Some awesome direction. The God Complex had some really good stuff thanks to director Nick Hurran, who also did last week's The Girl Who Waited. Disturbing flashcuts to collages of "Praise him." Strange disjointed images and odd angles. Transitions like the one that goes from the whistling boiling water to the sonic screwdriver. He creates a real atmosphere, a look unlike any other piece of Who ever, and still manages to pack an emotional punch at the end. There's a lovely use of mirrors too, in an episode that is very much about facing who you are. Very clever throughout and worth the price of the ticket regardless of what else is in the episode.Fear. One of the things the episode claims to explore is the characters' fears. Certainly, we find out what scares the guest cast, but the Doctor, Amy and Rory? The Weeping Angels could be anybody's fear, and indeed, Amy doesn't necessarily drawn to that room (nor does anyone). Her fear is actually represented in the room with young Amelia Pond, a fear of the Doctor not coming back for her. Or is it his? A fear of letting Amy down? A shared fear? The script seems to call for this being Amy's room, but a case could be made for either, and both characters face that fear and dispel it, giving the capacity for moving on. I'm not sure how to take the bit where the Doctor opens a room and hears the cloister bell. Is it his room? Does he see a future death? It doesn't have the usual effect on him, nor does he die (if The Impossible Astronaut is to be believed) anywhere near the TARDIS. My take is that he saw or heard the captured TARDIS crying out, a further piece of the puzzle leading him to understand the truth of the prison.
The most invaded planet in the universe. Quick parentheses while we're on the subject of facing and accepting your fears - the frequently invaded planet bit could have been tiresome and silly, but it's got that Douglas Adams edge to it which always seems to work in Doctor Who. A real hoot! And of course, it tied into the themes of the episode since the Doctor and Amy also had to accept defeat in order to beat the Minotaur, which itself wanted to be defeated and released from its pointless eternal existence. The concept of the happily invaded planet taught the characters that contentment can be found if one only accepts change, even if that contentment comes at the cost of some freedoms. If Amy's story is about growing up - and going by the Peter Panisms, it is - her room shows her going from little girl to married woman in but a moment. And then she must end the honeymoon and get to work on her adult, married life. More on this below.Faith. What gods do Time Lords believe in? One wonders, since the show has played them AS gods. But we get no answer here. Perhaps they believe in themselves, and certainly, the Doctor is an example of that. Rory, it seems, has no faith, which is surprising and sounds dodgy. Surely he believes in his love for Amy. He is the Boy Who Waited. He seems unsure of things, but surely, he's sure of THAT. The key is probably that the minotaur draws specific people to itself, and that only Amy is the target. It doesn't matter what the Doctor and Rory believe in, because the minotaur doesn't want them. It's Amy's faith in the Doctor has allure for the monster, and it's what Amy must lose to free herself from the Hotel. The Companion's journey in New Who is to move from belief in the Doctor to belief in oneself, something that's enacted here and frees Amy from the trappings of her "Doctorly" life (i.e. monsters).
Exorcising the crush. It's a beautiful and touching scene. The plot tells us Amy loses "faith" in the Doctor, but it's more than that. He makes he see that he isn't so special, he isn't perfect, and in so doing, makes her stop idealizing him. It's in that way that she becomes "Amy Williams", as opposed to "Amy Pond" the Companion, with her unchangeable name and action figure clothes. Though there was no question she loved Rory, and the Doctor wasn't going to interfere with that, she was nevertheless drawn to him, his life and what he represented. With the illusions about her "Peter Pan" dispelled, she can now give herself entirely over to Rory. I've seen some disappointed and even angry comments about this, as if Amy had done the unfeminist thing and taken her husband's name. They're being too literal. She doesn't change her name, the Doctor does. It's a symbol. And if Amy winds up taking Rory's name, so what? There's nothing wrong with that either.
Saying goodbye. If this is the end of the road for Amy and Rory, it's a beautiful, happy ending. Not because they get pricey gifts, you understand, but because they made it out alive and better people, something RTD never quite gave his companions. And of course, it's not really the end so long as the duo are linked to River Song, and they will appear in the series finale after a short one-episode break (if The Girl That Waited was a Doctor-Lite affair, then this will be the Companions-Lite episode). Karen Gillan announced that she would be returning for Series 7, but will she be a full-time Companion, or simply make one or more guest appearances? As of now, while I love these Companions dearly, I do hope this is their real disembarkation. The Doctor has given them a happy ending and I don't want anything to spoil that. This is their "...and they lived happily ever after".
No jealousy. Toby Whitehouse wrote this and it may be interesting to compare it with his School Reunion in Series 2. In that episode, Rose Tyler and Sarah Jane Smith proved to be jealous of each other. Rose was fiercely territorial about the Doctor, and perhaps it's something that develops when the Doctor has a single Companion. In The God Complex, the Doctor takes an immediate shine to Rita, quickly sizing her up as a potential Companion. At no time does Amy resent the attention or compliments bestowed on Rita. Doc11 and Amy have a much healthier relationship than Doc10 and Rose (or Martha, for that matter) ever had. A sign of Amy's readiness to go out into the world with Rory? Her attachment to the Doctor isn't proprietary.
Nimon! The Horns of Nimon had perhaps one of the worst Doctor Who monsters of all time (debatable) - bull-men on platform shoes ambling through outer space labyrinths. The God Complex would have it that its minotaur is a descendant or cousin of the Nimon, and the facts support the theory. Not quite the return of an old monster, but good enough for me!Monsters and Doctors and Gods. In its play on mirrors, The God Complex explores the idea that the minotaur and the Doctor are analogous. Both are gods who live in infinitely transmutable pocket universes. The Doctor's God Complex is that he believes only he save everyone, and that may be as thoughtless and instinctive as the minotaur's compulsion to feed on his captives' faith. Repulsed, the Doctor removes his own divinity (in the eyes of Amy) to defeat the minotaur, thereby killing the immortal being. In both cases, divinity is lost and shown to be a "complex", a persona, not a fact. Does the Doctor in fact see himself reflected in the monster? A man playing at being a god, kidnapping people and forcing them to face their fears so he can "feed" on their worship of him? The case could be made.
Why a hotel? Why is the minotaur's prison an old hotel? Because it fits the themes of the episode. A hotel is repetitive, a mirroring of doors, floors and corridors. It becomes a maze with few distinct sign posts. The hotel is generic and impersonal. Individuality gets lost in the series of similar rooms where all there is of the inhabitant is their baggage. Similarly, the characters are lost one after the other, giving themselves over to a homogenized faith, losing their identities as the minotaur feeds on them.
Spot the guest. Did you play the game? Who's on that wall of guests? There's a Sontaran and a Silurian, plus a Tritovore, a Hoix, a Cat Nun and a Judoon. Their fears are sometimes visible. The Sontaran fears defeat, for example, and for Lady Silver-Tear, it's the Daleks. Because the Doctor says the pictures are part of the illusion to scare the guests, it's possible they don't represent actual people the minotaur has fed on. It may be more important to look at the portraits in the context of the show's mirror effects, reflecting the psyche of those viewing them. Rory's face is reflected in the Judoon and Sontaran, two aliens from martial cultures, just as Rory spent time as a Roman. Coincidence? What about Amy? Reflected in Lady Silver-Tear's portrait? She's got a water-themed name too.
A lot of food for thought. And this may be one episode that could lead to reinterpretation each time it is viewed.
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