Amy's Choice - "If you had any more tawdry quirks, you could open up a tawdry quirk shop."

Amy's Choice (Doctor Who) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Series 5, Story 7 (Overall Series Story#212) | Previous - Next | Index

Image via Quote Book

The Doctor *really* needs Amy and Rory to sort themselves out. As viewer's we wholeheartedly agree the bizarre love triangle is untenable and, frankly, creepy. So, yes, we needed Amy to make it crystal: Rory's her man. Full stop.

At first it seems like a problem that the Dream Lord has given the characters a choice that the viewer's aren't similarly in doubt about. There's no suspense when you know the Five Years Later Back In Upper Leadworth is a clearly the dream, because gah... Rory's wig.

Let's try not to be distracted by the wig. The awful, awful wig.
Image via Anam Cara

So we know, we clever viewers us, that they're not going to end up in Upper Leadworth, and can only be irritated the longer the choice is drawn out. But, we're not all that clever if we don't recognize the Cold Star simply can't be a thing, because nonsense, so the choice presented them as reality is actually another dream. The quibble here is, there's so much scientific hooey in Doctor Who that we can't rule out the possibility that the show is telling us a cold star radiating cold through the vacuum of space could be a thing.

Moments, moments and quips are what make this one fun to watch, even upon repeat viewing, knowing who the Dream Lord is and that Rory isn't going to die forever. (And knowing now that he is going to die several more times before we're through with him.) Rory whacking an old lad with a plank, cracks like "Let's go out looking like a Peruvian folk band," Elizabeth I only thinking she was the first (naughty!), a bit of punning ("There's a lot at stake," in the butcher's shop), the Doctor and Rory waking up forehead-to-forehead, and we could go on and on ... heck, even that Cold Star looks pretty impressive.

So, who is the  Dream Lord? "Only one person hates me as much as you," the Doctor tells him. This Doctor, he's got all the self-loathing of a wolf in sheep's clothing, so that line's red herring (no, he's not the Master) doesn't fool anyone, we suspect. But it's nicely played. And let's credit Toby Jones for be terrific at embodying the Doctor's imp.

Image via Head Over Feels

And, if you're used to be grumbling about season-long arcs at this point, then you may've been waiting for me to celebrate the respite from sightings of the 'the crack'. Y'know, it turns out I'm fond of this one; it feels like it's going to mid-season churning, but turns out to be a bit a lark and it delivers a some small amount of character development that was desperately needed -- Amy needs to know she loves Rory, that she's not running from marriage because he's not the right guy. They are right for each other, they just ought to have some proper adventures together before they put down roots.

So, on with it ...