Doctor Who - always leaving me with more questions than answers

After the Doctor Who episode Saturday night, I've decided to reflect on some of my meandering thoughts about Series 7 (and the series as a whole) for Whovian Sunday. 

The Doctor Alone

The "unmerciful" Doctor in 7.3.

The episode "A Town called Mercy," brought up a point about the Doctor travelling alone compared to travelling with companions. The Doctor, without human companions, becomes a slightly different Time Lord. He becomes less merciful; part of me wonders if he wanders off with River and they have adventures. Is she rubbing off on him? I don't know - it's not like she's evil, but she's certainly less merciful. Amy had to tell him that "this is not how we roll... we can't be like him, we have to be better than him." The Doctor usually reminds others to show mercy, but he's not been that way so far this season. He keeps presenting the option of killing - he's done it in all three episodes now. This isn't new, in fact, we've seen this angry, almost manic Doctor before: with Donna in her Christmas episode and in "The Waters of Mars." Sometimes that powerful, scary Doctor is pretty amazing, but I'm glad when we've seen him that way, he manages to be with people that will bring him back down to earth. I think that angry Doctor was the one that ended the Time War. That I truly can believe would be terrifying.  

Amy and Rory Leaving

I have to admit something... I watched the preview for next week. I generally have avoided these, but I let it play. There was (I guess this is a SPOILER) a tiny tidbit between Amy and Rory talking about choosing; I'm assuming they were discussing choosing life with the Doctor or life without the Doctor. I hope they don't just choose an option. That seems like such a cop out. I mean, don't get me wrong, forgetting the Doctor or being put in a parallel universe is not a good thing, but really, after being so involved for so long, you're just saying, "We're done..." Even Martha had more of a reason than that. I don't know... surely there's more to it than that. I think Amy and Rory have been good with (and for) the Doctor; at the very least it has been an interesting dynamic to watch. It was pointed out on another blog that Amy and Rory have been with the Doctor for ten or more years (off and on of course) - that's an unusually long time for them to want to travel with the Doctor. I don't think I'd actually thought about that before and what that means about his relationship with them. It makes me wonder why he needed that relationship... obviously he was meant to be a huge part of their lives - he crashed in Amy's backyard and since then has depended on them to be companions. Unless... there's a huge part to the Doctor's story that we're not seeing. He's aged considerably in the last 2 seasons - how is that? Amy and Rory haven't been with him on every adventure. What has he been doing??? 

Reflections on the 7.3 episode

I thought it was interesting that we see the Doctor, Amy, and Rory come strolling into town at the beginning of the episode. No TARDIS there, no conversation about where they were going, no having to go get them It's been a big thing about the Doctor retrieving Amy and Rory and now they're just there - what's that about - cutting room floor decisions or making Jana ask crazy questions about what's going on purposes?  

And seriously... that mother line. I was about to throw something at the TV - she acknowledged she was a mom, but nothing else. Really? REALLY?

DFTBA!

Jana