S06E08 - Let's Kill Hitler

For an episode whose title wasn’t precisely lived up to, ‘Let’s Kill Hitler’ was a very enjoyable episode to watch, if just a little confusing. Now don’t get me wrong, this was definitely the best way to reintroduce Doctor Who back to the screens and audience, but it seemed to involve a lot of unnecessary odds and ends that could have been left out and would have still made a worthy mid-series opener AND saved special effects with the Mill and not be a disappointment – not that this episode was, to some at least.

But more about that later, let’s move on to discussions about Mels, a character whom once I heard about, sounded like a brilliant new character and possible future companion, although I did have my suspicions as to her true identity. Now, Mels’ backstory, of being Amy and Rory’s best friend since forever, although a clever and easy way of introduction, seemed to be like a sudden idea considering Moffat claims to have River planned from the beginning, indeed this is the first and most likely only episode to involve or mention Mels, and understandable that she was easily written off from the wedding of Amy and Rory, and yes, maybe the fact that time has now been rewritten that she didn’t even appear or even mentioned in Eleventh Hour – look at Jeff, never mentioned or seen again! – but the whole character definitely felt like a whole last second addition to the plans and don’t get me started on the whole ‘Ponds raising Mels without knowing’ reference as I’m sure as mature as Amy and Rory were compared to Mels, THAT simply doesn’t count.

Anyway, moving smoothly from Mels to Melody, as wonderful and gasp-approving the plotline became as to the murder of the Doctor and revelation of Melody actually being the weapon that began in the last episode, it can be safely said that not even the Doctor is that good as to convert his own assassin into his lover in less than ten minutes. Yes I know the whole ‘Child of the TARDIS’ thing did kind of help sway Melody onto the Doctor’s side, but enough to give him all her regenerations just to resurrect him? On those thoughts, this episode could have worked well and been better explored had either it been a two parter OR not wasted time with the Teselectra and Hitler. Indeed, if they had stayed in Leadworth, had the Doctor harmed by Melody there and even stayed as Mels until the Doctor had swayed her and then have her regenerate when she’d given him all her other regenerations, a fresh start as River Song so to speak, it would have still worked and given a more acceptable and realistic time for Melody to convert from assassin to lover. Still, I’m not Moffat, and am sure he had this episode planned the way it was for a reason.

Now moving on from Timelords and Melody, the Teselectra was, despite almost being completely useless bar turning into River for Melody to realise her true future, a VERY interesting ship, archive and general ‘kind of Villain’ for the episode, indeed it was an extremely clever idea from the partial genius that is Steven Moffat. The whole idea of tiny people inside a person is almost Borrowers-esque, even if THEY just lived in the same residence as a human, but that set for the Teselectra, especially the Eye was brilliant, don’t you think? The special effects were worth it just to see that woman (another link to Who for those whom have seen the Catherine Tate Show – Ella Kenion) look out of the iris and become so small; THAT was just fabulous. But on the whole, the Teseletra and even Adolf Hilter was pointless when it came to the plot of the episode, it could have been called ‘Let’s Kill Osama’ and the plot would have stayed precisely the same, if with just a different location than that of late 1930s Nazi Germany.

The plot, and episode, was simply the beginning of River Song; the change from Melody to River – indeed a better title for the episode aired could have easily been simply ‘Melody Pond’ considering that the episode in the end revolved around her, and rightly so for Alex Kingston’s acting, especially when Melody is first going over her new appearance. Although I am slightly concerned as to the serious lack of reinforcements within Germany itself – in the ten, fifteen minutes it took from hundreds of people running out of the restaurant to saving the Doctor, not one person – soldier or citizen – came to investigate the disturbance, AND with Hitler just down the road?!

Linking nicely from one Pond to two others, the introduction to the episode, filmed in a cornfield and in fact the last scene filmed for series six (a close call might I add!) was the most typical Moffat idea you could ever witness, but just perfect to see Karen and Arthur’s faces of concealed terror of uncontrollable driving while in a mini (or should I say Karen’s fear and Arthur’s unadulterated enjoyment ;) ). Indeed, Karen and Arthur were in top form throughout the entire episode, a joy to watch in fact, especially at Rory’s wit and Amy’s constant ballsy-ness and especially their whole backstory, with Mels bringing the two together. Rory was definitely the stand-out of the episode, punching Hitler and telling him to shut up of course the highlight, along with riding the motorbike (“It’s that sort of day”), explaining to Amy about the miniaturization ray and Arthur’s acting within the flashbacks of his revelation to liking Amy as more than a friend.

The Doctor’s second death within this episode now seemed a little haphazardly created, if only brilliantly performed by Matt Smith. Inside the TARDIS, with the reverences to Rose (*shivers*), Martha and Donna was lovely, but considering that Moffat loves his references to Old Who, it would have been nice to maybe have seen one or two of the old companions, if only Sarah or Jo considering their recent appearances (for Sarah definitely) within the Sarah Jane Adventures, but then one must suppose he wants to keep the current audiences, the ones who continued to watch after Tennant left anyway, in the loop. Ooh, but wasn’t it just fabulous to see lovely Caitlin Blackwood back as Li’l Amelia? She is just so brilliant and adorable and it seemed that her (Amelia’s) suggestion, if only as a Voice Interface, to use Fish Fingers and Custard as an antidote to the pain of death miraculously worked – for a while anyway. Nice…

And a Sonic Cane! Anyone else want one? Sonic Screwdrivers are so last series! Heh… Now, one final note before I mark the main characters as ever, and a serious note at that: Anyone with me for concerns to the continuation beyond the Doctor’s apparently final death? Now we know Matt Smith has signed on for next series, so maybe he does come back, heck another Timelord might be introduced at the last moment and do a River of this episode to bring him back, but with the last episode of this series entitled ‘The Wedding of River Song’, and as we KNOW she and the Doctor are going to get hitched, I worry about the continuation of the series. Now, I love how Moffat is pushing the boundaries of the show, especially by complicating matters and even pushing some audience members away by the simple matter of confusion, but there are boundaries set beyond the ones Moffat is pushing that really shouldn’t be viewed, let alone touched, and with the Doctor soon dead and a wedding imminent, will we soon be seeing the title of the show changed to ‘Son of Doctor Who’…?

• The Doctor = 10/10 – A brilliant way to bring the man crashing back, and with a new trendy coat! Although his untimely death and the plot involved around that was somewhat disappointing, Matt Smith’s superb acting puts script and idea in the background without second thought. And that mention by the Teselecta staff of the ultimate (or was it ‘first’) question from the ‘Church of Silence’ just HAS to be ‘Doctor Who?’ right?
• Amy Pond = 10/10 – Not only did we get Karen playing Amy, but also the Teselecta, a cool emotionless robot, which was funny as heck to see! It was lovely, too, to explore Amy’s background a little more and hilarious to see Karen dressed as a teenager (though many a man’s rowdy enjoyment to see her dressed like that, I suppose).
• Rory Pond = 10/10 – I said all that was needed to say about brilliant Rory and Arthur above, but seriously if one couldn’t fall more in love with the man from Part One of series six, this episode made one fall further down that path. And wasn’t Young Rory so cute!
• Melody Pond = 9/10 – Although both Alex Kingston and Nina Toussaint-White (‘Mels’) gave excellent performances, it couldn’t be helped feel that the episode gives the audience a major overdose of the character, although deservedly so considering the last episode. It’s just a shame that even after finding Melody after all the ‘years’ apart, Amy could never actually hold her daughter again or even have the chance to mother her.

Episodic Rating: A solid 8 out of 10. Although brilliantly and cleverly written, especially with an extremely deceptive title that disappointed many when Hitler himself was only involved in one long scene, the episode gave the strong impression of an overdose of information; the sudden introduction of a character never mentioned or seen before but somehow a major part of Amy and Rory’s life, not to mention the Doctor dying and then dead and a murderous Melody converted into a loving River Song in almost no time at all. And did anyone ever get Hitler out of that cupboard? Nevertheless, the episode did explain many things thoroughly and involved seriously underused characters and objects, but on the whole it was majorly enjoyable and a fantastic way to bring the show back onto the screen.