lizbee | DW: "The Eleventh Hour" (Reply)

I am not completely certain that this post will be of any use to anyone whatsoever, because I'm in that sort of squeeful state where I just want to flap my hands and jump around, and maybe go for a walk and blast loud music in my ears until the mania wears off.

So, yes, I liked it. I've been sold on Smiff since I saw the preview clip of "Vampires of Venice", so I'm not surprised that I liked him, but I am impressed at how Doctory he was. I've seen people comparing him to other Doctors, and yes, there's all of that, but really, he's just the Doctor. Someone once said that the first four Doctors were really Doctors, but after that, it was just actors playing a role. The Tenth Doctor was David Tennant, but Eleven is the Doctor. Or at least, that's how it feels to me.

And Amy is full of love and sunshine, both in her incarnation as a brave, faithful seven-year-old, and twelve years (and four psychiatrists) later. Karen Gillan was a bit magnificent, wasn't she? With Amy's desire to believe, and reluctance to get swept away again. Like fandom in the last couple of years, she's loved the Doctor, but been hurt by him. I love that part of her -- a big part -- is still that child, and even her adult behaviour is sort of immature -- a kissogram is technically part of the sex industry, but it's also reminiscent of, say, Lucy's kissing booths in Peanuts. And she's running away the day before her wedding, knowing better than any other companion that she might not be back for years. She's not quite normal, and that seems to be common knowledge, judging from that man's reaction when she snatched his keys and locked the Doctor's tie in the car door. She's not quite the Everygirl, and I like that.

The plot was quite decent, with more time given (obviously) to the characters, but it all came together in the end, when the monster took on the form of Amy's subconscious -- herself as a child, holding the Doctor's hand. I thought the virus was a bit naff, and I was like, "Yes, yes, we're going to save the world through technobabble, haven't we seen this before?" But then the virus turned out to be part of a bigger ploy, and the Doctor saved the world by being a bit clever, and by helping Amy find her courage. Just as he should. And then he went up and told the Atraxi exactly what he thinks about aliens trying to destroy Earth, and sent them off with pure force of personality (and history). Which is a big improvement over how he dealt with the Sycorax (or, you know, didn't deal), so Eleven's already shaping up well.

Also, and most importantly, in the flashbacks to monsters past:

MESH! I SEE YOU, LOVELY SEA DEVIL!

And so, we leave Amy on her way to adventures. In her nightie. Does this mean that she's going to be raiding the miniskirt collections left behind by Zoe, Jo and Tegan? Cue "raiding the wardrobe, finding [insert ex-companion]'s clothes" fic.