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Post by clocketpatch on Sept 11, 2011 23:36:28 GMT
"This isn't fair. You're turning me into you"
***
Holy crap, what did I just watch? That was, that was a whole other level of intense that I didn't even know existed and Rory and Amy and Amy and I -
The lack of incidental music made everything especially chilling, right from the start. Murray Gold had a few loud moments, but generally it was so quiet and claustrophobic. And the the whole concept of it with people having their entire lives compressed into one day and the infinite universe to explore.
I'm guessing they weren't all alone in there, the plague sufferers, since Amy was specifically asked if she was travelling alone by the interface. I was visiting a historic jail earlier today (maybe an hour before watching the fic) so that made the visiting hours part extra chilling, though, all of it -
The handbots are going to give me nightmares. They were just frightening because they were trying to do the right thing. Which is the tragic thing about the whole episode because the entire mess is coming up because people are trying to be kind and -
The Rory handbot made me bawl. And the ending made me bawl. And it was manipulative and I know that's the reaction the writer wanted but damnit Amy and Rory.
And Rory in spectacles is incredibly hot. Rory is generally incredibly hot, but the glasses and the rage and -
I have a whole mix of emotions here.
The most beautiful man speech made me go weepy. And the "I give her my days." Rory had better not die again. He cannot.
And the setting itself with its infinite possibilities, and the colour scheme, and the filming. And what did I just watch?!?!
The quality of this series is so all over the map it's making my head hurt.
And Eleven... I'm not sure if I like you anymore Eleven. I knew he was a bastard. I knew he was dark. But that was cruel.
Even if it was done to be kind.
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Post by aquabluejay on Sept 12, 2011 0:56:29 GMT
Didn't someone say that to Eleven at one point, something like "Your kindness is cruelty," or something... I feel like they did (Liz ten or someone from pretty far in the future who knows quite a bit about him...maybe River), being all foreboding and stuff, but I probably just read too much fanfiction.
Also, Eleven's wearing the long coat again... It's cool, but I'm not sure if I like it on him yet.
Yet another ep that the Doctor isn't really the star of... Looks like from the trailer, the next one might be his. In a way this ep was kind of Amy's or at least about her and Rory's love. Night Terrors really wasn't about anyone.
I'm getting a definite theme of nightmares and secret fears and clockwork enemies and dolls from 6B, despite it on the whole not giving me the heebie-jeebies like 6A.
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Post by jjpor on Sept 14, 2011 20:50:18 GMT
*A pretty good assessment there, Clocket. I think that's a good point you make there about being cruel to be kind and how, at the end of the day, being cruel to be kind is still being cruel. In one way, Eleven's leaving the final decision up to Rory was more honest and moral than if he had taken it out of his companions' hands and acted according to his own inclination, but even if he was treating Rory as an adult and a decision-maker rather than as a child to be dictated to, doing so was also in some ways undeniably crueller.
I liked this one quite a lot, as I said over on Livejournal. Sure, it's not perfect, but it makes stuff like Night Terrors and AGMGTW look positively second rate. I think I stand by my comment the other day that this is my favourite one since The Doctor's Wife. Certainly, those two and the opening two-parter represent S6's best stories, I would say.
It was more-or-less Doctor-lite compared to most, and I wondered whether there was some scheduling reason for that, but really it worked very well because this was very much Amy and Rory's story, a bit like Let's Kill Hitler was River's. Arthur Darvill continues to do excellent work, week in, week out, but the real star here was Karen Gillan. The people who continue to take potshots at her acting are clearly watching a different programme to me, because I think she goes from strength to strength. Good stuff.
And right also that this is a story without "baddies". Everybody in it is trying to do their best, and the result is still tragedy. In fact, the whole tragic tale stems from a single, seemingly irrelevant mistake - Amy pushing the wrong button - no more than that. There's some moral there about fate and life and stuff, I can't help thinking. To be honest, the story might have made its point even more effectively if they had ended up taking the future Amy and all three of them had had to live with the consequences of that single moment forever. A pretty bleak outcome, no doubt, but that's how life works. See my remarks above about Eleven being cruel to be kind.
I think, from their point of view and mine, the Doctor and Rory took the right path - they did undeniably save "their" Amy from years of suffering and trauma, but it was undeniably a terrible choice to make. Future Amy acknowledging that she thought it was the proper course of action too was probably another way to slightly soften the bleakness of the ending, but that final look Eleven and Rory exchange... I think one of the strengths of this story, though, is that you could make a reasonable case for saving either one of the Amys - it isn't one of those fake dilemmas we see so often in NuWho, where the script does its best to manipulate the audience into agreeing with whatever the author considers to be the "best" outcome, while piling on the meaningless angst. This felt like the real deal.
And written by the man responsible for the duff S2 Cybermen two-parter? Just goes to show you should never write anybody off... ;D*
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Post by johne on Sept 14, 2011 21:15:29 GMT
It feels almost as if ]the entire season's proceeding in two parallel timestreams: one in which the Doctor, Amy and Rory are dealing with the various problems raised by Melody and that nice Mme Kovarian, and another in which they have standalone adventures and aren't even aware of Melody's existence. It's a bit disorientating.[
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Post by aquabluejay on Sept 15, 2011 2:00:07 GMT
It feels almost as if ] the entire season's proceeding in two parallel timestreams: one in which the Doctor, Amy and Rory are dealing with the various problems raised by Melody and that nice Mme Kovarian, and another in which they have standalone adventures and aren't even aware of Melody's existence. It's a bit disorientating.[ I rather agree, and isn't it just... *nods*
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Post by jjpor on Sept 15, 2011 18:39:59 GMT
Yes, fair point, johne. It does feel a little strange at times, especially when they're placed in situations where you'd be pretty certain they'd mention it. Yes...
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kirkg
Auton Daisy
"Hello, Sweetie!"
Posts: 442
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Post by kirkg on Sept 22, 2011 21:47:24 GMT
How sad. And it underscores Rule One... which may come to be the downfall of the Doctor's relationship with Amy... (His companions really seem to get kicked around these days, don't they?)
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