A Good Man Goes to War

Dear Gary—

A Good Man Goes to War is a lot of sound and fury. In other words, it is New Who doing what it does best. There is no solid purpose for anything that happens except that it makes for an impressive display.

Take the Doctor’s ‘army’ for example. It sure is cool to see the array of allies he amasses; some old friends and some old enemies and some heretofore unknown entities. He has Danny Boy (Victory of the Daleks) in a spitfire for some random reason, and he has Captain Avery and his son (The Curse of the Black Spot) for even more inexplicable objectives. I’m not sure what help a seventeenth century pirate and a dying lad will be in a space battle; this seems especially gratuitous, not to mention irresponsible. But I imagine the Doctor thinking to himself, ‘the boy is dying anyway (even though I could very well get him proper medical attention but don’t have the time or inclination) so why not let him go down in a blaze of my glory?’ He also has a host of Judoon and Silurians (again I don’t know when they decided to emerge from their perpetual slumber), who just a few short serials ago were allied against him when the Pandorica opened.

Finally he has a trio of characters we have never met before but who apparently are long acquainted with the Doctor: the Silurian Madame Vastra, the Human Jenny Flint, and the Sontaran Strax. Each is a fascinating personality with back stories untold but who fit comfortably in as if they have long belonged to the Doctor Who canon. That is the brash trick of New Who in general and this episode in particular—to present characters with no explanation as to their origin or motivation as though they are totally natural and justified.

Such is the case with the villains of the piece. Madame Kovarian, aka Eye Patch Lady, the Clerics, and the Order of the Headless Monks have no cause to go to the extreme lengths that they do. They are out to kill the Doctor; they have the Doctor in their grasp; so shoot him already. But of course they do not. They prefer to kidnap Amy’s and Rory’s baby to indoctrinate her and groom her to do their dirty work sometime in the future. A sure fire plan if I ever heard one. This is an organization with the sole purpose, not to kill the Doctor as we are led to believe, but to come up with the most elaborate schemes possible to accomplish simple tasks.

Even the title signifies nothing. There is no war per se. There are two armies, true, but very little battle. Perhaps a skirmish or two. It is as if the Doctor pulled this all together just to prove that he could do it—assemble an odd lot to defy his enemies. If any mission cried out for the delicacy of infiltration, however, this would be it. The Doctor even goes so far as to impersonate a monk. He probably would have succeeded in retrieving the Baby Pond if he had kept to this disguise rather than put on his act of bravado. As for the Kovarian faction, they too have their show of strength simply for the fun of it; their real tactic is deception and unlike the Doctor they pull it off beautifully.

As for the ‘good man,’ this is obviously referring to the Doctor but it is an ambiguous designation. Why exactly is there an “endless, bitter war” directed solely against the Doctor? Why are so many races of the universe bent on the Doctor’s destruction? “You make them so afraid,” River tells the Doctor. He has become “the man who can turn an army around at the mention of his name.” This is not the reputation of a kind and noble savior. “To the people of the Gamma Forests,” River continues, “the word Doctor means mighty warrior.” To demonstrate, the episode starts with the Doctor blowing an entire Cyber battle fleet out of the sky with no provocation, simply to get an answer to a question.

Soldiers in the war against the Doctor can’t even make up their minds on the good/bad thing. They hold him in almost worshipful awe. Then there is Lorna Bucket who joins the Clerics on the chance that she can meet up with her hero once more. For a man who has gone to great lengths in the past to wipe any trace of his existence from history, he certainly courts both the fear and adoration of the universe these days. I have to say, Gary, that it is getting rather tiresome, this game of tainted idol.

However, this puffed up drama triumphs in its spectacle. Why does Rory dress like a Roman Centurion? No reason other than the Doctor’s whim. It is a wonderful visual that makes Rory ridiculous and heroic in one go, and that is what Doctor Who is all about these days; no real substance, only glistering rapid strikes packing emotional punches. Like the Doctor’s stirring “Colonel Run Away” speech that at the end of the day is meaningless since the Kovarian gang don’t have any intention of making a stand.

I do wonder why the Monks return at the end. Kovarian already has the child so what is the point? They come back just to be slaughtered, which is unbelievable by the way. Perhaps Kovarian didn’t let the Monks in on her plan and sent them to their deaths, but again, it is highly unlikely that these most feared and awful foes go down with barely a fight. Oh, they do their script duty by providing the tear-jerking deaths of Lorna and Strax, but none of the Doctor Who regulars are even scratched and somehow they manage to kill every last one of these powerful beings.

“So they took her anyway,” Amy says when Flesh Baby Pond is disintegrated. “All this was for nothing.”

Not for nothing, Amy. Because ultimately A Good Man Goes to War is a hymn; A Good Man Goes to War is a song of River. “The only water in the forest is the river,” and all rivers lead to one Pond. Melody Pond; River Song.

Baby Pond is only Flesh, and that is appropriate because we feel no attachment to the fake child. We never experienced Amy’s pregnancy; we never saw Amy and Rory as doting parents-to-be. The vacillating pregnancy test was a device to raise eyebrows and whip up fan frenzy. There was no maternal or paternal empathy established. Therefore, when we are presented with a newborn there is no more feeling for it other than the normal reaction to a cute and cuddly baby. Karen Gillan does her emotive best to depict a grieving mother, but that punch doesn’t hold the same wallop as it would have if we had been invested in nine months worth of morning sickness and name picking and clothes shopping along with the prospective parents. It is offered up as a fait accompli and we have to fill in the emotional blanks.

Baby Pond is unimportant. She is a symbol nothing more.

Alex Kingston as River Song, however, is everything. She alone (the actress and the character) gives A Good Man Goes to War substance. The whole dreary season arc has been flowing steadily towards her and at last it is justified.

From the moment Alex Kingston appears she lights up the screen. I have had some minor problems with River’s character in the past, but in this episode she is perfectly played throughout. She is charming in her old fashioned skating rig, and the joy she feels as she describes her birthday outing with the Doctor is palpable. Her mood suddenly shifts as she talks with Centurion Rory and she realizes that the day has come for the Doctor (not to mention Amy and Rory) to discover her true identity. She is subtle and inscrutable as she processes the information and informs Rory that she cannot join him in battle.

When she finally does arrive at Demon’s Run she is again radiant. This is truly her shining moment. The slow reveal is wonderfully done for the greatest effect, and here I also have to give high praise to Matt Smith. He ranges from anger to incredulity to joy in seamless transition as he takes in what River is showing him. (And as long as I am handing out applause—kudos to the props department for both the cot and the prayer leaf.) But it is River who steals the scene from start to last.

“I’m Melody. I’m your daughter.”

Melody Pond. River Song. It all makes sense. This is the payoff for the first half of the season. I won’t say that it makes the first half of the season worthwhile, but it at least puts a small glimmer of luster on it.

There is still an entire half of a season left, though, and now we are going to have the long and drawn out process of the Doctor trying to find the baby; and let’s not forget the whole death by astronaut story line.  (Then again, please, could we forget it?)

At this point I want to revisit my comment about life not being fun for Amy and Rory anymore. Are they really going to continue tagging along after the Doctor now that they have been robbed of their parenting experience? But like I said, Baby Pond was never anything more than Flesh to begin with; her loss was for immediate impact only and I’m sure won’t leave any long term emotional scars.

And I am reluctantly coming to the opinion, Gary, that New Who is nothing but Flesh. However, even fake Doctor Who is better than no Doctor Who.