Surfing Sci-Fi: Doctor Who – “The Girl Who Waited”

 
These spoilers have two timestreams. Each are described as follows:

Tumblr: These spoilers were spoilers before it was cool to be spoilers. Deal with it.
Non-Tumblr: These spoilers are two-for-the-price-of-one. I’m You’re very jealous of the time The Nose you spent with both of them.

 

 
 
 
 
Since Moffat’s taking of the reigns (#praisebetothemoffat), Doctor Who has taken on more of a fairytale quality, and while there’s been plentiful smatterings throughout the last two years, this episode more than most takes the big book o’fables and runs with it. The most prominent one to come into my mind whilst watching was Through the Looking-Glass. Well, okay, so it isn’t a fairytale per se, but depending on who you ask, it sort of is in a paradox-y way, which, funnily enough, works rather well for the purposes of this entry.

Like the Doctor, the themes have regenerated and taken on a new guise. The mirror replaced with a faster timestream and also the spyglass used to peer into it. Amy takes on the role of Alice if unintentionally, and her older self becomes the pawn – manipulated into saving her younger self by the Doctor thereby meaning she never existed. And talking of the Doctor, it probably goes without saying who he is. Then there’s Rory. He’s kind of like the wall that the mirror hangs on. There’s a clever analogy there but I… no, wait, hold on, got one – he, the wall, supports the whole episode and puts in a wonderful turn for everyone’s favourite Nose. Phew, totally saved face, there.

In all seriousness, while this is very much an Amy episode with Karen delivering constant powerful performances that reaffirms her place in the TARDIS, it’s so much a Rory centric outing at the same time too. He’s afforded the opportunity to shine flying solo and show once again his heart and strength in his devotion to his wife. There’s a beautiful symmetry to the narrative in that it’s an episode about ‘them’. You can’t have one without the other, they’re a partnership, and in the end that’s the turning point for Older-Amy to give up her existence. I do have to say it’s refreshing to see a relationship as strong as this on TV. They’re not boyfriend and girlfriend, they’re husband and wife; a young couple too with morals. It’s inspirational in a way.

Giving the grand story arcs a rest for another week, The Girl Who Waited is a standalone episode that at its heart explores the relationships between our band of time travelers while Uma’ing a pure shot of high Sci-Fi into that heart. The simple concept of what would it be like if you met a future version of yourself gets timey-wimey-fied without treating us like we’re stupid. After this long, we’re pretty much experts and I mean, as the Doctor said himself, “it’s hardly rocket science, it’s just quantum physics.” The main plot device of the two timestreams at the quarantine facility – one that runs at normal speed and another that’s accelerated. It’s through this and only minutes in that we’re presented with our first morally ambiguous question – which is kinder, to sit by your loved ones’ beside for a day and watch them die, or sit and watch them in an accelerated time and watch them live out their entire lives.

While you’re still pondering this, Amy has aged and is in her fifties and battle hardened and bitter at being left by her boys. It’s a striking, believable difference and an interesting insight into the potential of our Amy. We already knew she was bad-arse, but we also got to see her brains as an aside to her brawn. She’d learned, she’d adapted, she’d made a sonic-screwdriver — sorry, probe — but more, she’d survived. Yet, underneath, she was still Amy from the time we first met her, waiting for her raggedy Doctor so far and long ago. When Rory made her laugh and she caught herself off-guard and realised that it was the first time that she’d laughed and smiled in thirty-six years, you felt it.

Arthur does steal the show, at least for me, and getting to see more one-on-one interaction between him and the Doctor was a treat. His anger towards the Doctor — “this isn’t fair, you’re turning me into you” — definitely felt warranted even though we should have expected the Doctor’s late changing intentions because as we know, he lies, and it’s because we place our trust in him so much that it still feel surprising every time he does it. Rory’s heated words telling the Doctor that if this is traveling with him “then I do not want to travel with you” felt worryingly prophetic to me. The final exchange between him and Older-Amy, placing their hands up to the glass of the TARDIS’s window was heart-wrenching and wonderfully portrayed. The question, the choice of leaving, abandoning her again could not help but swell a lump in your throat or tear in your eye.

There are a few dips that prevent the episode from attaining pure perfection — though it does come pretty blood close — such as the dreamy conclusion which, personally, I’m torn about. It works from a simple standpoint but the ‘reset’ no matter how it’s wrapped up is becoming a bit of an unwelcome staple. Then there’s the Handbots. I just couldn’t get over their hands. They weird me out more than I care to admit, and the more I think of it, that’s probably not a fault and quite intended. What got me more was that Rory got touched and fell down, but was immediately awake once Older-Amy made with the katana to the ‘bots head. Maybe it was a contrivance to just move proceedings along, but a technical answer such as ‘once the Handbot who administered the anesthetic touch is destroyed, the effects wear off’ wouldn’t have gone a miss, but it’d probably been weird and a bit out-of-character or something. Despite these and some other moments, they don’t detract from the main focus and heart of this episode, and while it wasn’t the most action-packed and more verbose in its standing, what it does bring to the table is a wonderfully spun tale of love and choice.

So, what would you do: Green Anchor or Red Waterfall?

 
Quotes

“It’s hideous! Everyone goes to number one: planet of the coffee shops.”

“Your mobile telephone. I bring you to a paradise plant two billion lightyears from Earth and you want to update Twitter?”

“This is beautiful. I mean, freaky hedges but…”

“I don’t care that you got old. I care that we didn’t grow old together.”

“Three words: what about Rory?”

“You’re asking me to defy destiny, causality, the nexus of time itself for a boy.” “You’re Amy, he’s Rory. And oh yes, I am.”

“Yes, if anyone could defeat pre-destiny, it’s your wife.”

“I’m not on my own. I’ve got my wives.”

“If you love me, don’t let me in.”

“Where is she?”

 
Bits

- I’d be remiss in not commenting on the absolutely superb direction on both the writer’s and director’s part. The clinically sterile environments and the stark contrasts seen throughout are a gorgeous marriage visually making this episode one of the most stunning and uniquely cinematic this season, if not the entire series.

- The two Amy’s immediately made me think of the Comic Relief specials “Space” and “Time”. I’m betting the Doctor just didn’t want to have to contend with two Amy’s permanently, that’s the real reason he didn’t let Older-Amy in.

- The Macarena <3

- While not two millennia, thirty-six years sort of puts Amy on a slightly slanted playing field with Rory, though if ever it was used to draw such a relation, I’m sure he’d bring up how he remembers his time served.

- This probably ranks as second in my personal favourite ‘Doctor lite’ episodes.

- The Hipster black-rimmed glasses. Wow. We need more of them. And yes I own a pair, and you’d need to trust me on this, but I did actually have them before they were cool; left over from my drama days, but yes, I have used them on occasion; plus they’re sunglasses so… shut-up.

- For about ten minutes, Rory truly was the luckiest man in the entire universe.

- Older-Amy was remarkably faithful, and it’ll be interesting to see when Karen’s actually that age whether the make-up team were right. Really reminded me of when I was Photoshopping actors to make them look older for WaTchers. Yes, you heard that right; that was Dan, Susan and I wistfully singing “memories, like the corners of my mind…”