Who Review: The Husbands of River Song

It’s 5343, and the Doctor is on the human colony of Mendorax Dellora where he soon finds himself mistaken for a surgeon. King Hydroflax is in desperate need of surgery to remove a projectile from his brain before it moves further in and kills him. This request for assistance didn’t come from Hydroflax himself, but his wife. To the Doctor’s astonishment, Hydroflax’s wife is none other than River Song. But she doesn’t appear to recognize the Doctor, and looks at him clueless whenever he tries to jog her memory. Instead, she assumes he’s the surgeon she sent for, and insists he remove the projectile quickly, even at the cost of her husband’s life. As she explains to the bewildered Time Lord, the projectile is an extremely rare and valuable diamond, and since she actually married the diamond, she is quite happy for the Doctor to remove the King’s head to get to it. The King, however, overhears River and the Doctor’s conversation. Much to their chagrin, the King shows himself to be a cyborg, and removes his own head to prove it. He then orders the Doctor and River Song to be killed…

SPOILER ALERT!! My comments may (and likely will) contain spoilers for those that haven’t seen the episode. If you want to stay spoiler-free, please watch the story before you continue reading!

As is normal for Christmas episodes, this was a bit of a lighter story, nothing too deep or serious, though important for River Song’s story arc. In fact, I suspect part of the reason Capaldi was cast as the Doctor was for this very story. And this is the ideal moment to fill in this gap in River’s narrative. The Doctor is between companions, and has just completed a season with no major cliffhangers. This gives Moffat the freedom to write a stand-alone story with no dependence on any of the preceding season’s stories to understand it (though an awareness of the Doctor’s prior adventures with River is very helpful).

So, why do I think Capaldi was cast–in part, not totally–for this story? Think back to our first encounter with River Song (Season 4’s “Silence in the Library”/”Forest of the Dead”). When she sees the Tenth Doctor:

• She knows him, and recognizes that incarnation, even though he doesn’t know her.
• She comments on the fact he looks younger.
• She has her diary.
• She has a sonic screwdriver the Doctor gave her.

In this story:

• She doesn’t recognize him, but has pictures of all his previous incarnations.
• The Twelfth Doctor looks older than the Tenth.
• She has her diary, and names a couple of Eleventh Doctor adventures.
• The Twelfth Doctor gives her the sonic screwdriver she uses with the Tenth.

Given all the above, and the fact that River Song’s encounters with the Doctor are out of sequence (such is life with a Time Lord), I think this story is immediately prior to “Silence in the Library” (note also the fact her diary is almost full, and what that means to her). And it’s clear she needed to see an older Doctor prior to meeting the Tenth Doctor, hence Capaldi. As I said, I believe this is one factor in the choice of Capaldi. Clearly he has made the role his own, and is more than worthy of playing the Doctor for a host of other reasons.

To the episode itself, I thought it was good–a fun romp with action and wit. Sure, I could get all upset about River’s abuse of the godly institution of marriage, but do we really look to River Song as a role model for relationships? And when it comes down to it, she did only ever marry one person.

All the performances were excellent, and the effects to their usual high standard (even the nasty part where Scratch opens his head to take out the device he uses to transfer the funds to pay for the diamond).

This might well be the last time we see River–I don’t think there are any loose ends to tie up now. Of course, given the non-linear nature of her adventures with the Doctor, there’s no reason she couldn’t meet future incarnations. But personally, I think this is a good time to draw a line and say goodbye to her. Unless I’m missing something…?

There are rumors floating around that the coming season will be Capaldi’s last. That wouldn’t be totally surprising and without precedent. Not counting the specials, David Tennant did three, and Matt Smith only did three (even though he played the role for four years–season 7 was split over 2012/2013). In the classic series, Patrick Troughton (Second Doctor), Peter Davison (Fifth Doctor), and Sylvester McCoy (Seventh Doctor) all did only three seasons. However, Capaldi is clearly enjoying himself, so there’s no reason to think he wants out. This is a decision he will make along with the production team. If you ask me, I could make a case for Capaldi leaving (the grueling, time-consuming shooting schedule, the desire to do other things, wanting to leave while he is popular), and for him staying (he loves the role, he’s just finding his stride and gaining acceptance as an “older” Doctor, he already has a fine body of work behind him, so he’s not as concerned about career building). So I’m not willing to predict. We’ll see. In any case, we don’t even yet know who the new companion’s going to be! So, first things first…

What did you think of the episode? Share your thoughts on this and anything else Who you want to talk about…