Review - Doctor Who: The God Complex

[ed_rex]

The god, complex?

Taken by itself, The God Complex is a mostly entertaining episode, competently-scripted and boasting quite stylish direction.

At least one guest star really shines, none of them bore us, and we're treated to the requisite chills expected of an encounter with the unknown in company of Doctor Who.

But The God Complex comes after three stand-alone adventure in what this viewer, at least, had thought had been advertised as a complex, series-long arc of single story, one that would presumably lead to a climax providing two series' worth of answers to dangling threads.

Does The God Complex deliver as prophesied? Click here to find out — spoilers and opinions as usual, so proceed at your own risk.

Comments

[evilawyer]

Interesting review (she says as someone who hasn't gotten around to seeing the episode --- I'm going to wait until it's all out on DVD at this point). And I see from it where the disappointment in at least some of Moffat's structure is perhaps coming from for some people, at least as regards the companions. Specifically with Amy, it seems that there has been an expectation that she will Be Something, that She Will Matter, rather than being simply the Doctor's companion.

I don't read Moffat's interviews because, quite frankly, I don't give a rat's ass about what he says outside of delivering me his product. I'm certainly not going to take the time I already don't have to do anything more than watch the series. But from what I see on screen when I watch the episodes, I see a treatment of the series that's more akin to the Classic Series in this regard: The Doctor is front and center and the known, solid quantity. He's what matters. Well, there seems to be a side-step to include some "Aren't Time Lords and regeneration neat?" authorial fan-squealing in the Enigma that is River Song. But in general, the Doctor is the main character and every single companion in Classic Who is there to service the presentation of the Doctor's character. And before the thought "Not Romana! She wasn't like that!" leaps to mind, I'll say "Yes, she was." Think about it. When Romana got to the point she could fend not just for herself, because she could always do that, but for everyone else, she was off into another universe. Before that, she was there to showcase, in her way, the Doctor. So was Ace, who showed us that, individual and independent and strong-willed as you might be, the Doctor can take you and figure out the tragedy at the heart of you and use that knowledge to shape you and make you better than you would otherwise be.

All the companions in Classic Who exist to showcase him the Doctor their ways. And Amy (and Rory, too, as well as River) fall right into that Classic Who companion scheme, with one difference. That difference is that, because modern audiences --- and that includes Moffat --- want an emphasis on character more than story, or at least demand that character and plot be structured in such a way that plot serves to delineate character rather than simply let the characters show bits of themselves in how they react to the storyline), Moffat spends time showering attention on and loving the companions, just as RTD did with Rose (though to much better effect at the time of her introduction and travels with the Ninth Doctor than Moffat has done with Amy or Rory or River). Which causes problems when he then turns around like the middle-aged, rabid Classic Who fan he seems to be and treats the companions like they have no existence beyond saying "Yes, Doctor" and "I don't understand, Doctor" and "All these corridors look the same to me, Doctor." They are there to show how clever and resourceful the Doctor is (I'll grant you that Moffat has seemed to drop the other traditional function of the companions, i.e. to serve a point around which the Doctor can show his cleverness by explaining everything), and everything they do and say and think ultimately comes back to that Classic Who function for Moffat's companions. And I do mean "Classic Who function"; neither Amy nor Rory nor River impact the Doctor and they certainly don't change him the way Rose did Nine (to his benefit) or Ten (to his detriment --- my personal opinion). No. The Doctor is, and Amy and Rory and River show us, through the things they do and think, show us what he is. They don't shape him, which means they don't have full form or substance of their own. If they did, they would shape him.

I'm not so unhappy with Moffat's interpretation of the Doctor as many people are because I never bought into the RTD "make it all emotion and all character all the time, and thank our lucky stars if it works in terms of plot" slant. That's probably because, of all the shows I have watched and go out and seek to watch now, I'm still somehow able to watch Doctor Who with the same attitude I did when I first saw it as a fourteen year old on a rainy Saturday afternoon --- with a mixture of "What the hell is this?" and "Wow, this is neat, and not filled with stuff I'm supposed to aspire to and can't or won't because it's not written in a way that says 'You should want to be/think/look like this', and I don't have to have my feelings wrenched sideways every episode because of they way they treat regular characters I've grown fond of badly every time they show up on screen, and it's fun to watch." I'm cognizant of the fact that my heartstrings are supposed to be pulled by Amy and Rory and everything that's happened to them (from the wedding eve absconding to the loss of their daughter's childhood), but my heartstrings aren't being pulled because I sense that, above all else, their real job is to be a backdrop for the Doctor to come on and save the day. And, yeah, that's simplistic and behind the times, but what can I say? I deal enough with the unsoluble problems of my own and of other people in real life. I kinda like just being able to watch the Doctor come in and put every thing to rights.

These are comments as to a general outlook. On a specific level, I have to say that I dislike introduction of what look like Major Plot Elements that get swept under the rug once they've done the job of tying up the emotions. That's sloppy. It becomes, however, a matter of degree. Too much, I get pissed off. Moffat hasn't reached "too much" for me. Yet.

Anyway, thanks for the interesting review.

ETA: I meant to comment on:

What we actually get, though, is the emotional jolt of a casual acquaintance heading off a couple of week's camping, hardly the stuff of epic poetry.

This is, I think, in keeping with what we've been told about the Doctor in this season and last, most clearly by the Dream Lord in "Amy's Choice" --- the Doctor, besides being a liar, is fickle. And irresponsible. And, in the end, you can't depend on him for the mundane, day-to-day things. He won't be there for his companions when it comes down to lending them his car or helping them mow the lawn. This is the way the Doctor has always been. And while it's an ass-backwards way of a fan showing his love for the Doctor, it's still love (Moffat sees the Doctor's less than stellar qualities and still loves the character enough to show us his warts). And, once again, it's the companions' job to show this aspect of the Doctor's way of being.