The traditional post-ep incoherent babble

[tree_and_leaf]

A cleverly done episode, and a good guest star in the remarkably sinister Toby Jones. The final twist - the Dream Lord's identity as the Doctor's self-hatred - was satisfying. Interesting that he was quite plainly the Doctor's self-loathing, rather than his shadow in the sense of the Jungian archetype - he's not the Valeyard, though he's possibly connected to the Doctor's fears of becoming the Valeyard. But despite a certain dismissive cruelty towards Rory, and an odd attitude to Amy that combined a desire to push her away with a desire to detach her from Rory - and some creepy sexuality, the Dream Lord's focus was on the Doctor, and on hurting him.

Or perhaps the Dream Lord is a dark self, but not in the usual Jungian form, where the Shadow has to be acknowledged and integrated as a source of strength? Instead, the Doctor has to get rid of the Dream Lord by 'dying' - and the Dream Lord was given his existence in the first place, such as it was, by the external force of the "psychic pollen" (bit of a deus ex machina, I'm afraid, though I suppose the start of the episode did give us some indication that something was wrong with the Tardis). I'm tempted to read the Doctor's solution in terms of 'dying to sin', but that's probably just my theological pre-occupations coming out - and in any case, given that the Doctor saves himself from his own darkness, we're more in gnostic mystery cult territory. Am also somewhat irked about the idea that Rory and Amy are too sunny and nice and good to have shadow selves, or darkness, or whatever you want to call it, to signify. The Doctor may be a more powerful class of being, but that doesn't make Amy and Rory morally insignificant.

Other observations:

The Upper Ledworth plot-line felt very generic - the monsters inside people, idylls that are nightmares, ancient races seeking vengeance for their humiliation - but this of course makes sense as a dream - it's assembled from a combination of what's been happening to the Tardis' crew lately with the Doctor's pre-occupations with dying species and last-of-their-kinds. The inappropriatness of the castle, which is obviously Wales rather than the Cotswolds, might possibly also be an intentional marker of something being fake, given how carefully Ledworth was shot before, but perhaps not. The dream quality was less immediately obvious in the dying-Tardis strand, though that was clearly also 'unrealistic' - the cold star, and the control room so cold that it seems unlikely our heroes could have survived.

I did like the resolution - I hope to goodness it's a resolution - of the Amy-Rory-Doctor triangle. Rory's a likeable character despite his occasionally ineffectual moments, and Arthur Darvill is quite a decent actor, in a low-key way. I'm less sure about Karen Gillan. There's something a bit brittle and forced about her when Amy gets angry; though come to think of it, I've met people like that in real life, so perhaps she's better than I think.




Below, my tweets. As you can see, I didn't work out who the "Dream Lord" was until I was told, though I did at least spot that something was wrong with both "realities".

Ah ha. "The only man who hates me enough" indeed.... 6 minutes ago via Echofon


MAster of the land of fiction? 8 minutes ago via Echofon


The Doctor's coralling people into a church for safety... And we get an insinuation that the Doctor is Peter Pan. Or something nastier. 14 minutes ago via Echofon


Neither reality's particularly convincing, really, given the frost on Amy's face. 17 minutes ago via Echofon

Did he just say "Sofas can breed?" 21 minutes ago via Echofon


Yet another ancient race seeking vengeance.... It's a bit generic. Unsurprisingly, perhaps. 22 minutes ago via Echofon


Not much of a limerick, that. And surely Rory ought to realise a place where nothing bad can happen isn't real. Oh look, something bad did. 27 minutes ago via Echofon


"I was promised amazing worlds, instead I get duff central heating and a stupid kitcheny thing." 29 minutes ago via Echofon


Nice castle, but not very Cotswoldy. "Is no-one going to mention Rory's ponytail." 32 minutes ago via Echofon


Is it the Master? 34 minutes ago via Echofon


"There's something here that doesn't make sense. Let's go and poke it with a stick." 37 minutes ago via Echofon

"You threw the manual in a supernova? Why?" "I disagreed with it." That explains a lot about the Doctor's approach to the TARDIS, actually. 40 minutes ago via Echofon


"It was the same in some aspects." "What aspects?" "Well, all of them." about 1 hour ago via Echofon


"you know me, I don't just abandon people when they leave the TARDIS" (Oh Doctor, you have no shame)