{"id":1983,"date":"2011-09-20T21:09:24","date_gmt":"2011-09-20T09:09:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.zeusblog.tetrap.com\/?p=1983"},"modified":"2011-09-20T21:09:24","modified_gmt":"2011-09-20T09:09:24","slug":"unchained-melody","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.zeusblog.tetrap.com\/?p=1983","title":{"rendered":"Unchained Melody"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"hitlerlogo\"
\nIf the title of this story had lead us all to expect 45 minutes of our heroes facing off against der Fuhrer<\/em>, once again we\u2019ve been wrong footed. Admittedly Rory (oh Rory; more on you later) does get to re-enact the first Captain America<\/em> cover and punch the Nazi rotter, but after a handful of lines Hitler then gets locked in a cupboard for the rest of the episode.<\/p>\n

So much for Adolf, this episode is really about River (splendid chap, both of them), neatly filling in some more gaps about her past\/future and motivations. As was pointed out by some after A Good man goes to War, we found out who she is, but not what. Let’s Kill Hitler<\/em> redresses this, and presents us with a thoroughly engaging earlier incarnation: Mels.
\nThrough a series of flashbacks we discover that Amy and Rory\u2019s previously unmentioned lifelong friend has had an interesting relationship with them both, being looked after and occasionally scolded by Amy, and becoming crucial in bringing the Ponds together.
\nThe cornfield scene where we first meet Mels is the perfect introduction to her character, scattering our regulars like ninepins and prophetically drawing a line through the Doctor\u2019s name in a little red corvette. It\u2019s also sequence brimming with the joie de vivre<\/em> we need to launch back into the second half of this series.
\nSadly, we\u2019ve only just met Mels when she dies, accidentally shot by her own intended target. It\u2019s an interesting regeneration but we seem to be skimping on the actual \u2018morphs\u2019 these days \u2013 odd because the justice robot\/Teselecta\u2019s physical transitions are rather lavish \u2013 even taking on Alex Kingston\u2019s hair, which is no mean feat. (I wouldn\u2019t complain though, as River\u2019s regenerations apparently also make her temporarily bullet-proof). The Teselecta strand of the plot is utterly surreal no matter which way you look at it, a square jawed captain slouching Kirk-like in a command chair, directing the miniaturised crew of a shape-changing robot on time-travelling missions of utterly pointless sadism.<\/p>\n

To avoid giving a narrative of the story, I\u2019ll mention the Direction at this point. This episode is full of great visual flourishes from Amy\u2019s tossed TARDIS model becoming the real thing tumbling through the German skies, to the return of the banana gag from The Doctor Dances<\/em> in a well-choreographed duel. Notice too how little stories are being told behind the main action \u2013 Mels holding her side before anyone realises she\u2019s been shot, and the Doctor absent-mindedly flexing his hand as River\u2019s poison begins to take effect.
\nThere may be even more than meets the eye, too, as the author of this blog has suggested that the Doctor\u2019s curiously-timed change into what appears to be his Pond wedding attire may be significant. He was right about the Time Lord\u2019s costume-anachronism last year (Flesh and Stone<\/em>), so I\u2019d listen to him \u2013 those tails may be telling.<\/p>\n

As to whether we can assume that River is reformed now, and how and why she loves the Doctor, perhaps it\u2019ll be explained later. Let\u2019s Kill Hitler<\/em> is as much fun as the title suggests it will be, but one of the fundamental components of this series continues to disappoint me. I like Amy, I really do, but as sometimes happens in real life; marriage and motherhood have made her a lot less fun. She comes with even more baggage now (and some of it has a rather large nose). With each passing episode I\u2019m becoming more convinced that being entrenched so deeply in the lives of the Ponds is diminishing the Doctor, making his world and potential so much smaller. I don\u2019t think he\u2019s happy about it either – and the sonic screwdriver isn\u2019t going to get us out of this one.<\/p>\n

AH<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If the title of this story had lead us all to expect 45 minutes of our heroes facing off against der Fuhrer, once again we\u2019ve been wrong footed. Admittedly Rory (oh Rory; more on you later) does get to re-enact … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[59],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1983","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-series-6-reviews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zeusblog.tetrap.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1983","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zeusblog.tetrap.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zeusblog.tetrap.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zeusblog.tetrap.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zeusblog.tetrap.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1983"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.zeusblog.tetrap.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1983\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1992,"href":"https:\/\/www.zeusblog.tetrap.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1983\/revisions\/1992"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zeusblog.tetrap.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1983"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zeusblog.tetrap.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1983"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zeusblog.tetrap.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1983"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}