DOCTOR WHO: A Good Man Goes to War

When you began, all those years ago, sailing off to see the universe, did you ever think you'd become this? The man who can turn an army around at the mention of his name.

A Good Man Goes to War was amazing, but confusing. Here are some thoughts I had about the episode. 

The writers really wanted to make us question whether Rory's the father of Amy's baby. And I just found that so incredibly uncomfortable, awkward, and poorly written. I wasn't a fan the last time Amy talked about Rory in a way that sounded like a perfect description of the Doctor either. 

Here's what Amy's saying to baby Melody in one scene:

"(...) there's someone coming. I don't know where he is, or what he's doing. Trust me, he's on his way. There's the man who's never going to let us down. And not even an army can get in the way. He's the last of his kind. He looks young, but he's lived for hundreds and hundreds of years. And wherever they take you, Melody, however scared you are, I promise you, you will never be alone. Because this man is your father. He has a name, but the people of our world know him better as the Last Centurion."

Come ooon. This is so incredibly forced it's ridiculous:

• "Last of his kind" is a really weird way for Amy to describe Rory. Technically true, but so, so weird.
• "Looks young, but he's lived for hundreds and hundreds of years" is obviously phrased like that so that it'd fit the Doctor as well. But Rory watched the Pandorica for 2000 years. Wouldn't that make her say "thousands of years"? 
• "The people of our world know him better as the Last Centurion" – Does anyone really know Rory by this name other than the TARDIS crew...? Maybe he has become famous during their "war-planning"...?

The second scene where something similar happens was handled better, and this was when they were discussing the wooden cot the Doctor has brought out from the TARDIS. Amy is tired of being in the dark about what's going on, so she tells the Doctor to tell them something. The Doctor pauses for a bit before he says, "It's mine." You can see that Rory breathes a sigh of relief when the Doctor clarifies that it's the cot he's talking about. That was a lot more subtle, and less forced. 

I think Rory is much more comfortable with his relationship/marriage with Amy now, but there's probably still a bit of tension now and then. He couldn't be 100% sure the baby was his. Of course, there was no doubt in my mind as a viewer that the baby wasn't the Doctor's. It's not that kind of show. So why focus on it this heavily? 

I liked the reveal that River was Amy and Rory's daughter. But still, it doesn't answer much about her, other than that she's probably somewhat Time Lord. We still don't know who she kills. And I don't think she and the regenerating girl are the same person. It would make sense, but it didn't seem like River knew what was going on. Maybe she's brainwashed by the people that takes her away as a baby? I'll just have to wait and see I guess. I got teary eyed at the reveal anyway. Mostly because of the Doctor's reaction. That noise he makes right after they say hello is just the most precious thing ever. I keep jumping back and watching it over and over again. Matt Smith portrays different emotions so well! The face he makes when he's walking up to River after she says "And all this, my love... in fear of you". He just looks so... dangerous. And then he understands who she is, and you see it so well on his face.

But that brings me to another point... what does it say on the cot? From the scene, you are led to believe that it says "Melody". But how could it? This version of the Doctor has never met the baby before now! So the name on it has to be his name, the Doctor's. They say so in Confidential as well. But why does she then ask him to read what it says? Maybe it's the word for "baby"...? Nah, that doesn't make sense either. I'm confused. 

But it seems that the explanation for this is that she didn't mean the writing on the cot, but the little leaf that Lorna made. Steven Moffat even said so on his twitter. But then it's just the way it was filmed that confuses me. The camera focuses on the writing on the cot after she says it, that's quite a bit misleading. And when it's Amy and Rory's turn, it does the same thing! Focuses on the gallifreyan text. But that could just be a misunderstanding from their side, since that's the only visible text, and then river says that it's the leaf she means... This could have been done better! 

 Random WTF-moment at the end: The next episode is called "Let's kill Hitler". Ummm...