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

[Mr. Adventure]

Just why are Amy and Rory back with the Doctor anyway?

The in-episode explanation was they were trying to go to Mexico to see the Day of the Dead festival. Though one has to wonder how unintentionally the Doctor ended up off course.

(Actually, an adventure at the Day of the Dead festival has potential to be interesting....)

 

[auntiehill]

I thought this one was a bit average. The whole thing felt very rushed and slapped together, and people just changed their viewpoints all of a sudden because the script called for it. Oh, the speeches were nice but Amy & Rory didn't really have to be there at all, and Jex could've simply let the Gunslinger shoot him. I thought it was just "OK" but not one of the better ones.

 

[Thestral]

It was a solid enough episode, but not as good as the previous two. The music was really good for sure, and the sets were very nice. I thought Browder's role, as important as it was, was too small and with his whole "the war just ended five years ago" tidbit I was expecting something more from him regarding Jex's actions. Still, what we got was good.

I agree with the majority that the Ponds weren't needed and Rory especially, but it's always nice to see them. I'll be sad when they go, but to be honest if it had meant more Browder I might have been willing to give them up for this episode.

The real weakness of the episode, IMO, was Jex; in particular, I just didn't get much of any thing of a vibe from him. I don't know if it's writing or acting or what, but his whole character was "meh" to me. I did like the Gunslinger though and his ending was good.

Amy signed her name as Williams on her divorce paper, you can't get too much morer official than that. Amy Williams is her legal name, Rory didn't take her name. The Doctor even told Amy in The God Complex that her name is Amelia Williams and it was time her her to grow up.

Legal smeagol, they're still the Ponds. And of course, the Doctor lies.

 

[Trubinator]

I voted average. The western theme worked for the episode and it was fun, but the Ponds and Ben Browder were criminally underutilized. The whole characterization of The Doctor felt off too because he flip-flopped faster than the speed of light on the issue of whether to kill the other doc or let him live. As a morality tale I think this episode sadly falls even below your typical episode of Star Trek. But on the plus side next week's episode looks to be an improvement!

 

[Valin]

I think maybe it was all the American accents. It made the episode feel like something from the SyFy Channel.

No, if it was from SyFy, the desert town would have had a lot of trees and looked like British Columbia.

 

[The Lensman]

Moff has said when The Ponds leave it will be a tearjerker... i don't think he is implying death, i think he's implying that they will turn around to The Doctor and say "we've had enough". thats the vibe that i see building over these first 3 episodes anyway

I'm expecting an ending similar to The Time Traveler's Wife -- the Doctor doesn't see them again for a long time, and then he sees Amy for the last time on her deathbed, decades after they last traveled together.

I'm wondering along these lines as well. Going by next weeks preview, they do seem to be at a choosing point. And I said sometime back that I think the "heartbreaking" moment will be them saying "no" one day when the Doctor shows up.

But after seeing that by the Williams' reckoning, the Doctor's visits are getting more spaced out....I too am wondering if he shows up one day, Amy and Rory both old (or maybe one is already gone) and like with the Brigadier, he finds out that he was never seen by the Williams' after a certain point and that becomes "fixed" since he can't cross his timeline or timestream or whatever they said back in the day.


And I enjoyed this weeks episode more than last weeks clown show for the kiddies.

 

[Valin]

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.

That might work. During their last story, the Doctor learns that Sarah Jane has died. Since Amy and Rory never had a chance to raise their daughter, they end up adopting Sarah Jane's "son."

 

[Cutter John]

I'm wondering along these lines as well. Going by next weeks preview, they do seem to be at a choosing point. And I said sometime back that I think the "heartbreaking" moment will be them saying "no" one day when the Doctor shows up.

But after seeing that by the Williams' reckoning, the Doctor's visits are getting more spaced out....I too am wondering if he shows up one day, Amy and Rory both old (or maybe one is already gone) and like with the Brigadier, he finds out that he was never seen by the Williams' after a certain point and that becomes "fixed" since he can't cross his timeline or timestream or whatever they said back in the day.

This is what I'm hoping for too. Growing old and growing apart can be so much sadder and more emotional than simply 'killing someone off'.

 

[doubleohfive]

Awful with a side of meh.

Nothing made sense. Why were Rory and Amy there this week? What purpose did they serve beyond Amy's getting to tell the Doctor "This is what happens when you travel alone for too long." --when, as we've seen he's had plenty of other interim companions since he stopped traveling with her regularly.

Ben Browder was awesome with what little he had to do, but I think my feeling that he wasn't in it enough has more to do with my own expectation that if they were going to go to the trouble of getting someone so genre-familiar, they'd give him a role he'd be able to do something with. My mistake.

I still don't understand why it's ok for the bad doctor to suicide himself whereas the whole episode became about protecting him from the gunslinger. The Doctor says himself, in this episode -- "You don't get to choose your punishment!" -- and yet everything is hunky-dory at the end.

Pluses: The music and visuals were great. The show's DP knocked it out of the park and Murray Gold delivered another fine score.

In summation: I liked it better two years ago, when it was a movie and it was called "True Grit."

 

[The Mirrorball Man]

In summation: I liked it better two years ago, when it was a movie and it was called "True Grit."

What a strange thing to say. If you really think they were trying to do the Doctor Who version of "True Grit", watch the episode again (and I know you don't want to!). I think they were quite obviously trying to do an homage to spaghetti westerns. Even Murray Gold's music was influenced by Ennio Morricone.

 

[doubleohfive]

I was being facetious. The True Grit comment was mostly about the framing device of the young girl narrating the story.

Either way, I stand by my original review.

 

[Starkers]

I still don't understand why it's ok for the bad doctor to suicide himself whereas the whole episode became about protecting him from the gunslinger. The Doctor says himself, in this episode -- "You don't get to choose your punishment!" -- and yet everything is hunky-dory at the end.

Well by suiciding Jex wasn't just thinking of himself for once, he was considering the cyborg, as he said, he had enough blood on his hands. The Doctor saying "You don't get to choose your own punishment" was more about Jex effectively sentencing himself to an open prison where he'd be adored by the populace. I didn't have a major probalem with that, though I share a lot of your reservations about the rest of the ep.

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.

That might work. During their last story, the Doctor learns that Sarah Jane has died. Since Amy and Rory never had a chance to raise their daughter, they end up adopting Sarah Jane's "son."

Sarah Jane's son Luke is probably about aged about 19/20 in universe at the moment and is away at University!

They could adopt Sky I guess, but I thought the whole point was that, as far as the Whoniverse is concerned, whilst Lis has died, Sarah Jane is presumed to go on.

 

[Valin]

I was being facetious. The True Grit comment was mostly about the framing device of the young girl narrating the story.

And, of course, the narration at the beginning of "Mercy" was a bit of a takeoff Amy Pond's narration last season.

 

[Pindar]

It's like Amy's comment where her friends might just start noticing they're getting older.

I often wondered about this. Sarah-Jane when she finished travelling was older than her official age.

This means long time companions, when they settle down need to keep working even when they are well past retirement age.

 

[TEACAKE'S PLEATHER DOME]

This was oddly predictable. As soon as I saw Jex I knew he was a bad guy because he looked like Toht in Raiders of the Lost Ark. When he said to Amy that yes, he was a father in a way I knew he'd created the Borg Cowboy. Just had no surprises.

Score was quite nice though.

 

[Mr Awe]

Good. Mostly fun and interesting. The ending was a cop out for the tough decision. The Doctor and gang really didn't have to deal with the consequences of letting the guy go. The loose end took care of itself. But, overall, I enjoyed it.

Mr Awe

 

[Mr. Adventure]

It's like Amy's comment where her friends might just start noticing they're getting older.

I often wondered about this. Sarah-Jane when she finished travelling was older than her official age.

This means long time companions, when they settle down need to keep working even when they are well past retirement age.

Depends when he drops them off I suppose. Jackie and Brian seem to have had periods of absence from their loved ones.

 

[Saul]

Bleeding cool noticed that the title sequence is gradually getting darker. Glad it's on purpose as it was starting look like someone was playing with the contrast too much. Another interesting point was the lights flickering as they do in Weeping Angel episodes....

 

[The Wormhole]

I thought the whole point was that, as far as the Whoniverse is concerned, whilst Lis has died, Sarah Jane is presumed to go on.

Indeed, Moffat has said that he's refusing to write a death in for Sarah Jane and that as far as anyone is concerned, she's still having adventures that just won't be televised anymore.

 

[tomalak301]

To everyone saying that the Ponds weren't important to the story, maybe I'm not remembering but didn't Amy serve as the Doctor's conscience making him remember his morality. I thought that was the most important scene in the episode and it featured Amy at least. And then the week before we had Rory kind of serve center stage with his Father (Whom I'm looking forward to seeing again). It seems to me that the Ponds are still serving a purpose and all of this is leading towards the end somehow. I think they did serve an importance to the story, and in the long run we'll see that more clearly.