Doctor Who, "Let's Kill Hitler!": this lonely traveler

Quick Take: Doctor Who, "Let's Kill Hitler!"
River sweeps us away.

Review: Doctor Who, "Let's Kill Hitler!"
(S0608) Doctor Who returns for the second half of Season Six and man does it pack a punch! After the all-too-inevitable (and yet strangely satisfying) revelation that River Song is in fact Amy and Rory's timeby-wimeby space child at the end of the mid-season cliffhanger, we were treated to a full-on exploration the character at an earlier point in her history.

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Apparently, River/Melody has the Timelords' ability to regenerate and she does so a few times between when Amy births her at Demons Run and when we meet up with her in 1938 Germany. It seems that the Doctor is never able to rescue little Melody from the Silence because she goes on to regenerate into a sassy (and insane) black baby, Mels, who grows up to be Amy and Rory's best friend throughout childhood. This twist is, to be honest, a bit unwelcomed, chiefly because it wasn't foreshadowed in any way, nor was the implication of Amy and Rory knowing their daughter in this strange and intimate manner dealt with at all. There wasn't even a slight moment of revelation in which the couple realizes that they fail to save their daughter from torture and brainwashing by their most pressing enemies.

In typical Steven Moffat fashion, there wasn't even time for such a revelation. If there's one thing we can rely on in this era in Doctor Who, it's the sense that the story is a boulder tumbling downhill, crushing all of the delicate flora and fauna in its path. This method of storytelling has its charms and its shortcomings. For every schizophrenic sequence (like the epileptic flashback battle between the Doctor and Mels), we lose a scene that explores the depth of character relations. And yet for all of the thickets of character eviscerated by the boulder, we remain elated and utterly occupied just trying to keep our balance on the top of that rolling rock, all of the twists of time and space knotting inside our hearts and minds.

Some have directed criticism against River despite the enduring charisma of Alex Kingston. I pity the folks who decided to have a problem with this character, because it grows more apparent with each passing episode that River/Melody is the lynchpin of Steven Moffat's Doctor Who. It's been announced that Amy and Rory will be less involved with the series by the end of this season, meaning that by next year, in all likelihood, yon River will join the Doctor full time. That is something I'm very excited about.

Until recently, the Doctor has been portrayed as a lonely hero, disconnected from all those around him as the last of his own race, too old and too immortal to form a lasting connection with the humans he loves so much. This very episode reminds us about how the role the Doctor played in shattering the lives of his companions leaves him filled with intense guilt, so much so that he can't even bear the sight of his own face. This loneliness, a loneliness so strong the Doctor can still love the woman who will kill him twice, is the singular characteristic that most Who fans, myself included, feel identifies this lonely traveler and allows the rest of us lonely travelers to identify with him. It's a motif we wouldn't want to see changed.

And yet the future developments between River and the Doctor, including a marriage, a sonic screwdriver with multiple settings, and the ability to snap open the door of the Tardis, fill me with an almost unbearable eagerness. We've seen River's death. We've seen Melody's birth. We've seen this and that bit of history, but never the great love affair, even in part. What would such a relationship mean for the Doctor? How will it change him? How will he stay the same?

At a certain point, the romance between River and the Doctor will inevitably come to an end, not by death, but by some other series of acts of fate and choice. This is an exciting time in the life of the Doctor and in his ever-extending mythology as well. What happens from here on out is all about River and hinges on her ability to sweep us away.