Photo: BBC
A member of The Doctor’s team has been abducted and he will call in every favor and maybe even go to war to get him/her back.
Since series six features an overarching plot about trying to change a fixed point in time, I figured it would be best to take a look back at these episodes by picking a moment from each episode that I would like to change. To be fair, I’ll also choose a moment from each episode that I wouldn’t change for any reason whatsoever, even if some nefarious character was holding a gun to my future nonexistent spawn’s head.
6×07 “A Good Man Goes to War”
What I Would Change: The Introduction of the London Gang
Okay, this new trio of characters is awesome. SO much so, that multiple people have stated that they would love to see the Victorian Lizard Woman, Jenny, and Strax in their own spin-off, solving crimes Sherlock-style in Victorian London.
While I wouldn’t be opposed to that development, I doubt it will happen anytime soon. Even so, I’m down, and can’t get enough of these characters.
The only issue I have with them is their introduction. It’s so… awkward. I would have liked to have been a fly in the wall of the writers’ room the day they decided to just throw these characters into the mix as if the audience had met them before.
I’ve missed a couple episodes of series 1 here and there, so I had kind of assumed I must have missed their introduction years back somehow. But no, this is their first appearance, and it just seems like an odd choice to me to have these characters pop up, and then act as if the audience should be familiar with them.
Maybe it’s a testament to their personalities, since they’re almost instantly endearing.
What I Wouldn’t Change: Amy’s Ordeal
Okay, this is a serious point of contention among fans and critics. Many have said that Amy stops being a character in this episode, and becomes more a prop. Basically, the argument is that she stops reacting in-character and becomes a baby-maker that loses agency.
I can understand this argument, and it definitely has its place in the latter half of series 6, but I’ll discuss that development when it pops in the last couple of episodes. As for now, I think Amy’s role in this episode is perfect. Bad phrasing, I realize – Amy shouldn’t have to go through what she does, but as it happens, I think her reaction is completely on point.
By the end of the episode, she’s extremely pissed that her kid has been taken, and sad, horrified, and ultimately perplexed at the stage of her life she’s suddenly found herself trapped in. It’s a situation that no one should have to go through, but Amy’s reaction seems perfect for who she has been up until that point. Later on this won’t be the case, but for now it’s a perfect reaction.
