Sunday, June 12, 2011

Midseason Finale: Doctor Who-"A Good Man Goes to War"

A family meets for the first time on "Doctor Who"
Credit: BBC/BBC America

My review of last night's midseason finale of Doctor Who is after the jump.

Well, that was fun. I'm not really sure how to describe my reaction to this episode. There's something about it that is a little too confusing to get a "HOLY CRAP THAT WAS AWESOME" reaction. I'm just missing too many of the pieces that were placed earlier in the series to get the full impact of the cliffhanger, and the rest of the episode. Even if the full impact of everything that happened wasn't there, this was still a fantastic hour of television. It was an intense battle which was very fun to watch unfold. And that cliffhanger, it wasn't a HUGE shocker, but it was something that surprised me quite a bit.

Let's start with that cliffhanger. River Song is Amy and Rory's daughter Melody. It was also hinted at that River was the little girl who was in the spacesuit in "The Impossible Astronaut". I've only seen River in the finale last season (which I don't have a great recollection of) and the premiere this season but I was still able to tell that this news was Earth shattering. It also adds a lot of perspective to River's relationship with the Doctor. No wonder she there's a tinge of sadness when she talks to him. If she killed him, she would be very upset when she sees him alive in this time. It also added perspective to her happiness in the beginning of the episode when she saw Rory in the jail, she was seeing her father!

The episode also had a lot of discussion about how the universe views the Doctor. We know him as a somewhat bumbling time lord who runs around the universe and saves the world while saying clever things, but the universe knows him differently. Just saying the name "The Doctor" can strike fear in many because he's known as a great warrior. For others this wasn't the first time the show has done this, but for me it was. I had never thought of the Doctor as someone to fear before. I've never seen that side of him on the series until this episode. I guess there is something to fear about the Doctor with a grudge. This episode proved that.

Some other thoughts:
  • I wonder how the impact of that cliffhanger is going to change the dynamic of the series permanently. 
  • Did we every really find out why the evil eye patch lady went for the baby? Was it because the baby was part time lord?
  • Evil Eye Patch Lady and the Doctor had an interesting dynamic going during the episode.
  • Those Headless Monks are CREEPY. Like, seriously creepy.
  • Arthur Darvill was badass in this episode. He had a presence in this episode that I never saw in prior episodes.
  • Karen Gillan did a fantastic job in this one, especially in the scene where we find out the baby was flesh.
Overall, this was an epic episode of Doctor Who. Sure I was missing some of the backstory, but I still was able to notice the impact of what was happening. That cliffhanger left me wanting more from the story and I can't wait for the show to return in late summer.

What did everyone else think?

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