[Insert Mercy themed pun here] (I’m sure you can come up with something funnier than me.)

[kaliha]

[x] a shot on location episode! It looks so much better than filming a welsh quarry with yellow filters, you have the desolate landscape and the heat haze and it looks like the Spaghetti Westerns from olden days (and my Film Studies degree (which is also from the olden days)

[x] Loved Mercy (the town), all the weather beaten wood and faded paint. Apart from the Bank which looked really out of place. Especially when they exploded the clock. Maybe it’s just more noticeable thanks to BBC HD and finally having a decent telly.

[x] Ben Browder’s moustache deserved a credit all of it’s own.

[x] Susan the horse. (I’ll just leave this there without comment).

[x] I really like Toby Whithouse’s dialogue. Personally I think he writes good dialogue (although I know a LOT of people disagree with me. Some quite vehemently.)

[x] I was glad that Amy was a bit rubbish with that revolver. TV tropes are such that anyone picking up a gun can not only automatically use it, but are a really good shot (unless they are a bad guy). Amy wouldn’t have been able to accidentally shoot it though as it would have to be cocked and she’d have to pull the trigger. I’ve only ever ‘shot’ a revolver once and the trigger on it was really stiff, it’s not like you can brush your finger against it and it would accidentally go off. But points for effort.

[x] I loved the fact this episode was a reflection on the Doctor and what he does. He’s really no better than Kahler-Jex, and maybe even worse when you think about the races and worlds he’s affected with his actions. (Wiped out the Daleks, more than once, destroyed his own people, and that’s just for starters). For all that we love the Doctor he’s actually not a very nice person when it comes down to it. He just has better PR.

[x] “All those who died because of my mercy!” it’s nice to see proof that this is something that the Doctor does think about, we don’t see it every often (it is a nominally a kids show after all)

[x] And the Doctor really needs someone to tell him no (and if needs be sit him on the naughty step). Donna did it a little bit but Amy really has kicked his arse when it’s been called for. I hope the next one does the same.

[x] I am starting to have some thinks about the Doctor’s behaviour towards Amy and Rory in this series. In the past when a companion goes “that’s it I’m done, no more time and space for me” he drops them off home and disappears off into the sunset (to party hard with Nefertiti). But with Amy and Rory he keeps coming back, 2 years later; 10 months later. He drops them off and picks them back up again. From the comments Amy made the gaps are getting longer, it’s like the Doctor is letting them live their ‘normal’ lives for as long as he can and by dropping in to them in such a linear manner (to them) he’s stretching their lives out. This makes me wonder if the Doctor has seen the adventure that leads to their deaths (because I have no doubt that they are going to be killed off in a very short amount of time) and he’s going back to have ‘one last hurrah’ with them. Over and over again. But is this very thing going to be the trigger for their demise. If he left them alone would they have lived? Oh twisty-turney timey-wimey.


In conclusion: a rather good episode. 8/10