... when a good Man goes to war.
Finales are special. And season mid finals are no exception. And there are two things all of them usually have in common: a, the Doctor loses someone in the end, and b, the plot is on the edge of being dull when watched as a single story and could be roughly summed up in less than 14o's twitter characters, well, almost: Demons run when a good man goes to war, but they are not fast enough. But, the afore mentioned good man and his allies still lose the main cause which they where fighting for, even though in the end this does not seem to matter that much. You see what I mean? Then again Moffat knows how to distract his audience form the main plot by what I like to refer to as the story's wrapping: We have Headless Monks, scenes which would have fitted into any Star Wars-ode and we find out about River's identity, for which we've been waiting for more than 2 season. However, let's not forget that there is just one part of that original question answered which the Doctor asked her in the Library. We are still waiting for the 'Who are you to me?'-bit.
And here we are, at the one of the many problems of the story: River Song's identity. There aren't many people who can't claim their brownies for something they predicted, said, wanted to say but thought it to be too obvious to say, or something along those lines. So, River is a Time Lord, well, Lady; she is Melody Pond; the Ponds are her parents. Did I forgot anything? To quote Dan Martin's not improvable words 'It feels as if every possible theory anyone has posited has turned out to be correct. That's either totally genius or horribly foolish.' This may be the reason for why watching it for the 2nd time does improve people's opinion on it: There are no expectations left.
The second problem about "A Good Man Goes to War" is the war bit. The Doctor simply does not go to war. Not after the Great Time War. Never again. He knows a war's side effects, and he doesn't want to be the one responsible for them. Yes, maybe he isn't counting on things going wrong (which they do), but my overall impression is still that Moffat should have considered the past Doctors' personalities a bit more when coming up with the plot. Yes, it's made clear that he hates doing it. But considering the Doctor's remarkable history on sorting unpleasant stuff out without using violence but his wits (and many, many words), I have the feeling that there should have been another solution. I mean, that's the most attractive thing about 'Who': it's not those with the biggest weapons who win a war, but those making the best use of their brains. Which is usually the Doctor. So, I'm simply not buying this stuff. It's not real 'Who', it's one which could maybe work in a parallel universe, but not in this one.
Still, as already mentioned, thanks to the Big Moff we are only too willing to ignore these disturbing aspects, for the story's wrapping is more than just breath-taking at certain points, not to mention the cracking dialogues. And the cherry on this cake is that although 'A Good Man Goes to War' will be famous as the episode in which River Song's identity was revealed, it also gives us a few hints at the Doctor's past. Because the man who can turn an army around at the mention of his name is right, 'Good men don't need rules'. And maybe one day if we are lucky, we'll indeed learn while he has so many. But before that, let's try and make the best of the upcoming involuntary summer-break.
Finales are special. And season mid finals are no exception. And there are two things all of them usually have in common: a, the Doctor loses someone in the end, and b, the plot is on the edge of being dull when watched as a single story and could be roughly summed up in less than 14o's twitter characters, well, almost: Demons run when a good man goes to war, but they are not fast enough. But, the afore mentioned good man and his allies still lose the main cause which they where fighting for, even though in the end this does not seem to matter that much. You see what I mean? Then again Moffat knows how to distract his audience form the main plot by what I like to refer to as the story's wrapping: We have Headless Monks, scenes which would have fitted into any Star Wars-ode and we find out about River's identity, for which we've been waiting for more than 2 season. However, let's not forget that there is just one part of that original question answered which the Doctor asked her in the Library. We are still waiting for the 'Who are you to me?'-bit.
And here we are, at the one of the many problems of the story: River Song's identity. There aren't many people who can't claim their brownies for something they predicted, said, wanted to say but thought it to be too obvious to say, or something along those lines. So, River is a Time Lord, well, Lady; she is Melody Pond; the Ponds are her parents. Did I forgot anything? To quote Dan Martin's not improvable words 'It feels as if every possible theory anyone has posited has turned out to be correct. That's either totally genius or horribly foolish.' This may be the reason for why watching it for the 2nd time does improve people's opinion on it: There are no expectations left.
The second problem about "A Good Man Goes to War" is the war bit. The Doctor simply does not go to war. Not after the Great Time War. Never again. He knows a war's side effects, and he doesn't want to be the one responsible for them. Yes, maybe he isn't counting on things going wrong (which they do), but my overall impression is still that Moffat should have considered the past Doctors' personalities a bit more when coming up with the plot. Yes, it's made clear that he hates doing it. But considering the Doctor's remarkable history on sorting unpleasant stuff out without using violence but his wits (and many, many words), I have the feeling that there should have been another solution. I mean, that's the most attractive thing about 'Who': it's not those with the biggest weapons who win a war, but those making the best use of their brains. Which is usually the Doctor. So, I'm simply not buying this stuff. It's not real 'Who', it's one which could maybe work in a parallel universe, but not in this one.
Still, as already mentioned, thanks to the Big Moff we are only too willing to ignore these disturbing aspects, for the story's wrapping is more than just breath-taking at certain points, not to mention the cracking dialogues. And the cherry on this cake is that although 'A Good Man Goes to War' will be famous as the episode in which River Song's identity was revealed, it also gives us a few hints at the Doctor's past. Because the man who can turn an army around at the mention of his name is right, 'Good men don't need rules'. And maybe one day if we are lucky, we'll indeed learn while he has so many. But before that, let's try and make the best of the upcoming involuntary summer-break.
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