Episode #226: A Good Man Goes to War

"This was exactly you. All this, all of it. You make them so afraid. When you began, all those years ago, sailing off to see the universe, did you ever think you'd become this? The man who can turn an army around at the mention of his name? Doctor: the word for healer and wise man throughout the universe. We get that word from you, you know. But if you carry on the way you are, what might that word come to mean? To the people of the Gamma Forests, the word "doctor" means "mighty warrior". How far you've come. And now they've taken a child. The child of your best friends. And they're going to turn her into a weapon, just to bring you down. And all this, my love... in fear of you."

Episode #226:      A Good Man Goes To War.
Companions:        The 11th Doctor, River Pond, Amy Pond, and Rory Williams.
Air Date:              4th June 2011.

On the asteroid Demon's Run, Amy Pond has given birth. But the villainous Madame Kovarian and the religious order of the silence are waiting to make a collection that tears Amy's world apart. Across the galaxy, the Eleventh Doctor and Rory Williams are assembling an army to fight the battle that lies ahead, whilst in Stormcage, River Song prepares to escape for what may be the last time. For this is the battle of Demon's Run. On this day, the Doctor will rise higher than ever and fall so much further, and finally, this is the day he discovers who River Song is.

Where do I start with this story? It is big. Each series of New Who has contained it's own plot line that builds and builds before reaching, hopefully, an awesome finale. A Good Man Goes to War is no different, other than it builds up to this mid-season break and ends on a real corker. A good few plot lines that have been building or hanging get resolved or at least opened up here. Mainly, who the mysterious eye patch lady is, who River Song is and who was the little girl from The Impossible Astronaut / Day of the Moon? Even now I get goose bumps when the revelations come up at the end of this story.

We are introduced to three new characters in this story who become recurring allies of the Doctor. Madame Vastra (a Silurian), her lover/servant Jenny and a Sontaran nurse named Strax. Although not called such on screen, they are known as the  Paternoster Gang (Paternoster Row being the street in Victorian London where they reside). These characters have quickly become fan favourites.

I won't spoil the plot here as I think this is a great episode to watch and learn rather than be told. However, watching it did reveal to me why I think certain stories in New Who work better than most. Part of it is the plot and the excitement they generate but more specifically I think it is the perfect dialogue. Some writers seem to just coast through it sometimes getting those moments of exposition just right, but then you get some who seem to strike the right cord. The quote above is one that gets me every time. We learn so much from that short speech and it opens up our understanding of our beloved Time Lord. River's speech above mirrors, for me, Davros' speech about the Doctor from The Stolen Earth / Journey's End. We all look to the Doctor as a hero or even anti-hero and we see what he does. We give him the big thumbs up but really throughout time and space he has become the cause of so much bloodshed and destruction in order to achieve the desirable outcome. Does the final outcome outweigh the deed that brings them about? For the Doctor we say yes but is that right? These sort of questions make for me the better episodes.

So why then is this a 4 star story not a 5? Well, I'm being resistant I think. The 11th Doctor's adventures, as I have said many many times, has a certain strange fairy tale quality that doesn't always sit well with me. A Good Man Goes to War has those elements and pushes my personal enjoyment down slightly. Had it not featured strange headless monks and space worthy spitfire planes, for example, I might have given it a 5 star rating.