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A Town Called Mercy (3303/703)

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    A Town Called Mercy (3303/703)

    Visit the Episode GuideDOCTOR WHO - SERIES 33
    A TOWN CALLED MERCY
    EPISODE NUMBER - 3303 (703)
    The Doctor, Amy, and Rory try to defend an Old West town and an alien doctor from a merciless cyborg killer, only to discover that the man the "Gunslinger" is hunting hides a dark secret.

    VISIT THE EPISODE GUIDE >>
    Last edited by Darren; 24 September 2012, 11:58 AM.

    #2
    Nope, still don't like the tweaked opening credits.

    He left his phone charger in Henry VIII's en suite? Rory, I expected better of you!

    So... early speculation: Kahler Jex is some kind of alien Mengele or other kind of war criminal, and the Gunslinger is actually a lawman trying to capture him.

    "I've matured. I'm twelve hundred years old - plus I don't want to miss The Archers."

    So after his actions regarding Solomon last week and his willingness to sacrifice Jex this episode, the Doctor is definitely getting colder and more brutal. All those years on his own haven't done him any good.

    "You're both good men, you just forget it sometimes."

    Hmm, bit of a weak episode I think. Not bad per se, just not up to the standards of other episodes. Actually, for me Moffat's Doctor Who always has a slightly weak third episode - Victory of the Daleks, The Curse of the Black Spot and now this. I liked it, and I liked that Jex was genuine about redemption and helping people precisely because of his earlier actions, but it all felt very predictable. Next week's looks good though!
    And now it's time for one last bow, like all your other selves. Eleven's hour is over now... the clock is striking Twelve's.
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      #3
      Pretty good episode, what with Solomon, now this, cant wait to see his reaction when its time to let Amy and Rory go...
      Haha, Rory leaving his phone charger in Henry VIIIs en suite...
      So, the Doctors a fan of the Archers now...
      Pretty good episode, next weeks looks awesome!

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        #4
        I thought that was a reasonable episode with some great one liners. Murray Gold's score was absolutely fabulous. I can't wait to get my hands on the soundtrack.

        I'd give it 6/10.

        Like everyone else I think next week's episode looks great!

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          #5
          Best episode of the season so far and the best one they have done for a while.
          Now that how you to a cyborg. (he make the Cybermen look like pussies)

          An the doctor is growing darker each episode. An this is the third time this season we have met a enemy that have carried out a massacre, an the third time we have met someone that did something terrible for what they thought were good reason.

          So we have a new defender of the earth, hope we get to meet up with him again in the future.

          Adrian Scarborough's played his role perfectly as Kahler-Jex an he force the doctor to look into the mirror. They both do and did what is necessary and they both regret doing it. An Kahler did is no worst than what the doctor has done in the past.
          Last edited by knowles2; 15 September 2012, 11:35 AM.

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            #6
            Hmmmm....

            1. Knew there had to be a catch with the good Doctor.

            2. OK, why the hell make the Doctor Marshall?

            3. So the Doctor keeps picking up the Ponds. Going to get messy.

            Solid ep, apparantly we'll see the Gunslinger in the next ep.
            I SURF FOR THE FREEDOM!

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              #7
              Originally posted by Matt G View Post
              Solid ep, apparantly we'll see the Gunslinger in the next ep.
              Where did you hear/read that?

              Comment


                #8
                Seemed a little slow, but that might just be because the last two episodes kicked their pacing into warp 9 within the first few seconds. This one had a bit slower a feel to it, more in line with the western films it was paying homage to. Great direction/cinematography in this one too, pretty much every shot in the episode was gorgeous.

                Woefully underused the Ponds though.
                "A society grows great when old men plant trees, the shade of which they know they will never sit in. Good people do things for other people. That's it, the end." -- Penelope Wilton in Ricky Gervais's After Life

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                  #9
                  Rather interesting episode, learned one thing for sure:
                  Don't give Amy a gun, chances are it might go off accidentally.
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                    #10
                    Strong episode, especially given the moral quandary the Doctor faces.

                    Positives
                    • Fantastic lines, my favorite of which is probably: "Justice doesn't work like that! You don't get to decide when and how your debt is paid!" Goodness, the Doctor's fire was stunning in that scene. Another good one is "Today, I honor the victims first--his, the Master's, the Daleks'--all the people who died because of my mercy!"
                    • The Gunslinger himself. Excellent costume and design, particularly the teleportation (or is that a stealth system?). It speaks volumes that he refused to take innocent lives. I especially like the ending for him, becoming Mercy's lawman.
                    • Abraxas Security Software: Incinerating intruders for 3 centuries.
                    • Adrian Scarborough's performance. I think he nailed the character of Jex. He had just the right amount of dislikability and repentance for a character of such complexity.
                    • Murray Gold's score! Murray Gold has never disappointed me with his soundtracks. With this soundtrack, he went far above and beyond his usual good job.
                    • Isaac addressing the Doctor as "son." Loved it because, in real life, Ben Browder is 3 months shy of 50. Looks great for his age, as he's even older than Adrian Scarborough.
                    • The Doctor's age. 1,200 years old now. Hmm... so it's been about 97 years in his timeline since the events in The Wedding of River Song and he's been traveling alone for most of that time as he's hardly seen Amy & Rory.
                    • The Kahler alarm system. Appropriately hideous-sounding. I'm reminded of terrible alarm clock somebody owned during college. People referred to it as the apocalypse alarm as it was loud enough to wake the dead. The Kahler alarm sounded much like that alarm.




                    Negatives
                    • As someone who works alongside law enforcement people at work (I don't have a badge myself though), my view about Jex is very different from someone like Amy or even the average Doctor Who viewer. To be honest, I find Isaac pretty unbelievable as a lawman from Nevada in 1870. I say Nevada because the Nevada marshal's office posters in Isaac's office was very conspicuous to me. Five years after the Civil War, if a lawman encountered a fugitive from X city in his town, he's not just going to wipe the slate clean for the fugitive. It just didn't work that way.
                    • Law enforcement nitpick: The character of Isaac should have been a sheriff, not a marshal. Toby Whithouse will firmly disagree with me but just as a matter of accuracy, small towns like Mercy did not have marshals, especially with a population of only 81. Marshals answered to the federal government, much the same way the FBI does now. Marshals were in larger cities like Santa Fe, Tuscon, or Phoenix. Sheriffs and their deputies handled law enforcement at the local level and they often asked marshals for help in more serious crime issues.
                    • Jex threatened Amy at gunpoint and she was about to become a hostage. 1.5 scenes later, she's Jex's biggest advocate and even wants to shoot the Doctor? That, to me, strains believability.
                    • The new opening titles. I like the changing themes with the Doctor Who logo, ranging from Daleks, reptilian skins, and wood with bullets. But the new white font? Nope. I liked the series 5 & 6 fonts much, much better.



                    Overall, there more elements in this episode I liked than disliked, and this will be an episode that has strong re-watch value for me for the Western setting.
                    Last edited by Cold Fuzz; 16 September 2012, 07:15 AM.
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                      #11
                      A Town Called Mercy

                      I would easily put this one amongst one of Matt Smith's top ten, it was flawless and one of my favourite episodes every in every possible way. Terrific set design, costumes, a straight forward story that suits the western and sci-fi hybrid they were going for plus generally a really well paced episode. Matt's performance was also one of his best and possibly one of his darkest and most relentless. I think this is the watershed season for his Doctor where we'll start to see some of his more mercurial qualities surface, a little bit like Sylvester McCoy's Doctor in 1989.

                      It also gave me a genuine laugh out loud moment when the Doctor walked into the bar and asked for tea requesting that she "leave the bag in" which I thought was a funny homage to those old westerns where the protagonist would ask the barman to "...leave the bottle..."

                      Outstanding, one of my favourite ever episodes of Doctor Who.

                      6 out of 5

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                        #12
                        I'm still struggling with this season. This episode was a definite improvement on last weeks, but so far the season still feels a little lightweight compared to the last one.

                        Early days yet, though. Plenty of time to go.
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                          #13
                          Yes the doctor getting darker is increasingly worrisome imagine an episode where he becomes just like his timelord nemesis The Master.
                          The world hath known no greater love than this, to give one's life for his friends. John 15:34

                          The banning of images in SIGs suck.

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                            #14
                            Still trying to decide about this one. Some great one-liners, as ever, gorgeous cinematography and thoughtful moral positions.

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                              #15
                              Originally posted by SeaBee View Post
                              I'm still struggling with this season. This episode was a definite improvement on last weeks, but so far the season still feels a little lightweight compared to the last one.

                              Early days yet, though. Plenty of time to go.
                              I think after the next two episodes, you will be sold... definately after episode 5...

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