6.5X010 The Girl Who Waited (Grading/Discussion) (SPOILERS!)

[Allyn Gibson]

The episode was high quality, but I am not a fan of this continued bastardization of the Doctor (i.e. the continued and growing idea that The Doctor is, in reality, a truly terrible bastard).

I like the Doctor as my moral compass, not a guy you can't turn your back on.

I don't get this complaint. The Doctor isn't cuddly. One of the very first things we ever see the Doctor do is nearly bean a caveman to death with a rock.

Some Doctors have softer edges. But some are serious bastards, when you look past the goofy costume and get down to it. The eleventh Doctor has been pretty consistently shown to be one of the bastards, not one of the softer ones.

 

[Mr. Adventure]

I also loved when Rory asks if two Amys was possible and the Doctor responds with something like "I don't know, it's your marriage.".

 

[Bacl]

The episode was high quality, but I am not a fan of this continued bastardization of the Doctor (i.e. the continued and growing idea that The Doctor is, in reality, a truly terrible bastard).

I like the Doctor as my moral compass, not a guy you can't turn your back on.

I don't get this complaint. The Doctor isn't cuddly. One of the very first things we ever see the Doctor do is nearly bean a caveman to death with a rock.

Some Doctors have softer edges. But some are serious bastards, when you look past the goofy costume and get down to it. The eleventh Doctor has been pretty consistently shown to be one of the bastards, not one of the softer ones.

I didn't say cuddly. I said I don't like the increasing theme that the Doctor is really, in essence, a bad guy or villain or some other kind of bastard. It's like when they start saying Batman creates more problems than he solves.

 

[The Nth Doctor]

What a wonderful episode. The episode greatly demonstrated the love between Rory and Amy and finally capitalized on the unique Doctor/companion dynamic this season presents. I loved how older Amy refused to sacrifice herself so Rory could have the younger Amy which is a nice turn on the usual trope. I actually thought older Amy would survive in someway after she talked about traveling off on her own and visiting the TARDIS crew, but I wasn't surprised at all when The Doctor shut the door on her.

Several great lines:

"Two Amy's together. Can that work?"
"I don't know. It's your marriage."

"Come on, Rory. It's hardly rocket science; it's just quantum physics."

Great episode, second only to "The Doctor's Wife." We need more episodes like this one.

It was strange that Rory didn't commented that he waited a 1000 years for Amy. The forty years Amy waited is peanuts in comparison.

The difference being Rory had Amy right there the whole time and defended her while waiting for The Doctor, who he knew would return in 2000 years. Here, Amy thought Rory and The Doctor had abandoned her and Rory recognized the difference.

 

[Cutter John]

Did anyone else get a bit of a Portal vibe from all that?

Best of the season, albeit with reservations -

I cannot think of a single sensible dramatic reason for the Doctor's lines and actions at the end other than a) to allow Karen Gillan a big and very good martyr speech, and b) to make the Doctor into a complete cunt so that he can be split from the Ponds next week in order to pop back to Lake Silencio for the big dirtnap. Blinovitch? No, Mawdryn proved you can have two people in the TARDIS (albeit *after* the boom) and the BLE can't be in effect cos there was no boom about five minutes earlier... In essence it's just a really artificial bit of emotion-tugging, albeit one that (unlike, say Father's Day) actually works without coming over as trying too hard - which is definitely good. So, the best episode of season 6 so far, but in a somewhat false manner...

yes, I did cry

I didn't have a problem with his actions. What choice did he have really? If he'd told the truth, then old Amy would have never helped them get back to the Tardis. Hartnell's Doctor would have approved.

And while I suppose two Amy's could have survived inside the Tardis, but what happens when they land? It meant that one Amy would always have to remain inside the ship, and one day when it was time for them to leave, the choice of 'who gets to stay with Rory' comes up all over again. But this time made even more difficult because he's had time to fall for the old Amy. Thats even assuming both Amy's could stand each others company for that long.

And while I agree the Tardis just leaving as soon as the Doctor locked the door would have made for a damn powerful bit of television, I'm not sure Amy and Rory's relationship could have survived it. I guess the Doctor realized that too, which is why he gave Rory and old Amy the chance to talk and come to terms with the situation.

Ugh, the whole thing just makes my brain hurt.

 

[Ghost Bones]

Good grief, at last. After possibly the longest stretch without a good story in its history, we get one of the few 5 star classic in new Who (this, Utopia...that's probably it). I didn't think the show would be capable of getting it up any more, and I wasn't filled with hope seeing it was written by Tom "Let's have the Cybermen cry their heads off" Macrae. Wasn't expecting this absolute gem in a season with stories like A Good Show Goes to Shite and Let's Kill Doctor Who competing for the title of all time worst story ever.

5*

 

[Captain Crow]

It was better than last weeks but still kind of meh. The basic story was interesting but when they started pulling the tear-jerker stuff near the end I tuned out.

 

[G2309]

The episode was high quality, but I am not a fan of this continued bastardization of the Doctor (i.e. the continued and growing idea that The Doctor is, in reality, a truly terrible bastard).

I like the Doctor as my moral compass, not a guy you can't turn your back on.

I mean, how can Rory and Amy continue to travel with him after this. I guess they didn't mind their infant child being taken from them at gunpoint, never to be seen again until she's an old woman, but...

Does doing what was necessary make him a bastard? He could have left the younger Amy and taken the older one but it was for Amy's own good I believe.

It was an interesting moral dilema. Amy seemed to be pretty emotionally well for someone isolated and alone for 36 year (she aged pretty well too.) But was she the best person to make the decision? I think it's often the choice of the people we love to intervene or make a decision for us if we can't ourselves. I'm thinking for example of someone whose mentally ill. Of course this is different because the older Amy would cease to exist but still the same principal. Coukd they let Amy suffer for 36 years like that.
I gained even more respect for Karen Gillan and Arthur Darvill's acting in this one.

 

[The Nth Doctor]

Something I forgot to mention: In addition to Karen Gillian's double performance, I was really impressed by the make-up older Amy had (especially contrast to the rubbish old Doctor make up in "The Last of the Time Lords) and the modulation of Karen's voice to make her sound older.

 

[wamdue]

I also loved when Rory asks if two Amys was possible and the Doctor responds with something like "I don't know, it's your marriage.".

that does remind me a little too much of "Time & Space" with two Amys and two everybodys, something not mentioned in this episode.

 

[Ghost Bones]

Something I forgot to mention: In addition to Karen Gillian's double performance, I was really impressed by the make-up older Amy had (especially contrast to the rubbish old Doctor make up in "The Last of the Time Lords) and the modulation of Karen's voice to make her sound older.

I thought the aging make-up wasn't all that great, but the performance was really good. Considering how poor Karen could be last year, she was very impressive.

 

[Bacl]

The episode was high quality, but I am not a fan of this continued bastardization of the Doctor (i.e. the continued and growing idea that The Doctor is, in reality, a truly terrible bastard).

I like the Doctor as my moral compass, not a guy you can't turn your back on.

I mean, how can Rory and Amy continue to travel with him after this. I guess they didn't mind their infant child being taken from them at gunpoint, never to be seen again until she's an old woman, but...

Does doing what was necessary make him a bastard? He could have left the younger Amy and taken the older one but it was for Amy's own good I believe.

It was an interesting moral dilema.

I agree. I was not referring to that part of the episode. I was referring to both old Amy going on and on about what a monster the Doctor was, and Rory screaming at him through the glasses about pretty much the same thing.

We've seen a lot of that over the years. I'm a fan of a little, in softer form. After all, Superman is rather dull and you need some moral ambiguity, but when it keeps recurring as strongly as it did in this episode, I find it unappealing.

Again, how can Rory and Amy (in this case, mostly Rory) continue to just galavant through time and space with the Doctor after all the crap Rory was screaming at him in this episode?

I expected the final line of this episode to be Rory saying to Amy, "Enough. We're going home."

 

[BlastHardcheese]

The whole paradox situation reminded me of the Master and the Toclafane. The Doctor was right, it would've been disastrous to have both Amy's rescued, so at least the series was consistent.

Having said that, I have to admit the ending really tugged at the heartstrings. And Rory was right, the Doctor through sheer incompetence really is responsible for so many horrible things. If he'd read a book, today's episode really could have been avoided. I never thought I'd say this but now I really miss the Time Lords because they did act as a bureau of oversight to keep the Doctor in check. I think he should be put on trial again, forced to regenerate, his Tardis disabled and stranded on some planet again.

 

[Bacl]

Rory was right, the Doctor through sheer incompetence really is responsible for so many horrible things.

...

I think he should be put on trial again, forced to regenerate, his Tardis disabled and stranded on some planet again.

That's the sort of thing I was talking about in my prior posts. The show is pushing sentiments like this rather hard rather often, and I wish they'd tone it down a bit.

 

[JRoss]

Brilliant. Only thing is, the Mona Lisa's painted on wood. Oh, that'd have to be one of Tancredi's copies because the real Mona Lisa is a monster thingy.

 

[Joe Washington]

Such a heartbreaking episode that truly shows the depth of Rory and Amy's love for each other. 'm not angry at the Doctor for what he did at the end. You can see on his face that it wasn't a easy thing for him to do. I wonder how Rory responds to Amy's question at the end of this episode.

 

[Alidar Jarok]

What an ending Im glad they didnt go for an ending where Amy sacrificed herself in battle but made a choice.

Good point. I wasn't sure how to feel about that scene, but I agree with this. The other way would be the easy way out.

 

[Mr. Adventure]

Brilliant. Only thing is, the Mona Lisa's painted on wood. Oh, that'd have to be one of Tancredi's copies because the real Mona Lisa is a monster thingy.

"This is a Fake" was written in ink from another time stream which caused the robot to short-circuit despite the flimsiness of the canvas.

 

[OdoWanKenobi]

Brilliant. Only thing is, the Mona Lisa's painted on wood. Oh, that'd have to be one of Tancredi's copies because the real Mona Lisa is a monster thingy.

"This is a Fake" was written in ink from another time stream which caused the robot to short-circuit despite the flimsiness of the canvas.

That would have been an awesome nod that I can't believe they didn't think to do.

So yeah, really good episode. Especially refreshing after last week's snooze-fest.

 

[David cgc]

That would have been an awesome nod that I can't believe they didn't think to do.

I'd be shocked if someone didn't think of it, but how do you show it? No X-Ray machines around, and I don't think you can just peel the paint from the canvas.