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There's not enough here to do a separate post on each of these things, but these are three things I've been wondering about over the past few episodes...
1. The lack of River mentions in the last three episodes. At first, I thought there might be a revelation about this at the end of the series - perhaps the Silence somehow made Amy and Rory forget about their daughter and that's why they haven't been mentioning her? Then I thought it might be a production thing - perhaps Moffat didn't let the other writers in on the secret to avoid spoilers? Perhaps there was a fear that people would get River-fatigue?
Following the River-mention at the end of the last episode, I've pretty much dismissed all these theories. But after having thought about it some more, I'm not so convinced that you would necessarily expect Amy and Rory to keep talking about River after all. Think about it this way: Amy didn't know she was definitely pregnant right up until she gave birth. There was no time to adjust to the idea, no time to think about the future or get used to the idea of being a mother. She didn't even choose to keep the baby, that choice was foisted on her. And Rory didn't get much chance to think about the whole thing either.
I'm not saying they don't care about their baby, but perhaps given that they barely knew her before she was snatched away... just perhaps, you can understand them wanting to get back to normal and pretend the whole mess never happened to some extent. And after all, they know that River survives and the Doctor's "excuse" for giving her space is a good one... going after her could very well ruin her entire life. Given how fast it all happened and how long it would take to adjust to the shock of something like this, isn't it slightly understandable that Amy and Rory wouldn't want to be thinking about it all the time?
2. Themes of faith in the last two series of Doctor Who. The Silence are basically a religious order, right? We don't know if it's connected to the army that River was working with in "The Time of Angels," but it's still an interesting continuation of a theme of religious soldiers. We've also had the theme of faith running through "The God Complex." What's the message here? That faith makes you do stupid things? That faith leaves you exposed, that it can trump reason, that it twists your perspective? I don't particularly have a problem with any of these messages, but it's an interesting theme and I'd be surprised if we don't see more on it in the series finale.
3. Being a companion fucks you up. It's interesting to see how different writers deal with companions and their role in the series. I think it was a recurring theme during the RTD era to emphasise how brilliant the Doctor is and how brilliant it would be having him in your life. Even though Rose, Martha and Donna all suffered as a result of their time with the Doctor, the resolution of "The End of Time" seemed to ultimately suggest they're all better off because of their experience with the Doctor. For me, recent episodes have recognised that the situation is a bit more complex than that. Sure, going off in the TARDIS and looking around space and time is great, but there's a price to be paid. The Doctor explicitly acknowledges that he "stole [Amy's] childhood" and that's to say nothing of the older Amy who expired in "The Girl Who Waited," the fact that Amy and Rory's daughter has been used as a weapon against the Doctor or the fact that Rory was erased from reality and ended up waiting 2000 years because he didn't feel Amy would be safe otherwise. Particularly interesting is River's attitude at the end of "A Good Man Goes to War." Of course she's been brainwashed to see the Doctor negatively as a child, so she's capable of seeing it from both sides, but River is uniquely placed to see what happens to the Doctor's companions. And for that reason, I wouldn't bet against a death in the season finale.
1. The lack of River mentions in the last three episodes. At first, I thought there might be a revelation about this at the end of the series - perhaps the Silence somehow made Amy and Rory forget about their daughter and that's why they haven't been mentioning her? Then I thought it might be a production thing - perhaps Moffat didn't let the other writers in on the secret to avoid spoilers? Perhaps there was a fear that people would get River-fatigue?
Following the River-mention at the end of the last episode, I've pretty much dismissed all these theories. But after having thought about it some more, I'm not so convinced that you would necessarily expect Amy and Rory to keep talking about River after all. Think about it this way: Amy didn't know she was definitely pregnant right up until she gave birth. There was no time to adjust to the idea, no time to think about the future or get used to the idea of being a mother. She didn't even choose to keep the baby, that choice was foisted on her. And Rory didn't get much chance to think about the whole thing either.
I'm not saying they don't care about their baby, but perhaps given that they barely knew her before she was snatched away... just perhaps, you can understand them wanting to get back to normal and pretend the whole mess never happened to some extent. And after all, they know that River survives and the Doctor's "excuse" for giving her space is a good one... going after her could very well ruin her entire life. Given how fast it all happened and how long it would take to adjust to the shock of something like this, isn't it slightly understandable that Amy and Rory wouldn't want to be thinking about it all the time?
2. Themes of faith in the last two series of Doctor Who. The Silence are basically a religious order, right? We don't know if it's connected to the army that River was working with in "The Time of Angels," but it's still an interesting continuation of a theme of religious soldiers. We've also had the theme of faith running through "The God Complex." What's the message here? That faith makes you do stupid things? That faith leaves you exposed, that it can trump reason, that it twists your perspective? I don't particularly have a problem with any of these messages, but it's an interesting theme and I'd be surprised if we don't see more on it in the series finale.
3. Being a companion fucks you up. It's interesting to see how different writers deal with companions and their role in the series. I think it was a recurring theme during the RTD era to emphasise how brilliant the Doctor is and how brilliant it would be having him in your life. Even though Rose, Martha and Donna all suffered as a result of their time with the Doctor, the resolution of "The End of Time" seemed to ultimately suggest they're all better off because of their experience with the Doctor. For me, recent episodes have recognised that the situation is a bit more complex than that. Sure, going off in the TARDIS and looking around space and time is great, but there's a price to be paid. The Doctor explicitly acknowledges that he "stole [Amy's] childhood" and that's to say nothing of the older Amy who expired in "The Girl Who Waited," the fact that Amy and Rory's daughter has been used as a weapon against the Doctor or the fact that Rory was erased from reality and ended up waiting 2000 years because he didn't feel Amy would be safe otherwise. Particularly interesting is River's attitude at the end of "A Good Man Goes to War." Of course she's been brainwashed to see the Doctor negatively as a child, so she's capable of seeing it from both sides, but River is uniquely placed to see what happens to the Doctor's companions. And for that reason, I wouldn't bet against a death in the season finale.
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no subject
Date: 2011-09-18 05:04 pm (UTC)From:Moffat seems very clear in that humans are not really meant to go putting their dreams and hopes in the man with the blue box, and that even if you think you're getting what you asked for, it's often very different from what you had wanted. Being "saved" by the Doctor can be worse than an ordinary death. Time travel fucks you up. The universe is too big and the earth too small to contain a human with both inside them.
no subject
Date: 2011-09-18 05:13 pm (UTC)From:Night Terrors was originally supposed to be transmitted in Series 6, Part 1 so when filmed Amy and Rory wouldn't have actually know about River.
Other lack of mentions are probably caused by the fact that they had bigger things on their mind at the time. Trying to save Amy in The Girl Who Waited and trying to escape the hotel in The God Complex.
So since Let's Kill Hitler, they haven't really had much of a chance to talk about River. It was only when they had a calm moment outside the house when they got round to it.
no subject
Date: 2011-09-18 05:55 pm (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2011-09-18 06:04 pm (UTC)From:Amy's and, to a lesser or maybe greater extent, Rory's faith in the Doctor have been tested throughout their episodes. So has their trust in him. I've always thought of the Doctor's frequent statement, "Trust me, I'm the Doctor" in relation to River's statement that he lies. Moffat's Doctor is the least trustworthy I can remember.
I think it was telling that he had to say, after describing the monster last night, that he wasn't talking about himself. He too has a God Complex and wants his companions to believe in him, and yet he knows how he's failed them.
no subject
Date: 2011-09-18 06:38 pm (UTC)From:"If you see my daughter, tell her to come and visit her mum."