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

[ThankQ]

First brilliant episode of the new season. Didactic? Yes. Cliche? Yup. But the score was absolutely top notch. First ep of S7 that had me wondering about the resolution. I don't usually go for westerns, but it was a perfect fit for this story. I'm not sure how it will stand up to repeat viewings, but I think that was 45 minutes well spent.

 

[Mr. Adventure]

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

 

[I am not Spock]

Only 2 episodes left of Amy

Indeed

 

[I am not Spock]

I still want to know how they're going to write out the Doctor's in-laws. Guess we'll find out in a few weeks.

They gave Amy and Rory a nice closer in 'The God Complex' which probably would have worked. I hope they don't kill either of them, that would just be mean.

 

[Saga]

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

Shazbot!

 

[Sindatur]

I went into it with low expectations, being a Western (And my aversion to Westerns), as well as how much I loved AotD and enjoyed DoaS. Ben Browder gave me hope for my enjoyment.

It was actually alright, and I'm glad people who like a different pace, got an episode that wasn't so frenetic. Ben did a good job with what he was given, he didn't "Sing" "John Crichton/Cameron Mitchell" in this, so, that's a bonus for his acting skills. They didn't do much with him, though, and he didn't last very long. I like the character was a departure, and well done, but, I would've liked for Dr. Who to have given him more to do.

I disagree that anyone could've given the "This is what happens when you travel alone too long" speech. It had to be them or River (and she's already given a similar speech in AGMGTW). I'm OK with him popping in once or twice a year taking them on adventures (And I wouldn't be surprised if sometimes he just jumps forward in their timeline a bit to quicken the next visit). It's only another two episodes until their arc is sewn up, so, I'm fine with a couple more random pickups, and as noted earlier by another poster, I do like their cocky attitude about being the experienced Time Travelers who have it all dialed, I wouldn't mind seeing them inheriting a "Sarah Jane" type spin off, actually

 

[Mr. Adventure]

To be fair, the Doctor has only intentionally picked them up once (of course, that one seems *really* inappropriate thinking about it). This time, he was trying to take them to Mexico for vacation. When he said good-bye, he said he'd turn up like a bad penny now and again and Amy had insisted he couldn't just leave them off.

 

[The Nth Doctor]

Enjoyable episode but nothing special. Ben Browder was mostly wasted, unfortunately, but it still cool to see him on Doctor Who (and I was slightly reminded of Crichton when Isaac demanded what was going on after Jex put a gun to Amy's head).

Next week's episode looks pretty cool and not just because of the return of Rory's dad!

 

[Psion]

... (and I was slightly reminded of Crichton when Isaac demanded what was going on after Jex put a gun to Amy's head).

Yep, Browder is the master of puzzled but intimidating.

I loved this one. Much, much more meat to it than the dinosaur droppings they had on last week. Jex's self-sacrifice was too predictable, and I kept hoping for a clever twist to get out of that, but turning the Cyborg into a sort of 19th century RoboCop redeemed the story. Really, the episode was about the Gunslinger's journey and not that of Jex.

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.

 

[Cutter John]

Pretty average I thought. Didn't really find myself carign for any of the characters.Nothing particularly earth-shaking, though it was nice to see Matt's Doctor actually get angry for once. And the ending was pleasant enough.


It would be interesting to revisit Mercy again some day. And see it develop into this odd little town that seems to attract strange entities.

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

 

[davejames]

First brilliant episode of the new season. Didactic? Yes. Cliche? Yup. But the score was absolutely top notch. First ep of S7 that had me wondering about the resolution. I don't usually go for westerns, but it was a perfect fit for this story. I'm not sure how it will stand up to repeat viewings, but I think that was 45 minutes well spent.

Completely agreed. I thought it was an absolute blast from start to finish, and SO much more cool and interesting than that generic kiddy episode last week.

It looked amazing, the story had some actual depth and mystery to it, and the cyborg gunslinger actually felt like a real and serious threat.

And just watching the Doctor geek out at the Old West was fun as hell. I also thought making the cyborg the new sheriff at the end was pretty inspired too.

 

[davejames]

I loved this one. Much, much more meat to it than the dinosaur droppings they had on last week. Jex's self-sacrifice was too predictable, and I kept hoping for a clever twist to get out of that, but turning the Cyborg into a sort of 19th century RoboCop redeemed the story. Really, the episode was about the Gunslinger's journey and not that of Jex.

Ha, yeah I was definitely getting a strong Robocop vibe from him.

I loved that final, quiet scene between him and the Doctor, where he realizes he has no more reason to exist and suddenly comes across as this very tragic and human character. That to me was more compelling than all of Dinosaurs put together.

 

[JRoss]

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

 

[Aldo]

Pretty average in my opinion. Not bad, but it didn't really stand out to me as something I'd want to see again (though I might rewatch it at least once). Ben Browder felt wasted, and once we were told why the cyborg was hunting the other Doctor, the episode became dull.

 

[OmahaStar]

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?

 

[Mr. Adventure]

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

I think it might have been. It was repeated by the Doctor again in the prequel to Asylum of the Daleks. It could be argued if that is considered canon but it was written by Steven Moffet. And given her Mary Sue nature already....

 

[Aldo]

I've been mulling this over in my head, trying to figure out where the episode went wrong for me, and I'm thinking it was Smith. I was trying to picture Tennant in this episode and I think he would have made the episode more enjoyable, but I suppose that's all heresy because we'll never know how he would have done in the episode.

I also tried to picture McCoy in this episode, but I think his Doctor would have felt even more out of place.

 

[Mr. Adventure]

I thought Matt sounded a bit off and I googled to see if he was sick in Spain when they filmed this. Found this instead:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbi...ge-stars-gets-cosy-sidekick-Karen-Gillan.html

Might explain some things....

 

[tomalak301]

For the most part, I liked it, but I do felt Browder was wasted. Still, it was good to see a serious angry side of the Doctor and I thought the best stuff was really talking about the Doctor's morality (Which they highlighted on the inside look). Instead of him being that child like figure, it was good to see him wrestling with emotions and that's the kind of thing I am looking for this season. It did however remind me of Voyager's Nothing Human though.

I will say though that I think this might be the best score in the Matt Smith run. It wasn't too bombastic, and it really added a lot to the episode and the western theme. For that alone I probably would have gone with excellent, but it was just good for the most part.

 

[Skywalker]

I thought it was decent, not great. I enjoyed the last two episodes better, but as with AotD this story could have been done without Amy and Rory. It really does feel like they're just dragging things out now when they already had a couple of farewell moments last season.

I'm on board with the "Browder was wasted" bandwagon, too. I thought his character was the most interesting of them all this week.