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Did anyone else think this was one of the most incredibly brutal DW episodes ever? I was right there with Older Amy hating the Doctor! How could he put Rory in such a position?
It was all a terrible, terrible accident. Rory and the Doctor should have noted that there were two buttons and told Amy which to press. Amy should have asked. But none are really responsible for the initial disaster.
But when Rory asked why he never checked to see if they were walking into a plague, the Doctor said that wasn't how he answered, and Rory said that he couldn't travel that way, I thought we were going to lose Rory. I honestly thought for a bit he would stay with Older Amy, hurt and bitter as she was, because he loved her too, and life had been so terribly unfair to her, and he couldn't stay with the Doctor. I thought at the end he would duck out of the TARDIS and say. I can't tell you how relieved I was when Older Amy told him not to ler her in.
The Doctor put Rory in an impossible position. The whole episode was a metaphor for the series: the Doctor is distanced, in his TARDIS, experiencing existential angst, while real people are outside, living their lives and being destroyed. Rory got through 2000 years of waiting, and dying and being erased so many times I lost count, and he was still okay. Now I think he's broken; I'm just not yet sure how badly.
"But are they happy?" Yes, Rory would ask that question about the people whom the Doctor never gave a thought. I think Rory's too good to travel with the Doctor. For a bit, I thought Rory couldn't die permanently, but I don't think he can stay with the Doctor. I don't see how he can leave when he has promised to watch Amy's back, however. I fear we'll lose Rory.
I could be wrong! I spent the last two or three seasons of Stargate SG-1 thinking we could lose Bra'tac in any episode, and we never did! I want to be wrong! But for once, I don't want even a cast spoiler, because I don't think I can handle it.
I felt terrible for Older Amy. My consolation (and it was a big one) was that I was certain she would in fact be erased, and it would end her pain. Amy would go on as we know her, without having suffered 36 years alone (with the most pathetic robot companion ever, and how many years had she been alone before she made that?).
I was sniffling and blowing my nose and could hardly see the screen by the end of the episode. I don't think Small Child even noticed. Other episodes, she covers her face and announces she doesn't want to watch. She did neither in this episode. I'm the one who was horrified.
I think it was a really well-written episode, and the acting was great, but my heart is broken and can't quite be glued back together. I think Rory has finally suffered too much.
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Yes, they were all to blame, for not saying or asking which button, for miscalculating, and for outright lying. Even the TARDIS is to blame as it usually goes where the Doctor is needed but all the problems here were created by them. Maybe the mucking about with time confused it.
I expected older Amy to fade out when her past was changed, but no: she had to choose suicide.
It started like a childhood nightmare of mine--all that featureless white--but got worse. Bleak and miserable indeed, and nothing was achieved by it.
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Not one I'll watch again despite how well it was done. :-(
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If he had tried to make the choice, everyone would have been angry with him, but I think no one could be half as angry, or hate him more than himself.
I think the idea of him being removed and above it all...it just doesn't ring true. This is the reason WHY he takes companions with him - and the number one reason why he shouldn't.
I think he was hoping it would work. That there would be a way to bring the paradox of two Amys on board - but when the magnifying glass broke and fed back to the TARDIS, he knew...but he could no longer communicate (nor do I think he would have wanted to).
But the Older Amy knew as well. She knew she wouldn't make it in there - she knows temporal mechanics. Amy took the initiative and made sure Rory kept her locked out.
Hubby theorises that Amy spent so much time in the place, near the temporal engines that she could have been changed - and may have actually escaped (to become Kovarian). Tis an interesting and chilling thought.
Really, where the TARDIS landed was not his fault. She grabbed a signature that was strong and moving (the young Amy was hidden behind the temporal engines remember - and might have been invisible from the TARDIS sensors) and it just happened to be the wrong one. With time being so fluid, it was hard to pin her down.
I felt awful for all of them. Amy and being lost so long and taking that deep breath and surging ahead when she knew the last 36 years would be erased. When SHE would be erased.
Rory, confronted with a failure to save his wife, even as he was doing just that, then the agonising decision that he was forced to make - and how it was taken out of his hands when Amy decided for him.
And yes...for the Doctor (whom everyone seems to hate right now - and I'm sure he heartily agrees). He lost his best friend and she hates him, her husband's suspicions about him being a danger and a killer are confirmed and he is lost again - even when they win. He should have seen/known/prevented/understood. And now any friendship with Rory is shattered, Amy will never look at him the same and his world is falling apart. He tried to hard to steer away from where his previous lives had been leading him and the further he tried to push away, the more he's gotten pulled in.
Ohhh, TARDIS Trio...can you ever be fixed?!
*CRIES*
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I don't really hate the Doctor, but I'm furious at him for lying to Rory and then leaving Rory at the door with the lock. None of them should have been in that position, but the Doctor forced Rory into complicity with his lies and then made him fully responsible for the choice to leave Older Amy outside, which wasn't Rory's choice initially. Thank goodness Older Amy took as much of the responsibility as she could herself!
The terrible thing is that Rory was right all along. The Doctor tries to do the right thing, and most often he does, but he is terribly dangerous, as Rory once said. He ruins people! Remember the brief montage of Rose, Martha, and Donna?
"Guilt!"
"Guilt!"
"More guilt!"
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He was being an observer and you are right, he never would have thought about that (well, not as quick, anyway) and I noticed how very pleased and proud and fond of his Roy Williams-Pond he was at that moment! How RORY, how WONDERFUL. Hope and light are contagious. Too bad it bit him in the ass in the end. He knew LOGICALLY it should never work, but:
The universe is vast and ridiculous and sometimes - there are miracles
I don't think he really lied to Rory here. I think he lied to himself and the result was Rory and Older Amy paying for it. Hope is such a fragile thing - without it you have Time-Lord Victorious. With it, you have heartbreak and pain and things that should never be.
Yes. Yes he does. And yes, Rory was right. But without people...
*Shivers*
The ultimate catch-.22.
*Hugs Team TARDIS and never lets go*
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I think Rory's too good to travel with the Doctor.
I think you might be right. I hope you aren't, because I love him. I've been nursing a theory that the "best man I've ever known" is Rory rather than the Doctor, and he's the one River eventually kills. Because even the Doctor admits that he is not always a good man and Rory is.
I did love the part where Old Amy and Young Amy talked about Rory. It's been obvious all along that Amy is the centre of Rory's world and since the finale last season, I've been picking up on all the little moments that show how Amy feels, now that she doesn't have quite the same abandonment issues. And that moment was just beautiful.
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fear, theory, but I hope not because RORY IS AWESOME (plus, I think he's died more often than the Doctor at this point. Not sure that'll hold).From:
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I am clinging to the idea that Rory can't die permanently!
The universe tried to erase Rory Williams once. It exploded.
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I repeated this theory to BH last night and said that I couldn't remember who had said it, and he said, "I said it!"
Apparently there are now several of you. I'm afraid!