A Town Called Mercy
Sep. 15th, 2012 09:18 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
daibhidcEpic.
The opening scene was good -- anyone who'd picked up anything from the publicity must have realised that the gunslinger wasn't after the Doctor, but even so it was a bit chilling when he said it. And thankfully, they didn't play that up too much when the Doctor actually arrived; we know it's not that Doctor, they know it's not that Doctor; let's do one scene where the townsfolk wonder if maybe he'd do anyway, and then move on.
The first half was fun stuff with the Doctor all excited about being in a Western ("Tea. The strong stuff. And leave the bag in.") and even the cyborg threat coming across as local colour[1]. And, of course, the Doctor's blatant lie about doing things the sensible way and not letting his curiosity distract him. Because he isn't curious. At all. And the idea that this town has basically accepted Jex (until the gunslinger showed up) was nice.
Then the Doctor indulges his curiosity, and we learn why the Gunslinger is after Jex, and things take a turn for the darker. As, indeed, does the Doctor himself.
It's now clear that last week's aberration was a deliberate set up of the Doctor getting more ruthless, and this week sees Amy calling the Doctor on making "hard choices"[2]. What's interesting is that Rory takes the Doctor's side. This makes sense: he wants to save the maximum number of lives, and the idea that this guy killed people while calling himself a doctor strikes against his nurse's soul. He also lacks Amy's confidence in the Doctor's ability to come up with a third option. Even more idealistic than Amy is Issac, who doesn't have any reason to believe there's a third option, and stands up for Jex's rights anyway. And when this gets him killed, I was really worried where this story was going.
But the Doctor decides to stand for Issac's beliefs, and Amy's talk has an effect, since he not only protects Jex against the townsfolk, but does so with that Doctor Who classic Talking Down The Man With The Gun. And a nice touch tying this into the main story; if the kid shoots the Doctor, he'll be doing to himself what Jex did to the Gunslinger.
And so we get the only finale we could with that set up; the Doctor gives Jex the chance to escape and instead he sacrifices himself to protect the town, and wherever he might have escaped to, and even the Gunslinger, who's released from the drive for vengeance. It's a story about redemption which doesn't pull any punches, and doesn't tell the audience whether anyone involved (Jex, the Gunslinger, the Doctor) actually got it.
And the Gunslinger becomes the town's new sheriff, and apparently still is, something I'd be amazed if it passed without further mention...
[1]Was there any reason for him to move in a series of teleports beyond it being a cool image that vaguely evoked the stranger striding into town through the heat haze? Of course there wasn't, and there didn't need to be.
[2]We are, it seems, going for "This is what happens when he doesn't have humans around". Again.
The opening scene was good -- anyone who'd picked up anything from the publicity must have realised that the gunslinger wasn't after the Doctor, but even so it was a bit chilling when he said it. And thankfully, they didn't play that up too much when the Doctor actually arrived; we know it's not that Doctor, they know it's not that Doctor; let's do one scene where the townsfolk wonder if maybe he'd do anyway, and then move on.
The first half was fun stuff with the Doctor all excited about being in a Western ("Tea. The strong stuff. And leave the bag in.") and even the cyborg threat coming across as local colour[1]. And, of course, the Doctor's blatant lie about doing things the sensible way and not letting his curiosity distract him. Because he isn't curious. At all. And the idea that this town has basically accepted Jex (until the gunslinger showed up) was nice.
Then the Doctor indulges his curiosity, and we learn why the Gunslinger is after Jex, and things take a turn for the darker. As, indeed, does the Doctor himself.
It's now clear that last week's aberration was a deliberate set up of the Doctor getting more ruthless, and this week sees Amy calling the Doctor on making "hard choices"[2]. What's interesting is that Rory takes the Doctor's side. This makes sense: he wants to save the maximum number of lives, and the idea that this guy killed people while calling himself a doctor strikes against his nurse's soul. He also lacks Amy's confidence in the Doctor's ability to come up with a third option. Even more idealistic than Amy is Issac, who doesn't have any reason to believe there's a third option, and stands up for Jex's rights anyway. And when this gets him killed, I was really worried where this story was going.
But the Doctor decides to stand for Issac's beliefs, and Amy's talk has an effect, since he not only protects Jex against the townsfolk, but does so with that Doctor Who classic Talking Down The Man With The Gun. And a nice touch tying this into the main story; if the kid shoots the Doctor, he'll be doing to himself what Jex did to the Gunslinger.
And so we get the only finale we could with that set up; the Doctor gives Jex the chance to escape and instead he sacrifices himself to protect the town, and wherever he might have escaped to, and even the Gunslinger, who's released from the drive for vengeance. It's a story about redemption which doesn't pull any punches, and doesn't tell the audience whether anyone involved (Jex, the Gunslinger, the Doctor) actually got it.
And the Gunslinger becomes the town's new sheriff, and apparently still is, something I'd be amazed if it passed without further mention...
[1]Was there any reason for him to move in a series of teleports beyond it being a cool image that vaguely evoked the stranger striding into town through the heat haze? Of course there wasn't, and there didn't need to be.
[2]We are, it seems, going for "This is what happens when he doesn't have humans around". Again.
no subject
Date: 2012-09-16 02:22 pm (UTC)We are, it seems, going for "This is what happens when he doesn't have humans around". Again.
We knew when Amy had a boyfriend that much of Moffat's Who was going to be polemic on Davies'. That's what Davies gets for innovating. I think we can afford to spot Moffat five episodes on a theme that Davies mined for five years.
no subject
Date: 2012-09-16 04:17 pm (UTC)I hope that now they'll give us credit for having got the point that the Doctor's reputation isn't going to precede him any more, because I don't think they can take this gag any further without it getting silly.