Full Notes: Amy's Choice
Get out of my dreams, and into my psyche.
Plot Summary:
The Doctor, Amy, and Rory must choose between dueling realities when the mysterious Dream Lord puts them in deadly peril in both.
Notable for:
Amy’s baby bump, Rory’s ponytail
The actor who played Mr Nainby (Nick Hobbs) also played Aggedor in the two Pertwee Peladon stories.
Ostensibly being the “pivot point” in the love triangle between Amy, Rory, and the Doctor.
Pete commentary:
One of the best cold opens of the new series. It’s a very clever set-up, plus it gives us a first taste of what Moffat would be known for: showing a Doctor that pops in and out of companions’ lives, not necessarily traveling with them continuously. It’s almost too bad this story is the first example since it’s so new and unusual at this point that it makes the Leadworth side seem like obviously the dream.
I’m not sure if the “obvious” unreality of Leadworth works or doesn’t. Amy and Rory being older, married (and pregnant),the ponytail — you know the show isn’t going to go in this direction, so you’re made to think, “Surely this is the dream, right?” Doctor Who is timey-wimey, so it could be that the Doctor’s just popped forward in their lives and will come back to their contemporary time (like he does in Hungry Earth/Cold Blood), but again, this would be the first time he does something like that, so you’re not really convinced.
That said, they make the most of it and have tons of fun. Simon Nye’s writing is hilariously on point, and the regular cast is reveling in it: The Doctor asking Amy if he’s pregnant after calling her huge, “more of a really good… mare,” Rory calling Amy “Chubs” — the script has some of their best banter.
Seeing Amy pregnant is a bit sad knowing she can’t have children later.
Great subtle choice by Smith to have the Doctor smile after he says, “This is going to be a tricky one,” and to do it where Amy and Rory can’t see him. Yes, he’s loving this.
The central plot, from a literal “which is which” dilemma, is interesting enough, despite the unreality of Leadworth, but it really works as the background for what the episode is really about: which life, and which man, does she really want? You feel bad for Rory when she’s wondering why their future selves gave up their lives in the TARDIS. You feel worse for him when he cuts off his ponytail, since it feels like such a sad gesture. But when Rory disintegrates in front of Amy, she makes her “choice,” and Karen Gillan really steps up. Why is Karen Gillan a superstar now? It’s scenes like where Amy tells the Doctor she doesn’t want her life if Rory’s not in it 😢
Is this Rory’s first death? That might be why it’s affecting. Coming at these episodes out of order helps, too.
Also great is Amy, who’s been the butt of the size jokes, shocking the Doctor out of his smugness with a fake contraction. He deserved that.
This story functions fairly well as the moment that Amy abandons any notion of having a romantic relationship with the Doctor. It’s obviously not the last word on the Amy/Rory relationship, or his jealousy, but all the times they went back to this well later definitely felt like Moffat was just doing drama-bait in future episodes (like Day of the Moon’s “dropped out of the sky” bit).
This has more to say about the Doctor’s character than most episodes: His self-awareness often getting the better of him as self-loathing. His regarding the tranquil life of the Ponds as a “nightmare.”
Boy, “I am the Doctor” levels up any action moment, doesn’t it? Smith falling all over himself as he starts to fall asleep on the streets of a small town doesn’t sound like the greatest sequence, the music really sells it. They really build up some good tension as he makes his way to the butcher’s freezer to avoid the Eknodine.
The Doctor regards the Eknodines story — that their civilization was humbled and destroyed by a neighboring race, and now they’re going to do the same to others — as “credible enough.” It’s pretty thin by any standard, though: Even if you accept these aliens regard other races as inferior, killing a bunch of people in a random village on Earth simply makes no tactical sense at all. Plus, why reveal yourselves now? And then why not kill the Doctor, Amy, and Rory when they’re sleeping in the retirement home? Why just leave? Obviously this episode isn’t about the alien plot, but all of this strongly suggested, to me, that future Leadworth was the dream.
The cold star is conversely much more credible, since it’s the team we know, doing the thing we know, encountering a sci-fi thing. We’re made to think that MUST be reality, and the climax seems to confirm it. The final twist is cool, but it’s not as interesting as it could have been because they’re just back in the TARDIS anyway.
Let’s talk Toby Jones as the Dream Lord. Nice bit of stunt casting. His best moments are when he’s pointing directly at the love triangle, taunting Amy about her choosing the “gooseberry” over the Doctor, etc. His small stature is a reflection of the Doctor using intellect as his best weapon. In the Dream Lord’s case, it’s sass. Simon Nye wisely gives him some of the best lines: “If you had any more tawdry quirks you could open up a Tawdry Quirk Shop.” His making a pass at Amy suggests the Doctor isn’t completely free of attraction to her.
What did Pete’s family think?
Grace really liked it — she hadn’t remembered the twist that both worlds were fake. She liked that the story was fun and interesting, plus that it revealed something about the Doctor.
Four Questions to Doomsday - Pete
Why did the Randomizer take us here? Going from Doctor Who’s first location shoot to an episode that has tons of location work — with a better village! There’s also the parallel of the Doctor resenting Ian and Barbara for wanting to leave, paralleled in his regarding Amy and Rory’s Leadworth life as a nightmare.
What if the evil plot had succeeded? Two things to consider: 1) The Doctor doesn’t realize the TARDIS scenario is a dream, and the three of them go on forever in the Dream Lord realm. Their bodies eventually starve to death, and the Doctor’s regeneration into Capaldi knocks him out of the Dream world. A bitter, angry Doctor then doesn’t make the choice to keep going at the end of Twice Upon a Time and finally dies.
Or, 2) Amy chooses the Doctor, not Rory. Rory, crushed, returns to Earth. The Doctor tries to make things work with Amy? He’s so apparently clueless about romance that it might be amusing seeing him try to muddle through it. But what happens when River finds out?
Where's the Clara splinter? Who put those bits of psychic pollen in the console in the first place? I imagine Clara was tired of the will-they-or-won’t-they storyline too, and decided to force an end to the issue. Thanks, Clara!
Dalek, Ogron, Professor Hayter, Viscount Banger, Fixed Point in Time, or Lady Cassandra? Dreamy Dalek. It’s a nice standalone, but doesn’t cry out for repeat viewing. It’s also subsequently been made less memorable by going back to the love triangle too many times.