No Mercy for Plywood

I'd like to begin by pointing out that the Western sets in "A Town Called Mercy", to-day's Doctor Who episode, look more authentic than the ones in The High Plains Drifter. I guess the sets weren't built for the episode--they're part of a production lot in Spain--but I'll take the opportunity for a cheap shot at Clint Eastwood to point out the guy wasn't acting like a twit at the RNC just because he's old. He's always been a twit, with some positive qualities.

Anyway, good episode of Doctor Who. I loved that the episode actually deals with the Doctor's increasing willingness to kill in the name of justice, it's good to know at least that the writers aren't doing this blindly, and it does follow his arc, really, after his experience wiping out the Time Lords.

The episode was marred by a few small logistical points, like some obviously looped dialogue--particularly noticeable in one scene where the Doctor says off camera, "With a little slight of hand" where it was obviously meant to be a shot of him coolly and silently tipping his Stetson and not replying to the question he'd just been asked, though we did need some explanation of how Rory and Isaac knew they were going to be decoys in the next scene. Isaac, the character played by Ben Browder, was also given the painfully dumb line, "Everyone who isn't an American, drop your guns!" Don't make me quote Louis L'Amour's opening from Shalako! There was also, of course, the huge, glaring problem of why a bunch of wood and rocks was working as a barrier for a cyborg. It's simply never explained.

But it was great seeing Browder in something good, instead of something stupid, like Stargate. Though I had the odd feeling here I was seeing John Crichton playing Malcolm Reynolds. And on that point, I wouldn't mind seeing some Firefly cast members on the show (in addition to Mark Sheppard).

I thought Amy pulling the Doctor back from the brink of one-man justice was good, and really, it kind of neatly brings us back to "The Beast Below", her second episode, where she prevents the Doctor from taking action based on giving into despair. It underlines what Amy brings to the show and what the Doctor will have to live without when she's gone.

Her jacket looked too 80s, though.

Twitter Sonnet #426

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