I’m not
going to promise to get to all of the assorted relationships we’ve seen between
the Doctor and his companions of the years, but it is high time to talk about
some of them more in-depth, and I’ll definitely hit my favorites and the more
interesting ones. The Doctor and Rory
would fall into the latter category – although I do like them quite a bit, I
wouldn’t rank them among the absolute best.
Still, theirs is a fairly unique relationship that brought something different
to the show while it lasted (a few Doctor-Rory-related spoilers.)
The
reason these two will never be one of my absolute favorites is down to the Amy
of it all. Not Amy herself, but how both
characters tend to relate to each other where she’s concerned. Rory’s initial insecurities around the Doctor
are perfectly understandable. After all,
the Doctor is essentially Amy’s childhood imaginary friend come to life, and
the very idea of him was a hugely formative influence on Amy’s life. To discover that he’s in fact real is wild
enough; to then find out that Amy “ran away” with him in his time machine on
the night before her wedding to Rory can’t feel good, especially when he gets a
closer look at his fiancee’s adoration for her raggedy Doctor. Throw in the Doctor offhandedly putting him
down at times and Amy’s occasional habit of flirting with the Doctor, and it
all adds up to Rory being not too sure about this guy.
This is
all understandable. Doesn’t mean I like
it, but I get it. However, it wears on
me more when this dynamic crops up at points after series 5, because I feel
like the main issues are mostly resolved by the end of that season and it gets
a little more tiresome to see them rearing their heads again. Moments sprinkled here and there – Rory
thinking Amy’s talking the Doctor rather than him when she’s taken by the Silence,
the Doctor making complimentary remarks about Amy’s appearance and
less-than-complimentary remarks about Rory’s, wisps of them both jockeying for
Amy’s favor. Even when you factor out
the tired suggestion that Rory is jealous of the Doctor romantically (it’s
plain that there’s no danger there on the Doctor’s end,) it feeds into the idea
that there has to be a “winner” for her regard, that she can’t love both of them
deeply in different ways. It’s a boring
way to arrange the dynamic between the three of them, and I’m not a fan of it.
Which is
a shame, because when that stuff isn’t getting in the way, they have a pretty
neat relationship. Rory has a lot less
hero worship for the Doctor than a number of new series companions, which can
lead good moments where he gets real with the Doctor and shares his genuine
concerns (the “you know what’s dangerous about you?” speech from “The Vampires
of Venice” is a prime example, but there are others as well.) His practicality can butt heads with the
Doctor’s caprices, a necessary voice of reason at times. And just generally, Rory relates to the
Doctor more as a person than as The
Doctor, which can be fun.
And when
the Doctor is in the mood to show it, it’s clear that he really loves
Rory. Whenever they’ve been separated
for an extended period of time or been in great peril (or Rory has, for
instance, come back from the dead,) the Doctor is always ecstatic to see him
alive and well, hugging him with just as much abandon as he does Amy (to Rory’s
slight discomfort.) The Doctor can gripe
about Rory now and again, but really, the Doctor finds him to be a sterling
example of the brilliance of humanity. One
of my favorite moments between them is in “The Big Bang” when the Doctor
realizes just how long Rory’s prepared to wait so he can keep Amy safe. His admiration for Rory in that moment is
gorgeous.
Also, in
one instance of being cross with Rory, the Doctor calls him “Roranicus
Pondicus” as if that’s his full name.
How could I not love that?
No comments:
Post a Comment