd pick . )
And so , for only the third prison term in his calling , the Doctor evict a companion from the TARDIS . ( The other two times , by my reckoning , are Susan and Sarah Jane . ) I sort of curiosity if this is n’t really the end of Amy and Rory traveling with him full time — I do n’t reckon they ’re back , the right way , in next week ’s “ Closing Time . ” And I enquire if the Doctor will only interact with the past versions of them , from when they were in Utah before , in the time of year stopping point . Or at least , it seems possible the Doctor will mostly see them when he returns to Earth from now on , the way he on occasion caught up with Martha Jones after she left him . This feels very much like the Doctor ’s send - off to them — giving them their last chance at a normal sprightliness .
Oh , and what — or who — do you think was in the Doctor ’s elbow room ? I ’m opine it ’s something related to River Song , but you never get it on . perhaps it was a giant statue of Adric .
And yeah , it ’s an sequence that consultation “ The Horns of Nimon ” and father away with it . awe-inspiring .
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WLn80syeb78
And then there ’s Rita , who ’s clearly set up as a possible new associate — the moment the Doctor meets her , he recount Amy she ’s fire . I ’m certain some people will wind up hating Rita , because she ’s too saucy and too competent and too coolheaded , but I absolutely get laid her — the only question in my brain , early on on in the episode , was whether she would die or twist out to be evil by the closing . She had the Donna Noble thing of standing up to the Doctor and not really believe his nonsense . Like when she asks why it ’s up to him to economize her . And when she question what , exactly , sort of Doctor he is . And she really does discover thing , and make connections , and figure things out , the way Rose used to back in season one . She has all the makings of my pet newfangled companion — which mean , of course , she ’s doomed .
And I opine that ’s the point of Rita — we get to see the beginning of a companion relationship , only to see it end really horrendously betimes on . This show is n’t quite uncoerced to kill off an real companion , the room it did back in the 1980s , but this is the next good matter . The ultimate backwash - up call to the Doctor .
Oh , and I also did love Gibbis , the cowardly alien from the most conquered planet in the beetleweed , who ’s in charge of frame up nice trees so the invading forces have some nice shade to march in . He ’s a snatch of a one - jest character , but it ’s a very , very good joke . “ I just want to go home and be seize and oppressed ! ” Heh .
All in all , I ’m feeling reasonably excited about Doctor Who again , what with last week ’s episode and now this workweek ’s . Here ’s hoping it ’s all leading up to something magnificent .
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