Doctor Who: The Doctor, The Widow and The Wardrobe
DOCTOOOR. If not for River, Amy and Rory would have spent TWO YEARS thinking you were dead. START ADMITTING YOU HAVE FAMILY, AND PREFERABLY STOP TORTURING THEM, YOU BAAAAAASTARD. Amy should’ve slapped him before hugging him.
(That whole thing about not having family- you’ve got a WIFE, you silly man. And MARTHA and MICKEY and SARAH JANE and JO and many others. Stop drowing in Time Lord angst!)
I loved Marge! She was a total badass. The bit where she acted the part of a helpless victim and then pulled a gun on her captors, I loved that. And that she wasn’t in the least bit awed by the Doctor, and she managed to keep a machine that needed years of training to learn how to use operational for a long time, and she tied up two heavily armed men and she sort of has the Doctor at her command now. Dude, she rocked. I’ve heard people say that she (and the whole bit about women being stronger than men) was Moffat’s (aka Mr BEING A WHITE STRAIGHT MAN SUCKS WOE IS ME) vain attempt to prove he wasn’t a sexist, but…I don’t really care what his reasons were, it was just nice to have a whole hour about how important mothers are in life.
Speaking of mothers, Amy is still one, so I bet River was there inside the house at the end. And they always set an extra place for the Doctor. Bless them. And Amy still calls Rory ‘Mr Pond’, and she has one of those hideous jumpers that inexplicibly looks great on her, and she calls River ‘a good girl’. OH, MELODY WAS TOTALLY IN THAT HOUSE. Probably about to jump out on the Doctor and slap him for something he hadn’t done yet.
Also: loved both the Arwell children. Also, it makes me realise how rare it is to have siblings on this show- Martha’s been the only companion so far to have any.
BILL BAILEY. But he had hardly any lines! :( He was pretty much wasted, which is a shame.
Hey, this episode passed the Bechdel test.
I’m hoping that ‘he followed me home until I agreed to marry him’ is actually just 1940s-speak for ‘we totes hung out walking back from work, we talked loads and found out we had loads in common, and one day he was like MARRY ME and I was like YEAH SURE.’
NOW I’M REALLY EXCITED FOR SERIES SEVEN. Which we’re not getting for sodding months.
December 26, 2011 @ 10:13 am
*puts feminist hat on* I was also really interested by the whole “hey, let’s look at mothers for a change after all we’ve talked about is fathers for the past year” thing. It did feel a bit like a token “I’m not sexist” to me too – it went a bit overboard, like the scene with the woman from Androzani putting down her gun. Though her line was cool. (But also problematic – should women be “respected” in this way, by putting down guns because they are more suceptible to weakness? It kinda reminds me of those “no women should have to serve in the army” arguments.) Thing is though – I realise doctor who is a family show – but the whole thing is still that strength, or the amazing thing about being a woman, is the whole “having children” thing. Which really annoys me, because women are not walking wombs. I don’t want to have children in my life, does that make me less strong, less woman? (IDK. I am very feministy at the moment and still figuring stuff out.) But on the whole, it was nice to see it. I mean, it’s better than ignoring mothers, right. And hey, Bechdel test! I also wholeheartedly agree with the Bill Bailey thing – I was so hyped about that, and then he just left after five minutes! OH AND Melody/River was so so so definitely in that house. I was tossing up between the final scene being in Stormcage or at Amy & Rory’s, but obviously it was the latter, because hey, family show! and also they’re the “proper” companions. Eh, just thought I’d share my thoughts, but you seem to have hit them all already. Apart from the fact that men following women home after work every day is starting to smell of patriarchy.
December 27, 2011 @ 10:04 pm
Though her line was cool. (But also problematic – should women be “respected” in this way, by putting down guns because they are more suceptible to weakness? It kinda reminds me of those “no women should have to serve in the army” arguments.) Ah- see, I saw that as more of a sort of ‘I’m not going to shoot an unarmed civillian’ thing. But you’re right in that it could be seen that way…I guess I just liked that there seemed to be a connection between the two women, for whatever reason… Which really annoys me, because women are not walking wombs. I don’t want to have children in my life, does that make me less strong, less woman? Steven Moffat said something about this recently (well, sort of) which reaaaaaally got on my nerves. I’m preparing a rant about it! Eh, just thought I’d share my thoughts, but you seem to have hit them all already. Aw thank ye!