A brief defense of interrupted hugs

Overly Devoted Archivist Uncategorized amy pond, doctor who, rory williams, the doctor 3 Comments

Often the ‘I think that’s probably enough hugging now’ scene is brought up as an example of Rory’s jealousy and possessiveness, but while Rory can sometimes be a little jealous and posessive, that’s not all he is. Not by a long shot!

Let’s explain! First of all, the Doctor is a huge presence in Rory’s life, but also Amy’s…and while they’re all friends, the Doctor is always going to be The Other Man. Amy did cheat on Rory with the Doctor, and then flirted with him at the wedding: there are very few people, male or female, who wouldn’t have pulled their spouse aside at that point and gone “Dude/ette, what the hell? You’re marrying me!” Yet Rory said nothing about that, didn’t say anything at all about Amy and the Doctor’s close relationship until Season Six rolled around. (Ironically, it was around here that Amy stopped flirting with the Doctor- probably because she realised during Day Of The Moon that Rory honestly didn’t know she preferred him. Timing…) Rory breaking up the hug isn’t that great a moment for him, but I think it’s understandable, very much so. This is a very emotional day for all of them, too- Rory’s probably thinking, when he sees the Doctor hugging his wife and stroking her hair, “That should be me.” Or perhaps “You’ve had your hug, you’ve held the baby, now go sort all these incredibly dangerous circumstances out and leave us alone for a bit.” Perhaps.

Now, on the Rebel Flesh Confidential, there’s this interview with Karen and Arthur about Rory’s platonic relationship with Jen the Ganger:

KAREN Because she’s always had Rory in the palm of her hand so to have this happen just opens up loads of new avenues. And it’s really weird for Amy as well because she’s obviously had a roaming eye in the past…so yeah, she’s kind of not really possessive like that because she wouldn’t expect Rory to be that possessive over her. So it was an interesting one to get…
ARTHUR I think Rory has to try not to be possessive, I think he has to try and keep it back…I think he actually wants to be going ‘Hey!’ all the time but he has to play it cool.
KAREN Because Amy wouldn’t dig that.
ARTHUR Yeah. Rory just wants to be cool.

So what I got from that is that while Rory does have a possessive streak, he tries to keep it under control. So far he’s not doing too badly: he never gets between Amy and the Doctor again, being perfectly fine to leave them alone for their last goodbye. The Doctor brings up the ‘permission to hug’ thing again in Let’s Kill Hitler, but Rory’s exasperated ‘granted’ makes me think he’s tired of the whole thing.

Also worth mentioning: while hugging Jennifer in The Rebel Flesh, Rory glances worriedly at Amy, as if asking her permission (which she gives…she sort of shakes her head very slightly, and then nods.) So we can at least say Rory holds himself to the same standards when it comes to hugging people who might fancy you.

Also also worth mentioning: Amy herself doesn’t seem to mind any of this at all: she’s smiling when walking back to Rory after hugging the Doctor. Maybe in the end it is just banter between them- banter with a slight edge, like so many friends have. Or heck, for all we know she could consider it fair play for all the kisses the Doctor interrupted. Who knows? But anyway…Rory’s actions in that scene are perfectly understandable, I reckon. Not great, slightly petty…but, just as you can forgive your friends moments of jealously or pettiness, I reckon I can forgive him…

(crossposted to Tumblr