[shall I talk about River Song some more? oh yes, let's]

[tellitslant]

I said a lot in my original reaction post about how I was afraid the show might be doing bad things to River. Here, for a change, is a bit of an analysis of a scene that emphasizes all the things the show is doing right with River and how I hope this will hold out!




(image and transcript ganked from magicallaw, here)
DOCTOR: OK, seeing as I don't know what I'm getting into, for once I'm going to be discreet and putting the engines on silent. [To River] Did you do something?
RIVER: No. Just watching.
DOCTOR: Putting the outer shell on invisible. Haven't done this in a while. Big drain on the power.
RORY: You can turn the TARDIS invisible?
DOCTOR: Ha!
RIVER: Very nearly.
DOCTOR: Did you touch something?
RIVER: Just admiring your skills, sweetie.
DOCTOR: Good, you might learn something. OK. Now I can't check the scanner, it doesn't work when we're cloaked. Just give us a mo.

...

RORY: He said the scanner wouldn't work.
RIVER: I know. Bless.
DOCTOR: Stop that! River, have you got my scanner working yet.
RIVER: Oh, I hate him.
DOCTOR: No you don't.
SECRET SERVICE AGENT: We have to get the President out of here. Sir, you have to go with them now.
DOCTOR: River, make her blue again.

*

OH MAN, so much to love about this scene, isn't there? <3 Here are some of the things I particularly adore.

First, it comes just after that heartbreaking scene where the Doctor refuses to trust River. I think this is awesome, because it reminds us that even as he doesn't trust her now, he will in the future.

A lot of anti-River sentiment (which I don't so much read as accidentally encounter) points out her ability to fly the TARDIS as one of the things that make her Oh My God So Terribly smug. In a way, this scene probably just plays further into that perception - but only, I would argue, if you ignore what it's actually doing. I think this is actually an excellent example of how the Doctor and River are starting to equalize in terms of how they interact.

We get River showing off her knowledge of both the TARDIS and the Doctor just spectacularly - she fixes the engines, she cloaks the ship, and she doesn't tell the Doctor what she's doing, because that would just take too long and it's easier to let him do what he wants and clean up after him. I imagine this is a realization she has cme to through long, painful experience. And she keeps doing it - she ignores what he says about the scanner not working and then gets the scanner working.

So, sure, if you don't like River you're probably rolling your eyes going "Who IS she and WHY does she think she knows the TARDIS better than the Doctor does, ohmygod ugh." But. But! For the first time, the Doctor is using his knowledge of River to influence how they interact. And it's not that he sets her up, quite, but that he manipulates the expectation of her competence. Does he fake his misuse of the TARDIS controls? Maybe. Probably. He does so, and mentions the scanner, in order to ensure that River can fix these things, and then counts on her to continue being awesome and kickass enough to get the scanner working and save his butt.

It's the Doctor's version of throwing himself out an airlock and trusting River to be there. He has to test her a bit first, just to be sure, but then he knows she's going to be there when he needs her. And, honestly, how awesome is that? I love that this little bit shows that evolution on the Doctor' part, just a little, towards accepting how important River is to him.

They are SO MARRIED and I ship them SO HARD. <333

(As an aside, just noticed that you can actually hear the Doctor just barely managing not to laugh when he calls River "Mrs Robinson." Makes me wonder whether it really is the Doctor or whether Matt Smith just couldn't keep a straight face.)

Comments

[such_heights]

YES, THIS. :D

[fly_to_dawn]

ALL OF THIS, BASICALLY ♥

[samjohnsson]

I think part of the TARDIS-flying, as I pointed out to someone else, is that the Doctor has a very slap-dash way of dealing with it (everything). He learned how to fly the box 900 years ago; since then, he's learned shortcuts and tricks and 'what works', and has very possibly forgotten the policy manual.

River, on the other hand, has rules and practices and methods she follows. If you just read the manual, you'll see exactly how to do it. Now, her rules are very much her own, but still.

[tellitslant]

Hee, I like this approach! The Doctor goes along and hotwires things and River comes behind him and slots everything back into order.

[beccatoria.livejournal.com]

It's the Doctor's version of throwing himself out an airlock and trusting River to be there.

!!! ♥

Thank you; this makes me feel infinitely better on a sucky real-life day.

But, I have absolutely nothing coherent to add except squee and hearts semicolon.

[tellitslant]

So many hearts for them!

Hope your real-life week is getting better as we get closer to MORE RIVER.

[cassi0pei4.livejournal.com]

"...and she doesn't tell the Doctor what she's doing, because that would just take too long and it's easier to let him do what he wants and clean up after him..."

This makes me feel much better about this scene. I was sort of worried because, well, to me it seemed like River was ego-inflating, you know, damping down her own awesome flying skills so that the Doctor wouldn't feel inferior and I had had an issue with that. I like this version, with the Doctor knowing he's misusing the control and River not wanting to go through the hassle of explaining, much better.

*adopts these motivations into personal canon*

[tellitslant]

Yeah, I think River would see it as saving time to just fix things and move on. Plus Amy and Rory knew what she was up to, so it's not like she was really trying to hide it!

[chaila.livejournal.com]

All of this! <3 I think my favorite aspect of this interaction is that the Doctor himself doesn't seem to believe his own Mr. Powerful schtick? And, like, I'm a sucker for that with the Doctor. In the past River has just FIXED the TARDIS in front of his face, quite openly showing off for him, I think, and it's visibly bothered him a lot more. Whereas here, she's showing off a bit to Amy and Rory maybe, but she's letting him do his thing and fixing things quietly. But then it turns out that rather than being bothered by her superior knowledge of the TARDIS, he's relying on it, and relying on her to fix the things he either didn't know how to or couldn't be bothered to, and probably was the whole time. They're working so much more as pair. SO MARRIED.

And I also do just genuinely LOVE that the show loves this about River and now consistently lets her know as much about the TARDIS as he does. <333

I LOVE YOU, RIVER.

[tellitslant]

the Doctor himself doesn't seem to believe his own Mr. Powerful schtick? YES, I love it when this happens. River brings it out in him, kind of - maybe because he doesn't HAVE to show her that he knows everything, because she already knows that he knows everything AND she knows a little bit of everything herself... it just is such a delightful balance when they get it right.

[sophia-gratia.livejournal.com]

Okay, so I still have this sneaking suspicion that River is going to turn out to be a baddie. And I will happily accept that. Because she will be the hottest, heart-breakingest baddie that ever badded.

But I share your reading of the TARDIS-driving – precisely what's touching about it is how they go through this process of learning to read each other from radically different positions. It's one of the deftest bits of the whole episode. Love.

[tellitslant]

I have to admit I almost don't care who River turns out to be, because we've still had this amazing journey of her defining awesomeness. Really, how is she so great?