The Doctor's Wife

[promethia_tenk]

I really, really didn't like the big reveal in the last episode at first, but I'm gradually coming around by realizing it's a lot more complex and interesting than it seems on the surface.  Then I realized this:

I think it very possible that the TARDIS made River so that the Doctor wouldn't be alone.  Or, at the very least, that she stacked the deck [ETA: much discussion of the creepiness of this in the comments, with meta-y implications]:



From "The Doctor's Wife" we learn:

1) The TARDIS exists in all of time and space and can see futures.
2) She stole him.
3) She always takes him where he needs to go (like, say, Amy's house).
4) She can't talk with him all the time, but she loves him.
5) She seemed very preoccupied with River right before she died--asking for water and repeating the line about the forrest.

In 6x07 we learn exposure to the time vortex during conception causes pseudo Time Lord-y-ness!  Somehow the idea that the TARDIS rigged things makes me more willing to accept the timehead explanation, which I found pretty lame at first . . .

And then there's the stuff that's more just suggestive:

1) That very ambiguous episode title: "The Doctor's Wife."

2) The echoed "hello" greetings with both the TARDIS and River.

3) All the TARDISes were dead, but together they built a new TARDIS--"It's not impossible as long as we're alive."  All the Time Lords were dead, so she built him a new Time Lord?

4) Of course the TARDIS routes calls to her and keeps her from exploding.

5) "She's the TARDIS, and she's a woman!"  "Did you wish really hard?"

6) It's all rather Adam's rib, which I find a bit :-\  But then on the other hand, that is rather delightfully meta since, as a character of course, River was written for the Doctor, so I think I prefer that the text acknowledge that?  Also River has an apple on the shelf in her cell in Stormcage.  Or she did last season--it seems to be missing now, which the obsessive part of my brain really wants to mean something.

 

Now I'm just trying to decide if this was a wholly unselfish move on the TARDIS's part, or if she wants timebabies who could pilot her after he's dead . . .

ETA: Been stuck on this vid of late, and since it's gorgeous and oh so relevant (Doctor/TARDIS), might as well do a pimp: Suzanne, by such_heights .

Also been having to remind myself that, as incongruous as the "River is Amy and Rory's daughter" reveal seemed, the way Moff's written it, it's actually all tied up in all the themes and ideas I was thinking about, oooh, last July, and had since gotten bored of and moved on from.  *smacks head to dislodge thoughts*

 

Comments

[sarahandcocoa.livejournal.com]

This was kinda the theory I cobbled together a day or so before episode 7. I'm not altogether happy with it - I would have much preferred for her to have been a human, who he met in a similar way to how he met his other companions, but was intellectually capable of being his equal. It sort of sends out the message that no normal human being is good enough for our Doctor. But moving on from that...

I picked up the Adam's rib symbology. Also the idea of her being the Messiah to the Dark Side, emphasised in Episode Seven (creepy headless monks et al). Marry these together, and you have a duality to River - she could be the Doctor's greatest ally or greatest enemy. I suspect she will grow up with a dark side as a result of her unsettled beginnings, however the fact she overcomes this to be a kick-ass superhero and the Doctor's Wife, does a lot for feminism in the series. So long as they play it out properly and don't make her too much a product of her upbringing - she has to be given some point in her life when she has the leeway to make her own choices and therefore choose to be good.

I also wondered if 'The Doctor's Wife' had a double-meaning, since Moff was clearly tapping into all the speculation about River when titling this story. I loved Suranne Jones' portrayal of the TARDIS - motherly yet sexy at the same time - and it taps into how the TARDIS was the sun at the end of last series. She was radiant. And in some ways, I can see something of Idris in River, and wonder if she gave her more than just a Time Head, but the thirst for adventure that goes with it (not to say Amy doesn't have enough of that herself).

I'm excited about how this is going to play out. I hope Moffatt isn't going to rush the ending to River's story now we know who she is - I want this to be a continual arc over several series.

[promethia_tenk]

Thanks for sharing your thoughts. I know that River has been simply human in my head for a good long time and that making her a partial Time Lord has been a big adjustment for me to get used to (I've been doing a lot of grumbling and hair-pulling). In some ways, though, I do like it. I think a lot of it is a matter of just how close to humans you see Time Lords as being--the show leaves a lot of leeway on this, and of course the Doctor has a soft spot for humans and Ten, particularly, really seemed to want to be human himself and RTD left the Doctor without a whole lot of options when he wiped the Time Lords out and did a lot to make the idea of human/Time Lord romantic relationships seem normal. But I really can see how they might be ill-advised, particularly in the long run, and I can see how it might end up being a source of unexamined stress and pressure for a fully human River to be constantly trying to match someone who can think in ways she's just not built to be able to. Judging by the Doctor's reaction to the reveal that River is a bit Time Lord-y, I think maybe the discrepancy must have been weighing on him as well, and even Ten showed a whole lot of resistance to the idea of getting involved with a human in that way. As a human, yeah, there's an instinct to say, 'what--not good enough for you?!?!?' But is it really all that unreasonable to want to mate within your own species?

Agree with you very much that a lot of how I feel about River's story is going to hinge on how it develops from here and especially on how much choice she's shown to exercise in shaping her own life. There is a lot of potential there. I also like how, even with River being kidnapped as a baby and raised as a weapon against the Doctor, this is not a matter of her being "evil." The Doctor's culpability here is front and center, and River makes a very explicit point about fear and the effects it has on people--this story has moral nuance built right into its foundations.

I too hope Moff won't rush the ending, but I rather doubt he will. He's shown himself highly patient so far. Already I'm thinking the story of who River killed and why will probably be one for next season?