So . . . . what has The Doctor so sad as he listens to Amy on the Tardis phone's answering machine?
If you've seen the prequel to the Episode 8 restart of the 6th season entitled “Let's Kill Hitler”, you hear Amy entreating The Doctor to tell her what's going on with his search for Melody, the even though she knows that her daughter becomes the vaunted Dr River Song known far and wide as an intergalactic archeologist and Stormcage resident, incarcerated for killing “the greatest man she ever knew”.
Something tells me, and this is not a spoiler, simply speculation on my part, that the title of the next episode, “Let's Kill Hitler” has something to do with The Doctor's attempt to take Amy's and Rory's minds off of trying to actually find Melody, as in a scenario like this:
Amy: “So where's Melody?”
The Doctor: “I haven't been able to find her, no matter where I search she's nowhere to be found. Maybe if, like when we lose something we just forget about it and the solution will come to us.”
Amy: “Doctor, this is my daughter we're talking about. . . .”
The Doctor: “I know, it was just an idea, I am at my whits end here, I have looked everywhere, looked for almost 200 years . .”
Amy: “But you've been gone a month.”
The Doctor: “Um . . . . . time machine, remember?
Amy: “OK so how do you suggest we take out minds off of finding my daughter?”
Rory enters from the Tardis wardrobe wearing an old RAF uniform. Any see this and hatches an idea.
Amy: “Hey, let's go kill Hitler, that should take our minds off the search.”
The Doctor: “You know we can't do that. You know, paradoxes and timey, wimey stuff.”
Amy: “Wait a minute, buster, didn't the entire universe come back into existence out of my mind?
The Doctor: “Um . . . well.”
Amy and Rory: “Let's go kill Hitler. It'll be a lark.”
OK OK – I am sure that will NOT happen. But the big question out there is what has the Doctor so sad as he listens to Amy's message. Here's what I think.
Amy is dead, or the Doctor thinks she's dead and is listening to the answering machine recording just to hear her voice again. This is some thing that's very common with those who are survived by people who die suddenly.
Based on the low lighting in the console room and the Doctor's look, to me it appears that both he and Idris are in mourning and he is conflicted.
The Doctor, despite his many protestations to the contrary, has manipulated time and he is now in a quandry, does he purposely manipulate time to bring her and Rory back?
To throw this idea 180 degrees away from what I just said, it is possible that the Doctor, knowing that Melody is responsible for his death in 2010, has killed her and there is no way that he can tell Amy that.
The Prequel to Episode 8 is, I think, more a prequel to the season and not just to the upcoming “Let's Kill Hitler” in that we will eventually make our way to that scene as the 2nd half of the season progresses. That's my theory and I'm sticking to it – what do you think?
I'd love to hear from you.
Jayne Gudkov
You accused the current Doctor in one of your previous reviews of lacking emotion - a point I disagree with completely (his emotional responses are simply alien, as they should be).
ReplyDeleteInterestingly, here you have a snippet showing a genuinely emotional and vulnerable Doctor - being far more human, in fact. It would have therefore been nice if you could comment on this - especially given the juxtaposition with the Doctor's excitement at the revelation of River's identity at the end of the last episode - and whether you felt that Smith was up to the task of conveying an emotional Doctor.
Although you are entitled to your speculative comments, I do have to say, if you really think this is likely: "...it is possible that the Doctor, knowing that Melody is responsible for his death in 2010, has killed her..." then you have no idea of who the Doctor is or what the character is about.