Doctor Who: “The Girl Who Waited” Review – Acid Trip – Spoilers

Karen Gillan as Amy Pond in Doctor Who “The Girl Who Waited”.

Doctor Who: “The Girl Who Waited”

“One pill makes you larger
And one pill makes you small
Go ask Amy when she’s 50 years old.”

I wanted to title the review Doctor Who “Amy Through The Looking Glass”  but it was too much of a spoiler.  In fact, that title would pretty much say it all. White rabbits are replaced by white robots in this modern day version of “Alice In Wonderland”.  The sunshine and flowers LSD fans of the 60’s believed that Lewis Carroll (Charles Lutwidge Dodgson) was under the influence of an hallucinogenic when he wrote “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland”. This episode definitely reminds me of an acid trip.

They go to a planet where they find a door with two buttons. Rory ( Arthur Darvill) and the Doctor (Matt Smith) pick the green button Amy (Karen Gillan) picks the red and ends up in a different time stream. The location was setup for people quarantined with a virus that won’t hurt humans but will infect and kill Time Lords in 24 hours. This means that the Doctor has to stay in the TARDIS and Rory has to rescue Amy.  (Arthur Darvill was ready for his close up and lead the episode beautifully.) Rory finds Amy in a short time. For Amy it is 36 years in the future and they have left her there to fight off white robots that think she is infected with a virus. They want to give her medication meant for another race and their “kindness” will kill her.

The best part of this episode is definitely the acting. Karen Gillan gives an amazing performance as the older Amy. She becomes a kick ass warrior!  You feel like you are actually seeing two different people.

Arthur Darvill gives an absolutely heartbreaking performance! Doctor Who’s episodes have certainly not allowed him to reach his potential other  than being able to die on cue. This episode lets him shine and really show his acting ability.

Inevitable Doctor Who MST3K Moment:

If you’re wondering how he eats and breathes
and other science facts (la la la),
Then repeat to yourself, “It’s just a show,
I should really just relax (la la la)

Rory finds Amy as a much older woman and is intent on bring her back no matter what. He still loves her even when she is old. She is pissed at being left for so long but he wins her heart again.

How do the Doctor Who writers turn back time and get the young Amy back?
Well, they don’t there are actually two time streams and only one ages Amy. Yeah? What? (la la la)
AND Rory is in the stream with the aging Amy and he doesn’t age. (la la la)

The Doctor tricks Rory and when Rory returns to the TARDIS he has to chose between old future Amy and  young present time Amy. Arthur Darvill emotions are there and easy to see. This episode finally shakes of his “tin-dog” statues. Hopefully, for good.

Favorite funny line: “Woman with a sword, don’t push it.”

Made me cry a little: “Rory is the most beautiful man I ever met.” An Amy consensus.

Impossible choice:  Back in the TARDIS the Doctor makes Rory chose Amy then or Amy now. He loves them both.

Excellent gratuitous use of an Doctor Who inside joke:  About the glasses with a built in camera, “still, anything beats a fez”.

Something cool: Future Amy develops a sonic “probe” that helps her to survive. The guys upset her by saying it is a screwdriver. She finally acquiesces and admits it is a screwdriver.

Just for fun movie reference: Future Amy has disarmed a robot and made it her pet.  Her pet is named “Rory” and has a drawn face on it like Wilson in the Tom Hanks’ movie  “Cast Away”.

Unanswered question: Why did the TARDIS allow the Doctor to accidentally go to quarantined location where he could be infected?

 

Author: Losillë
Mother, wife and kinda old.

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