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Date Posted: Sunday, October 02, 02:50:46pm
Author: Chani *spoilers for Doctor Who*
Author Host/IP: 81-65-192-252.rev.numericable.fr / 81.65.192.252
Subject: "The Wedding of River Song"

The alternate London with history happening all at once (and Dickens on tv promoting his next Christmas story!!!!!!!), and our Doctor looking very Jesus-like was awesome. And "Pond, Amy Pond". Oh Moffat you dared! LOL

The life or death chess game live was perfect for our cowboy Doctor (duels with firearms aren't his style), it foreshadowed the final reveal with River's line about the Doctor ("always a step ahead of everyone, always a plan"!) and it was a subtle parallel to the fact that he'll have to conceit defeat to actually win (The Doctor had to appear to die while he would actually get round it!); the Dalek's data was a nice touch (the Doctor seen through a screen!), and the cannibal skulls (loved the "there are no rats, skulls eat them")were creepy...

No really, where does Moffat find crazy ideas like these?!!!!


So, as I have always thought, the scene from Lake Silencio had not to be fixed, the whole point was that we actually did not know what it meant at the time. It was a bit like Amy talking to Captain Williams while not being able to see what was in front of her, that is her husband. She had to take a better look, she had to see the half that she missed...just like us viewers. So the eyepatch turned out a WONDERFUL device because it worked not only to explain how Mrs Kovarian and the humans could work with the Silence creature from day one, but also as a plot device in the alternate reality for the scene in which the creatures escaped from the tanks, and ABOVE ALL, it was a metaphor ablout the viewers' point of view. We had missed part of the story going on in "The Impossible Astronaut", and it was time to get the whole picture now...like Amy and River whose eyepatches were removed by the end of the alternate reality (River even got to look deeper through the Looking-glass!!!!). I loved how the family scene with the three Ponds followed the order of the eyepatch removal we had seen in the bubble time, first River, then she took Amy's eyepatch and then it's Amy who freed Rory's sight.

The Pond girls' attempt at saving The Doctor and rewrite time was a mistake...and Steven Moffat dared to write an episode that was half all about not solving The Doctor's death and making sure that the scene in Lake Silencio happened as it did at the beginning of the season, and half about solving it during cowboy Doctor's journey. The execution could have been better but the ideas were brilliant.

That man is a crazy genius!

Everybody and their uncle thought that the gangers would have a role to play in Lake Silencio but it was the other double, the one with tiny people inside(a metaphor for television maybe? Lots of screens in the episode btw) that turned out to be the solution so the scene from The Impossible Astronaut wouldn't be undone while allowing us to keep The Doctor on tv and Matt Smith as Eleven.


At first, I have to confess that I thought that using the Tesselector was just too easy an exit so the resolution of the opener felt lazy, less clever than usual...and then I realised that it was perfect as if the show were doing pure meta on the concept of Deus Ex-Machina (so much better having the Tesselector than the Flesh)!!!! And I love the idea of The Doctor staging his death and using a stand-in. Plus, the writing based on reflections, a hall of mirrors and plots within the plots, is eventually echoed with The Doctor within The Doctor's suit (and the point was made about Amy giving the Jesus looking Doctor his usual attire!). After all it's quite fitting for a character who is like matryoshka dolls, with 10 previous Doctors inside of him! It's another kind of clever.


But it's so very convenient that both The Doctor and River lie and cheat all the time, isn't it? That rule #1 is viaticum for any viewers who could have written himself into a corner...

That said, something doesn't quite work about River lying about not remembering. I know she has always been big about not telling spoilers, yet her emotions looked genuine. It's probably better not to rewatch the beginning of the season...

Anyway, the character of River had its use but now I'm not sure it will work again and that there's any point of keeping her aboard. River will lose her tragic vibe if there's more adventure and fun ahead. Her life has been pretty screwed up, she has to sacrifice all her days to protect the illusion of her killing The Doctor, being locked in that prison, and we know that even after she's released she is going to sacrifice her life in "Forest of The Dead". Helping her to make the most of her nights is the least that The Doctor can do for her! It's a consolation to make up for her tragic journey but it isn't something that they are going to show on screen. If I were Moffat I would let the character rest from now on. River as Doctor Song could have her own spin-off but her being part of the DW story seems over.

As for Amy and Rory? There's more potential there, but I guess that many viewers are ready for a change.


Alternate Amy was cool and gorgeous, but Rory got the true bad-ass scene when he stayed behind after saying "It already has" about his eyepatch being activated by The Silence creatures. The Last Centurion is still there!

Even the way his fist clenched the gun looked like a call-back to plastic Rory.

By the way, even though I was a bit disappointed that River was the Impossible Astronaut -- how convenient that, first, the Doctor said she wouldn't remember the killing and even more convenient later that she said she had lied and pretended non remembering! --, I liked the way it echoed plastic Rory killing Amy (and there was another call-back to that moment when The Doctor tells Alternate Amy that she always find her Rory, always ends up recognizing him).

"I'm his...mother-in-law"LOL Karen sold that one!


In other words, not the best episode Moffat wrote (I think that last season final resolution was better done, and that "Blink" is still The Moff's masterpiece, and perhaps he's better at writing standalone episodes) but a fine one nonetheless, with lots of subtle touches hidden beneath the obvious resolution.

And kuddos for doing a show aimed at a young audience (flirting with dark at times but avoiding dark endings) while still being smart and funny.

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Replies:

[> "I think she needs another drink!" LOL!!! -- AurraSing, Sunday, October 02, 06:19:45pm (NoHost/173.180.105.8)

I don't care if some fans felt a little cheated by the twists in this episode, I know I laughed out loud with glee when the groom asked the bride to look deep into his eye......

I was discussing the possibility of a ElevenGanger going to his death at Lake Silencio with Ali and while she was pretty much convinced this was the only way to solve the apparent death dilemma, I could not buy the Doctor asking anyone to make that kind of sacrifice for him. Mind you, I wonder how the crew of the Tesselector(sp?) are going to explain how they lost their ship....but they did work for justice, didn't they??

I think you covered a lot of what was running through my head while watching this-I loved the idea of a universe stuck in time because of love, the alternative Earth was fascinating and a lot of fun as well, with the steampunk vibe and lots of shoutouts to Who fandom going on. The Dalek scene was funny, his hatred for their race and yet using them at the same time was great.

I'm not sure how things are going to go next series. I agree that too much River can be a bad thing, I'd like to think that we'll see some of what's happening with the in-laws but as things stand right now, the Doctor has plans for his nights and obviously that's enough to make Stormcage worthwhile. LOL!!!!!!

Great fun, lots to see and once again, you just have to remember that the Doctor does indeed think ahead. And wow, do I wish all wedding ceremonies were that easy!!!

Now I just have to be patient and wait for the Christmas special, dammit!!


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[> [> Some bits to help tide us over... -- AS, Sunday, October 02, 06:54:55pm (d173-180-105-8.bchsia.telus.net/173.180.105.8)

http://i.imgur.com/hq82r.png

http://i.imgur.com/4TqQw.jpg


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[> [> [> Timeline up to this ep.... -- AS, Sunday, October 02, 07:52:09pm (d173-180-105-8.bchsia.telus.net/173.180.105.8)

http://i.imgur.com/hdEWO.png

Whew!!


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[> [> [> [> Whew indeed -- Chani, Tuesday, October 04, 12:18:34pm (81-65-192-252.rev.numericable.fr/81.65.192.252)

Just looking at it gives me a headache.


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