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| Not such a sweet old lady... |
1 episode. Approx. 47 minutes. Written by: Simon Nye. Directed by: Catherine Morshead. Produced by: Tracie Simpson.
THE PLOT
It is five years later. Amy and Rory are married, back in that peaceful (boring) English village, and they have a child on the way. That's when the TARDIS materializes. Ostensibly, the Doctor is there to pay them a visit, though it isn't long before Amy realizes that he's just come there by mistake.
...And, just like that, they're back in the TARDIS. The Doctor thinks he just nodded off and had a bad dream, until he realizes that Amy and Rory shared the same dream. When they find themselves back in the village again, the Doctor realizes that something has gone very wrong.
That's when The Dream Lord (Toby Jones) appears, and confronts them with a choice. One setting is reality, the other a dream. As they are about to face mortal danger in both places, they need to decide which is which - because they won't be able to survive both!
CHARACTERS
The Doctor: A peaceful, quiet village, with no danger and no disturbances or distractions other than the sound of birds trilling. For the Doctor, this is the definition of a dreadful nightmare. He's someone who has to keep moving all the time - possibly to stop himself from reflecting on some of the harsh realities of his chosen lifestyle. The Dream Lord has quite a few barbs to direct his way. Like any series of statements twisting your personality to its most base and negative impulses, many of these are at the very least oversimplified. But there is truth there, as well, something the Doctor can't possibly be comfortable with.
Amy: Though she assures Rory that if it were to come to a choice between him and the Doctor she would choose him, she isn't really sure. She certainly isn't ready to give up traveling with the Doctor, and she wonders why anyone ever would. She also has an implicit faith that "the Doctor will fix it," no matter what is wrong. When the Doctor tells her that there are some things that he can't fix, her faith is shattered: "Then what's the point of you?" She wants, needs, and expects him to be a magic man (just like in the old song), and can't accept that there are limits to his abilities.
Rory: A part of Rory's refusal to be intimidated by the Doctor is his insistence on competing with him, something both the Doctor and Amy find counter-productive. He's actually at his best when the Doctor's not around, dragging the unconscious and pregnant Amy up the stairs to save them both from the village's rampaging alien-possessed old people. When facing death, he refreshingly does not maintain a self-sacrifical stiff upper lip. Instead, he protests that he's "not ready" and clings to life (or to Amy, which for him is the same thing).
THOUGHTS
An interesting episode, this, one that almost makes me want to go back and watch it a second time right off the bat. Once you realize who the Dream Lord is, it really does put a spin on some of the things he says to the Doctor, Amy, and Rory. I'm actually a bit surprised at some of the places this episode hints at, with regard to the Doctor's character. It would be very interesting to see the show continue to explore some of his darkness.
Amy's Choice is well-structured. The cuts back and forth between the two possible realities keep the momentum going, while enforcing a certain dreamlike quality on the episode. The "cold star" and the frosted TARDIS create a sort of fairytale winter within the TARDIS console room. The English village, with its brightness and birdsong, is the flipside of that: a fairytale summer.
Oh, I haven't mentioned the new TARDIS interior set in any of my Series Five reviews yet. Since this episode spends quite a bit of time there, this seems a good opportunity: I really like it. I never did fully warm to the TARDIS interior of the Eccleston/Tennant years. It always seemed a bit too busy and cluttered for me to believe that anyone could actually live there. This set works much better for me. It still has that sense of being cobbled together, but it also feels comfortable. A place someone could call home, if only for a while.
Rating: 9/10.
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