DW: "The Time of Angels"

[lizbee]

HOMFG, GUYS, THAT WAS BRILLIANT.  RIVER SONG AND AMY POND, BITCHES!

I mean, let's get the fail out of the way: "Imma gonna send the two black dudes off to die together."  I'm watching you, Moffat, and don't think that Liz X and that one Winder makes up for the three dead characters of colour so far. 

That aside, THIS WAS AMAZING.

River Song, man.  She's just so capable and attractive, and big.  She dominates the room.  She makes no apologies for her skills and confidence.  Imagine her with Four, that clash of massive personalities and egos and brains.  River and Four and Romana!  No wonder the Doctor loves her.  No wonder fandom hates her.  I want to be her when I grow up.

And Amy!  Spoilers and interviews said that she was a wee bit jealous of River, and I was all set to cringe, because female jealousy is like, my least favourite thing ever in fiction.  But I didn't see jealousy, I saw confusion and fascination, the beginnings of a friendship.  Resentment, yes, at being in a situation where she's the only non-expert civilian, and being ignored, overlooked and told to wait in the TARDIS.  But then the plot moves on.  And she figured out with her brain how to neutralise the Angel from the security feed.  Because Amy is smart, and has a knack for problem solving.

Also, let's talk about the Angel in the Telly thing.  This episode means that, not only is every single statue in the world now suspect, but so is every file, every DVD, every IQ and TiVo is now going to spawn an angel.  DON'T BLINK!  I hardly blinked at all when I was watching this.  Now my eyes are itchy, and I need to find a small stone statue to put on weaverandom's desk before she gets to work on Tuesday.

Anyway, I would have liked for Amy and River to pass the Bechdel test, but it may be a bit soon for that.  I mean, it's natural that the first thing that Amy wants to talk about is the Doctor, because suddenly her imaginary friend has a wife-or-significant-time-travelling-other, and that's something you want to know about.  But still.  There's time.

AND ALL THE STATUES ARE ANGELS.  As they were talking about the two-headed natives, I was thinking, "But all these statues have one head.  That's some really lazy set design there."  Like in "The Power of Kroll," where Four and Romana are talking about the sacred scroll they're reading, when it's actually a giant book that lives down a drain.  BUT IT WAS DELIBERATE, I LOVE YOU GUYS.

I just -- I can't think about the episode.  It was scary and exciting and I'm really keen to see what happens next, but mostly I'm on a River And Amy high.  I wonder what River did, that landed her in prison?  Obviously she's well and truly out by the time of her death.  Maybe we'll find out next week?  Apparently people are screaming MARY SUE at the bits where she can fly the TARDIS and write Gallifreyan.  To which I point out that (a) she had lessons (from someone, presumably a Time Lord, who was not the Doctor.  Romana?  FOUR AND RIVER AND ROMANA, GUYS, I WANT TO SEE THAT FIC) and (b) civilisations leave artifacts.  There are people whose entire careers are dedicated to studying such artifacts.  We call these people "archaeologists".  River is one.  In the twentieth and twenty-first century, not only can archaeologists read Egyptian hieroglyphics, but the average layperson can buy guides to reading same from any good bookstore.  You can even buy hieroglyphic colouring books for children, and those nifty necklaces that are modern names rendered in glyphs.  In a world where statues will kill you, it doesn't seem like a great leap that archaeologists of the future study Gallifreyan.  Even if most of their samples roughly translate as "Koschei was here," and "Borusa sucks," and "For a good time, call Ushas."



Someday I am going to write the B5 crossover that involves River finagling her way onto the Icarus to check out Z'ha'dum.  Because she would.  Her and Benny.  Approximately two-thirds of the staff of IPX are actually from the future, but they all think they're the only ones.  And it's going to be terribly awkward when the Doctor(s) starts coming back to pick up his misplaced archaeologist friends.

Comments

[such_heights]

YES. THIS. OMG YAY. I have no coherence, only squee. :D

[copracat]

As soon as River and Amy started interacting I thought, hold on, hasn't Liz already written this? Twice?

I liked the way Amy and River clicked. I like how River treats other companions.

BUT IT WAS DELIBERATE, I LOVE YOU GUYS.

I know! They left it just long enough for you to start thinking it was a mistake and then, kapow! Surrounded by the scary!

I am a little bit in a state of squee.

[dancesontrains]

I love River Song very, very much, and it made me :( when most of my f-list/circle/twitter feed was all 'ugh, her again'. My God, the woman is sensual and capable, we can't have that!!!!!1

[lilacsigil]

I have a big crush on River Song, and I'm not ashamed!

There is another black soldier who has survived thus far - but he doesn't have a name or any lines. Keep hiding, Survivor!guy! Maybe Moffatt won't notice you there!

The two heads thing made me cheer.

[st_aurafina]

We were actually saying to each other "But those statues only have one head..." just as the big reveal happened.

River Song! So brilliant, so smart, doesn't give a fuck what people think. I love her so much. And her shoes, also. *sighs happily*

[arch]

I was so bummed by all the River hate at brb_gallifrey and it makes me so happy to see all the River and Amy love on DW!

The best part about the River hate is that you KNOW if Moffat had written River Song as the Doctor's future dudely BFF that everyone in fandom would LOVE River and happily slash Doctor/River and sing the praises of the amazing, hilarious, ballsy River Song.

[onomatopoetry]

Liiiiz! The people at io9 are being stupid, make them stop! (you have superpowers and mind control, right? because otherwise I'd be very disappointed.)

(I was a little less amused with River in this ep than in SitL, but overall I liked her.) Liked this ep, looking forward to the next a lot.

[kerravonsen]

Alas, I do think that River is a Mary-Sue, even more than I thought she was last time. No, I don't buy the "could have learned Gallifreyan from artefacts" because there are no Gallifreyan artefacts around except for the Doctor's TARDIS. The Time Lords have been un-existed, there ain't nothin' there.
No, it isn't because she's competent and ballsy, it's because she knows improbably far too much; she's revealed, here at an earlier time in her life, as knowing even more than she did at the end of her life. Plus, she's been turned into a sexy con artist and spy; if she'd been introduced that way, rather than changing her backstory to make her that way... actually, I still would have been irritated. She's far too smug.
Now she's no longer a Benny clone; she's a cross between Benny and Lady Christina. And Lady Christina irritated me too. Probably because she was smug too.

But let us not dwell on the sand in our shoes; let us shake them off and enjoy the beach.

Yes, I was wondering about the "two heads" thing myself. Interesting how the statues were sort of denaturing.