Another 11th Doctor story, and another dip into Series 6 – and it’s not the last one1… Perhaps it’s time we stopped calling this series shit…? Maybe: it does have some very weak/unlikeable stories, but it also has some really brilliant stories – like this one.
Where Series 6 falls down for me more than anything is in the arc. Since the show came back in a post-Buffy/Babylon 5 world, it has been almost necessary to add an element of serialised storytelling. RTD did this with a light touch, just dropping hints of Bad Wolf, Torchwood, Mr Saxon & Rose into his first 4 series, before bringing them to the fore in the finale. Moffat wove the Crack in the Wall through Series 5 in a much more prominent way, but plotted it so beautifully that it elevated the experience of watching week in, week out, rewarding your loyalty. Moffat’s best seasons also have multiple themes to them; so with Series 8 you don’t just get the arc of The Tragedy of Danny Pink but you get “Am I a good man?”; with S5 it’s a fairytale about Amy’s imaginary friend & her love for Rory as much as it’s about the Crack.
Series 6 starts out with it’s initial arc of “Who killed The Doctor?”. You know that The Doctor won’t actually die, that Moffat will think of some way to get round the fixed point and that no matter how much he stresses it, the Doctor WON’T DIE, so the success of that arc depends on how well you think he resolved it. There’s also the second arc of Melody Pond… As I’ve said before, I’m not a fan of River Song – I find her too smug & overused – but aside from that this particular arc falls flat on it’s arse because it’s just so undercooked. Having dropped the bombshell in Good Man Goes to War, we come back in Let’s Kill Hitler for the resolution, only to find Amy & Rory no longer have any shits to give about their missing baby; that they’re more than happy to accept a woman old enough to be their mother as their daughter, and also have The Doctor as their son in law. God, it’s so Moffaty it’s actually painful…
The small bit of arc that does actually work in this series, though, is bit that deals with Amy & Rory leaving the Doctor. Through the series so far, these two have been put through the actual ringer by their time with The Doctor. By this point they’ve been tortured by the TARDIS, Rory’s been killed by pirates2, they’ve lost their daughter who turned out out to be their best friend, been turned into goo and kidnapped, and been trapped with peg dolls. This tale comes before The God Complex (which I’ve already discussed) which would have actually made a perfect end for them, and it sits perfectly as the step that leads to that departure: travelling with The Doctor has stopped being fun, and started being dangerous.
This episode starts off fun enough, with the team skipping from the TARDIS into the soaring silver colonnades of Apalapucia; it goes Pete Tong pretty much straight away though. Despite the timey-wimey trappings of a typical Moffat tale, that Space Name of Apalapucia – along with a further mention of Clom – is our first hint that this is actually more of a RTD story. Writer Tom McRae, coming back after the Cybermen 2 parter in S2, spins a tale full of sci-fi goodness (time engines, handbots, 1 day plagues) but the story he ultimately wants to tell is what happens to Amy when she is abandoned by the Doctor – or more importantly, Rory.
As soon as Old Amy arrives, we know how the story will end: there will be a reset, Young Amy will come back somehow & they will all fly off into the sunset & live happily ever after. Kudos to McRae the for making sure this is NOT a happy ending for anyone, and for twisting & turning his plot all the way through it: at every turn you think it’s going to be wrapped up now, that Old Amy will make a noble sacrifice, but she doesn’t. We’re pushed further & further & further into a dark, dark corner until we pretty much can’t take it anymore.
Amy, as we know, is bloody minded, contradictory and completely unpredictable. Any other companion, you imagine, would be quite happy to rescue her younger self, to give her a better life not lived; not Amy. And let’s face it, it’s the more real reaction, isn’t it? She acts the way that most of us would do. McRae uses this as the foundation for a succession of stunning written & acted scenes. Amy convincing her younger self for the sake of Rory is awesome enough, but when they reach the TARDIS and The Doctor locks the door…. Wow. I can’t remember a story ever pushing it’s characters into such a hard corner as this. So far so RTD, and so you keep expecting that deus, the easy way out but it just. Doesn’t. Come. There’s nothing easy about this, the trio have to work through every agonising moment. It’s heart wrenching stuff but it makes for beautiful drama.
This is actually the Doctor-lite story this season – not that you’d know it because he’s always there, but with the vast majority of his scenes set in the TARDIS, it means Matt smith can film his parts relatively quickly & go off and do something else3. Of course he’s magnificent, he always is, but this isn’t his story, and he is graciously upstaged by his co stars.
Karen Gillan started the show as a damn fine actor, and she just keeps improving as she goes. She’s given more & more to do, and asked to do more & more; by this point the production must be pretty confident that no matter what they give her she’ll handle it & deliver. Here she has to play the same character twice; but again, that twist of Old Amy being not what we expect but also totally the same is played to perfection. Putting her lipstick on when she meets Rory again for the first time in 36 years and is so awkward doing it, dancing the Macarena; all these little touches are on top of what else she’s doing. She TOTALLY sells Amy’s hatred of The Doctor, the man who abandoned her, and her love for Rory after all this time. The scene where Gillan has to play both versions of Amy talking to each other is utterly superb, as is her final moments with Rory at the TARDIS door. Karen Gillan should be earning all the plaudits Jenna Coleman does for her turn as Clara.
It’s not just Amy’s story though; Rory has a fair bit to do in this too. We need to celebrate Arthur Darvill for giving Rory so much heart; he is totally torn as the man who loves both versions of his wife. He is again given some dynamite stuff, calling out the Doctor for making him a version of himself (3 years before we’ll see that become a major theme for Clara) and railing at him for the way he travels.
Which brings us nicely back to where we started: “Then I do not want to travel with you!” The adventure has stopped being fun; the trio are left so broken by the events at the end that it’s a wonder that they didn’t call it a day then. It leads perfectly to their eventual (false) departure in the next episode. If this had been the arc, or the theme of this series, it would have been a lot more successful & landed a lot better.
As I’ve said before & will no doubt say again, the best drama pushes you into places you don’t want to go; it makes you feel things that you don’t always like. It can be hard if you’re watching characters you love go through events you hate, but that’s what makes it drama and not comedy. And make no mistake, The Girl Who Waited is EXCELLENT drama.
COMING TOMORROW: “Ahhhh, I’m TEASING YOU….!!!!”
Skies Full of Diamonds 