Doctor Who S6 E7 "A Good Man Goes to War" ***SPOILERS***

It's even in the title.... spoilers! Now that that's out of the way... let's get on with the blogging.

The mid-season finale was all that was cracked up to be. And yet there are STILL some things that we don't know for sure and will have to wait until September (I know, it's quite unreasonable) to find out. All in all though, how could I not love it?

In short, the Doctor is at war against some religious weirdos led by Eye Patch Lady (Madam Kovarian), Amy has had her baby, and we find out who River Song is.


This episode has that great, almost nostalgia feeling to it because there are a return of a lot of previous characters/creatures. There are Cybermen, Silurians and a Sontaran, as well as the brief return of pirates Henry Avery and his son Toby. We even get a cameo from the World War II fighter jets turned spacecraft from Series 5, meaning Winston Churchill is on on this as well.

I was really happy that this episode confirmed that the baby's father is in fact Rory. There was a ton of speculation that it was really The Doctor, which to me would've been completely horrible. The relationship between The Doctor and Amy is many things, but I don't think that it is at all romantic. I always thought that Amy's speculation about the baby having  a "time head" or something was funny, but now I guess it's true! The idea of a TARDIS conception is really quite interesting. I wonder if the TARDIS herself had any influence on it? Could something like that happen again, or is it random?

There are some really cute moments in this episode. Some were between Amy and Rory like Rory wanting to look cool but instead blubbering over the baby, and of course, "Mrs. Williams." The Doctor's cradle was really adorable too. And the moment where The Doctor meets the baby! Happy family time there, for a moment. Also, Roranicus Pondicus = awesome and River's first dress is cool as hell.

Something a bit deeper that "A Good Man Goes to War" tackles is this religious war thing. Those opposed to The Doctor here are "soldiers of God." There is a part where they all chant "we are not fools" after being reminded of this. I found it quite interesting. I think that everyone is entitled to their religion and it can be a truly wonderful thing, but I also think that wars caused by religion are quite foolish. It makes me wonder: what kind of a statement are the writers making? Are they condemning religious war? It would be really be something if that were so, basically a commentary on modern, religiously driven terrorism.

We see something different with The Doctor here as well: anger.  "Oh look, I'm angry. That's new." Each Doctor has had moments of anger before, but Matt Smith's Doctor is just so damn silly sometimes! Here though, he does stay quite angry for a while. I don't blame him though; the people he loves are being senselessly endangered.

And finally, I'll talk about the scene that Whovians have been waiting for ever since "Silence in the Library:" River Song. I'm really quite happy with it all. I was convinced that she wasn't The Doctor's wife and I was right! I had heard the suggestion that she was Amy and Rory's daughter before, but I wasn't set on that theory up until I saw the name of the baby, Melody Pond. I was texting Nicole (WORDforTeens) throughout the whole thing and together we figured it out.... Melody = Song and Pond = River (also goes along with the whole "the only water in the forest is the river" thing).

There's still so much to find out though... we don't know who the little girl regenerating in New York is for sure. It could be River/Melody but there's no evidence of that besides her timey wimey DNA. Also, where's the real baby? We thought we had the real Melody all along, but then BAM she's a ganger (or as Rory calls them, "Flesh avatars"). Has Madam Kovarian taken her? And there is still  the lingering thought that River has been put in jail for killing "a good man." So much still to figure out!

And on a final note, who else is intrigued by the next episode being called "Let's Kill Hitler?"