purplecat | Aug. 12th, 2015

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Aug. 12th, 2015

A Good Man Goes to War has an awkward role to fill: that of a half season finale. Meaning, I suppose, that it needs to contain the kind of spectacle one would expect from a season finale, but leave enough dangling plot threads to lead in to the second half of the season. A Good Man Goes to War in some ways works very well. The birth of Melody Pond and rescue of Amy Pond neatly tie up several of the ongoing questions from the first half of the season, leaving the "how will he get out of that" question of the Doctor's death remaining from the season opener and opening up the new problem of the rescue of Melody from the clutches of Madame Kovarion. On the way it delivers plenty of spectacle, introduces the hugely popular new characters of Madame Vastra, Jenny and Strax, and makes explicit the themes of how the Doctor should balance out his undeniable power, with appropriate humility, and reign in his propensity to meddle with ever more grandiose issues - themes with which Moffat has continued to grapple, to a greater or lesser extent, through all his seasons so far.

( Nitpicks )

As I say, I actually like this episode a lot. It has many great moments. It handles its character arcs really well. I just wish the underlying plot hung together better.

metanews coding: <a href=http://purplecat.dreamwidth.org/166888.html>NuWho Rewatch: A Good Man Goes to War</a> (DW) <i>Discussion of the sixth series half season finale</i>

Crossposts: http://louisedennis.livejournal.com/305857.html

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