7X03 A Town Called Mercy (Grading/Discussion) (SPOILERS!)

[Psion]

EMH, Tomalak301, and Skywalker agree that Browder was wasted, but he was the catalyst for the story's whole climax. His death forced the Doctor to confront Isaac's assertion that he and Jex were "both good men who just forget it sometimes." America, he told us, is a land of second chances, and they call the town 'Mercy' for a reason. By entrusting the Doctor with protecting the town, he indirectly helped the gunslinger find his own redemption. Browder's character filled in all the exposition necessary to understand the points of the story: mercy, second chances, and redemption.

I love Ben Browder, but while he didn't get enough screen time, his every word mattered.

One thing, can we please not call the Ponds his in-laws? It's not as if that was a real wedding?

Why not? For time travelers who are used to various dimensions, they are used to doing things differently than everyone else. And they both believe they are married. What more does one need?

I noticed a few fun production glitches. One scene has what I think was Alcazaba of Almería visible in the background. That's a castle built by Moors in the 10th century. A neat setting in its own right for Doctor Who, but one that shouldn't be visible from anywhere in North America. Then, in a neighboring shot, the desert trail the Doctor was riding along was blurred out ... presumably to hide the tracks of off-road bikes or something.

My favorite "glitch" of this episode had to be a little boo-boo between scenes. Cyborg is coming through the town. Various characters are running around and they have Chakotay's tattoo drawn on. The Doctor is in the bar, getting his own. The barmaid has drawn only the one straight line above his eyebrow when the mini-explosion draws his attention.

The cyborg goes into the church. The Doctor rushes outside. The next time we get a good, clear shot of his face, he now has the full Chakotay.

So with the boom boom happening, he rushes back inside, has the barmaid carefully construct the rest of the tatt, then rushes back outside?

Or do we call this an oopsie?

Yes! I caught that, too! I can't tell if he had the full tattoo when he came out of the bar and told Jex to, "Go! Just Go! I can't save them while you're here." I wonder if this was an editing issue and something was excised from the episode that would have given the barmaid and the Doctor time to finish the artwork.

On the other hand, he was planning to get the tattoo after soniking the gunslinger, so I don't think it was supposed to take a lot of time. Maybe she finished the rest in the few seconds after the attack on the church started.

 

[Skywalker]

EMH, Tomalak301, and Skywalker agree that Browder was wasted, but he was the catalyst for the story's whole climax. His death forced the Doctor to confront Isaac's assertion that he and Jex were "both good men who just forget it sometimes." America, he told us, is a land of second chances, and they call the town 'Mercy' for a reason. By entrusting the Doctor with protecting the town, he indirectly helped the gunslinger find his own redemption. Browder's character filled in all the exposition necessary to understand the points of the story: mercy, second chances, and redemption.

I love Ben Browder, but while he didn't get enough screen time, his every word mattered.

Certainly his character was hugely important, but I was just hoping for more screen time for him, that's all. Browder did well with the role, though. Honestly, I could have done without the Ponds at all here and given some of their screen time to Isaac, expand on him some more and make him more of the 'companion' of the episode.

 

[Skellington]

The Doctor is "most probably" giving them a breather, but what's he doing? 10 months go buy for them, but maybe only a couple hours, a few minutes, seconds for the Timelord as he reads a book in the bathtub... He's still 12 hundred, so it's not like it seems that centuries are still passing between visits.

Still, he's seemingly aged about 300 years since he first met Amy and about 100 years since he married River (even if the latter was in a deleted timeline or whatever it was). It's like he's keeping Amy and Rory alive and young from his perspective by visiting their lives at what for him are pretty long intervals. If he'd stayed synchronised with them since The God Complex then it'd probably be the late 23rd or early 24th century.

Could this race be an offshoot of the Orkans? Nanu-nanu.

I got a Mork And Mindy vibe from the ship too. Some kind of metatextual reference would have been nice.

 

[tomalak301]

EMH, Tomalak301, and Skywalker agree that Browder was wasted, but he was the catalyst for the story's whole climax. His death forced the Doctor to confront Isaac's assertion that he and Jex were "both good men who just forget it sometimes." America, he told us, is a land of second chances, and they call the town 'Mercy' for a reason. By entrusting the Doctor with protecting the town, he indirectly helped the gunslinger find his own redemption. Browder's character filled in all the exposition necessary to understand the points of the story: mercy, second chances, and redemption.

I love Ben Browder, but while he didn't get enough screen time, his every word mattered.

Certainly his character was hugely important, but I was just hoping for more screen time for him, that's all. Browder did well with the role, though. Honestly, I could have done without the Ponds at all here and given some of their screen time to Isaac, expand on him some more and make him more of the 'companion' of the episode.

This I think is what I meant when I said Browder was wasted. I agree, he had a hell of an impact, but it felt like the last two weeks I was the only one in this forum making a big deal that Ben Browder was going to be in the episode. Hell, I was the one who said forget the 50th anniversary, Ben Browder is coming back to TV. Yeah I admit I was overreacting, but I loved Farscape and I loved John Crichton (Still think he one of the best "heroes" to ever grace the screen) and it felt like around fandom and even advertising the episode, his appearance was an afterthought. Maybe Browder isn't as well known as I thought he was (Didn't he get his start on Party of 5?) but I was really looking forward to his appearance and it felt short.

Still, I do agree with you, Psion, that he did serve the story's climax and was important.

 

[Psion]

EMH, Tomalak301, and Skywalker agree that Browder was wasted, but he was the catalyst for the story's whole climax. His death forced the Doctor to confront Isaac's assertion that he and Jex were "both good men who just forget it sometimes." America, he told us, is a land of second chances, and they call the town 'Mercy' for a reason. By entrusting the Doctor with protecting the town, he indirectly helped the gunslinger find his own redemption. Browder's character filled in all the exposition necessary to understand the points of the story: mercy, second chances, and redemption.

I love Ben Browder, but while he didn't get enough screen time, his every word mattered.

Certainly his character was hugely important, but I was just hoping for more screen time for him, that's all. Browder did well with the role, though. Honestly, I could have done without the Ponds at all here and given some of their screen time to Isaac, expand on him some more and make him more of the 'companion' of the episode.

This I think is what I meant when I said Browder was wasted. I agree, he had a hell of an impact, but it felt like the last two weeks I was the only one in this forum making a big deal that Ben Browder was going to be in the episode. Hell, I was the one who said forget the 50th anniversary, Ben Browder is coming back to TV. Yeah I admit I was overreacting, but I loved Farscape and I loved John Crichton (Still think he one of the best "heroes" to ever grace the screen) and it felt like around fandom and even advertising the episode, his appearance was an afterthought. Maybe Browder isn't as well known as I thought he was (Didn't he get his start on Party of 5?) but I was really looking forward to his appearance and it felt short.

Still, I do agree with you, Psion, that he did serve the story's climax and was important.

Aaaah, well then, in that sense I can't help but agree with you! I'd love to see Browder get another regular genre role on television. He was magnificent in Farscape, and while his stint in Stargate: SG1 felt a bit off to me, he was still a lot of fun there, as well. Honestly, in the best of all worlds, Browder would have wound up as a companion for a few weeks ... or maybe a recurring villain.

 

[Orac Zen]

Distinctly average. Mildly interesting aspects of morality, yet another terrific soundtrack and the presence of Ben Browder aside, the episode had pretty much nothing going for it IMO. Darvill may as well have stayed home and while Browder's character may have moved the plot (such as it was) forward, killing him off halfway through was a waste. Not an episode I'll be revisiting any time soon.

^Guess I'm the only person who likes Amy. I'll be sad to see her go.

I like her - and Rory - and I'll be sad to see them go. Especially since I have a feeling one of them is going to be permanently offed. Really hoping I'm wrong about that.

 

[The Mirrorball Man]

I thought it was very entertaining, with a solid script, a couple of homages to western tropes, good performances from pretty much everyone. Plus it looked gorgeous and had Murray Gold's best score in a while.

 

[The Mirrorball Man]

Oh and as far as I'm concerned, the only reason why I felt Ben Browder was wasted was that I would have loved him to become the new companion. "Have we sent the 'Don't shoot, we're pathetic' transmission yet?"

 

[Haggis and tatties]

Fantastic episode, 50 mins of sheer entertainment.......i'm 3 for 3 so far....and next week's looks good as well.

 

[Australis]

It wasn't one of the great eps, but I enjoyed it, thought there was some good lines and character moments. I might add a bit more later.

 

[chardman]

I think the fact that the Ponds weren't real important to this story, and for the whole on-and-off-again nature of their recent relationship w/ the Doctor, serves a purpose. It's pretty obviously a set up for the next couple of episodes, where the silliness of this state of affairs ultimately leads to the Ponds opting to no longer be companions. (In fact, the toll of this on-and-off-again relationship is apparently the overriding theme of next week's episode.)

But why set up such a complex parting story, when countless previous companions have been pretty much abandoned with far less fanfare? I believe it's because while Amy and Rory are leaving Doctor Who itself, that they are still going to continue playing an ongoing role in the greater Whoverse.

When Liz Sladen died, BBC was smart enough to simply end "The Sarah Jane Adventures" rather than trying to recast Sarah or to retool a Sarah-less version of the show. But since then, I've heard that BBC has regretted not having a nice strictly kid-oriented Who spin-off in the CBBC line-up. And I seriously think (hope) they're maybe getting ready to fill that empty niche with Amy and the Last Centurion.

 

[VDCNI]

No way will Karen & Arthur want to do kids TV at this stage of their career plus Wizards & Aliens is about to start even if the Who connection is all behind camera.

6.6m overnight rating, the best for awhile thanks to Strictly.

 

[DWF]

One thing, can we please not call the Ponds his in-laws? It's not as if that was a real wedding?

While we're at it can not call them the Ponds since they are the Williams'?

 

[Bob The Skutter]

One thing, can we please not call the Ponds his in-laws? It's not as if that was a real wedding?

While we're at it can not call them the Ponds since they are the Williams'?

Who says he didn't take her name rather than the other way around?

 

[intrinsical]

One thing, can we please not call the Ponds his in-laws? It's not as if that was a real wedding?

While we're at it can not call them the Ponds since they are the Williams'?

Who says he didn't take her name rather than the other way around?

Rory did say "No, no! I'm not a Pond."

 

[DWF]

One thing, can we please not call the Ponds his in-laws? It's not as if that was a real wedding?

While we're at it can not call them the Ponds since they are the Williams'?

Who says he didn't take her name rather than the other way around?

She signed her name on the divorce papers as Williams not Pond, for one thing.

 

[The Mirrorball Man]

Both of them are named Williams and are collectively knows as the Ponds.

 

[DWF]

Both of them are named Williams and are collectively knows as the Ponds.

Even if that were true, Rory's dad isn't a Pond for that matter.

 

[Stevil2001]

This was my favorite of the current season so far. Well shot, with some good music. Adrian what'shisface was excellent as the Other Doctor; a lesser actor could have easily sunk that role. Matt Smith is on fire.

 

[The Mirrorball Man]

Both of them are named Williams and are collectively knows as the Ponds.

Even if that were true, Rory's dad isn't a Pond for that matter.

Yes he is. He belongs to the Pond tribe. He is a Pond. Amy, Rory, Brian, River, the Doctor: they're all Ponds.