Mark Watches ‘Doctor Who’: S05E07 – Amy’s Choice

In the seventh episode of the fifth series of Doctor Who, Amy, Rory, and the Doctor are stuck between two apparent dream worlds. One is real, the other was created, but they must choose which world to die in order to wake up. Intrigued? Then it’s time for Mark to watch Doctor Who.

If you needed any sort of justification or further elaboration on why the spoiler policy is so strict on Mark Watches, I can use “Amy’s Choice” to explain that. I like to go into shows and their episodes completely ignorant, as foolishly unknowing as possible. Sometimes, that task is a lot easier said than done, and with the proliferation of Doctor Who all over Tumblr, that task is darn near impossible. I don’t read episode titles. I don’t read those little summaries beforehand. I turn off the episode before the “NEXT TIME” sequence can play. I allow myself not a single hint towards the future. And why do I torture myself so?

Because for the first few minutes of “Amy’s Choice,” my brain was exploding everywhere. HOW ARE THEY FIVE YEARS IN THE FUTURE. WHY IS AMY PREGNANT. WHAT THE FUCK IS ON RORY’S HEAD. AND DID THIS SHOW JUST CONFIRM THAT THESE TWO SURVIVE THEIR TRIP WITH THE DOCTOR.

That’s the beauty of watching television unspoiled. It’s really, really, really fun and entertaining for me, and then I get to impart that energy in my reviews. It allows me to experience this show in a unique way, free from as many influences as possible in regards to fandom opinions, trailers, or even the slightest of spoilers. That’s not to say that my viewing technique makes the experience any better for anyone else, but it works for me. That’s all I really care about.

With “Amy’s Choice,” until the gist of the show is revealed, I was left scratching my head at the strangeness of it all. Actually, this entire episode is really bizarre, but Simon Nye makes it work quite well. If you accept that this episode deals with dreams and Amy’s fake pregnant stomach and Rory’s awful wig are part of that dream logic, I think that this is one of the most entertaining Doctor Who episodes of the new season. By thrusting the characters into such a surreal situation, Nye very naturally injects a sense of urgency into the plot for the entirety of the show.

(Also, just for the record, it was nearly impossible for me to watch this episode and not scream YOU JUST GOT INCEPTION’D every time they switched universes. I kind of can’t think of that movie when dealing with dreams anymore.)

The first time they switched over, ending up in the TARDIS, it seemed sensical that that world had to be the real one, but when the Dream Lord arrives (AND I TOTALLY FLIPPED MY SHIT BECAUSE I FUCKING LOVE TOBY JONES I MEAN HOW COULD YOU NOT), that certainty became overwhelmed with doubt. Toby Jones so perfectly sells this character, especially the pervasive sarcasm and mockery that the Dream Lord seems to operate under. Who is he and why does he hate the Doctor so much? I love that this is never answered because it shifts the focus away from an explanation and moreso to the experience. How can you tell a dream is a dream when you’re the Doctor? A star that burns freezing cold? Aliens that can turn you to the dust? “Amy’s Choice” makes a great point about the absurdist nature of the Doctor, but for Amy, that’s not what’s important to her. What this episode also does extremely well is build that emotional story for her, to suggest that the disaster is not as important as the people she cares about in her life. Even more so than “The Vampires of Venice,” I feel that “Amy’s Choice” is a far better experience for Rory and Amy to solidify their relationship.

I also don’t want to do a typical chronological narrative for this review because it’s hard to once you know the final endgame. But I do want to spend a moment talking about the scene where Amy returns to the Leadworth-reality after having spent time alone with the Dream Lord. I thought the Dream Lord was a bit too obvious when he insisted that Amy be the one to decide in which reality she was going to let everyone die. I sort of figured that the Leadworth-reality was too weird to be true. What I didn’t expect is the scene where Amy starts to go into labor. Well…ok, it had been foreshadowed pretty blatantly throughout “Amy’s Choice,” but the actual logistics of it were unexpected. When Rory sacrifices himself as the Eknodine try to break into the upstairs bedroom, I thought we’d get some epic goodbye from him and then they’d all wake up or something. BUT NO. His death is quick and shocking and brutal and he DISINTEGRATES RIGHT IN FRONT OF THE DOCTOR AND AMY.

Again, seriously, I’ve become fascinated with Karen Gillan’s and Matt Smith’s faces, not just because they are so unbelievably nice to look at, but because they both are so skillful at small, subtle changes in facial expressions. Watch this scene again and pay attention to Amy’s reaction to Rory’s death versus the Doctor’s. The Doctor has pure fear and disbelief on his face, but Amy shuts down. She can’t believe it. She actually begs the Doctor to fix Rory, but he can’t do it.

I don’t believe Amy needed to lose Rory to know she couldn’t live without him, but it’s the manifestation of that fear. So she chooses to accept that the Leadworth-reality isn’t real solely because it would increase her chance of seeing Rory again. Can you hear my heart swooning.

The end of this episode is just……what. Ok, so, as I understand it, the Dream Lord was created by the Doctor, a by-product of psychic pollen, and is a manifestation of his “darker” side. I kind of don’t understand this at all, especially since the twist ending is so quickly dealt and then resolved, but I’m reluctant to ask anything more about this. When the Doctor sees the reflection of the Dream Lord in the dashboard of the TARDIS, I get the feeling we’ll see him again, so maybe this “manifestation” will be explained better then.

THOUGHTS

• So is there a trope that’s the polar opposite of the “Kids Are Really Creepy” trope? Because I think this episode did that. I’m still not sure why the Eknodine chose to hide in the elderly, though. No one would suspect?
• Wait, so was the Doctor vegetarian at some point? The Dream Lord seemed to hint at that.
• “Can we not do the running thing?”
• “You threw the manual in a supernova….why?” “Because I disagreed with it.”
• “I’d blush if I had a blood supply, or a real face.
• “That’s why I got pregnant, so I don’t have to see them doing Oklahoma.”
• “Ice can burn. Sofas can read. It’s a big universe.”