C+Q - Let's Kill Hitler (2011)
Let's Kill Hitler is one of my favourite Series 6 episodes.
It's a fun, energetic rollercoaster; the perfect opener for a
new run and a great way to inject life into the midpoint of a
complete series. It is a bit of a weird one though, and I don't
mean 'weird' as in 'whimsical'. Usually the Doctor and the
companions show up in the middle of someone else's adventure and
fix everything, but here the plot revolves around the show's
main characters and recent mythology. It's strange for an
episode of Doctor Who to be so about Doctor Who.
It's
called 'Let's Kill Hitler' but it's not about Hitler at all. An
interesting story might be possible using the Doctor vs. Hitler
but it's not as if the Doctor could change history that
drastically. The episode introduces Hitler, punches him in the
face, and locks him in a cupboard, which is about as much as I'd
expect a time travel family show could realistically do with
him. With that checked off the list, the real adventure begins
with River on the loose in wartime Berlin. Alex Kingston is
brilliant as always but it's especially fun to see her playing a
post-regeneration River. That period of instability after a
regeneration is really just an in-universe way to excuse a new
actor of any weirdness while they're still figuring out how to
play their new role, so it's very bizarre and entertaining to
see that retroactively applied to an actor who's already so
comfortable. It's also a lot of fun to see a new incarnation of
River, played by Nina Toussaint-White. I'm sure Big Finish will
eventually call her up for a series.
Unfortunately,
no-matter how hard this episodes tries, the 'River Song being
Mels' thing will never hit that hard because we've never heard
of Mels before. At the very least a line of dialogue in The
Impossible Astronaut or Day of the Moon (considering they were
also written by Moffat) could've smoothed this retcon out a bit.
There's nothing wrong with retcons - after all, the Doctor being
a Time Lord from Gallifrey is a retcon. Thing is though, if Rose
can make an off-hand comment about her mate Shareen and Martha
can quote her friend Vicky, there's no reason why Amy or Rory
can't mention their best friend Mels. Of all the heavy arc stuff
Let's Kill Hitler does, the Mels retcon is the weakest. It still
works because this is an entertaining farce of an episode that
handles the reveal well, but it's a little awkward. Other than
that, River's continuity stuff is really satisfying, like the
explanation of how she can fly the TARDIS, and the Doctor giving
her the blank diary at the end.
The Teselecta stuff is
great too, and introducing it after the main mystery of Series 6
has already been set in motion means I didn't see the big twist
with it in the finale coming. It makes perfect sense though, and
just the basic idea of a shapeshifting robot piloted by
miniaturised people is so wonderfully Doctor Who. The Teselecta
gives us the first reference to The Question, and that stuff all
holds up too given what we learn in The Time of the Doctor. See,
all these pieces fitting into place and being well set-up in
advance of their pay-off is what makes the Mels thing stand out.
Let's Kill Hitler is the sort of episode I'm always in the
mood to watch. It's got some really strong gags, like River
telling the Nazis where she's going and Rory's impression of
Amy's accent, and it progresses the plot significantly, with the
Doctor finding out about Lake Silencio. It is kinda unexpected
that the search for River happened off screen between Part 1 and
Part 2 of the series, but it also keeps the story moving along
nicely.
Also, the Doctor's new coat is cool.
Next: Night Terrors