The road less travelled...

And just in case people don't want to be spoiled (although it might be a bit late for that)...

My problem with this episode?

TOO SOON

Eleven was so magnificent and clever in the way that he defeated the Atraxi and got rid of Prisoner Zero. I needed to see him like that again, to confirm his brilliance and determine in my mind that he really is the Doctor. Similar to what Nine managed with Cassandra and Ten did, also with Cassandra. The fact that Eleven couldn't do that, that he was basically sulking behind that machine (I'm sorry, but for me that's sulking, not raging) gave me pause.

Is that what he is now? The Oncoming Pout (as I've seen with icons of Ten)?

There were bits about Amy that I loved, although the voiceover reminded me a lot of Doomsday and of River in Forest of the Dead, as I don't think it's been used since then. Her breathlessness and enthusiasm at the beginning was gorgeous and just what I would have expected. And I loved her reactions with the little girl, going to investigate the hole, and when she saw the film and rushed to push the button. Even the moments in the whale's mouth had their enjoyable parts (albeit of the gross variety).

The bit I'm afraid I stopped liking was the scene in the Tower.

All I needed to make me happy was, after Amy had hit that button, for the Doctor to snap out of his sulks and do the explaining. It's what he does, after all, be clever. But he was too busy being unhappy that Amy was right and he was wrong.

I needed Amy to be sharing that moment with him, like Donna did with Ten in the alien rock escape pod in Pompeii, rather than sitting in the corner against the wall (like a child in the naughty spot). Even if she'd said 'Doctor, look what's happening with the whale and those children' and, you know, shared her thoughts with him, it would have made me like it (that scene) more.

Instead it's left to Amy to tie it all up in a big bow.

And the problem is that she simply shouldn't know. How did she suddenly make all those connections? She's had her memory wiped, so why her? Why not, for instance, the little girl? Or the Queen? Or - just a thought - maybe THE DOCTOR? You know, the clever chap who's meant to be able to put all the pieces together? The one in the bow tie? The star of the show?

Yeah, that one. The one standing in the corner, grumpily putting bits and pieces together because he hasn't quite managed to put all the clues together. Somehow, he doesn't seem to notice everything quite as well as either Nine or Ten (or Four or most other incarnations of the Doctor, come to think of it) have managed. I talked in my review of The Eleventh Hour how he managed to miss that Amy's radio was fake, and now this.

Maybe he's getting old.

But that's what worries me. Is Amy there to save him from his mistakes now? Is that the companion's new role? 'Cos I'm afraid I don't like it. It's the Doctor's job to do the saving, except on an emotional level, which is what the companions are really there for. But if Amy's going to be throwing herself into the middle of things and doing the last minute dashes, that makes her not a help but a liability.

Look, I want to like them, but they aren't the Doctor and his companion(s) the way I've grown up with them (and no, I didn't watch old!Who religiously, but I've seen enough and know enough of how the rules are meant to work that I think I'm justified in this feeling). Okay, yes, new man in charge, but that doesn't mean you can change the show so utterly that it should be called The Companion instead.

The thing is, the Doctor doesn't have to prove himself to Amy. She's been fixated on him since she was seven. He saved her from the hole in the wall. He's been the most important person in her life for all that time, and in her eyes, he's something like a god.

However he does have to prove himself to the audience. He has to prove that, although his face might have changed, and there will be some differences in his personality, he's still the Time Lord from Gallifrey that we know and love.

My concerns are that with what happened to him in this episode, he's no longer the same Doctor.

If this episode had come later in the series, I would have adored it. Let the Doctor prove himself a bit more and then have Amy step in. Yes, you could argue that the precedent was set with Donna and Ten setting the guidelines in their working partnership early on in the series, but a) it was her third episode, actually no, it was her fourth and b) she'd proved that she had an equality with/mental ascendancy over (at some points) Ten. Even then, she wasn't stepping in front of him and solving it all. She was working WITH him. And that, frankly, is what would have made this episode a better ending.

I can quote a lot of examples where it looks as if the companion is doing all of the work, and completely independently of the Doctor, even going back as far as Rose and the Autons. And yet the Doctor had made darned sure she knew about the anti-plastic. In Last of the Time Lords, Martha is doing the longest ever cross-country run, but we discover later that it's at the Doctor's recommendation. In The Stolen Earth it's Donna who basically solves the problem of the missing planets at the Shadow Proclamation, but the Doctor is the one who pointed out, right back in Partners in Crime "How d'you lose a planet?"

What I'm trying to say is, in those moments where the companion becomes the one to save the Doctor (and usually everyone else besides), it's because the Doctor set it up first.

That's what was missing here.

The Doctor wasn't the driving force behind fixing this, and that felt odd.

I hope this pattern isn't repeated, because I want my amazing problem-solving Doctor back.

Oh, and one last thing. I'm afraid I'm not fond of obvious anvils. They tend to hurt a lot. I much preferred Jabe and Nine with her gentle 'I'm sorry about your loss' and the glistening (and very understated) tears in Nine's eyes to the constant repetition of 'the last of its kind and gentle when children are crying' bit with lots and lots and LOTS of flashy scenes of faces and eyes and hopeless miserable expressions to prove a point.

Clearly Ten isn't the only one who does emo when that particularly topic is brought up.

TL;DR: Basically, I want a Doctor who behaves like a Doctor and is actually the brains behind the whole solution, rather than relying on a companion who's had her memory wiped to fit the pieces together. And I want a companion who needs saving, rather than being the one to do the saving.

Is that too much to ask?