#i actually write a ton of brain dumps like this and shove them in a VERY long google doc
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Okay. So.
I started this book going chapter by chapter, but the flame was lost for a long time and I couldn’t pick it up anymore. As a result I just powered through and read it all the way to the end to be rid of it. Otherwise, as my shitty personality and brain dictate, it would’ve just nagged on me forever as an unfinished project.
I have so many thoughts about this book and none at the same time. It brings no joy, no laughter—it’s as atrocious as a book can be. Chain of Gold is such a disaster of a book, such a Mess, such unholy, godawful piece of writing that I have lost most of the words to even describe it.
I will now, consequently, complain discuss my grievances.
It’s hard to even begin from the beginning. The whole character ensemble is brought to you almost all at once, but the plot takes forever to properly start. No wonder, it is almost nonexistent. The story then progresses in extremely lazy waves, and whenever there is any momentum, it falls flat because the ball is only tomorrow so we have to wait to make room for relationship troubles or a thing is finally happening but let’s cut to this other, not so action-heavy scene right in the middle of it. Even at the end, it never really rises to a proper crescendo. The climactic battle is fought 100 or so pages before the book honestly even ends. After Belial’s momentarily defeat, the story structure really loses every little bit of coherency that remained up to that point. It’s a mess, and the book just refuses to finish itself before the set up for Chain of Iron.
The further the story progresses, the more evident it becomes how the writing alludes to all the companion stories that exist elsewhere. And at the same time they exist in this book as these huge secrets though all of it is already been revealed in previous writing—reason for Matthew’s agony, Tessa’s parentage, Alastair’s bullying days in the Academy, etc.
There are so many secrets that even the writing says there are so many secrets. That is fine. What is not fine is the flimsy reasoning for keeping things secret. Don’t tell anyone because otherwise they will die. Instead of writing compelling and complex reasons, everyone is hushed to silence by the fear of death of their loved ones because that is the greatest and unarguable reason. Many misunderstandings and a lot of the pain could be spared if the characters just talked to each other. Many of them could be solved if the characters were at all prone to actual intelligence instead of just praising each other and telling each other how clever they are.
The writing has a lot of exposition and info-dumping, a fact that repeats itself in every first installment of Clare’s trilogies. I’ve said and I will say it again, The Wicked Powers is going to be magnificent considering how much clumsy recapping of previous series like in this book has to be shoved into it. In addition to all that, the writing constantly explains itself—not only the concepts, but also characters themselves, their actions, personalities, any and every single thing. Clare throws around titles of classic works, of writers, of poets—uses poems as intros to the chapters but they add no substance to any of the writing. Again, just atrocious. A ton of words saying absolutely nothing. This book was a chore to read.
THOUGHTS ON SOME CHARACTERS:
CORDELIA. Cordelia was a nice main character. She is kind and brave and compassionate, which is nice. Cordelia is nice. It’s just that she is used, like any female lead in Clare’s writing, to narrate the other characters, especially the main male characters like James and Matthew. She’s also incredibly and unbelievably sheltered. Unbelievably. She recognized Matthew’s problem with alcohol, but does not connect that to her father being “ill”. She’s constantly surprised that Alastair is considerate of her when most things Alastair does is her in his mind. Alastair lost his childhood and his father because he (and Sona) tried for years to protect their family from society that does not understand addiction. And to give Cordelia a happy childhood and a father to love, all while Cordelia did not know any better. It just doesn’t fly by me when she is written so “perceptive” of everyone else around her. And by perceptive I mean leaps in her intuition to narrate other characters for the readers. At times she only becomes a cog in the machine that does its damnest to convince you how great the Herondales are. Just telling this and telling that to hammer it in. And if it wasn’t enough, Clare throws yet another voyeurism scene at the readers AGAIN, in the same vein as with Magnus and Alec or Mark and Kieran, this time Cordelia bearing witness to her brother and Charles.
JAMES. He has a lovely melancholy face. Crow-black hair. Amber eyes. Big golden eyes. Pale gold tea eyes. Pale gold eyes. Golden syrup eyes. Eyes color of fire and gold. Again pale gold. The burning gold of lion’s eyes. Dark gold eyes. Eyes the color of sunlight through pale yellow leaves. Eyes of the tigers in Rajasthan, golden and watchful. Tiger eyes that glitter in the dark. Tiger’s eyes that darkened into something richer and deeper, like gold of Cortana when it flashed in the air. Lacquered gold eyes. Eyes deeper gold than usual. Wild and hot and golden eyes. Deep gold eyes.
And for Alastair or Cordelia Clare could only conjure up black and dark.
Absolutely no feelings about James. He was there. He did things. Somehow he is more important progeny to Belial than Lucie. He explained Belial’s Master Plan in excruciating detail while being paraded as clever like it wasn’t obvious from the get-go. He’s amazing. He’s the leader. Leave it to Cordelia to narrate James and his awesome qualities.
“It’s about me. It’s always been about me.”
Says James before he hops off to see Grandpa. Pretty much sums up every Herondale character ever.
LUCIE. Lucie is fun. Somewhat naïve but fun. The writing also wants you to think that there ever was some kind of tension between her and Matthew once Cordelia detects it has lifted. But alas, there was none. Ever.
GRACE. This girl, so boring. I get it, she is only looking out for herself with some wicked-ass ways to go about it and at the cost of other peoples’ relationships, but still. Her mother has left her completely defenseless against harm and danger, there is absolutely no one (alive) in her corner, so girl’s got to do what a girl’s got to do to get that sense of safety.
I just really, really despise that bracelet and wish the story was already done with it. Cordelia notices it multiple times as a wink, wink, nudge, nudge to the readers but is totally incapable of drawing the line between it and James’ behavior.
ANNA. She is glamorous. She smiles like the sphinx. She can seduce multiple people in one evening. She is elegant, composed. Her bedchamber is infamous. She had the Herondale blue eyes. Her hair was the same black as James’s. Herondale black, the color of the wings of a crow. Her blue eyes were the exact color of Will’s (despite that Cecily is her mother and has the same eye color as her brother, violet-blue or not quite blue, not quite violet). She and James share the same crow-black hair, like Will’s and Cecily’s, and the same chiseled, angular faces. Her blue eyes sparkle. Her blue eyes narrow. Her blue eyes darken. She rolls her blue eyes. She has a considering look in her blue eyes.
Did you know Anna has dark hair and blue eyes? Of the Herondales?
She also doesn’t seem to remember her cousin Eugenia.
“Anna flipped through the book. There were many pages, and many names written in a bold, sprawling hand.
“Hmm, let me see. Katherine, Alicia, Virginia—a very promising writer, you should look out for her work, James —Mariane, Virna, Eugenia—”
“Not my sister Eugenia?” Thomas nearly upended his cake.
“Oh, probably not,” Anna said.”
What. The. Heck. Man.
TATIANA. She has just become a laughable villain. Though the writing offers her some empathy for her grief, the epilogue makes her even more cartoonish than the Enclave meeting after the mansion in Idris burnt down. Also, as the laws of wanking for Herondales dictate:
Herondales, Tatiana thought as she made her way to the Italian gardens. Tainted blood ran in their veins. In her opinion, their name dominated the history books more than it should. There should be far more instances of the name “Lightwood” and less of the name “Herondale.”
C’mon. Seriously. You thought you were sly, didn’t you?
ALASTAIR. The only emotionally charged scenes were between Alastair and Cordelia. I enjoyed Alastair and Cordelia’s scenes together, though I don’t think Clare understands a thing about siblings. Similarly how Isabelle never stands up for Alec, Cordelia never stands up for Alastair.
Grace has no one in her corner, Alastair only has Cordelia. And I so hate that Matthew, James, and Thomas are protecting her affection by not telling Cordelia what Alastair has done and said. There were beautiful moments between Cordelia and her brother that actually showed the depth and strength of their siblinghood, so imagining that Cordelia would completely turn against her brother if she knew is bewildering to me. Especially since, like Thomas knows little, Cordelia knows Alastair’s true nature, and it is not all angry and bitter. So this scene:
“There are some people who do not deserve one.” Matthew’s voice was fierce. “If I ever catch you considering befriending Alastair, James—”
“Then what?” James said, arching an eyebrow.
“Then I will have to tell you what Alastair said to me the day we left the Academy,” said Matthew. “And I would rather not. Cordelia should never know it, if nothing else. She loves him and she should be allowed that.”
Cordelia. There was something about the way Matthew said her name. James turned to him, puzzled. He wanted to say that if Alastair had truly said something so awful it would threaten Cordelia’s affection for him, Matthew should not suffer it in silence, but there was no chance. Christopher had burst out the front door, pulling on gloves.”
Really gives me no hope that Cordelia would remain loving her brother and knowing the truth despite everything because this is Clare. There is no gray, no in-between when someone in the Clique is slighted—you choose your side. Alastair is already singled out, just so a groups of rich boys can be the victims (though I recognize Matthew, for instance, has a big personal demon to tackle too). But it’s the singling out that always provokes my ire. Alastair who is already been subjected to racism, discrimination, and bullying. But guys, James has incredibly beautiful demon eyes and was bullied for them. And someone talked shit about Matthew and his family.
Once again, herein lies the problem I have with this setting with these kind of characters. As always, there are the characters that are central to the story, and they can do no wrong in ways that are actually wrong and recognized as that. James gets expelled from the Academy because of false accusations and, by extension, discrimination against the demon blood in him. It was really Alastair’s fault. All of it really is. None of them can do (though don’t I think Thomas or Christopher would because they are pretty much sweethearts) reprehensible things that would make them actually flawed (like characters like Alastair and Jessamine). Actually making mistakes and doing bad things, having misjudgments and misbehavior, and above all, overcoming all that and growing and trying to do better and be better.
MATTHEW. Matthew has green eyes. They also sparkle and glitter and shine a lot. Or something.
I don’t think there were many scenes where Matthew wasn’t drinking. Obviously his alcoholism is the central battle he faces in his journey through the book. But only handful of the scenes ever really had characters addressing it—or really at all. Lucie was the only one to speak frankly, but she brought it up from the perspective of James’ safety.
When Elias Carstairs was reveal to have been drunk (at least at this time, I don’t know if Chain of Iron somehow again will change the story as I know it) and that had cost many lives because of an error he made while drunk, it did mirror how Matthew hadn’t done the same yet but could very well be walking towards the same future where his drunkenness could cost other people their safety or lives in battle.
It is such a serious matter, but it was treated as an open secret the whole book, rather on the nose too which made it irritating seeing all the characters gloss over it most of the time. Teenagers can’t help teenagers, it’s understandable, but Will, for one, seemed acutely aware of Matthew before they got interrupted in that one scene. No one brings up their worries to the adults either—well, they tell the adults absolutely nothing and then try to trap a major demon in a Pyxis.
The problem of having all previous characters from TID be present in the story is also making them seem rather absent parents at times, unaware how their children fare in the world.
RANDOM THOUGHTS IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER:
i. Tessa is luminous. Tessa is wonderful. Can someone go take the keyboard away from Clare.
ii. “Your mother had brutal teachers. They held her against her will and forced her to Change. It must have been terrifying, and painful. James was silent. You know that your mother has not used her power since the end of the Clockwork War. Since then the act of shape-shifting has been… difficult for her. Painful. She has chosen not to do it.” Must have been? Wouldn’t Jem know that it was? The point: Tessa has suffered paaaaain, you see.
iii. “James had gone to Shadowhunter Academy for only a few months; he’d met Thomas, Matthew, and Christopher there, and they’d promptly blown up a wing of the school.” This is so strange to me that they only met when they were a lot older even though they are relatives and children of people that are incredibly close? Because when James is thinking about Barbara: “He had not been extremely close with his cousin—the difference in age between them meant she regarded him indulgently as a child, as she did Thomas— but she had been there all his life, kind and cheerful, without her sister’s sharp tongue, always expecting the ready best of everyone. He had never lived in a world without Barbara in it.” Which would suggest otherwise???
iv. Can the plot not always feature the Big Dumb Clave with their heads up in their own assess? Also, it is important for the book to remind that even though the Clave is being Big Dumb, Tessa and Will are doing all they can to make things better at least!
v. “The four of you are tightly knit,” said Cordelia. “Anyone could see that. And none of you is so simple. Thomas is more than just kind, and Christopher more than beakers and test tubes, Matthew more than wit and waistcoats. Each of you follows his own star—but you are the thread that binds all four together. You are the one who sees what everyone needs, if anyone requires extra care from their friends, or even to be left alone. Some groups of friends drift apart, but you would never let that happen.” Are you trying to tell me how to read these characters? No, they really are that simple.
vi. Charles, I don’t even know. Seems to really want to be a Consul, I guess.
vii. Note to self: Lucie cannot be trusted to keep watch.
viii. Merry Thieves is a dumb name.
ix. With James, Cordelia, and Matthew, it’s the same love triangle all over again.
x. Same immortal characters circle the series. This time also featuring Lily. Once they were all in England. Nowadays in America.
xi. I’m honestly not rooting for any romance. Just rooting for Cordelia and Alastair getting their shit together as siblings and family.
xii. Belial outright refuses to be an interesting villain.
xiii. Elias’ trial was wayyy easily solved. Pretty fucked up for their justice system that continues being fucked up anyway.
xiv. The Clave never evolves because the Clave needs to be the scapegoat for every minute thing that could go wrong and hinder the protagonists’ love lives/zero-to-hero journey.
xv. Only quote I really liked: “Sona smiled at her—a weary, worried smile, the smile of so many Shadowhunter parents down through the ages who had watched their children march into the night, carrying blades blessed by angels, knowing they might never return.” Highlights the Shadowhunter aspect of being a parent in their odd, odd world.
xvi. A lot of the characters in the different series are really interchangeable. Slap Jace somewhere here and I probably wouldn’t question him talking. These kids are once again another renditions of their parents.
xvii. Belial says he wanted James to be a bit older as his vessel, so why the hell he started implementing his plan before James got to grow up and mature more?? The whole plan was only to make them soft against the demons he sent. Surely even more time could do that.
xviii. This book was flat as hell. My brain is fried. This was a mess.
#James Herondale#Cordelia Carstairs#Matthew Fairchild#Alastair Carstairs#Lucie Herondale#Anna Lightwood#Thomas Lightwood#Christopher Lightwood#Grace Blackthorn#Chain of Gold#The Last Hours#Anti CC#Anti Cassandra Clare
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hide & seek; daveed diggs
masterlist
summary: Y/N L/N can´t keep a promise. (sequel to leap frog & hopscotch)
warnings: cushion violence.
fic style: drabble.
word count: 1807
author’s note: this is the third and final drabble from the leap frog series. sorry that it’s kind of short and not really as good as the other two, i’ve got a bit of writer’s block right now. like, i have tons of ideas of what i would like to write but, when i try to write, my brain forgets the whole english dictionary and is just like “qué?”.
It was official. Rafael Casal was going to kill Daveed Diggs and Y/N L/N.
The sun had barely risen an hour ago; the air was still crisp with the chill of the night; some people were just making their way home, exhaustion and last night's makeup painting their face, and there Rafa was stood, phone pressed to his ear whilst his fist banged against the oak door repeatedly. He'd spent fifteen minutes in the very same predicament, alternating between calling Daveed and Y/N. Neither of the two were picking up despite the fact he was sure he could hear their phones ringing from indoors.
It was typical, honestly, for the two to pull such a stunt on him. The poor man was juggling having to worry about his friends whereabouts and his own health, which was progressively slipping away from him as his stress levels grew from having both their close relatives breathing down the back of his neck and questioning him on where exactly the two could have disappeared to.
When they both had first agreed to spending the night apart, Rafa was quick to laugh in their faces and tell them they'd find themselves crawling back to the other by the end of the night. Hell, the two barely survived nights apart brought on by work- Rafa had once walked in to Daveed's hotel room and found him asleep whilst Y/N slept on his propped up phone screen, nothing but FaceTime to unite them during their time apart- so how in the name of Hell would they willingly choose to sleep without one another? The satisfaction of his impending "I told you so" was the only thing keeping Rafa going.
“Screw this." He muttered, shoving his phone back into his pocket. Crouching, Rafa picked up a few of the plant pots that decorated the front porch until he found the hidden key.
Quietly, and carefully, he turned the key in the lock. When the door opened, he pushed through slowly and held his breath, awaiting for it to squeak. A squeak never came, meaning two things: Daveed must have fixed the door and Rafa was safe to continue venturing into the home. Of course, he had to continue with the slowed movements and the careful breathing. The last thing he needed was to wake up the couple's four legged friend, that would only lead to an influx of tail wagging and puppy kisses being branded all over him. No, Rafa had to treat this like the most serious game of hide and seek he'd ever taken part in, on the off chance that Daveed was actually alone. The man was never a morning person, so being the person to wake him up, whether by accident or on purpose, was practically a suicide mission. Add that in with a reminder of the fact he'd (possibly) slept alone, Daveed was not going to be a happy bunny.
Rafa made his way through the living room where his eyes couldn't help but focus on the picture frames scattered along their television unit. They held so many stories, most of which he'd been present for and some he'd just been told about by the couple.
There was the cheesy one of them under some mistletoe on their first Christmas together, where Daveed had accidentally tripped over his own two feet and landed chest first into the cake she'd spent the whole day baking. There was the picture from a Warriors match they'd gone to, where Y/N spent most the night near drooling over the players and Daveed had silently prayed he still had a girlfriend by the end of the game. A candid photo of the both of them at some music festival, arms around each other and heads resting on shoulders. A collage section, filled with each cringe worthy matching Halloween costumes they'd worn. A picture of Daveed in a hospital bed, cast around his arm and Y/N sat at his side, their hairs still tousled from the kiss Rafa had walked in on before capturing the moment in a photo. At the time, they'd told him to delete it but the man was adamant they'd thank him one day when they were getting married and they realized that, without his meddling, the two of them would have never ended up on that date, in that hospital room.
With one of those things nearly down, Rafa was just counting down the hours till they came to the epiphany of his involvement in their love blossoming.
As he made his way out of the living room, the sound of a squeaky toy invaded his senses. Confused, Rafa looked down to see he'd stood on one of the dog's toys. All movement froze. He waited a couple heartbeats, to see if the pup had awakened. When no fur-ball came running his way, he assumed it was safe to move again.
The kitchen was up next. Rafa held back a laugh at the matching Mr & Mrs aprons which were hung up, mentally storing the reminder to mock them about it in his speech later on. A cupboard was slowly pulled open, a large bowl- in which countless of his favorite goodies were made by top baker Y/N- was lowered out of it and the tap was switched on, water trickling out of it and directly into the dish he was holding up.
Rafa now had to move more carefully than ever, his eyes flicking back and forth between the floor in front of him and the sloshing water in the bowl. But he had made his way safely up the stairs, down the hall and, now, he was finally rounding the corner to their shared bedroom. He could see the door had been left half open and, like the most tense scene in a thriller, Rafa took one step, two steps, three steps before he stumbled upon the exact image he'd been awaiting.
There they lay in bed, all shamelessly tangled up in silk sheets and limbs. His head on her pillow, her face buried in his neck. Casual sleepwear adorned them both- much to Rafa's own relief - whilst their outfits from the night before were strewn across the whole room. Each of their chests rose and fell in sync with one another, their breathing more peaceful than that of a monk. They so perfectly detailed what it meant to wholeheartedly be in love with someone, with no real effort whatsoever. It was such a shame Rafa was about to ruin their whole picture perfect sleep.
Eyeing the dog bed, Rafa affirmed that the pup was peacefully off in dreamland, with no sign of waking up and ruining his little surprise. He tiptoed from there onward, making his way around the king sized bed, stepping over abandoned cushions and swerving between articles of clothing. Panic coursed through him as Daveed let out a groan, rolling over where he lay. When the man's eyes remained shut, Rafa continued his careful journey to his best friend's bedside. After snapping a few pictures of the sleeping, unsuspecting fools, he lifted the bowl of water, carefully balancing it over them with his hands.
The first few drops fell onto the pillow, but the rest? They completely soaked Daveed and Y/N (mostly Daveed, he was Rafa's main target after all) and sent them both flying out of bed, eyes still half shut and wet hair dripping water all over the place. The first thing they noticed was Rafa, bent over at the waist, hand clutching his sides as laughter shook through his rib-cage.
“What the fuck, dude?” Y/N was the first one to speak, as she picked up and threw one of the cushions at Rafa, who smoothly ducked from her aim.
“What time is it?” Daveed had sat back on the bed at this point, shoulders hunched as he tried to find his phone.
“It's eight am.” Rafa passed him his phone. “And don't you what the fuck? me." He put on a high pitched voice as he addressed Y/N, dodging another one of her cushion attacks.
“I do not sound like that.”
“You do in my head.” Another cushion, this time it actually whacked him on the thigh. “I told you guys you wouldn't sleep apart and you two agreed to the bet, the forfeit being I get to dump a bowl of water over you both.”
“Hey, this isn't my fault.” Daveed stood up again, reaching for a pair of sweatpants off the floor. The bundle of fur had woken up by then, barking at Y/N's feet until she reached down to pick him up. “I was here alone last night, ready to sleep alone when she showed up at the door. She forced me to lose.”
“Oh, please!” Rafa was glad to see Y/N redirect her flying cushions at Daveed. “You practically dragged me into bed last night. I didn't force anything on you.”
“It wouldn't be very gentlemanly of me to turn away a tired woman at my door.”
“And they say chivalry is dead.”
“I brought it back just for you, babe.”
The buzzing of his phone in his pocket reminded Rafa of the fact that this was no ordinary day, where the two idiots in front of him had the entire morning to have meaningless arguments. Today, they were all on a strict schedule and Rafa was half responsible for making sure it all went well.
“As fun as this is,” He paused, redirecting his complete attention to Y/N. “you have a car waiting for you outside, to take you back to your parents home to get ready. So, with all due respect, fuck off and let me get D ready for you.”
“Fine, whatever, I'm going.” He could tell she wasn't really as bothered as she tried to seem, especially from the way her shoulders were shaking in silent laughter. “Be warned, Rafa, if you try take credit for our relationship in your speech, I will not hesitate to deck you in front of my whole family. Capiche?”
“You know, it's not too late to change your mind, Y/N. There's still a chance to rekindle our old flame and reenact that kiss we shared years ago.”
“Hey, watch your mouth!” Daveed made his way over to Y/N's side and wrapped an arm over her shoulder. “That's my wife you're speaking to.”
“Not yet, Diggs.” Rafa grabbed at the other man's arm, stripping him away from Y/N as the two tried to share a kiss. “Save that for the altar, you two.”
The couple collectively let out a frustrated sigh as Rafa guided her out of the house, both aware of the fact that the next time they locked eyes, they'd be swearing eternal fidelity and love to one another and, as much as neither would admit it out loud, they owed it all to Rafa and his gossiping ways.
#daveed x reader#daveed diggs#daveed diggs x reader#daveed diggs fluff#daveed diggs oneshot#daveed diggs fanfiction#daveed diggs imagine#daveed diggs scenario#daveed diggs drabble#daveed diggs hamilton#daveed diggs clipping.#valwrite#daveed diggs x y/n
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👁👁 maybw you could info dump
Mayhaps 👁👁
Okay, so, Zeph, who I affectionately call funky minecraft oc here a lot despite the fact that I have multiple other minecraft ocs who are also pretty funky, is essentially the Universe's first experiment with Hardcore mode, and the universe (you know the green and blue bitches from the end poem? Yeah them.) created Zeph for the specific purpose of this experiment.
Essentially, they start in one world, and then if they die, they like,, really die in that world, and the universe takes them from it, heals them, wipes their memory of their time in that world, and then dumps them into a new world to start over. The thing is they don't like, make new worlds for Zeph or anything, they just move them from one already existing world to another, meaning they're like actually moving through worlds where other people, who aren't in hardcore mode, already live.
So they're moving through these worlds, building lives for themselves with inhabitants of these worlds, and then they die and get shoved on to the next world leaving behind the remains of their past lives. Eventually, they start remembering stuff from their past lives, it starts out with the occasional, vague, incomplete memory, but it gets worse after each memory wipe, like they're brain can't handle all of these magically repressed memories, and so eventually they begin to be able to piece together they're lives in the worlds they've been forced to leave behind, which leads to them trying to fight back against the universe and get back to old lives where they left behind friends and found family and such.
They're essentially like,, my one big comfort character. I mostly build their story through like daydreams and such rather than actually writing anything, so while the themes and basic timeline of their story stays essentially the same, the story is constantly building on itself and the actual events and details shift and change a lot. It's fun to experiment with, especially when I have, like,, a big idea that complete changes the direction of the story.
Like, I have backstories for them going through a lot of worlds when they were younger, but most of the parts of the story that I actually like,, build on and stuff,, are them going through worlds from different mcyt series and I had the realization the other month that if MCC was cannon and they had access to that world it could be a big development in the way they reconnect with the past worlds they've lived in and it's spiced up the story just a ton so 👀
#long post#death mention#yeah. so. funky minecraft oc :]#do other people have like entire universes and stories in their day dreams or is that just a me thing?#cause for me that's normal but like. idk how other people live#almost all of my ocs and stories are developed through day dreaming so#also I've realized that like. while I'm okay with this sharing this story if im doing it like. completely for myself.#but if i try to like. make it for other people. like i did in july with the ask blog. i loose all motivation for it#i couldn’t even bring myself to continue building the story for multiple months after i abandoned the ask blog#so like. idk what's up with that but that's why i never continued the ask blog#it's just like. a for me thing. and sometimes you gotta have that. y’know
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Reunion
Pairing: Sam Wilson x fem!reader
Prompt: “Reunion” from Becca’s 1k Writing Challenge.
Contents: Swearing, mention of loss and trauma, awkward socializing, casual drinking, protected smut/lemons.
A/N: Yeah. I had a million ideas for this prompt. Still do, actually, but the summer heat has gotten to my brain twisting anything into something steamy. But hey, it’s Sam and don’t we all love him? But do me a favour and don’t read if you’re too young.
Reunion 58th Rescue Squadron
The scattered conversations aren’t enough to mask the warbled sound from the music dock. Country. Who the hell plays country at a get-together? On the other hand, the dismal tones do fit the mood in the room rather well because no matter how big the group originally was, it’s painfully obvious that the reunion’s catering to fewer people than that. Sam’s avoided going to these things for that reason even if he’s claimed that it’s because he’s too busy with the Avengers or something…anything to avoid looking for people he knows aren’t there.
Making his way to the bar, Sam recognizes some of the faces. These were people he trained with, entrusted his life to, and still he’s got absolutely no clue what to say to them. How ya been? That doesn’t quite seem to cut it. Some had been married back in the old days but asking about that’s like stepping into a minefield. At least the beer is perfectly cold, drawing a sigh from the ex-soldier. Savouring the slightly bitter taste, he rechecks the exit options out of habit - fire escape leading through the backroom behind the bar, another at the long side of the room, and of course the double doors that are the official way in and out of the pastel-yellow conference room of the hotel.
“Wilson?” The mirror behind the shelves reveals a guy with a buzz-cut, polo shirt, and a fading tattoo peeping out from under the sleeve. “I thought’t was ya! Good to see ya, man!”
So much for laying low. Dragging himself to look up from the dark-green carpet to face the man. “Heya, long time.”
The “secret” handshake for the squadron flows effortlessly through Sam’s limb to the delight of the guy. What’s his name again? A brief glance to the sticker on the pecs reads “L. Laker”. Right, Later-Laker. He’d made the mistake of telling a superior officer that…never did it again, though.
“Heard ya runnin’ some group on the side?” Planting himself on a stool, the former colleague gets a refill and drains it before Sam’s gotten just three sentences into the explanation on the work he does with veterans and PTSD.
…
At least it’s not a formal dinner but a standing buffet with tons of finger-food and Sam’s overjoyed to be able to ditch Later-Laker under the pretence of checking out the option. The guy’s been relentless in the questioning about the Avengers and it’s only gotten worse as he got more beers inside. Probably needs a cap soon.
Hand full of a napkin containing a veritable treasure-trove of snacks, Sam begins a search for a quiet corner, eventually finding one where just one person’s standing. Hot damn. Even with the back to him, there’s no doubt who it is. The stance, the shape of the hips, the curve of the neck. Oh yeah, the years have been kind to you. As if you can feel his gaze on you, you turn and a wicked smile tugs at the corner of your mouth, making the [Y/E/C] eyes sparkle challenging. Seeing you in a modest but tight dress…no: simply seeing you brings back memories.
He’s never seen you dressed in anything but the uniform before…although he’s seen you out of it. It wasn’t allowed to have any sort of relationship with a comrade if it wasn’t purely professional, and the flings back then could have costed your careers…probably would have if it hadn’t been for your planning and rules that prevented the two of you from getting caught. Once or twice it got too close for comfort, making Sam swear never to give in to temptation, but it wasn’t until after Riley that he managed to stick to the promise thanks to the distance.
“I thought I heard your sweet voice,” you purr.
Nothing comes out of Sam’s mouth the first time he tries to answer. “Hrmh erm eh hi, [Y/N],” he offers lamely, “long eeh long time no…see…”
Your arms are wrapping around him, pulling him into an all too comfortable embrace that allows the Avenger to enjoy the scent of perfume on warm, honeyed skin. As if compelled by some unknown force, Sam realizes, he’s hugging you back. Fuck, it feels too good.
“Let me see you, handsome.” Pulling away, your eyes roam along his figure leisurely, like controlled lava. “Oh yeah, perfect as ever,” you smirk.
“Says you…”
Sam’s hands are itching to feel your body again, to be close. It’s like time has stood still around you and he’s been dragged into this bubble from the past, falling into his old habits.
…
Oh man! ThisissonotwhatIshouldbedoingbutdon’tletitstop! Nails are digging into Sam’s partially undressed shoulders, dragging the shirt further down until his arms are restrained from still being in the sleeves. A few tugs later and his hands are roaming your back, pressing you hips close to his own. Oh jeez. The jeans are getting much too tight and the friction from your pelvis does absolutely nothing at all to still the throbbing strain.
Arching your back in the hope of getting a look at Sam’s exposed upper body doesn’t get you what you want because he chases you, pressing kisses to your throat while his fingers fumble eagerly with the zipper on the back of your dress. It falls to the floor with a soft rustle.
“So eager,” you breathe into his hair, but the whisper turns into a groan as he responds by wedging a thigh between your legs, and soon you’re the one who has a hard time restraining yourself as you rock against the grey material.
The two of you haven’t gotten further than just past the hotel room’s door, already handsy and needy, but now Sam lifts you and carries you to the bed where he dumps you unceremoniously. Damn, he could live off the laughter that tumbles from your pretty, lipstick-smudged mouth. Eyes glittering and dark with lust, you scoot backwards, not minding that the bra is crooked, allowing your boobs to swell over the seam as you get comfortable.
Sam Wilson’s a confident man, sure of his good looks and skill as both the Avenger known as Falcon and as a lover. Faced with you, however, he feels like a giddy teen again. Embarrassingly eager to shove his cock into the soft heat in return for praises…but you’re not any random chick who’ll make do with a slobby job. That’s why he takes his time stripping down completely (and rolling on the condom) before working his way up your body, and by the time his nose buries into the bellybutton you’re writhing beneath his hands, urging him for more than the lavish kisses, teasing bites, and tantalizing massage.
“C’mon!”
His fingers skim along your sides only to disappear between the mattress and your back. “Patience, honey.” The hot breath seeps through the lace of your panties and goosebumps erupt.
A flick is enough to release the clasp, and Sam can slide the bra away to tease (or torture) your sensitive nipples. It’s driving you crazy and you love it. Sliding your calves up the veteran’s thighs, you try to steer his body closer without any real hope of success, not even when you hook the heels against his perfect ass and pull. It does earn you a bite to the hipbone, though.
Warring against his own needs, Sam moves horribly slowly as he drags down the panties, kissing and suckling at the inner thighs that have gone lax under his ministrations. Soon, the lace’s gone and flat hands are shifting to find a grasp that can both hold you down and let the Avenger’s thumbs play with your clit then part your folds to let his tongue swipe broad and gentle from the entrance to the throbbing bundle of nerves, unhurried by the attempt at bucking your hips to meet him.
“Fuck!”
Sam chuckles against your pussy, sending vibrations through you. “Patience.”
“Ah! I got…oh…got no pa-tience justlikethat please!” You’re reduced to a rambling mess, hands fisting the sheets in borderline ecstasy.
Back when Sam was still enlisted, he’d be the one at your mercy and always begging for release while you rode him slowly after he’d gone down on you already. Sure, you’d blow him, to bring him to the edge or just to keep him hard…but it wasn’t until you were satisfied that you allowed him to come.
This time is different. You are the one balancing on the edge of sanity without being allowed to fall. Body thrumming to the beat of Sam’s tongue, toes curling, chest rising and falling rapidly. Skillfully, he pushes all the buttons that have you gasping in equal parts delight and near pain as your muscles clench around nothing. Cramps are lurking around the corner, waiting to pounce on your legs and ass.
He’s been waiting for it, eager to see how far he can push you now that the roles have been reversed, and the former soldier doesn’t even try to resist when you topple him over and straddle him, breasts brushing against his chest as you reach to find his lips. Already, your slick’s rubbing off against the balls and shaft of his cock. Warm and slippery, so alike and still so different from the heat of your tongue as it explores the salty taste left behind in his mouth.
Your mind is clearly set on what you desire as you roll your hips to align his cockhead before slowly straightening up. Dark eyes burn with a fiery passion behind black lashes, and Sam watches as your own hands roam your curves just to tease him. Entice.
“Damn, you look fine.” He’s always admired your body nearly as much as your soul and seeing it above him sends a surge of desire from head to toe…and to head.
There’s no reason to the restraint it must take as you lower yourself slowly, every inch sending the walls fluttering, clenching hard, and the sensation pulls a moan from you and it grows in volume as you sheathe him fully. Head back, hair messy and sticking in places to the sweaty forehead. Fuck, she’s amazing.
Careful not to rush you, Sam tightens the glutes to push just a tiny bit further. Damn, it feels good and the sound you make is so pretty he just can’t help himself but has to do it again. And again. And soon you join him in the rolling rhythm even if you shake from the exertion it takes to coordinate the movements at this point. Sam feels the speed of your cunt clenching grow rapid, feels the stiffening of your body as your back arches and he’s all you have to hold on to, like an anchor keeping you from drifting away with each way of your orgasm. The spasming tightness around the Avenger’s cock becomes too much and he too comes with a groan of your name.
You have collapsed onto him and it’s all you can do to roll off so Sam can remove and tie up the condom. When he turns to look at you, it’s with a smile on his face because he can recognize the hunger for more just simmering under the surface.
“Just give me half an hour, honey.”
#beccas1kwritingchallenge#sam wilson x reader#falcon x reader#sam wilson x you#falcon x you#sam wilson lemon#falcon lemon#sam wilson smut#falcon smut#mcu fanfiction#sam wilson mcu#fanfic#writing prompt#fanfic prompt#celebration#becca#beckzorz
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Friend of a Friend (Joey Richter)(Part One)
So like? No one asked for this but I might just write a TON of Joey Richter imagines? I’m in a Starkid mood. Might dump some Joseph Walker too... We’ll see. Requests open as always!
My arms full, I tapped my foot impatiently as I waited for the doorway to empty so I could pass through. My eyes flickered to the clock and I bit my tongue so that I wouldn’t shout something I’d regret the second it came out. I had a minor anger problem. Coming from New York, where everything was fast paced and angry, the bustle of the too-casual students was driving me insane. They were so SLOW!
Finally giving in, I grunted, “Move,” gruffly as I shoved my way through the crowd. I heard a few annoyed huffs and mumbles but I just locked my jaw and rolled my eyes, ignoring them.
Once I was in the hallway, I mumbled curses to myself as I waved through students just standing in random clusters in the hallway, trying to get to my next class. Turning a corner, I pulled short as someone zoomed by me. Unfortunately, though, as I stepped back someone behind me stepped up and we crashed together. I dropped my load of binders and books - just as the bell rang.
Fuck!
Quickly falling to my knees, I gave up and just pulled my bag forward. I’d just held it all in my arms so I could get to my next class sooner. I was always late since it was on the opposite side of the school and kids here were on some kind of drug and just chilling in the halls instead of actually getting to class like they should be. There was no point though. I’d be late. Moving around, I pulled the two binders near me, looking around for my books as I gathered a few papers that had slipped out of my writing binder. Yes, I had a writing binder. I was a writer. One binder for school, one binder for notes and ideas and character brain storms.
The hallways cleared just in time for me to pull all the papers and binders into my bag, even snagging my English book off the floor. But I couldn’t find my-
“Looking for this?”
My head snapped up to land on the Host clutched in two hands. My eyes followed the hands to arms and a body and a face. A face I didn’t recognize. Not that I had gotten around the school much since I’d been here. I’d been furiously scrambling to stay ahead and focused. “Th-thanks,” I whispered, frowning despite my genuine happiness to see my book still in good condition.
She smiled even brighter as we both stood. Shorter, brown eyes and short hair obviously dyed partly blonde. “No problem. Do you go here? I swear I know everyone and then I meet even more people.” She giggled and it was honestly adorable.
Shifting from foot to foot, I balanced between being even more late to class or being rude to this friendly, helpful girl in front of me. “Uh, I’m Y/n. Y/n Y/l/n,” I rushed.
Offering me her hand, which I took, she introduced herself. “Lauren. Lopez.”
Nodding, I pulled back my hand and pulled my backpack strap over my shoulder. “Thanks for your help, Lauren. I... really have to go.” Just as I said that, the bell deeming late rang and I winced and then groaned.
Lauren shot me a look of understanding and pity. “I’m sorry. I have free hour so I didn’t even think... You get going. I’ll see you around?” I shot her a smile and then turned, jogging to my next class. When I got there, I tried to slip inside without being noticed.
No such luck. “Miss Y/l/n, if you insist on being late every single day I really would just prefer if you didn’t come at all. The constant disruption to my class is growing repetivelt irritating.” My English Teacher, Mr. Sym, turned to face me as I froze, almost in a seat in the back and my face scrunched in a ‘damnit’ expression. He sighed. “Sit down.” I did, burying my head in my arms for a few seconds until the teacher continued the lesson and I was sure no one was looking at me anymore.
Man. I really needed to fix that late thing. This was starting to really suck.
- time skip -
The last bell of the day rang and I stood, exhausted and rubbing my forehead. I brushed someone’s shoulder. “Sorry,” I mumbled, looking up through vision blurry with tiredness. A boy with dark hair and eyes shot me a smile, letting me know it was okay and I continued on my way.
A little ways down the hall, I heard someone calling me. I turned to see a grinning Lauren coming at me fast. I’d seen her a few times in the hall and had gotten her number a few days ago since we first met and I could say we were officially friends. It was nice to claim that I had a friend after so long of sticking to myself. Seeing her gave me a bit of energy and I found myself standing up taller and smiling a bit more easily. “Hey,” I greeted as she stopped in front of me.
“Hi!” She returned. “Guess what?”
Pushing away my yearning for my warm bed, I focused on my friend. “You know I’m terrible at guessing. Just tell me. What?”
Lauren bounced on her toes, grabbing my hands. “We finally did it! We figured out all the details and chaos and such and all our practicing is down! Like now we actually have it all figured out and I know it’s going to be really great!”
Weirdly enough, with all of her vague wordings, I still knew what she was talking about. “A Very Potter Musical? You think it’ll be good?”
She nodded, giddy. “I do! Like honestly I was really nervous but with it just a few days away I’m excited now? Ya know?”
Unable to help myself, I laughed lightly. “I don’t know, but I can imagine. I’m so happy, Lauren. That’s awesome!”
Her energetic freaking out paused. “And you’re sure you can’t come?”
I pursued my lips. “I’m sorry, Lar I have two projects and my job is keeping me on my toes...”
Frowning, she gave me a very serious look. “How much did you sleep last night?”
Biting my lip, I avoided her eyes. “I, Uh, got a few hours, um-“
Her hand slipped away from holding my wrist, catching my face between her hands, squishing my cheeks. She gave me th mom look, forcing me to look at her. “How many hours, Y/n?”
My shoulders sagged. “Two.” My voice sounded weird and it was probably hilarious from her point of view, but she was too angry to laugh.
“I told you to get some actual sleep! Between your terrible eating habits and your driving yourself so hard- You’re going to kill yourself I swear!”
Rolling my eyes, I sighed. “What do you expect me to do?”
Lauren squared her shoulders. “Why don’t we move in together? We can split the rent and study together. You’ll be able to drop one of your two jobs I bet. It’ll be easier on me, too.” I frowned, glaring at her, but she held onto her stubbornness as she always did. I sighed and gave in, my caving look all she needed to return to her grinning as she whooped in celebration. “Awesome!” She exclaimed. She reached around, maneuvering us so she could loop her arm through mine. “Let’s get you some sleep, some real food... and then I’ll find some way to drag you to the show.” I groaned but it was broken up by laughter. Lauren was too busy planning things out in her head to listen.
- le ‘nother time skip -
A sigh passed my lips and I turned to face Lauren, crossing my arms. “I hope you’re happy.”
She looked around at the room I’d moved into a few days prior. As she’d predicted, I’d been able to drop one of my jobs so that I only had one now. Between the two of us, we could have fairly good meals and transportation. She had a car and we both payed for the gas and the rent. Surrounded by her smile and persistence, I felt a lot better. She wasn’t always happy, but she was always soft and compassionate and that was a nice change from the constant loneliness with the patches of Lauren happiness.
Turning to me, she placed her hands on her hips. “I am,” she agreed, nodding once. I’d gotten six hours of sleep the last few nights I’d lived here and it was showing in my increased energy and lifted mood. Her eyes looked at the clock and she smiled determinedly. “Come on.” She grabbed my hand, dragging me after her quickly.
“Where are we going?” I asked, laughing. Without answering me, she dragged me to the car. We both in, buckled, and then she was driving off. I kept stealing looks at her, unsure what she was scheming. When we pulled up to the school, I was even more confused. “Serious Lauren what are we doing here?”
She looked at me, smirking as she wiggled her eyesbrows, and slipped out of the car. I followed her, not sure if I had much of a choice to do otherwise. We jogged up to the school and I froze as my eyes landed on the poster pinned up and colorful.
‘Showing Tonight: A Very Potter Musical, put on by Starkid’
My eyes went wide as I stilled. “Lar. Lar that’s- that’s your GROUP. With like a full ass, official banner.” I looked down to see her grinning. I suddenly felt smaller as I sagged, my face softening. “I almost missed your opening night. My best friend’s opening night. I... I’m so sorry, Lauren.”
Her eyes grew soft as mine did, her smile getting smaller. “Aw, Y/n, I know how pulled thin you were. It’s okay.” She stood up to her full height, her hands on her hips. “You can make it up to me by helping me set up...” her eyesbrows rose.
Laughing, I shook my head. “I would love to do anything you need me to.” She grinned and took my wrist in her hand, dragging me inside. As we went inside, she introduced me to a bunch of people and told everyone I was there to help. There were heaps of costumes and props and I was overwhelmed. I was no aware of all that went into a theatre production, obviously. I thought it was a lot simpler than this.
Time seemed to speed past as I raced with Lauren and everyone else to get everything sorted and set up in time. I was surprised with how busy she kept me. If I wasn’t working on set up, I was meeting Meredith or Jamie or Brian or Darren or Joe or Brian (which got really confusing immediately until they explained they went by last names and Brian 1 became ‘Holden’ and Brian 2 became ‘Rosenthal’) or Bonnie or Dylan or Joe (apparently there are two Joe’s as well and Joe 1 reintroduced my stressed out self who was terrible with names as ‘Moses’ which I thought was funnier than it probably was and then Lauren pointed out Joe 2 as ‘Walker’) or Devin or Britney -
And then I forced myself to stop there because I’d already been hit by so many names and tasks that my head was spinning.
Devin stopped me about fifteen minutes before the show. “Lauren’s getting her costume on but she says to take this and put your stuff in your seat.” she handed me an admission tickets that looked kind of like a 9 3/4 train station ticket. Creative. I took it. “She wants you to take tickets at the door as well, if that’s okay?”
Chuckling, I nodded. “Of course it’s okay. Good- uh, break a leg. If I’m doing tickets I’ll busy the rest of the time. Let everyone know I’m whooping from the audience.” She nodded, grinning, and I stood to leave.
Just then, I bumped into someone tall and broad and I gasped, stepping back. “Yikes, sorry,” the person (obviously male) made out around startled, soft laughter. “Didn’t see you there.” He placed his hands on my shoulder, guiding me back. My eyes widened as I recognized his face. I’d bumped into him on my way out of English class. A few times I think. He always hovered outside the door and in my rush I always seemed to catch him with a shoulder or foot or just my whole body if it was a bad day. After all the new faces, it was weirdly relieving to see someone I even only sort of recognized.
“No, please, excuse me,” I replied, my smile apologetic.
He gave me a sort of teasing look. “I guess you’re a lot more polite when you’re not stressed by school, bogged down by books, and trying to get to your next class, huh?”
A blush instantly swallowed my face as I realized what he must have meant. I hadn’t seen him in the crowd but I’d been grumbling and curing and shoving through crowd plenty of times in the halls. He must have been audience to at least two or three of those occasions. “Uh... people are... slow.”
He busted up laughing and I blushed even harder, my hand raising to rub the back of my neck self consciously. Another voice caught both of our attentions. “Joey, stop teasing the new girl and get ready to get on stage.” I turned to see it was Rosenthal, smirking and cocking an eyebrow as he watched the interaction between us. He was honestly adorable.
The man, Joey apparently, looked back at me. “Staying for the show?” I nodded. “Then I’ll see you in the audience.” He nodded a farewell and then stepped around me, making his way to costume.
Hm. Odd. Everything about that was not how I usually interacted with people. I think all the work and people were getting to me. I couldn’t keep up.
Heading to the door, I sat at the table and chair already set up, the lock box beside more tickets in case anyone wanted to buy them at the door. The lock box, I was sure, was for money and collected tickets. It was an easy process, giving people playbooks that were also played out and then taking tickets or money as people went in. I got a text from Lauren that it was time to close the doors so I put everything in the lock box, locked it with the key I’d found on top of it, and then brought it inside to put under my chair until the end of the show. The lights went down and the show began and I found myself genuinely excited.
It opened with Darren on a suitcase, singing. He had a great voice and he was obviously Harry. From the long drawn out beginning and the hilarious delivery of swagger and sass right out of the gate, I had to say this play was definitely looking good straight out.
And then Joey came on. But he had a cheesy red wig and a sweat band and he made over exaggerated expressions which I realized were pretty natural to him after a few seconds. It made me wonder if it was a character choice or just Joey.
Watching all of my new acquaintances and friends goof off and perform simultaneously on stage was exhilarating. They were all great actors and most were amazing singers (even the weak singers weren’t too bad though I had to say) and the music and story line was wonderfully creative. I laughed and clapped and felt my stomach drop and more, all with the audience around me and I started to feel weirdly unified, as if we were all the Audience, one huge, sentient being who worked together to feed and encourage the actors with our energy, giving them their own.
At one point, when Bonnie (as Hermione) and Joey (as Ron) mashed tongues (because who in their right mind would call THAT kissing?) I couldn’t help but keel over laughing and then sit up, red faced, wondering on how I could use that to mess with Joey. He’d caught me off guard earlier and now I really wanted to get back at him. Before that though, when Darren and Jamie (Harry and Ginny) kissed, I noticed how it was more serious and effected me WAY less. Odd. Very odd.
I think watching Lauren roll around as a boy, wearing a blonde wig that was as cheesy as Joey’s and Jamie’s was my favorite part, though. Was I bias? Maybe.
The show ended and, still part laughing and part hollering as everyone bowed, I stood to my feet as I clapped. My red face was warm and I felt like I was glowing and radiating the heat I felt in my body. Lauren saw me first. She blushed at the glint of ready-to-tease in my expression and then looked away, sticking out her tongue at me. I returned the gesture.
But then I saw Joey too. He was looking at me, an unreadable expression on his face for a second before it changed, wordlessly asking, ‘How was it?’ I put two thumbs up, nodding, and he grinned.
The curtains came together and I grabbed my bag and the lock box before jogging back stage. “Here,” I said first, handing the box to Dylan. He took it, setting it down as he stood, costume already mostly off. Except the High School Musical shirt. That he kept on. “You guys were AMAZING,” I added excitedly.
Dylan laughed. “Thanks! I’m glad you enjoyed it.”
Before I could say anything else to him, I was tackled by a small body. I grunted and then looked over. Lauren, of course. “You loved it right? Totally? Totally.” She had pulled her hair down and peeled off her robes and stood before me with her familiar, regular hair and the white shirt and pants she wore for Draco.
Energetic enthusiasm burst from me. “Lauren that was incredible! Are you kidding me? Like it? I LOVED IT! Adored it! It was- well it was- I don’t have words for what it was!”
Lauren laughed, my hyper ness hitting her instantly as she bounced on her toes, face still rush red and her grin so big it was painful to look at. “Yes! Ugh I’m so glad! That’s so good to hear.”
My attention was pulled by Joey walking up, even more dressed down than Dylan. His hair was messy from being under the wig and he still wore the white shirt, but he’d put on some jeans and was otherwise officially de-Ron-ed. “I’m assuming you liked it?” He asked, smiling.
Unable to help myself, I smirked. “Well, I just hope that you’re a better kisser than your character, Richter. Not gonna pull many girls that way.” His eyes went wide and Lauren let go, doubling over in laughter as Joey simply went scarlet red. Dylan couldn’t handle all the teasing and energy and shaking his head he simply turned and walked back to the others. Probably to greet his friends. They’d had other people in the crowd beside me. He mumbled something about ‘crazy’ which made me chuckle a little.
After a second, Joey squared his shoulders. “I guess you’ll never know. Might want to try it out for yourself.” His eyes twinkled as our gazes locked, both of us smirking challengingly now.
“Okay break it up break it up!” Lauren groaned. “This is GROSS!”
Looking over at her as she shattered the moment, I rolled my eyes. “You wanted me to like your friends, right?”
Her face twisted. “Not like that!”
Joey and I both laughed. “No I suppose not, hm?” I brushed my hair behind my ear, looking back to the taller man. “Sorry, I joke too much. It was nice to meet you.”
His smile faltered. “Oh. Yeah, of course. Nice to meet you too.” He nodded and then waved a quick farewell before pushing past us into the hall. I had to remind myself that all of them had friends and probably even family here. He had other people to greet.
A sigh slipped from Lauren as she put an arm around my shoulders. “Come on, Love Bird number two. Let’s go greet my fans.”
I cringed at the title. “At least give me number one,” I complained.
She laughed, shaking her head and dragging me outside to... “greet the fans”.
--
Forever tag list: @iwannadiehere I don’t know if you still want me to tag you in my stuff but I’m writing again?
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I'm really REALLY confused as to why you and Kylie hate the long awaited beautiful Korra comics so much??? Like I was expecting homophobic nations with how sexist the northern water tribe was. + you have FN's dictatorship (they poisoned their own people of that river town with that factory) & how dumb the EK was with Kuei not knowing about the war. & I don't understand why y'all are mad at Kya.
Huh. Well, this certainly a change of pace; directing this ask at me, as opposed to @lokgifsandmusings. Which is actually very thoughtful, to be honest. She’s got her hands full with her niece right now (literally) so yeah, I can field this one.
First thing’s first, we’re not mad at Kya. We’re frustrated at what she said, and thus the scripting of her. As in: We’re pissed at Mike for writing those words. Also, how could we be mad at Kya? She’s…not a real person. She’s a character who served as a mouthpiece for an exposition dump.
Second, this is a topic we covered very extensively two weeks ago, but I’m happy to go over it again now that Turf Wars is out in the wild for everyone and not just people near a LCS. Kylie and I have very strong opinions about Turf Wars, this is true. Something we have never denied is that we’ve been waiting just as long as everyone else. We wanted so, so badly to love these like most of the fandom can. I’m serious; we’re pretty bummed that we can’t.
As for why we can’t just sit back and enjoy them, well…there’s a reason we wrote over 10,000 words on that exact subject. It’s because we’re super enthusiastic about debating and that’s how our brains work. We cover the Northern Water Tribe’s depiction of protective paternalism, and also the Fire Nation wasn’t a dictatorship; it was a monarchy. It still is a monarchy, in fact. As for that village from The Painted Lady…buddy, the Fire Nation wasn’t purposefully poisoning an entire village of their own people. Neglect and supervillainy aren’t the same thing. It doesn’t make any sense if they’re trying to spread their culture to the world through violent imperialism and genocide! They want to keep their people happy—okay, I’ll stop.
We get into all of that, except for Kuei since…why does his ignorance have anything to do with anything? Those two things aren’t even remotely related.
Anyway, to boil it all down (because if I talk about the Gestapo imagery we’ll be here literally all day): Systemic and institutionalized homophobia doesn’t make sense in this universe. It can’t exist, because that means that system and institutionalized sexism exists on a global scale. And if that’s a thing, then that means the entire foundation of the Avatar canon is uprooted. No, seriously, I’m not even joking. At all. Here, I’ll quote two sections of the piece, which I’m putting under the cut because this is getting long.
“….There’s a really good and logical reason for why sexism isn’t systemic, by the way. You see, this world has a spiritual leader with the powers of a demigod, and the ability to bend space, time, and everything else. They look to this person as a kind of Dalai Lama-esque figure (or Pope, if that’s more your understanding). And there’s a 50% chance that it’s going to be—wait for it—a woman! Sometimes a woman who lives for 230 years, murders her foes without hesitation, and establishes the laws and structure for the largest nation on the planet.
We are, of course, speaking of Avatar Kyoshi who, in a comic was revealed to have established the Dai Li. Yes, we believe show canon trumps comic canon, but when comic canon works and expands logically based on the established rules of the source material, we will point to it and gladly champion it.
Either way, this was the role model for the world for over two centuries:
Kyoshi: Chin the Conqueror threatened to throw the world out of balance. I stopped him. And the world entered a great era of peace.
Aang: You didn’t really kill Chin. Technically, he fell to his own doom because he was too stubborn to get out of the way.
Kyoshi: Personally, I don’t really see the difference, but I assure you, I would have done whatever it took to stop Chin. I offer you this wisdom, Aang: Only justice will bring peace.”
[…Insert like 8,000 words here…]
“What structural sexism could exist with this history? Especially when her male predecessor was a moron who got himself killed at thirty fighting his spirity white whale when his girlfriend got her face stolen. Yeah…we really have to scratch our heads to figure out who would have been more inspiring to the people of this world.
“…On a Watsonian level, the implication of this portrayal (where Korra and Asami need to proceed with caution) is that this homophobia exists on an institutionalized level, presumably mostly in the Earth Kingdom and Fire Nation, which therefore means there’s institutionalized sexism as well. It’s impossible to separate those out. And…this is why we can’t see the comics really being all that connected to canon. Because if you try and shove sexism into this world on that level—“that level” being where Korra and Asami are not comfortable being open about their relationship on the basis of their genders, just like Kya—then characters like Toph or Azula or Mai or Lin or Suyin or Kuvira can’t really exist, at least not without getting a ton of gendered feedback all the time.
Toph invented metalbending and established the law enforcement for the world’s cultural hub, for fuck’s sake. There’s just no way we can pile sexist barriers onto these characters, because it doesn’t fit. At all. Not with the actions they took, and not with the feedback they received.
The homophobic and militaristically oppressed Earth Kingdom allowed a metalbending matriarch to build an entire city and basically run it autonomously? Yeah, that doesn’t sound plausible.
The thing is, even if we could take the described homophobia at face-value, it raises a host of issues, and retroactively creates problematic content within the shows. Take Homophobe Extraordinaire Sozin, for instance. This happens to be our favorite unfortunate implication, and not just because it gives rise to Feminist Reformer Ozai. See, we know Sozin’s aim was to spread Fire Nation culture across the world, since they were thought to be superior. Oops! Guess that now means an entire military campaign targeting gay people, especially since we know this started immediately after Sozin took the throne. What a really fun way of fleshing out the show, especially for kids!”
At the end of the day, this is just our opinion and interpretation. It’s all subjective, and it’s the reason why we personally feel like it was pandering and kind of infantilizing. We’re both quite happy people can love and enjoy the comic as is. But yeah, click the link if you dare because that explains where we’re coming way, way better than this ask can. Also we worked super hard on it, and are pretty proud of it!
So yeah, there you go, anon. That’s the why and how and what of it.
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Ch. 1: “The Lie of the Land” Analysis Doctor Who S10-8: The Land of Fiction in the Library Metaphor, Trojan Horse & More Star Trek
NOTE:
TPEW = “The Pyramid at the End of the World”
TRODM = “The Return of Doctor Mysterio”
THORS = “The Husbands of River Song”
CAL = Charlotte Abigail Lux, the little girl from the Library
Nightmares Are Real: Don’t Trust What You Think You Know
There are multiple fake outs going on in “The Lie of the Land” beyond what the episode wants us to believe in the canon. Don’t trust what you think you know about it. We really are experiencing things from CAL’s point of view, where CAL, of course, is a mirror for the Doctor/Master. Her real world was a lie and the nightmares were real. Did you catch the Library metaphor?
Furthermore, did you catch the “fiction factory” sign, which is shown below (red arrow)? If you missed it, there are other ways to tell this episode is not what it seems. I’ll show you some examples of how to tell what we think we know to be true is actually a lie. BTW, this is the first time I remember DW actually putting the “fiction” word in print in this way.
One wrong thing in the image above is the binocular-type vision. Nardole is looking out the window without binoculars, so this image is wrong. It’s just one of many examples of the subtle wrongness in this episode versus the glaring wrongness in the previous one.
Because things don’t necessarily look ridiculous, like in TPEW, DW can lull us into believing what we are told. It’s psychological manipulation, just like what the Doctor, Bill, and Nardole are experiencing.
Don’t fall for it. I’ll show you in a few minutes how this is all connected to a mind-bending, Classic Who story from the 2nd Doctor. It’s the original Library story.
All of this is so cool in a way because Moffat and company are showing us, instead of telling us, so we can experience the difficulties the Doctor and everyone else are having.
However, it’s scary at the same time. For me, psychological horror is the scariest type of horror, so the 10th Doctor episode “Midnight” is the scariest episode: possession and a witch hunt – mob mentality. But that’s what the 12th Doctor’s arc is partially about, as the “Midnight” episode tells us.
Curve Balls for Season 10: Musical Mirrors & Faces
“The Lie of the Land” is one of the most complex episodes ever when it comes to subtext. There are multiple fake outs going on with multiple Doctors and multiple mirrors. Sorting it all out isn’t easy. And there isn’t time enough from week to week to give you more than the most important issues on any of the episodes, let alone get into some extremely complicated issues.
On top of that, we are dealing with the 12th Doctor and the complex issues that come with him.
In fact, back in my Chapter 14 of Fairytales and Romance in Doctor Who, which was my first chapter of my post-airing analysis for “The Return of Doctor Mysterio,” I gave some reasons why the 12th Doctor is the most complicated. Here’s what I said:
Capaldi’s Doctor is the most complicated of them all, and here are some reasons why:
· The 12th Doctor is the culmination of several storylines
· The story is non-linear, especially with the 12th Doctor helping to time lock the Time War before we saw his regeneration. He is playing multiple roles in more challenging ways. I’m including his character in Pompeii, who was actually the Doctor, living as a human.
· 12 o’clock is a time for transformation in many horror stories and fairytales
· The 12th Doctor is going through the Great Work and is changing without regenerations, so it’s harder to see that upon integration with a companion, he has a newborn consciousness.
· He is the composite of multiple integrations with companions in an arc, rather than just an episode.
· He is a three-fold man (3 hidden faces)
· His timeline is going backwards
I forgot to add gender change to the list above when I wrote it.
Now, not only do we have all of this, but also Season 10 is on steroids with complications. I haven’t mentioned this before due to not only the lack of time, but also I wanted to get experience with how Season 10 episodes were constructed to give you the best picture of what is happening.
There are tons of curve balls and fast balls coming at us right from the start in Season 10, which is why in my previous analysis on TPEW, I said don’t start with your own subtext analysis in Season 10. Start with seasons 8 and 9, especially if you are a beginner.
Not only do we have the list of complications above, but also we have multiple versions of not just the Doctor, but also Bill and Nardole. I’ll get to Missy and the fake out with her.
Then, we have overloaded mirrors. For example, Bill is playing the Doctor and all of the companions that I listed back in my analysis on “The Pilot.” Clara represented all the companions too, as “The Name of the Doctor” shows us.
However, Bill is different in that one minute she can be the Doctor, the next River, the next after that Ace, and then Donna, etc. Nardole is the same way, and so is the Doctor. Everyone is playing someone you might not expect, unless you read the subtext clues.
This is so different from what has come before. Therefore, Season 10 is a test of our subtext-reading skills. Many of the normal subtext cues, for the most part, aren’t there. Instead, they are replaced with other metaphors that have been mentioned previously, but not or rarely used. Or there are new metaphors to understand, like the Eye of Harmony on the Doctor’s desk. Or there are references to other episodes that require knowledge of those to figure out who is playing whom.
It’s musical mirrors and faces. I’ll give you some examples in a bit.
BTW, I call someone a face of the Doctor when they have been defined as a Doctor in the subtext. These people aren’t just mirrors, who have some similar characteristics. As an example, Erica from TPEW was assigned 2 numbers, representing Doctors 29 and 30, but also as reinforcement she is associated with the Greek Cross. In another example, Bill has numbers assigned to her that can change, just like any Doctor. Clara, River, Amy, Rory, and Wilfred (Donna’s grandfather) for example, all have had numbers assigned to them.
Moffat and company intentionally want to make reading subtext extremely difficult for Season 10, so the surprises aren’t spoiled. Additionally, with Capaldi leaving, that’s just crunching everything further into really cryptic episodes. There’s a lot of story left to tell, so I imagine that we will get a big data dump in the next 4 episodes before the Christmas special.
I mentioned fastballs. I feel like I’m a batter at the plate being thrown both curve balls and fastballs and I have to try to keep up. Normally, things don’t happen this quickly in the subtext like they are. A great deal of patience is usually required to see things play out and pay off, like over months and years. But this rapid pace of the subtext is just another complication of the 12th Doctor because he is the focus of the very long DW story. Things transform when the clock strikes 12.
How This Affects My Thinking
You may recognize the term “mind palace” from Sherlock. If you don’t watch the series, Sherlock Holmes, when he thinks deeply, goes into his mind palace mode to think. When he does this, the show projects his thoughts in mid air. He is deeply concentrating and has to have no other distractions. It’s pretty cool because you can watch him recognizing patterns, rearranging thoughts by using his hands, connecting the dots, shoving some ideas away with his hands, etc. Of course, it’s all in his mind.
That analogy is very similar to what I do.
If I weren’t writing these analyses, I would be deeply pondering some things against what I already know. It’s like I run simulations in my head of various situations and how they play out. It’s hard to explain, but this is an analogy of how I deeply contemplate the subtext ideas within my mind. I run through all my relevant hypotheses, conclusions, and things that are just ideas, which I haven’t made any hypotheses about them yet. I test things, shoving some ideas out while refining others. Then, I go back to re-watch whatever episodes are necessary to test any hypotheses, new ideas, etc. to see how they hold up. It’s a very iterative process, so I do that over and over.
However, writing these analyses takes up all my spare time, and I have limited time to explain the main points, as it is, in ways that hopefully are understandable. That takes a bit of planning. By going through the exercise of writing all of this out for you, I now realize that I think about the really deep stuff on a totally different level than I do with these analyses. And since I want to get at least some sleep and not have my brain explode trying to do both levels, I have no time to ponder some big questions. I would be re-watching some previous episodes, too, to check out a few things.
Dreams Quandary, the 2-Year-Old Simulation Idea & the Game
A couple of years ago, I was in a quandary about how DW was going pull off all the dreaming. My daughter and I had numerous discussions about the problems of having the Doctor in dreams the whole time. Missy’s statement about Clara from the Season 8 episode “Death in Heaven” got me thinking.
MISSY: Cos she's perfect, innit? The control freak and the man who should never be controlled. You'd go to hell if she asked. And she would. The phone's ringing, Doctor. Can you hear that? Now that is the sound of your chain being yanked. Heel, Doctor! (as Clara) Help me, Doctor. Help me. Help me, Doctor.
How would you control a man who should never be controlled? You keep him unaware of his situation in an altered reality. However, the altered reality can’t be all dreams, as in normal dreaming. It can’t be something that doesn’t count in the end. The Doctor has to be learning all along. Otherwise, it would cheapen the whole experience.
I came up with an idea back then that I want to throw out to you. I don’t know if this is the case. Well, part of it just became canon this season, but it’s the rest of it that may or may not be correct.
After “Death in Heaven,” I came up with the idea of that the Doctor was in a simulation, which has now become canon, but that’s not all. The simulation keeps him in an altered reality while he tries to learn how not to blow up the universe. It’s like a flight simulator game, where you learn how not to crash a plane. He’s being tested through a game. Sure, we’ve seen the Test of Shadows, but my thoughts went way beyond that. This test could be the endpoint of his journey, or it could be one of the nested altered realities.
Is this the case? This is one of the big questions I would run through my deep mental analysis, given all the new Season 10 information, if I weren’t writing these analyses.
The idea of this being a game comes up in multiple places, including the latest in “Extremis,” and it goes all the way back to a very important 2nd Doctor episode.
“Extremis”
DOCTOR: Goodbye to the truth? I came a long way to read that book! Two thousand years at the last count. If you don't want me to read it, you could have stopped me any time you wanted. Why the play acting? This is not a game.
(The figure opens its mouth, and a voice is heard. This might not mean anything to you, but the voice is provided by Tim Bentinck, 12th Earl of Portland, better known to millions as David Archer...)
MONK: This is a game.
Later, the Doctor talks about a game with Bill:
BILL: The numbers. I said them, too.
DOCTOR: I know. So did I. The trouble is, when simulants develop enough independent intelligence to realise what they are, there's a risk they'll rebel. Those deaths, they weren't suicide. Those were people escaping. It's like, er, Super Mario figuring out what's going on, deleting himself from the game because he's sick of dying.
“The Long Game,” “Bad Wolf,” & “Parting of the Ways”
The Game Station on Satellite Five plays a huge role in three 9th Doctor episodes, “The Long Game,” “Bad Wolf,” and “Parting of the Ways.”
Here’s what the TARDIS Wikia says about Satellite Five:
Satellite Five was a space station in Earth orbit circa the year 199,909. It was a hallmark of the Fourth Great and Bountiful Human Empire, though the reputation that was built up about the satellite across time and space was not what it appeared to be. Satellite Five was deliberately framed in eyes of the public as an innocent technological vestige of humanity to turn their attention away from the ideas it could be subject to corruption, which let its controllers secretly manipulate Earth into a subservient dictatorship. It served as the centre of two major conflicts that threatened the welfare of the planet below, while the residents of Earth were never made aware of the truths behind the facade.
This sounds suspiciously like what is happening with the Monks. Except the Daleks are behind the Game Station. Here we are back at the idea that Daleks are involved. We looked at that in multiple chapters in Fairytales and Romance in Doctor Who.
However, check out something in “The Lie of the Land.” There is a Greek Cross on the wall (red arrow) in the image with the Daleks being blown up by the Monks. Once again, the subtext is saying the Doctor’s body is a Dalek, which is what “Into the Dalek” subtext says. When we examined this, I asked the question is it literal or metaphorical, like the blindness? There’s also a sign on the back wall (white arrow) that is shaped like an “Into the Dalek” sign, although it’s not the Aristotle, the ship the episode took place on.
Heather in “The Pilot” looked like a Dalek at one point, and she is a mirror of the Doctor, which we examined.
“War Games”
“War Games” is the last 2nd Doctor episode and my favorite 2nd Doctor episode, although I haven’t seen very many of his. We see people in various wars, like the American Civil War and WWI. Different time zones are overseen by the War Lords, who kidnap large numbers of human soldiers in order to create an army to conquer the galaxy. The War Chief is a Time Lord, as the Doctor at the end discovers. The Time Lords accuse the Doctor of breaking their laws of non-interference, and he gets punished – sentenced to regenerate and live on Earth without a working TARDIS, which is similar to where he starts with Season 10.
The opening of “The Magician’s Apprentice,” where we see young Davros, opens on Skaro with technology from different time periods. It’s most likely a reference to “War Games.”
The Monks’ and Doctor’s Simulations
Both the Doctor and the Monks are running simulations to test each other.
Back in “Extremis,” the Doctor was talking to Bill about the Veritas’ Test of Shadows:
DOCTOR: Yes. Let's bring the story up to date, Bill. Imagine an alien life form of immense power and sophistication, and it wants to conquer the Earth. So it runs a simulation. A holographic simulation of all of Earth's history and every person alive on the surface. A practice Earth, to assess the abilities of the resident population. Especially the ones smart enough to realise that they are just simulants inside a great big computer game.
There’s testing going on to assess abilities, and the Doctor mentions a game, again.
In TPEW, the Doctor tells Bill:
DOCTOR: Funny thing, fear, isn't it? Once it rules you, you're even afraid to admit what's scaring you. For the record, I, for one, fully understand my weakness.
Later, he tells her:
DOCTOR: Well, every trap you walk into is a chance to learn about your enemies. Impossible to set a trap without making a self-portrait of your own weaknesses.
The Doctor has been running his own simulations.
All 3 Monk episodes “Extremis,” TPEW, and “The Lie of the Land” contain simulations and the Library metaphor, so we are back in the Library even if it doesn’t look like it.
The Library Has a Huge Presence
We’ve examined in numerous chapters how this is all about the Library since the subtext always ends up leading back to it, along with leading back to the Romans and even to the Vikings. The Library shows up in multiple ways in this episode, one of which is much easier to spot than the others.
In “Silence in the Library” and “Forest of the Dead,” we saw CAL in 3 different Library settings. The first setting was the part the Doctor, River, and Donna were in at the beginning. CAL thought of herself as a girl, but from the 10th Doctor and Donna’s perspective, CAL really was a security camera, floating in the air.
The second setting that we saw her in was as a girl in her dreams at home with her dad and Doctor Moon. The third setting showed CAL and her actualized face as part of the control node of the computer. In effect, she was a cyborg. Therefore, we can expect to see multiple settings with the Doctor and friends.
Before we get to the 3 very important Library metaphors in “The Lie of the Land,” I want to show you how all of this is related to the Classic Who story “The Mind Robbers.”
The Library Metaphor in “The Mind Robber” & the Land of Fiction
“The Mind Robber,” a 2nd Doctor episode, is one of the shocking surprises I got last September or early October timeframe in 2016 when I went back to watch some Classic Who to find out if it all connected to nuWho.
The Library Metaphor, CAL, and so much that has been happening is based on this episode, where we see the Land of Fiction. It’s a different type of mind-bending story that goes right along with the fiction factory sign in “The Lie of the Land,” Medusa, and what is happening to the 12th Doctor and company.
This 2nd Doctor episode is a great example of how we can go back to any episode in DW and see how it connects to the very long story from DW’s start in 1963.
The TARDIS Wikia says
To escape from the volcanic eruption on Dulkis, the Second Doctor uses an emergency unit. It moves the TARDIS out of normal time and space. The travellers find themselves in an endless void where they are menaced by white robots.
Having regained the safety of the TARDIS, they believe they have escaped — until the ship explodes. They find themselves in a land of fiction, where they are hunted by life-size clockwork soldiers and encounter characters like Rapunzel, the Karkus, and Swift's Lemuel Gulliver.
This domain is presided over by a man known only as the Master — a prolific English writer from 1926 — who in turn is controlled by a Master Brain computer. The Master is desperate to escape and wants the Doctor to take his place, while the Master Brain plans to take over the Earth.
The Doctor engages the Master in a battle of wills using fictional characters. Zoe and Jamie overload the Master Brain. In the confusion, the White Robots destroy the computer, freeing the Master.
Oddly, the person called the Master in this episode is not considered the Master, who, 2 seasons later in 1971, was portrayed by Roger Delgado, the person considered to be the 1st Master.
As far as I know, because I haven’t watched all the Classic Who episodes before it, this episode is the original Library metaphor episode. Both the Doctor and Master have been kidnapped although many years apart. The Master is hooked up to the computer (the Master Brain) in the Library, and he wants to get free. Both the Master and the computer, who rules the Master, want the Doctor to take the Master’s place.
The Doctor and his 2 companions, Zoe and Jamie, find a world of giant word puzzles, and fictional people, along with a bunch of children. They end up going through a maze containing the Minotaur, another reference to “The God Complex” and Icarus that we’ve looked at multiple times. They find the Master, but end up behind glass.
Check out this dialogue and the familiar imagery:
JAMIE: It's hard to see anything.
DOCTOR: Where are you?
MASTER: Here, patiently waiting.
(A door of hexagonal glass panels opens and Zoe, Jamie and the Doctor enter. A White Robot stands guard. The Master seats at his console, and now we see his face we can also see a large glass globe with filaments spinning behind him. The Master is an elderly bearded gentleman in velvet jacket and skull cap, wearing half-moon reading glasses. The skull cap has wires connecting it to the globe.)
Here are the hexagons on the glass doors, denoting that the Doctor on the right along with Jamie and Zoe are prisoners. You can see the symbology was set up long ago, so you can go back to the beginning and use the information I’ve been giving you to read the subtext.
MASTER: Oh Doctor, this is a great pleasure. And your two young companions. Now let me see. Oh yes, yes, yes. Zoe and Jamie. I have your dossiers here in front of me.
ZOE: You appear to be very well organised.
MASTER: Oh yes, indeed. We have to be. The running of this place requires enormous attention to detail. It's a responsible position, but very rewarding.
DOCTOR: Responsible, huh? To someone else?
MASTER: Not to someone. Another power. Higher than you could begin to imagine. Oh, I must congratulate you on the great skill in which you tackled the various stages of your examination.
Who or what is this Master Brain computer? I’m betting we are going to find out the corresponding Master Brain in Season 10. Is the Master Brain the Monk in the chair in “The Lie of the Land”? There are 12 Monks, relating to the 12th Doctor.
DOCTOR: What is the purpose of all these tests?
Here’s a reference to tests. This doesn’t sound like what I envisioned 2 years ago, though.
MASTER: Well, do you know, when I was first brought here myself, I was as bewildered as you are.
JAMIE: Well, how long have you been here?
MASTER: I left England in the summer of nineteen twenty-six. It was a very hot day, I remember. I think I must have dozed off over my desk, and when I awoke. Oh, but that' a long story. Did you ever hear of the Adventures of Captain Jack Harkaway?
(written by Frank Richards, a pseudonym of Charles Harold St. John Hamilton.)
Not only do we see clockwork soldiers in this story, like we’ve seen in nuWho, but also the year 1926 comes up again, which we looked at in my TPEW analysis. I totally forgot about this story referring to 1926. I knew it came up somewhere else but couldn’t remember which one.
As we saw in TPEW, this not only ties back into the 3rd Doctor story “Carnival of Monsters” with the miniscope and manipulation of emotions, but also it ties back into the 1926 novella by the Austrian writer Arthur Schnitzler book, is called Rhapsody: A Dream Novel, also known as Dream Story. And Amy Pond ties into that, as well.
My hypothesis is that 1926 keeps coming up because the date was originally taken from the publication of the novella.
DOCTOR: No, I can't say that I. Wait a minute, a serial in a boys' magazine?
MASTER: The Ensign.
DOCTOR: The Ensign.
MASTER: And for twenty five years, I delivered five thousand words every week.
1926 + 25 years = 1951 not 1968 when this story of DW was broadcast. Of course, we could be back in time. However, some things, along with the wrong date, are telling us that we can’t trust what we are seeing. It didn’t quite happen this way. Besides, this is an outline episode. As you can see, nuWho is greatly expanding on this.
DOCTOR: You are a writer.
ZOE: Twenty-five years, five thousand words a week. Well, that's well over half a million words.
MASTER: Yes, yes. It was probably some kind of record. Anyway, that was why I was selected to work here.
The whole writer concept is so interesting. This comes back to the Doctor being Shakespeare, River writing as Melody Malone, and Amy writing as Amelia Williams. Interestingly, we have our 3 faces of the Doctor. The Doctor is making Bill write, too. She also is a face of the Doctor.
JAMIE: And you're the one that's in charge of all of this?
MASTER: In one sense, yes.
DOCTOR: Or is all this in charge of you?
MASTER: My brain is the source of the creative power which keeps this operation going.
DOCTOR: I see. That means that you are virtually a prisoner.
MASTER: Oh, no. No, no, no.
(The globe glows.)
The Master is lying about being a prisoner. He’s hooked up to the computer, and for whatever reason, he can’t unhook the electrodes, like the Doctor does later. This is another example of why we can’t trust what we see.
MASTER: You, you, you must excuse me for a moment.
(The Master writes in a large book. We see Resistance is Useless underlined at the top of the page, then Submit your will for the...)
JAMIE: Come on, Doctor, let's get out of here.
ZOE: Yes, let's. It gives me the creeps.
DOCTOR: No, I need to find out more.
JAMIE: Well, look, you keep him talking, and Zoe and me will find another way out.
DOCTOR: Jamie, I think it will be safer if we all stick together.
(The globe stops glowing and the Master stops writing.)
MASTER: Oh, I'm so sorry to have kept you waiting. Now, where were we?
DOCTOR: You were about to answer my question. Are you a prisoner here?
MASTER: Well, no. No, I wouldn't say that. In fact, I rather like being here. I have everything I could possibly want.
We know this isn’t true since he wants to leave.
(Jamie and Zoe sneak round the back of the globe.)
MASTER: This vast library with all the known works of fiction. All the masterpieces written by Earthmen since the beginning of time.
[Library]
(Jamie and Zoe enter a room full of bookcases.)
ZOE: I don't think he noticed.
JAMIE: No. Let's try down there.
[Control room]
DOCTOR: I see, yes. And only an Earthman type creature has the power to create fiction. The power to imagine.
MASTER: Exactly. This is one field in which the intelligence I serve cannot compete. They need man, a man of boundless imagination, as a powerhouse. A lifeline, as you might say.
DOCTOR: What is this intelligence you serve, and why was I brought me here?
MASTER: Well, as you see, I'm no longer young, where as you, Doctor, are ageless. You exist outside the barriers of time and space.
Needing children for their creative minds is a theme. We saw that in the 10th Doctor episode “School Reunion,” where Sarah Jane shows up in the school with Rose undercover as the dinner lady serving chips. Children are under some kind of alien control, at times, sitting in front of computers.
DOCTOR: And you want me to
MASTER: To take over this unique situation. To take my place.
DOCTOR: I refuse!
(The globe glows and takes over the Master.)
MASTER: Refusal is impossible. You are here to serve us. There is no alternative.
The Doctor has no choice, but he never takes the Master’s place. Both are hooked up to the computer.
Master Makes the Doctor a Villain
This 2nd Doctor episode is so similar to what we saw with River’s book, written under the pseudonym Melody Malone, in “The Angels Take Manhattan.” River’s fiction comes alive. When Amy starts reading the passage about Rory with coffee getting snatched, we see it happen. River, too, had to break her wrist to get away from the Weeping Angel because Amy read it in a book. River is mirroring the Master.
Check this out from “The Mind Robber.” The Master is writing something out that is similar to what we’ve heard from the Great Intelligence.
[Control room]
(The Master reads what he has just written.)
MASTER: Jamie and Zoe realised at last that the Doctor was in fact the most monstrous and cunning villain. There was no punishment too severe for the crimes that he had committed.
(Jamie and Zoe enter with two White Robots.)
MASTER: Splendid. Splendid. Come closer, my children.
JAMIE: You sent for us, Master?
MASTER: Now you know what your friend the Doctor is really like, don't you.
ZOE: He is the most monstrous and cunning villain.
JAMIE: No punishment is too severe for the crimes he has committed.
MASTER: Word perfect. That is why I have sent for you both at this moment of crisis. We need your help.
ZOE: Tell us what we must do.
MASTER: Well
This seems to go along with the scene in “Extremis” with Missy’s execution. I’ll show you the problem I have with that scene.
The Doctor Becomes Part of the Computer
When the 2nd Doctor becomes part of the computer, check out how similar the goals are of taking over Earth is to what happens in “The Lie of the Land.”
[Control room]
MASTER: The children obeyed perfectly. Their mission is completed.
(The Doctor is in a transparent panel with a device over his head, with similar features to the robot's chest panels.)
MASTER: And now perhaps we can get down to business. As you refused to take over my post at the controls, we have been forced to incorporate you into the computer itself.
DOCTOR: To what purpose?
MASTER: To bring the whole planet Earth under our control.
Controlling the Doctor controls planet Earth, just like in “The Lie of the Land.”
DOCTOR: And it's people?
MASTER: We have no wish to destroy them. Merely adjust their minds to suit our purpose.
Wow, this adjustment of minds, a.k.a. brainwashing, is very similar to “The Lie of the Land,” as well Doctor Moon’s brainwashing in “Silence in the Library” and “Forest of the Dead”!
DOCTOR: Sausages. Man will just become like a string of sausages, all the same.
MASTER: Man will simply vanish from the Earth and reappear here.
Unless there is some type of teleporter or extraordinary superpowers, simply vanishing from Earth and reappearing in this Land of Fiction suggests that this is all part of a computer network.
DOCTOR: Leaving the Earth undamaged and uninhabited for you to take over.
Earth, of course, can be the Doctor. I liken it to CAL emptying her mind of living minds.
MASTER: Precisely.
DOCTOR: If I cooperate.
MASTER: You have no alternative. You are part of the Master Brain.
DOCTOR: So the computer feeds off my thoughts, does it?
MASTER: Correct.
DOCTOR: Then it will create what I think.
MASTER: Oh, no. No, no, no, no. You're now under the control of the Master Brain.
DOCTOR: Are you so sure? You couldn't control my mind before, and you certainly can't control it now.
MASTER: Submit!
DOCTOR: No! You've given me equal power. It's now a battle of wits between me and you.
(The Doctor concentrates hard.)
MASTER: Oh, no. No, no! Stop! Stop!
DOCTOR: Jamie, Zoe, can you hear me? Think for yourselves. Don't be afraid. You can open the book. Go on, you can do it.
MASTER: Oh, oh dear. This is against everything we ever worked for. Warning! Warning! Emergency Action. Emergency! Emergency!
DOCTOR: Don't worry about fiction. Hang on to real life. You've got to get out.
MASTER: Calling White Robots. Guards will enter the control centre. The Master Brain must be protected.
This battle of wits between the Master and Doctor is very similar to the battle of wits between Morbius and the 4th Doctor in “The Brain of Morbius.” In a few minutes, we’ll look more at how Morbius is playing a part of Season 10.
Thoughts Coming to Life, Like Medusa
In “The Mind Robber,” it’s people’s thoughts that can bring characters to life. Also, it’s people’s beliefs that sustain fictional elements that can be deadly. For example, Medusa is a statue that comes to life. She can turn people to stone if they look at her. The Doctor and Zoe end up looking at a mirror showing Medusa’s reflection, which isn’t real, so can’t kill. There is an original Star Trek episode from 1966 called “Shore Leave,” where thoughts can come to life and can seemingly kill.
Here’s an example of how the Doctor and Master are mentally dueling. The Master conjures Cyrano de Bergerac (shown below on the right) while the Doctor creates d'Artagnan, who has a Greek Cross (red arrow), showing he represents a Doctor.
[Battlements]
MASTER [OC]: The famous Cyrano de Bergerac. Remorselessly, Cyrano advanced on those that had dared poke fun at his nose.
[Control room]
DOCTOR: But wait.
[Battlements]
DOCTOR [OC]: He found himself face to face with the fearless musketeer and fearless swordsman D'Artagnan.
(The swordfight begins, with stirring background music. They are evenly matched.)
Things escalate. For example, the Master changes Cyrano into Blackbeard with a cutlass, and the Doctor changes d'Artagnan into Sir Lancelot in full armor on a horse. This concept of escalation of weaponry is extremely important. We’ve examined it before. It also comes up in “The Lie of the Land.” We’ll look at it below in relation to “The Lie of the Land.”
1st Doctor
Interestingly, I saw thoughts coming to life all the way back in the 1st Doctor episodes. It was absolutely fascinating to watch the idea of elements being introduced in one episode, only to have them manifest in some real-world way in future episodes.
The 12th Doctor Shows Up in “The Mind Robber”
In “The Mind Robber,” as in many Classic Who episodes, the 12th Doctor shows up, but he is a robot or a bunch of robots. Here is an image below from “The Mind Robber,” where the robots have 12 slots (red arrows) on the backs of their heads in 2 pairs of sixes, suggesting he’s a prisoner. It also suggests there could be 2 of him. This was shocking, too, the first time I went back to Classic Who and saw this over and over. However, it totally meshes with the concepts that we’ve examined both prior to and in Season 10.
For example, in my “Smile” analysis, we saw the Doctor mirroring the Emojibot. We also examined how Rory mirrored Rorybot, who was a sentient robot, in “The Girl Who Waited.” Then, in my “Oxygen” analysis, we saw how the Doctor mirrored the zombie in the spacesuit as well as the suit, itself.
Furthermore, going back to the very first 12th Doctor episode “Deep Breath”, we examined in Chapter 14 of Fairytales and Romance in Doctor Who, the first chapter of the post-airing analysis of “The Return of Doctor Mysterio,” how the Doctor was a mirror of the half-faced man. A cyborg.
While we haven’t examined this before because I wrote about it in my chapter on Religious metaphors, which I have yet to post, the sheriff in “Robot of Sherwood” is also the 12th Doctor. In fact, the 12th Doctor turns up as a robot, cyborg, or Dalek in many nuWho episodes, as well. The sheriff is being controlled because he is connected to gold, which is a big part of TRODM and the insectoid in the big “C” room. We examined that in Chapter 9 of Fairytales and Romance in Doctor Who.
Just about all of the subtext throughout DW shows the 12th Doctor is part of some type of computer.
In “The Mind Robber,” the robots are under the control of both the Master and the Master Brain.
Forests Show Up in the Library Metaphor
Forests show up in a lot of episodes, as part of a theme. However, I’ll only mention a few for lack of time. But keep in mind that there are some others, which are significant to the current story, like the 11th Doctor ghost story “Hide.”
“The Mind Robber”
In this story, forests show up in a couple of ways. There is a pseudo forest of cut timbers, which are made to look like a forest. Also, there is what the story calls a forest of words.
“Silence in the Library” & “Forest of the Dead”
Comparing this to nuWho, we have “Silence in the Library” and “Forest of the Dead” where the numerous books in the Library are the dead forest turned into books. That’s not all, though. In CAL’s dream part, we see forests on the curtains. In the image below, check out the trees on the curtains (red arrow) behind Doctor Moon.
In fact, Doctor Moon is part of CAL. Below is Doctor Moon’s briefcase labeled with CAL. Therefore, he is a face of CAL. He is the virus checker.
Therefore, it’s not surprising that CAL is also associated with the forest on the curtains, as shown below.
“The Lie of the Land”
There are forests in “The Lie of the Land,” too. In the Vault, there is a forest (yellow arrow) behind Missy when she is on the piano.
Not only that, but there is a forest behind the Doctor as he walks around the octagonal djinni cage. The Doctor, being Merlin, is the “wild man in the woods.”
As we examined previously, River is associated with the forest: “the only water in the forest is the river.” I wondered in a previous chapter if Missy is a hidden face of River because River has a reflection on the shop window in the Library. And the “woman in the shop” is Missy.
The Vault is part of the dream, the lie, just like with CAL. The Doctor, here, is in some ways mirroring Doctor Moon. Missy is mirroring CAL. However, not all is as it seems in the here, either, which I’ll get to in a few minutes.
A Couple of Other Things about “The Mind Robber”
Interestingly, in “The Mind Robber,” the Master wrote a serial in The Ensign Magazine called The Adventures of Captain Jack Harkoway. Wow, the name is so close to Captain Jack Harkness! It’s obviously not coincidental.
The Master ends up controlling the Doctor’s companions and offers the Doctor their lives in exchange for his cooperation, so here is the hostage situation.
As you can see, there are a lot of similarities between what we’ve examined so far about the Library and “The Mind Robber.
A Mirroring of the Doctor & River in Her Library Death Scene
I’m sure a lot of people recognized the 12th Doctor and Bill mirroring the scene in the Library with the 10th Doctor and River. Here’s the 12th Doctor tied up in the Library metaphor after the psychic force of the seated monk sent the Doctor flying through the air and knocked him out. He’s awake in the image below as Bill is saying goodbye to him, thinking she will die. Of course, they are mirroring the scene from “Forest of the Dead,” where the 12th Doctor is playing the 10th Doctor, and Bill is playing River. However, this time, the River mirror doesn’t die. The Doctor saves the River mirror in a different way.
The pyramid, therefore, represents the Library metaphor, and the seated monk represents CAL.
The Doctor on TV in Another Library Metaphor & Medusa
The first time we see the Doctor, he is in one of several Library metaphors in the episode. The first metaphor shows that he is in a mostly whitish room on TV in the image below. There are 4 light fixtures (red arrows), the number 4 signifies that he is in the Library metaphor. Also, there is the Truth logo (blue arrow). They both have significance beyond how they might appear.
The Light Fixtures & Medusa
The light fixtures are shaped like upside-down jellyfish. Not only is the jellyfish a sea creature, linked to the 12th Doctor, but also the shape of these jellyfish lights is that of the medusa. In biology, a medusa is one of 2 body types of the creatures in the phylum Cnidaria in which the body is shaped like an umbrella.
In fact, we’ve examined why Medusa is important in 2 other contexts in DW in my analysis of “Extremis.” Here’s the short version below, although I will add some more references below them.
“The Stolen Earth” and “Journey’s End”
One Medusa reference shows up in “The Stolen Earth” and “Journey’s End” as the place – the Medusa Cascade – where the Daleks took the Earth and 26 other planets. The Earth and planets are metaphors for the Doctor and The Ghost.
The Doctor was abducted in TPEW, so he is the stolen Earth and in the Medusa Cascade metaphor. Therefore, this is replaying the episode with the 10th Doctor and Donna.
“Vincent and the Doctor” & Medusa
In “Vincent and the Doctor,” we saw the Greek mythological reference to Medusa with the statue of Perseus holding the decapitated head of Medusa. I wrote
However, Vincent’s Medusa is represented by the blind, invisible Krafayis, who, because he was afraid, lashed out and killed people. The Krafayis is a metaphor for the Doctor along with Vincent, and both represent the 12th Doctor.
The 2-Doctor principle still holds in this episode: one mirrors Vincent and the other the ghostly Krafayis, which the Medusa lights represent.
In “The Lie of the Land,” Bill mirrors Vincent, which we’ll examine more below.
The Truth Logo in the Library
Referencing our image from above once again, the Truth logo has a triangle, which represents the Monks. However, there are 2 lightning bolt type symbols that mirror each other, suggesting 2 sets of people, like we’ve seen before.
They look similar to the rest of Rassilon’s logo from “The Five Doctors,” shown below (red arrow). The 1st Doctor is on the left. Sarah Jane is in the middle, and the 3rd Doctor is on the right.
The Doctor, Bill & Nardole in the Ship’s Library Metaphor with Mold
It’s not until Nardole tells Bill that the Doctor is held on a prison ship that we learn where this Library Metaphor is. The ship actually relates to the Eye of Harmony, like we’ve seen with the Star Whale on the Starship UK.
Because we are dealing with the Library metaphor, and Bill and Nardole are going to rescue the Doctor, Bill is mirroring the 10th Doctor and Nardole is mirroring River. And the 12th Doctor is mirroring CAL. He is also mirroring Doctor Moon in his brainwashing of people.
Bill looks in the window of the door, shown below. It’s a circle, which says that the Doctor is a mind of pure consciousness. He is a ghost and/or in a computer. We know he’s a ghost. Because of all the mirroring, we know he is also inside a computer, like CAL. However, the mirroring isn’t all that supports this conclusion.
Of course, we saw the Doctor and Missy in the Vault with the forest, mirroring the forest in CAL’s Library dream. But that’s still not all that supports the idea that the Doctor, Bill, and Nardole are inside the computer.
Mold in the Library Metaphor
In the image above, there is lots of mold on the walls (red arrow).
Why would the room the Doctor is in contain mold? Obviously, there is a moisture problem, but why? What really is the meaning?
We saw a big mold problem in “Under the Lake” and “Before the Flood” in the submerged underwater mining facility called the Drum. There is also a plague of ghosts.
There was something odd in TRODM where the spaceship the Doctor and Nardole boarded was dripping water from the ceiling. Why? That made me think the ship wasn’t really in space but instead under the water. Regardless of where it was, a plague was involved. Harmony Shoal was creating a plague of possessions and scar-faced people.
Anyway, mold suggests potentially harmful health issues, and the Doctor alludes to this in an interesting way in the conversation after Bill shoots him.
BILL: So you, you, you haven't, you haven't turned. You're not working for them.
DOCTOR: No, of course not. I've spent the last six months planning, and also recruiting all these chaps. Deprogramming them one by one, talking some sense into them. And there's loads of them. I could do with a Strepsil.
Strepsils, a British company, produces remedies for sore throats, nasal congestion, and cold symptoms. Some of their products are anti-bacterial, which is very important since the previous episode said there was a bacterial plague.
The Doctor is saying he has an infection, but it’s only metaphorically bacterial. It’s viral, as in a computer virus.
“The Return of Doctor Mysterio”
The Doctor in TRODM says something that can be taken 2 ways when young Grant sneezes.
DOCTOR: Got a cold there, Grant?
YOUNG GRANT: I always get a cold at Christmas.
DOCTOR: Me too. Or an invasion.
Of course, the Doctor could be talking about various invasions like the 10th Doctor story “The Christmas Inavasion.” However, he can also be talking about a computer virus.
Bill, Bill’s Mom & the Computer Virus
In “Forest of the Dead,” the Doctor mentions living minds that are trapped inside CAL’s.
DOCTOR: The data core. Over four thousand living minds trapped inside it.
In “The Lie of the Land,” Bill integrates with the seated Monk. She is mirroring River here.
The Doctor once again mentions a living mind. It’s Bill’s. The isolated subroutine, a computer programming term, refers to Bill’s mom. There’s no reason to use the term “subroutine” if we are not talking about a computer.
DOCTOR: She's filling its mind with one pure, uncorrupted, irresistible image. And it's broadcasting it to the world, because it can't help it. All those years you kept her alive inside you, an isolated subroutine in a living mind. Perfect, untouchable. She's a window on the world without the Monks. Absolutely loved, absolutely trusted. And that window is opening everywhere.
(All over the world, the word Truth and a loving woman reaching out a hand are being transmitted to the populace. The Memory Police stop trying to manhandle someone into their van.)
DOCTOR: A glimpse of freedom. But a glimpse is all you need. The lie is breaking. Bill's mum, you just went viral!
Once again, the term “viral” comes up, which, in this case, can both be a computer virus, and a term signifying just how fast something spreads through a population by being frequently shared among a large number of individuals. It’s all happening in the Library metaphor in the computer.
The Vault: Another Library Metaphor & Missy’s Con
We can’t trust what we see with the Vault. In “Extremis,” we saw the image below with the Doctor, Missy, and the Vault. There is an inverse reflection of the Vault in the water, so things are upside down with it. This scene feels so wrong, too. Things aren’t happening how we think they are.
The Doctor has so many recorded deaths to his name. Why isn’t he the one being executed? Things are running backward in this “Extremis” episode, so don’t trust anything.
Regarding “The Lie of the Land,” if Missy is inside the djinni containment field, who pounded on the Vault doors from the inside? What did she eat for 6 months when no one came to see her? Why is she still there after 6 months since she claims she could have escaped? These don’t make sense unless things aren’t as they seem.
This is all part of the dream anyway in the Library. On top of this, Missy is running a con.
Our 1st Look at Missy: the Gnostics & the Minotaur
When the Doctor and Bill enter the Vault, we see her inside the djinni container. She is playing “Gnossienne No 1” a piano composition by French composer Erik Satie written in the late 19th century. Satie created the term “Gnossienne.” There are actually several Gnossiennes compositions.
It’s an interesting term, which can relate in multiple ways to what we’ve already examined. According to Wikipedia:
The word appears to derive from gnosis. Satie was involved in gnostic sects and movements at the time that he began to compose the Gnossiennes. However, some published versions claim that the word derives from Cretan "knossos" or "gnossus"; this interpretation supports the theory linking the Gnossiennes to the myth of Theseus, Ariadne and the Minotaur. Several archeological sites relating to that theme were famously excavated around the time that Satie composed the Gnossiennes.
We’ve examined the Gnostics, the triad, and the Trinity with regards to Abraxas in my analysis in “Extremis,” and we’ve looked at the Minotaur multiple times. In fact, we’ll examine below how the Doctor breaking Bill’s confidence before she shoots him is an allusion, in part, to “The God Complex,” where we saw the Minotaur.
Interestingly, there is a set of 3 Satie pieces called “Trois Gnossiennes.” Certainly, this does represent the Trinity and the 3 brainstems “Extremis” alluded to.
Missy One Step Ahead of Doctor
When it comes to Missy, the Doctor seems one step or so behind. It’s felt that way from the start. First, he didn’t know whom she was when he met her, which is really strange since the 10th Doctor said he would always know when the Master was near. Then, she’s more of the magician than he is with her parlor tricks of stopping the planes, when he couldn’t even do the disappearing coin trick in the minisode “The Doctor’s Meditation.” Also, she was the architect of controlling him with Clara. Additionally, she gave him an army of people who died for him. He had no idea she was going up and down his timeline uploading minds to her Nethersphere.
Did Missy convert River to a Cyberman, too? I’ve wondered that for a long time.
Anyway, now the Doctor wants to know if Missy has dealt with the Monks before because he needs help.
Is Missy from the future?
The future, present, and past are an example of a triad, a trinity. What if we have past, present, and future Masters/Mistresses? We will have the past Master as John Simm and maybe the future Master as Missy. After all, River was from the Doctor’s future, so we have a precedent.
Missy’s Requests
In exchange for information, Missy has some interesting requests:
MISSY: I've got some requests. I want some new books, some toys, like a particle accelerator, a 3-D printer and a pony.
Missy sounds like a child, wanting toys, especially a pony. The child aspect goes along with what we’ve examined. The 3-D printer is a reference to “Heaven Sent” and the idea of just printing a new copy of the Doctor when needed.
Particle Accelerator & The Da Vinci Code
The particle accelerator is a reference to CERN. In my “Extremis” analysis, we already looked at how Dan Brown’s 2000 novel Angels & Demons involves antimatter created at the LHC to be used in a weapon against the Vatican. However, in “Extremis,” being things are backwards, a weapon of mass destruction is sent from the Vatican to CERN.
Dan Brown also wrote The Da Vinci Code a 2003 mystery-detective novel by Dan Brown, which has relevance to images in “The Lie of the Land.” Wikipedia says
It follows symbologist Robert Langdon and cryptologist Sophie Neveu after a murder in the Louvre Museum in Paris, when they become involved in a battle between the Priory of Sion and Opus Dei over the possibility of Jesus Christ having been a companion to Mary Magdalene. The title of the novel refers, among other things, to the finding of the first murder victim in the Grand Gallery of the Louvre, naked and posed similar to Leonardo da Vinci's famous drawing, the Vitruvian Man, with a cryptic message written beside his body and a pentacle drawn on his chest in his own blood.
Regarding Mary Magdalene, Wikipedia says
[She] was a Jewish woman who, according to texts included in the New Testament, traveled with Jesus as one of his followers. She is said to have witnessed Jesus' crucifixion and resurrection. Within the four Gospels she is named at least 12 times, more than most of the apostles.
The Gospel of Luke says seven demons had gone out of her, [Lk. 8:2] and the longer ending of Mark says Jesus had cast seven demons out of her. [Mk. 16:9] She is most prominent in the narrative of the crucifixion of Jesus, at which she was present, and the witness in all four gospels of the empty tomb, the central fact of Jesus' resurrection. She was also present two days later, immediately following the Sabbath when, according to all four canonical Gospels,[Matthew 28:1–8] [Mark 16:9–10] [Luke 24:10] [John 20:18] she was, either alone or as a member of a group of women, the first to testify to the resurrection of Jesus. John 20 and Mark 16:9 specifically name her as the first person to see Jesus after his resurrection.
At the beginning of “The Lie of the Land,” we see 2 altered images related to Leonardo da Vinci.
The first image is an alteration of da Vinci’s Vitruvian Man.
The second da Vinci image is the altered Mona Lisa, which is also related to The Da Vinci Code.
According to The Da Vinci Code Wikipedia information:
The androgyny of the Mona Lisa reflects the sacred union of male and female implied in the holy union of Jesus and Mary Magdalene. Such parity between the cosmic forces of masculine and feminine has long been a deep threat to the established power of the Church. The name "Mona Lisa" is actually an anagram for "Amon L'Isa", referring to the father and mother gods of Ancient Egyptian religion (namely Amun and Isis).
Missy & Her Con Job
As more proof we shouldn’t trust what we think we know:
MISSY: Start at the beginning. How do they get a foothold on a planet?
DOCTOR: Some idiot asks for their help.
MISSY: Well, not just any idiot. It has to be a properly consenting human mind. A pure request, one without agenda or ulterior motive.
What Missy is saying is very subjective as far as Bill is concerned because she had an agenda to save the Doctor. And then she wanted him to save Earth.
DOCTOR: It's them. That person creates a psychic link, which forms an anchor that keeps the Monks in power. They're the lynchpin.
MISSY: Scalding. Ow.
DOCTOR: But the brainwaves of one person wouldn't be powerful enough to contain an entire planet. The statues! As soon as they got here, the Monks put up statues in every town square, and every park, and every playground.
That would be a huge number of statues, which I have a hard time believing. Why not use satellites, it’s easier, like the Arch Angel Network the Master set up?
MISSY: You're on fire, you're literally on fire you're so caliente. That's Spanish for hot.
DOCTOR: The statues are transmitters. They boost the signal and beam it out all around the world.
MISSY: Boom! You've exploded. Now, all you have to do is find whoever opened the door to the Monks in the first place.
DOCTOR: Say I already have.
MISSY: Oh! Well then, you're sorted. Just kill them. That weakens the Monks' grip on the world.
Here, Missy says, “Just kill them” to weaken the Monks’ grip.
DOCTOR: No, no. No, no, that can't be right. There are planets that the Monks have ruled for thousands of years.
MISSY: It's passed on through the bloodline. Usually the lynchpin goes on to lead a normal life, have their own family, and the link is passed down through the generations.
It seems very odd that a psychic link could be passed on in the bloodline. We do know from “The Curse of Fenric” that the curse is passed down through the generations. However, no one said anything about a psychic link. I have a hard time believing this.
DOCTOR: But the Monks must have worked that out. They've been doing this for millennia.
MISSY: Why? If the link is passed on, the Monks stay in charge, through, they think, their ruthlessness and efficiency. But if the lynchpin dies and the link isn't passed on, and the Monks get booted off the planet, well, they just chalk it up to experience.
Missy starts playing “The Entertainer” a classic piano rag written by Scott Joplin in 1902. It’s the theme music for the movie The Sting. Wikipedia says, “The Sting is a 1973 American caper film set in September 1936, involving a complicated plot by two professional grifters (Paul Newman and Robert Redford) to con a mob boss (Robert Shaw).”
In “Hell Bent,” the gang boss is defined as Rassilon. Clara says, “And there was this gang boss and he wanted to kill you.” The Doctor is mirroring Rassilon, at times, in “The Lie of the Land.”
Missy is running a con. First she says the lynchpin has to die, then she tells Bill she shouldn’t die. Just become a husk. Interestingly, Caecilius’ first name is Lobus meaning husk or pod. Bill represents Caecilius because her jacket had the volcano on it.
In fact, interestingly the display on the supply ship that Nardole and Bill were on has the word “slave” (yellow arrow) and next to “Corp” is “Conning Station” (red arrow). All the ship scenes were just wrong anyway, so it’s all a con.
BILL: No, it's okay. I want to speak to her.
MISSY: Yes?
BILL: So when you defeated the Monks, that's how you did it?
MISSY: Well, at this point, all that was left of the bloodline was a wee girl, and I just pushed her into a volcano.
BILL: It's me. The lynchpin is me.
MISSY: Awkward.
BILL: So you're saying I have to die.
MISSY: No. If you were just to die, everyone's false memories would have to fade, and that could take ages. It's actually better if you keep breathing, if your brain just keeps transmitting, well, nothing. That would blot out the residue false memories.
BILL: What would be left of me?
MISSY: You'd be a husk. Completely and irrevocably brain-dead. You couldn't even get on Celebrity Love Island.
Missy & Tears
At the end of the episode with Missy, we see tears. Her words don’t ring true to me. In fact, her words sound more like something the Doctor would say. I didn’t believe any of this from her.
(The containment field is down. Missy and the Doctor sit by an electric fire.)
MISSY: I keep remembering all the people I've killed. Every day I think of more. Being bad, being bad drowned that out. I didn't know I even knew their names. You didn't tell me about this bit.
DOCTOR: I'm sorry, but this is good.
(She turns her face away, to hide her tears.)
MISSY: Okay.
Dystopian Society, Big Brother, Influential Novels & a Movie
We see the opening of the episode, showing how the Monks have integrated themselves into human history, as the Doctor narrates off camera. Then, we see a mother, father, and boy watching the Doctor on TV, shown below. The boy is holding a rabbit (red arrow). There is an inverse reflection on the table (yellow arrow). The woman has hidden souls, shown by the Xs behind her.
Everything seems somewhat normal, until the Memory Police break in. They take the mother into custody, and the commander carries a shoebox (yellow arrow), shown below. It’s similar to the one Bill has.
In fact, Bill and the Mother, shown below, are both associated with the Monk with the gap between the teeth. Each Monk is different, so this is significant, saying that Bill is mirroring the mother. There are 2 sets of the women. One set is on the side of the Monks. Therefore, one set is in the real universe while the other set is in the alternate universe, just like Donna in “Turn Left.”
The mother is charged with “the manufacture and possession of propaganda intended to undermine the True History. It is in contravention of the Memory Crimes Act of 1975.”
The 1975 year is important because that is the 13th season of Classic Who, which includes some very important 4th Doctor episodes that I’ve talked about in bold.
· “Terror of the Zygons”
· “Planet of Evil”
· “Pyramids of Mars”
· “The Android Invasion”
· “The Brain of Morbius”
· “The Seeds of Doom”
All 3 of these episodes in bold are about usurpation. I’d have to go back to the others and watch them to find out what they are about. I’ll talk about Morbius in a few minutes because he is referenced in the Library.
The police state in “The Beast Below” resembles in some ways what is going on in “The Lie of the Land.”
Clearly, the Doctor is part of a dystopian society, helping to brainwash the world through broadcasts. It’s not that different from what the Master did with the Arch Angel Network in “The Sound of Drums” and “The Last of the Time Lords.” In fact, the Doctor makes a reference to the latter in the Vault:
BILL: God, the way you and Nardole have been carrying on, I thought you had some kind of monster in here, or something!
DOCTOR: I do. Missy, Bill. Bill, Missy, the other Last of the Time Lords.
In “The Last of the Time Lords,” the Doctor was a prisoner in the birdcage. Martha mirrored him, traveling the world and spreading the word that would save the Doctor and Earth from the Master. At times, Bill, in “The Lie of the Land,” is mirroring Martha, as well as the Doctor.
The Doctor, by keeping Missy in the cage, is mirroring the Master, and Missy is mirroring the Doctor. In fact, to reinforce that Doctor/Missy mirror, we see Missy’s eyes and eyebrows, shown below, just like we see with the Doctor in the opening credits.
BTW, I haven’t mentioned this, but the opening credits changed a bit in Season 10. The Doctor has a 3rd eye-like structure in between his other 2 on the bridge of his nose below (red arrow). While it’s not in the middle of the Doctor’s forehead, like Davros, it does resemble that of Davros. And the Doctor did mirror Davros in “The Witch’s Familiar” when the Doctor sat in Davros’ chair.
Big Brother and 1984
In 1949, English author George Orwell published his dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four, often written as 1984. Many of the concepts in “The Lie of the Land,” such as thought manipulation and omnipresent government surveillance, Truth, Thought Police (called Memory Police in DW), and the pyramid, come from the novel. However, all of these (except the pyramid) are also hallmarks of authoritarian and totalitarian governments in general.
The term “Big Brother” comes from the novel. The character is the symbolic leader of the totalitarian government, controlling all aspects of social life, including the thoughts and actions of its citizens. In the case of “The Lie of the Land,” the Doctor represents tyranny and Big Brother, who brainwashes people with the Monks’ propaganda. There is constant government surveillance of its citizens by the Thought Police.
BTW, this is why The Ghost is represented by the Tyrannosaurus rex. The tyrant lizard.
The government in 1984 even controls the language and introduces Newspeak vs. Oldspeak (Standard English). Newspeak influences and limits thought by decreasing the range of expressiveness of the English language. Important words come to have the opposite meaning to hide the truth. For example, “war is peace, freedom is slavery, and ignorance is strength.” These words are inscribed on a pyramid of the Ministry of Truth.
I mentioned “Oranges and Lemons,” the traditional English nursery rhyme, and how part of it represented torture in my analysis on “The Pilot.” Diffcat made a great point in a comment to it that it also refers to 1984. The nursery rhyme is a symbol of tyranny. People can’t remember the rhyme in its entirety because Big Brother has wiped out most of traditional English culture.
The 1st Doctor and the 12th Doctor were under surveillance. The Daleks were watching the 1st Doctor, and it looked to me like he and his companions were in some type of miniscope or some lab-type environment, like specimens to be observed. As far as the 12th Doctor is concerned, there are lots of eye symbols in his episodes, meaning someone is watching him. I won’t be surprised if the Doctor has been miniaturized.
The Handmaid’s Tale
In 1985, Canadian author Margaret Atwood published her dystopian novel The Handmaid's Tale. Since monks normally symbolize religion, this novel seems appropriate.
According to Wikipedia,
Set in a near-future New England, in a totalitarian theocracy that has overthrown the United States government, the novel explores themes of women in subjugation and the various means by which they gain individualism and independence. The novel's title echoes the component parts of Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales, which comprises a series of connected stories ("The Merchant's Tale", "The Parson's Tale", etc.).
The Handmaid's Tale is set in the Republic of Gilead, a theocratic military dictatorship formed within the borders of what was formerly the United States of America.
Beginning with a staged attack that kills the President and most of Congress, a Christian fundamentalist movement calling itself the "Sons of Jacob" launches a revolution and suspends the United States Constitution under the pretext of restoring order. They are quickly able to take away women's rights, largely attributed to financial records being stored electronically and labelled by sex. The new regime, the Republic of Gilead, moves quickly to consolidate its power and reorganize society along a new militarized, hierarchical regime of Old Testament-inspired social and religious fanaticism among its newly created social classes. In this society, human rights are severely limited and women's rights are even more curtailed; for example, women are forbidden to read.
V for Vendetta
“The Lie of the Land” also has elements of the movie V for Vendetta, which aren’t in the other novels. It’s set in the UK, like the Starship UK represents the UK, and there is a virus. According to Wikipedia:
V for Vendetta is a 2005 dystopian political thriller film directed by James McTeigue and written by The Wachowski Brothers, based on the 1988 DC/Vertigo Comics limited series of the same name by Alan Moore and David Lloyd. The film is set in an alternative future where a neo-fascist regime has subjugated the United Kingdom.
In 2028, the world is in turmoil and warfare, with the United States fractured as a result of prolonged second civil war and a pandemic of the "St. Mary's Virus" ravaging Europe. The United Kingdom is ruled as a fascist police state by the Norsefire Party, helmed by all-powerful High Chancellor Adam Sutler. Political opponents, immigrants, Jews, Muslims, atheists, homosexuals, and other "undesirables" are imprisoned and executed in concentration camps.
Of course, St. Mary is also a reference to the religious symbolism in DW.
The Doctor’s Terrible Choice
In “Before the Flood,” the Doctor told the Fisher King:
FISHER KING: You will be a strong beacon. How many ghosts can I make of you?
DOCTOR: You know, you've got a lot in common with the Tivoleans. You'll both do anything to survive. They'll surrender to anyone. You will hijack other people's souls and turn them into electromagnetic projections. That will to endure. That refusal to ever cease. It's extraordinary. And it makes a fella think. Because you know what? If all I have to do to survive is tweak the future a bit, what's stopping me? Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. The ripple effect. Maybe it will mean that the universe will be ruled by cats or something, in the future. But the way I see it, even a ghastly future is better than no future at all. You robbed those people of their deaths, made them nothing more than a message in a bottle. You violated something more important than Time. You bent the rules of life and death. So I am putting things straight. Here, now, this is where your story ends.
(The Fisher King growls.)
The Doctor said it, “Maybe it will mean that the universe will be ruled by cats or something, in the future. But the way I see it, even a ghastly future is better than no future at all.”
Tyranny or the Apocalypse
According to what the Doctor spells out in “The Lie of the Land,” these really are the choices: tyranny or the apocalypse.
DOCTOR: Human society is stagnating. You've stopped moving forward. In fact, you're regressing.
BILL: This isn't exactly much better.
DOCTOR: It's safer.
BILL: Not so much for the people the Monks are killing.
DOCTOR: The Romans killed people and saved billions more from disease, war, famine and barbarism.
Barbarism is a very subjective term, depending on whom is using it. The Romans, which the Doctor mentions (here’s a reference tying Rome and Pompeii to the Library), thought of others as barbarians. However, many historians today tie barbarism to the Romans.
Regardless, disease, war, and famine refer to the 3 of 4 of the Horsemen of the Apocalypse. The Romans, in a certain period, symbolized conquest.
· White horse (Conquest)
· Red horse (War)
· Black horse (Famine)
· Pale horse (Disease and Death)
The rider of the white horse in the New Testament is controversial. Some consider him to represent Christ, while others believe he symbolizes the Antichrist. There is also the idea among some that there are 2 white horses where the 1st is the Antichrist, while the 2nd is Christ.
There are 4 white horses in nuWho that I can think of. The 1st is the 10th Doctor in “The Girl in the Fireplace,” where he crashes through the mirror on horseback to save Renette.
The 2nd and 3rd white horses are in “The Pandorica Opens,” where River and Amy are riding them.
The 4th is in “The Day of the Doctor,” when the 10th Doctor thinks Queen Elizabeth I is a Zygon. However, it turns out to be the white horse. It seems like this white horse might symbolize the Antichrist. The Zygon then becomes a duplicate Queen Elizabeth I.
Are we sure the Doctor married the right queen? It would make sense if the Doctor married the Antichrist. Because we are talking about the queen, we need to also look at Liz 10 in “The Beast Below.” Liz 10 represents the continued bloodline of Queen Elizabeth I. Liz 10 mirrored River, so the queen is River’s bloodline.
Here are a couple of ways to solve this alternate universe problem. River is trying to rescue the Doctor, as we’ve seen, so she would need to kill the alternate-Doctor to destroy this alternate world, like Donna’s death in “Turn Left.” Or the Doctor’s Mother of God or God consciousness can integrate with him, like CAL integrated with River. The possessed part of the Doctor has to be neutralized. The illusions have to die.
Can’t Win a War
So the 12th Doctor below is talking about the end of the world. He and Bill continue the conversation:
BILL: No, wait. What about free will? You believe in free will. Your whole thing is. You made me write a three thousand-word essay on free will.
DOCTOR: Yes, well, I mean, you had free will, and look at what you did with it. Worse than that, you had history. History was saying to you, look, I've got some examples of fascism here for you to look at. No? Fundamentalism? No? Oh, okay, you carry on. I had to stop you, or at least not stand in the way of someone else who wanted to, because the guns were getting bigger, the stakes were getting higher, and any minute now it was going to be goodnight, Vienna. By the way, you never delivered that essay, anyway.
The Doctor is right about the guns getting bigger and the stakes getting higher. In fact, we examined this very problem in Chapter 17 of Fairytales and Romance in Doctor Who. I wrote
With the dead being weaponized [in “The Empty Child” and “The Doctor Dances”] and in “Under the Lake,” “Before the Flood,” and even “Heaven Sent” (you’ll see more below), there’s no way to win a war. Missy weaponized the dead, too, in “Dark Water” and “Death in Heaven.”
So the choices here come down to annihilation or tyranny.
However, in the alternate world, the alternate-Doctor would have to die, but he hasn’t figured that out yet.
Why are Daleks and Cybermen, for example, getting extraordinary powers? It comes back to what was happening in “The Mind Robber.” Thoughts coming to life.
Goodnight, Vienna: 2 Meanings
The Doctor mentions Goodnight, Vienna above. I believe it has 2 meanings.
Goodnight Vienna & The Day the Earth Stood Still
Goodnight Vienna is Ringo Starr’s 4th studio album, but what is important is the album cover, which is an image from Wikipedia.
The image – with Ringo’s head replacing that of actor Michael Rennie who plays Klaatu – is from the 1951 sci-fi movie The Day the Earth Stood Still.
Wikipedia says of the movie:
Klaatu emerges from the saucer and addresses Barnhardt's assembled scientists, informing them that he represents an interplanetary organization that created a police force of invincible robots like Gort to "patrol the planets in spaceships like this one, and preserve the peace" by automatically annihilating aggressors. "In matters of aggression, we have given them absolute power over us. This power cannot be revoked." Klaatu concludes with, "It is no concern of ours how you run your own planet, but if you threaten to extend your violence, this Earth of yours will be reduced to a burned-out cinder. Your choice is simple: join us and live in peace, or pursue your present course and face obliteration." Klaatu and Gort reenter the spaceship and depart.
So here’s a similar message as what the Doctor is saying about peace on Earth vs. the weapons and stakes, ending in the apocalypse. However, just like “The Lie of the Land,” the message runs opposite to what is happening. The external aggressors, according to what we’ve seen in this episode, are the Daleks, Cybermen, and the Weeping Angels. The Monks, too, are external aggressors, but in a different way.
However, the Doctor going hell bent through the universe would definitely be the aggressor that Klaatu was talking about.
Goodnight, Vienna: the Movie
I believe Goodnight, Vienna also applies to the movie because Austria comes up again. We saw the writer of the Dream Novel was Austrian. However, there is also another Austrian clue in “The Lie of the Land.” Oddly, in the shot of Paris, there are 2 Austrian flags on the bridge near the Eiffel Tower. To make things clear, the flag on the left has 1 dot with it while the other flag has 2 dots. It suggests to me there are 2 flags, 2 sets of dots, and 2 Austrian references, which is why I believe this Goodnight, Vienna reference makes sense.
Wikipedia says
Goodnight, Vienna (also known as Magic Night) is a 1932 British musical film directed by Herbert Wilcox and starring Jack Buchanan, Anna Neagle and Gina Malo. Two lovers in Vienna are separated by the First World War, but are later reunited.
Max is an Austrian officer in the army and son of a highly placed general. His father wants him to marry a Countess but he has fallen in love with Vicki. Attending a party given in his honour, they are informed that war has broken out. Max writes a note to Vicki and goes off to war. Unfortunately the note is lost. Some time after the war, Max is just a shoe shop assistant while Vicki is now a famous singer. They meet and at first she snubs him but then falls in love with him again.
I see this as foreshadowing. Given the mirrors set up, it would most likely be Clara and the Doctor.
Breaking Bill’s Confidence: Mirroring of the 7th Doctor and Ace
In my TPEW analysis, I proposed that the Doctor would probably have to break Bill’s confidence in him, just like the 7th Doctor did with Ace in “The Curse of Fenric” and the 11th Doctor did with Amy in “The God Complex.”
While the scene mirrors both of the Doctors and companions, although in a seemingly deadly way, the Doctor does a very 7th Doctor thing in his conversation with Bill.
BILL: Because the world was invaded by zombie Monks!
DOCTOR: And whose fault was that, huh? I didn't ask for my sight back. No, you took it upon yourself to ignore me, to do what you thought was best. All I can say is that we are lucky it was a benevolent race like the Monks, not the Daleks. Yes, I know the Monks are ruthless. I get that. Yes, they play with history and I'm not exactly thrilled about that. But they bring peace and order.
The 7th Doctor rolls his Rs all the time. I love to listen to his Scottish accent, although it’s not very heavy. In contrast, we rarely hear the 12th Doctor roll his Rs. However, when he said “thrilled” in that 2nd to last sentence above, he did. He’s mirroring the 7th Doctor to bring in the idea of possession, the evil entity Fenric, and the curse, which is love.
The Regeneration & Maniacal Laughter: What Happened to the Doctor?
The Doctor really isn’t himself. It’s clear from the events and even before the regeneration scene that something is wrong. Sure we saw above that the Doctor had to make a terrible choice. However, that doesn’t account for some bizarre behavior.
Bill Shooting the Doctor
Bill has a violent streak, shooting the Doctor in the way she did. It really doesn’t make sense in a way, unless Bill has gone mad. She’s mirroring the Doctor in “Hell Bent” where he’s pushed past his limits. The Doctor is mirroring Rassilon, at least to some extent, in that he is the face of tyranny in this totalitarian state, just like Rassilon is on Gallifrey. However, we don’t exactly know the complete role the Doctor is playing here. But the Doctor mirroring Rassilon does agree with what we’ve examined so far.
Regarding Bill, she is also a mirror of several other people in various ways, such as the 12th Doctor, River, and then Vincent Van Gogh from “Vincent and the Doctor.” She, as Vincent, symbolically kills the Krafayis and beheads Medusa in this scene, which plays out in another symbolic way when she integrates with the seated Monk. However, nothing is over. People are still caught in the Matrix, and most likely things will become more ridiculous until the end.
So there are musical mirrors going on in the entire ship scene.
Maniacal Laughter
But there are some oddities going on, too, with the regeneration, and then the scene after that where the Doctor is laughing maniacally. If we didn’t see anything was wrong or suspected that something was possibly off target with the regeneration scene, the scene with the Doctor laughing maniacally is a dead giveaway that this is terribly wrong.
Who is this man in the image below, who is laughing maniacally as the boat is going to ram the dock? Since when does the Doctor do this? It’s not the Doctor we know.
However, this is a very Master thing to do. John Simm’s Master laughs maniacally in “The End of Time.” We see and hear the Master’s maniacal laughter, just like Donna’s grandfather Wilfred, the Doctor, and the Ood. Has the Master possessed the Doctor through the Eye of Harmony? This is either the Master or the Valeyard. It could be Morbius, too. In fact, Morbius could be the Valeyard. There are several possibilities.
It wouldn’t be surprising if the Master, the Valeyard, and the Time Lords are working together to use the Doctor. It happened in the 6th Doctor stories collectively called The Trial of a Time Lord. At some point, I have to bite the bullet and slog my way through the 8 other episodes of the 14-episode series. It’s terribly written and dreadfully boring.
The Regeneration
The whole regeneration is just plain weird. It’s so not surprising that it was fake, as far as we can tell. In fact, I expected it. We examined multiple times how the Doctor doesn’t have to regenerate, especially since I believe he represents the end of a cycle of Doctors from 0 to 12. (He’s not even really the 12th; he’s the 14th incarnation. However, his 3 faces can span the cycle change.) Since the subtext suggests this isn’t the 1st cycle, the Doctors must either have their memories wiped each time, or they get reactualized, like we saw in “Heaven Sent” with the 3-D printer idea (the teleporter), creating a copy. Why would Missy want a 3-D printer in “The Lie of the Land,” making a reference to “Heaven Sent”?
But what really happened in the regeneration scene? It doesn’t really make sense that the Doctor would waste regeneration energy. As he told Davros in “The Witch’s Familiar,” when he was going to share some regeneration energy:
DOCTOR: Okay, don't ever tell anyone that I did this.
(He waves his hand around until a golden glow forms.)
DOCTOR: A little bit of regeneration energy. Probably cost me an arm or a leg somewhere down the line. Or I'll just be really little.
Sure, Moffat used the regeneration to fake people out, but it’s not like DW to do this without having some other meaning.
Why would the Doctor waste regeneration energy? It wasn’t even a small amount. The amount he used would destroy part of the room. Why didn’t that happen? That’s a problem. Besides, Bill wouldn’t know about regeneration energy as far as we know, unless maybe the Doctor used it to heal her in “Oxygen.” However, she never mentioned it. And something like that would be very memorable. Therefore, the regeneration doesn’t make sense unless something else happened.
Interestingly, the Doctor’s personality changes once he uses the energy. He really isn’t himself. Since when does he clap like he did and say something like “good girl” with a huge smile? He doesn’t smile all that much, but on the ship, I think he used up his life’s allotment, so to speak.
He looks possessed to me, and I’ll show you in a few minutes how the Master and the Valeyard wanted to steal the Doctor’s regeneration energy.
The Weird Voodoo Doll Thingy
In the Library metaphor on the ship, there is a weird item under glass. The really interesting thing about this item below (red arrow) is that it has what looks like red eyes on its face, along with gray hair made of light reflections on top of its head. Also, its arms are up, like it’s being held at gunpoint. The gray hair and red eyes suggest that it’s a representation of the Doctor under glass, frozen in a pose suggesting a robbery. In fact, I see the reference to “The Mind Robber.” Also, the red eyes suggest the possession similar to what we see in the pyramid Library metaphor. I’m going to refer to this representation of the Doctor as a Voodoo Doll metaphor.
BTW, the idea of people being frozen under bell-shaped glass reminds me of Clara being under glass in the 11th Doctor story “The Crimson Horror.”
Interestingly, it looks like the broadcasts may come from the Voodoo Doll because it’s centered in the room on the side the Doctor faces in the broadcasts. The possessed Doctor, therefore, would be broadcasting all of this, which totally agrees with what we’ve examined, so far. And he would be mirroring CAL.
Didn’t Agree to What?
Oddly, in the scene with the seated Monk, the 12th Doctor smiles, which is odd, before he places his hands on the Monk’s head. His eyes glow cyan for a moment, and the columns on the Monk’s chair glows cyanish under the Monk’s hands. In the images on the ceiling, the Monks disappear in flames.
BILL: It's working! The Monks are disappearing!
(The Doctor suddenly lets go.)
DOCTOR: Oh, I didn't agree to this.
Agree to what? This is really odd and sounds like there is a contract. That could go along with the Doctor Faustus idea where Faustus is his own worst enemy, failing to see his own salvation. We examined Faustus and the idea of a contract in my analysis on “The Pilot.” If this Doctor or even Bill, or Clara does, indeed, need to die to set the universe straight, he is, indeed, failing to see the answer.
BILL: What's happening?
DOCTOR: He's fighting back. He's blocking me, countering every move.
The Doctor grabs the Monk's head again. The columns that the Monk's hands are resting on turn from white to red. The Doctor's eyes glow red, and he is in pain. Here’s our cyan and red combination again. Interestingly, the red matches the Voodoo Doll. Red eyes do tend to be a popular color of possession. This scene may be a representation of how the Doctor became possessed in the 1st place. He did it to save Bill.
NARDOLE: Look!
(The Monks reappear in the pictures.)
BILL: Oh, no, no, no.
(The Doctor is violently thrown backwards.)
When Bill later puts her hands on the Monk’s head, her eyes momentarily glow cyan.
BTW, it’s interesting that the real Winston Churchill shows up 3 times in the episode.
The Master Possesses the Doctor
What if the regeneration unleashes something in the Doctor? The only way the regeneration wasn’t going to be faked is if, for example, the Master or Valeyard came forth after the regeneration. We didn’t see that, or did we?
The Master trying to steal the Doctor’s regenerations comes up multiple times in DW. It happens in Classic Who and in the 1996 Doctor Who movie. Here’s a clip with the Eye of Harmony opening and the Master trying to rob the Doctor’s mind in the movie. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DAu0OajrO2s The Master is using the Doctor’s companion to gain the Doctor’s regenerations and possess the Doctor by having the companion look into the Eye of Harmony. The Doctor can’t help but watch what is happening because the Master has forced open his eyes.
As we examined in Chapter 16 of Fairytales and Romance in Doctor Who, the whole idea of this is also foreshadowed in the 10th Doctor stories “The Impossible Planet” and “The Satan Pit.” Toby, the archeologist, a mirror of River, gets possessed after the Eye of Harmony is opened. He also is a mirror of the 12th Doctor. Below, in an image from “The Impossible Planet,” Toby is making himself into a cross with his arms out. Since he is part of the cross shape, he is being crucified.
The Beast in “Planet of the Ood” turns out to be the subconscious coming forth in anger and resentment against the oppressors. Bill shooting the Doctor is symbolic of this fight.
Furthermore, the Beast shows up in “The Lie of the Land” in an image. In fact, we saw a similar image in “The Satan Pit.” Below, we see the Monk with some small people. They aren’t attacking the Beast, though, who looks like he is blowing his horn probably as a call to battle. The small people are turned toward the Monk and pointing weapons at it. This very much contradicts what we see in the episode, for the most part.
BTW, there is a figurine in the Doctor’s office that shows someone blowing a horn. I haven’t figured out who it is because we’ve never gotten a close shot of it. There are several people in mythology who blow horns. However, it’s very likely that it’s associated with Norse mythology since Ragnarök is looming large. The god Heimdallr has a horn called Gjallarhorn, and he uses it to call the gods to war against the giants. The Monk in the image above looks like a giant of sorts compared to the little people.
In “The Satan Pit,” we see an image below of the Beast but in a different way than the image above. The Disciples of Light, who are tiny in comparison to the gigantic Beast, seem to be fighting it. Several of the stick figures have their arms extended in a way that suggests they’ve thrown something at the Beast.
In these 2 images, the Beast did massively shrink in size from the 2nd image to the 1st above, as we examined that it would in Chapter 15 of Fairytales and Romance in Doctor Who, which is implicit in the meaning of the red gem that young Grant swallows.
The Valeyard
The Valeyard only shows up in the 6th Doctor stories of the trial where the Time Lords and the Valeyard tried to frame the Doctor. However, the Great Intelligence does mention the Valeyard in the 11th Doctor episode “The Name of the Doctor.”
I typically don’t use the information from the non-canon references, but the information below has supporting evidence in canon and the subtext. According to the TARDIS Wikia:
The Valeyard was created as an amalgamation of all the evil inside of the Doctor, taken from somewhere between his twelfth and final incarnations (TV: The Ultimate Foe) by the Time Lords using black ops technology. Genesta hypothesised that he might have been created as a weapon. (AUDIO: The Brink of Death)
We know the Doctor’s blindness and fear weakened him, opening the door to possession by somebody. The 12th Doctor is the 14th incarnation.
When the Seventh Doctor slept, he dreamed of his other selves in his mind, and heard the Valeyard threaten that "when the [Doctor's] strength was at its lowest, he would reach out from the recesses of [the Doctor's] subconscious and seize [his body]." (PROSE: Head Games)
Here’s the synopsis from the first story of Trial of a Time Lord. It’s from “The Mysterious Planet”:
The Doctor is summoned before the High Council of Time Lords to stand trial for the charges of harmful interference to the course of events during his space-time excursions, which have threatened the sanctity of the universe. Indignant at these accusations, the Doctor pleads his case to the Inquisitor with the hope that she will see him as a source of hope and goodwill for existence. However, his prosecuting attorney, a sinister Time Lord known simply as the Valeyard, begins a crusade against the Doctor's life with the motive of painting him out to be a villainous renegade.
The Valeyard's first movement against the Doctor is to review his past interactions on a familiar planet called Ravolox, where he and his-then companion Peri met the morally grey Sabalom Glitz and a tyrannical robot stalking the world's desolated landscape. However, Ravolox holds a terrible truth in the far reaches of its ruins, while the Doctor's trial has its own fair share of startling twists and turns...
Painting the Doctor as a villain is something we saw the Master do in “The Mind Robber.”
BTW, the evil in the Doctor is another reason why I don’t think he can regenerate, at least in the normal way. The evil will just pass on. That has to be resolved, too, which is what I expect from the 12th Doctor’s story.
The other way we’ve seen that Time Lords can continue after they die is to have a projection continue, like we examined in the 3rd Doctor story “Planet of the Spiders.” We looked at that episode in my analysis in “Knock Knock.” Something like the projection idea also happened in “Kinda,” the 5th Doctor story we examined in my analysis in TPEW. It looks like the projection is similar to the idea of the Trinity with 3 people operating as One. The projection is one of those people. The young girl in “Kinda” is like a face of the old blind woman who died, so the old woman’s soul never died, even though her body did. Her soul lives on in the girl.
Morbius in the Library Metaphor
Sadly, I haven’t finished my chapter on Morbius, Dinosaurs, and Superpowers either. I’ve got a lot of chapters started, but found things so circular that I would start another chapter to explain something that I needed prior to finishing a previous chapter.
Morbius & CAL
In “Silence in the Library,” we see Robby the Robot, shown below (blue arrow), from the 1956 movie Forbidden Planet. Robby’s appearance in DW is also a reference to Morbius, a human scientist in the movie, who gains super intelligence and superpowers but doesn’t realize their full extent. Morbius was the inspiration for the 4th Doctor episode “The Brain of Morbius.” I mentioned a few points about CAL, the Library, and her superpowers in Chapter 15 of Fairytales and Romance in Doctor Who.
Morbius in the movie creates, unbeknownst to him, an invisible monster from his subconscious, after he interfaces with an alien device that basically increases his IQ exponentially. The monster goes around killing people. The Krafayis from “Vincent and the Doctor” is the ultimate example of this invisible monster.
While we are led to believe that the Vashta Nerada are causing the shadows in the Library and eating people, something else, too, is happening in the subtext. The same thing is happening with the 12th Doctor. But the question is even bigger than shadows.
Why do books literally start flying off the shelves in the Library when River, the Doctor, and the Lux expedition are in there?
While Doctor Moon has CAL believing that she is using tools to do whatever she is doing, obviously, she isn’t really pressing buttons on a remote, since she is a disembodied mind. Instead, she is using her powers of thought to make the books fly off the shelves.
It’s CAL’s fears, anger, and frustration, the dark side of her that takes over, causing the books to fly off the shelves. But the implication really is that she is causing the shadows and the deaths of people.
The image above could be telling us that CAL is either like (1) Robby, who is a servant to Morbius, or (2) Morbius, himself. She could also be both like Robby and Morbius, a mind-controlled child with superpowers, who is serving someone else. This goes along with “The Mind Robber” concept of the Master being controlled by the Master Brain. Who controls the Master Brain computer?
“The Brain of Morbius,” the 4th Doctor & the Frankenstein Monster Metaphor
In “The Brain of Morbius,” according to the TARDIS Wikia:
Morbius was a notorious and malevolent renegade Time Lord. His career was the first in millennia to dramatically alter Gallifrey's relations with the wider universe. He attempted to overturn Gallifrey's non-interference policy in favour of military conquest, but was exiled and eventually executed, only to survive, saved by his followers.
It was Morbius who urged the Time Lords to a policy of conquest. Here’s a possible connection to the White Horse of the Apocalypse.
The Victor Frankenstein Metaphor & the Monster
Just before Morbius was executed, Doctor Mehendri Solon, a human surgeon and scientist of great renown, saved Morbius’ brain. Solon was a follower of the Time Lord tyrant Morbius. Solon was going to build a body for the brain by piecing together parts of different creatures, similar to what Mary Shelley’s Victor Frankenstein did.
Solon is on Karn where he has Morbius’ brain, and he’s building Frankenstein’s Monster – the body for Morbius.
The surgeon in THORS most likely represents Solon.
Sisterhood of Karn
For some odd reason, the Sisterhood of Karn can sense ships in space around the planet and even beyond it but can’t sense Morbius and Solon’s activities on Karn. This never made sense to me unless Morbius had a stronger mind than the sisters.
They do have superpowers.
The Sisterhood of Karn has similar abilities to Morbius in the movie, as shown in “The Brain of Morbius” episode. For example, they can kill with their minds by placing that idea in someone else’s mind. Also, the sisters state in canon that Time Lords are their “equals in mind power.”
So why haven’t we seen that?
Moreover, the sisterhood has other abilities, for example, telekinetic powers that are similar to what we see with CAL in the Library and with little George in “Night Terrors,” as he sends people to the dollhouse when he is scared. However, CAL and George’s power is chaotic for the most part.
At one point, the 4th Doctor is held prisoner by the Sisterhood of Karn because they think the Time Lords sent the Doctor to steal the Elixir of Life. They tell him they teleported him to their location with their minds. Interestingly, he says, “You mean you still practice teleportation? How quaint!” OK, what does that mean? Still? Quaint? This is one of those episodes that many, many years ago really made me think that something other than what we saw was going on.
They try to kill the Doctor at one point by roasting him at the stake. Their situation is very odd. They are so advanced mind-wise, but their surroundings look as if they live in Medieval times. All those years ago, I actually did connect this episode to an original Star Trek episode, “Errand of Mercy.” Until the previous chapter, this Star Trek episode was the only one I connected. More on this in a bit.
Anyway, the Doctor ends up mentally dueling with Morbius and integrating with him. Below, we see Morbius (red arrow), a creature much like the Frankenstein monster patch-worked together that has a big claw for a right arm. Also, we see the Doctor and Sarah Jane on the right. In the middle is a Circle in the Square metaphor (yellow arrow) that means the Doctor and Morbius are integrated.
This all comes back to the Eye of Harmony and the Library.
The Doctor ends up mortally wounded, and the Sisterhood of Karn has to save him using the Elixir of Life.
Morbius, the 12th Doctor & Nardole
I talked about the Veritas’ cover in my analysis on “Extremis” having what looks like stitches. This could refer back to how Nardole is being cast as Morbius and the Frankenstein monster. Also, the Doctor is being cast the Victor Frankenstein metaphor, Dr. Solon. In THORS, the Doctor assumed the role of the surgeon.
More Morbius references showed up in TPEW and “The Lie of the Land” that we need to look at.
The Pyramid at the End of the World
In TPEW, the Doctor and Nardole make some interesting remarks in the lab:
ERICA: How did you do that? What is that thing?
DOCTOR: It's Nardole. He's not my fault. Back to the Tardis. This place is toxic.
NARDOLE: I'm not human.
DOCTOR: Oh, you're human enough. I got your lungs cheap.
NARDOLE: Oh, now he tells me.
Nardole is a cyborg, which the Doctor pieced together. Here we learn Nardole’s lungs are human even though Nardole isn’t.
“The Lie of the Land”
When Alan holds a gun to the Doctor’s head in the pyramid, Nardole uses a neck pinch to put him to sleep.
NARDOLE: Tarovian Neck Pinch. Yeah, I er, I studied their martial arts for a while, actually. Yeah, reached the level of Brown Tabard. Can't do it with this hand though. Kind of bugs me. Course, this wasn't my original hand, as you know. I won this in a game of er, yeah, let's crack on.
Nardole uses his right hand to do a neck pinch, which is a reference to Star Trek even though the pinch is not called the Vulcan neck pinch. Anyway, it’s Nardole’s other hand that is a reference to Morbius. Nardole says, “Can't do it with this hand though. Kind of bugs me.” “Bugs me” is probably a reference to Morbius and the insect we first see at the beginning of “The Brain of Morbius.” Solon’s assistant brought back part of the insect for Solon to use for Morbius.
“The End of the World” & the Trojan Horse
This is one of the sections I didn’t have time to write for my previous analysis of “The Pyramid at the End of the World.” TPEW derives its name, in part, from the second 9th Doctor story titled, “The End of the World.”
In it, the Doctor takes Rose to watch the destruction of Earth. All types of aliens show up, and the Steward announces them, as if they are attending a royal gathering.
STEWARD: Representing the Forest of Cheam, we have trees, namely, Jabe, Lute and Coffa.
(A bark-skinned woman enters with two larger male escorts.)
STEWARD: There will be an exchange of gifts representing peace. If you could keep the room circulating, thank you. Next, from the solicitors Jolco and Jolco, we have the Moxx of Balhoon.
(Another blue alien, this time mostly head and body, sitting on a transport pod.)
There are several aliens who are announced, including the Face of Boe. The blue alien was referenced in “Oxygen.” Rose had a similar reaction to Bill.
Here is an image of the Forest of Cheam trees. The female tree reminds me so much of River with her seductive behavior. And, of course, the forest represents River. Interestingly, Jabe offers the Doctor a cutting of a live plant. “The Gift of Peace. I bring you a cutting of my grandfather.” Of course, “grandfather” typically refers to the Doctor, so this is really curious. This is another reason why plants have to be important.
STEWARD: And next, from Financial Family Seven, we have the Adherents of the Repeated Meme.
I had to laugh at this tongue-in-cheek name of “the Adherents of the Repeated Meme.” They represent monks of all types throughout nuWho. Yes, they are a repeated meme. In the image below, we see the monk types with what looks like Ss or most likely Zs around their necks (yellow arrow).
Ss and Zs both show up quite a bit. In fact, the Truth logo may very well represent stylized Ss or Zs. (Could be like the SS, a Nazi designation, which represents the Daleks.) The Z is important because it represents the last letter of our alphabet. However, the Greek equivalent is Omega, referring to River. Monks seem to show up when River or her metaphors are involved.
Anyway back to “The End of the World,” there is also a metal-looking, silver ball (red arrow) that the monk is holding out. However, when he offers it to the Doctor, his voice is very deep and sinister as he says, “A gift of peace in all good faith.” The sinister voice is a contradiction to the symbol. It turns out this episode is running backward. It means war. Monks show up and war breaks out.
What’s happening is that Earth (the Doctor) dies and war breaks out. The metal ball contains metal spiderbots that sabotage the observation platform. They are Trojan Horses hiding instruments of war.
BTW, the metal ball is referenced in THORS when River receives the money ball with a cross in the background, representing the 12th Doctor. It’s a symbol of war to save the Doctor.
The grandfather concept also refers to the Trojan Horse. And in fact, in
my analysis of TPEW
, we looked at how little George, a metaphor for the Doctor, in “Night Terrors” was a cuckoo. Cuckoo birds lay their eggs in another bird’s nest, letting the young be raised by foster parents.
This all is saying the Doctor is a Trojan Horse. Being that Bill is the face of the Doctor, the 13th (Hartnell’s Doctor comes up over and over as the 13th Doctor), Bill can be the Trojan Horse, too. Anyone of the Doctor’s faces can be.
A Trojan horse can also refer to a malicious computer program, which tricks users into willingly running it, so here’s a connection to a computer virus.
Star Trek Connections
There are quite a few connections to Star Trek that I’ve noticed since realizing how the series is being used in DW. Three episodes may have a bearing on things we examined in this chapter. TOS stands for The Original Series of Star Trek. TNG refers to Star Trek: The Next Generation.
The Sisterhood of Karn & TOS: “Errand of Mercy”
I mentioned that the Sisterhood of Karn looked like they lived in Medieval times in “The Brain of Morbius.”
Interestingly, there is a TOS episode called “Errand of Mercy,” where Kirk and Spock try to protect the planet Organia from the Klingons (a hostile humanoid species), but the natives don't want the Federation's help.
SPOCK: Captain, our information on these people and their culture was not correct. This is not a primitive society making progress toward mechanisation. They are totally stagnant. There is no evidence of any progress as far back as my tricorder can register.
KIRK: That doesn't seem likely.
SPOCK: Nevertheless, it is true. For tens of thousands of years, there has been absolutely no advancement, no significant change in their physical environment. This is a laboratory specimen of an arrested culture.
However, at the end, we learn that things are not as they appear. Ayelborne is a native to Organia while Kor is a Klingon, who seems much like Davros. The Organians, who are a peaceful people, put a stop to any war between the humans and the Klingons:
AYELBORNE: Yes, please leave us. The mere presence of beings like yourselves is intensely painful to us.
KIRK: What do you mean, beings like yourselves?
AYELBORNE: Millions of years ago, Captain, we were humanoid like yourselves, but we have developed beyond the need of physical bodies. That of us which you see is mere appearance for your sake.
KOR: Captain, it's a trick. We can handle them. I have an army.
(Kirk holds him back as Ayelborne and Claymare transform into pulsating lights, too bright to look at. Then they disappear.)
SPOCK: Fascinating. Pure energy. Pure thought. Totally incorporeal. Not life as we know it at all.
KIRK: But what about this planet? The fields, the buildings, this citadel?
SPOCK: Conventionalisations, I should say. Useless to the Organians. Created so that visitors such as ourselves, could have conventional points of reference.
KOR: But is all of this possible?
SPOCK: We have seen it with our own eyes. I should say the Organians are as far above us on the evolutionary scale as we are above the amoeba.
So the Organians are really highly advanced and incorporeal. If the Time Lords are billions of years old, I would expect them to be incorporeal, too. And its “Errand of Mercy” that gave me this idea long before Rassilon said he wanted the Time Lords to become beings of pure thought.
Do the Sisterhood of Karn live in primitive-looking conditions because they aren’t who we think they are?
Matter, Antimatter & TOS: “The Alternative Factor”
Since the whole idea of antimatter comes up with CERN and Dan Brown’s novel Angels and Demons, it seems appropriate to look at something that might give us some clues about what is happening with the Doctor.
Interestingly, in the TOS episode “The Alternative Factor” everything within sensor range suddenly "blinks," almost as if the universe is on the verge of annihilation. A time traveller suddenly appears on the planet below.
We find out later that there are actually 2 versions of this time traveller, whose name is Lazarus. One version has a cut on his forehead while the other doesn’t. I did actually think of this TOS episode when in “Extremis” the Doctor cuts his forehead over his eyebrow before I realized the antimatter connection. That should have tipped me off about Star Trek – earlier than I actually realized it.
One Lazarus is in the antimatter universe, and the other is in the matter universe.
KIRK: Exactly what did I pass through?
LAZARUS: That's hard to explain, Captain. I call it an alternative warp. It's sort of a negative magnetic corridor where the two parallel universes meet. It's sort of a safety valve. It keeps eternity from blowing up.
KIRK: This corridor, is it what caused the magnetic effect, the winking out phenomenon?
LAZARUS: Precisely, Captain, but not because of its existence. Because, because my foe entered. The corridor is like a prison, with explosives at the door. Open the door, and the explosives might go off. Stay inside
KIRK: And the universe is safe.
LAZARUS: Both universes, Captain. Yours and mine.
The interesting thing about this is the prison concept in TOS and how it might compare to what happened in “The Lie of the Land.” Letting out the possessed Doctor from the prison puts the universe at risk, actually both universes, which is what happened in "Turn Left." OK, that’s not how we saw it happen in the episode, but that’s the implication in this simulation. It’s like we have matter and antimatter Doctors.
In Christian terms, it’s like Christ vs. the Antichrist. Here we are back at one of the 4 Horsemen of the Apocalypse. Missy even mentions a pony, which might be both a reference to a rescue plan and the apocalypse. Maybe it also is a reference to the Trojan Horse.
BTW, I have a big problem with the supply and prison ship scenes. How exactly is the Doctor a prisoner on the ship? Nobody seems to be watching him. He just walks out of the ship. Before this, Bill and Nardole just walk into the Doctor’s room. Where is the break-in if the Doctor is a prisoner? If Bill is so important, why aren’t the Monks keeping her prisoner? On the supply ship during the Monk’s visit, why didn’t the Monk capture Bill? The Monk’s timing just so happened to coincide with Richard’s request for identification papers. This whole supply and prison ship set of events just screams problems, so we know things aren’t happening the way we think. And then, of course, we saw the image above from the ship that shows “Conning Station.” It’s all a con.
“The God Complex” & TNG: “Hide and Q”
The TNG episode “Hide and Q” may give us a clue about Missy’s plan, which ties into the idea of a God Complex. The Q, are god-like beings who live in the Q Continuum. Typically, when Q is referenced, it refers to one particular being in general. He is a trickster and Loki-like in DW terms. He showed up once before this episode. However, in “Hide and Q,” he returns to the Starship Enterprise to test First Officer Riker by giving him the power of a Q.
Q transports the bridge crew, minus Captain Picard to a planet, where we a setting from the Napoleonic era. Q, himself, is dressed in a Napeoleonic costume, shown below. He tells the crew the point is to stay alive in his game. Check out the symbology used in this TNG episode: a Roman cross and fleur-de-lis. If this were DW, we could translate this as: the Doctor and Nardole are Q.
The other Napoleonic soldiers seem like they would be easy to overcome. It seems like a ridiculous setup until a soldier turns around, and he isn’t human. In fact, while their weapons look authentic, they are energy weapons. I’m betting something similarly ridiculous will happen in DW.
Q reappears on the Enterprise bridge, explaining to Picard that the real intent of his game is to test whether Riker is worthy of the greatest gift the Q can offer. Memory Alpha says
They make a bet: Picard's command against Q's keeping out of Humanity's path forever. Q then promptly tells Picard that he has already lost as Riker will be offered something impossible to refuse.
Back on the planet Q talks to Riker about the powers granted to him, but Riker doesn’t want them. However, Q creates a situation where the other soldiers kill a couple of crewmembers, and only Riker’s newly acquired powers can save them. Riker holds back the alien soldiers with a force field, transports the crew back to the ship, and heals everyone.
Riker promises Picard not to use the powers again, but another situation comes up where a child on a planet dies. Riker is bound by the promise but calls a meeting. While he says he’s not a monster, clearly his relationship with people has changed. In fact, he calls the Captain by his first name, which Riker never does in normal situations. He doubts his decision not to save the child, but Picard says it was a fiction created by Q.
Riker ends up having a God Complex.
When he tries to give each bridge member a gift, like sight for the blind character, none of the crew want the gifts. Riker realizes he shouldn’t have the power.
Interestingly, at the end, Data, a sentient android, says something interesting that certainly can relate to the 12th Doctor, at times:
DATA: Sir, how is it that the Q can handle time and space so well, and us so badly?
PICARD: Perhaps some day we will discover that space and time are simpler than the human equation.
What if Missy is the one who wants the Doctor to use his powers that he promised not to use? I can see her creating a situation like Q, where someone that the Doctor loves is killed or seriously wounded to get him to break his promises. Sure, we’ve already seen him break promises, but this would be in a much more dramatic way.
In fact, in a way, this already happened with Bill in “Oxygen,” but we really didn’t see what happened between the Doctor and Bill and whatever methods he used to save her. This didn’t have the emotional impact that something like this should have.
It’s not because I saw it coming.
Instead, it’s because I didn’t see what actually happened. (I can watch TV shows or movies over and over and still feel the emotional impact that I did in the first watch.) I didn’t experience the emotions of watching them struggle with trying to survive.
The only part we got to see and feel was Bill’s terror of what would happen to her. That’s significant! That’s what I’m referring to, and we got to see so little of it. Typically, when this type of thing happens with lots of hand waving, it’s foreshadowing for what is to come.
So this suggests to me that something horrible will probably happen to someone very close to the Doctor, and we will get to experience all the terror with it.
The Doctor, like Riker, is caught in a God Complex.
#doctor who#twelfth doctor#bill potts#river song#clara oswald#eleventh doctor#the lie of the land#amy pond#rory williams#tenth doctor#nineth doctor#eighth doctor#seventh doctor#sixth doctor#fifth doctor#fourth doctor#third doctor#second doctor#first doctor#rose tyler#martha jones#donna noble#sarah jane smith#ace mcshane#meta#analysis
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FIFTEEN | LOCKED IN
HI! REMEMBER ME?! HOW ARE YOU??? Can you believe that Donald Trump is going to be our president??? UGH.
I’m so sorry that I haven’t posted in one million days. Seriously. It’s unacceptable and I’m ashamed of myself. For the record, I have 4 stories started but I’ve been suffering from severe writer’s block. Apparently, it really is a thing that can happen to even the most mediocre of bloggers!
In addition to my official/medical writer’s block diagnosis, I have other excuses to offer up. I’ve conclusively become two things: busy and lazy. I recognize that these two adjectives shouldn’t traditionally go together…yet I am living and breathing proof that this oxymoron is possible.
I strangely find myself having plans almost every single night of the workweek. Trust me, I’m not bragging; it’s not easy being this popular and socially relevant. Instead of staying in to write / exercise my "creativity", I’ve been hitting up ALL of the bars. And ALL of the restaurants. And ALL of the work outings. And ALL of the J. Crews. And ALL of the friends’ apartments where alcohol is served. Thus, demonstrating the busy component.
The later I stay out, the greater the likelihood is that I will take a cab home. And of course the chances of me being hungover in the morning grows exponentially. Like you guys, I’ve discovered that my new baseline is just my old self except 20% more nauseous and bloated than I used to be. Since I’m staying out passed my bedtime, I get little-to-no sleep and thus have a challenging time waking up in the morning. Which also means I’ve been wearing Leggings As Pants (LAP) which is NOT A PRETTY SIGHT for someone who has been doing nothing but consuming calories 24 hours a day. That’s the lazy part.
Also, since I have your attention, I’d also like issue one more formal complaint: this newfound lifestyle has made me broke as shit. I swear on your life, my eyes filled with tears the other morning when I realized I had $34 in my bank account. LITERALLY THIRTY-FOUR DOLLARS. WHO HAVE I BECOME? I HATE MYSELF.
Hold on a sec. I’M ACTUALLY STRESS-SWEATING. I need a minute to regain my composure.
K. Back.
Anyway… a few weeks ago, I decided my life needed to change. No more bullshit. It’s time to be a responsible human being. I promised myself that I was going to wake up early that Saturday morning and really adult. I was going to do laundry and exercise my disgusting body and clean my disgusting apartment. I was going to put my shoes in my closet and hang up all of the coats that were draped over my couch.
Since I still don’t have blinds in my apartment, I woke up with the ~sunrise~ around 7:00AM, which sounds kind of ~romantic~ until I inform you that I’m not wearing pants in this flashback. And I’m alone watching said sunrise. Yep. Just me, myself and the teardrops on my guitar.
I did what any other 28-year old adult would do: put on the Spotify playlist “The Best of Kelly Clarkson” and ate 3 bowls of Special K while standing over my sink. I made a couple cups of Starbucks coffee in my ghetto-ass Keurig machine. I moved all of my shoes from my hallway to shoe rack that is literally just a mangled piece of Bed, Bath and Beyond plastic – but hey, we can’t win them all. I Swiffered the living hell out of my 452-square foot apartment. I EVEN USED PLEDGE ON MY RAYMOUR & FLANAGAN MEDIA WALL UNIT. I am trying to use a lot of product placement in this paragraph, but now I’m not sure if it’s funny. I digress.
You get it. So far so good with this whole adulting thing. I pat myself on the back, which is a lie because I HATE BEING PATTED ON THE BACK. Seriously. If you ever pat me on the back when we’re hugging, I’m going to be offended and consider unfollowing you on social media.
Next up comes the laundry.
Laundry is something that I don’t mind doing, but there are a few quick things I need to tell you to help you get a visual:
1. I always, 100% of the time, have 25 OR MORE pounds of clothing to wash on Laundry Day. And I take reusable tote bags that you get from TJ Maxx to bring said clothing down to the basement of my building, where the laundry room lives.
2. I usually need to use 4 of these bags to lug my laundry downstairs.
3. I always, 100% of the time, have enough black clothing to do a “blacks only” load, which sounds really questionable but is meant with the upmost respect. New Yorkers wear a TON OF BLACK. I love black. And the new black heart emoji.
Now that we are aligned, let’s get back to the story.
After all my clothes are done in the dryer, I shove them back in my $0.99 tote bags and drag them back up to my apartment. Since my arms are full of clean garments, I body-check my door open and then karate-kick it closed behind me. I am oftentimes unaware of my strength -- and the door literally SLAMS SO INCREDIBLY HARD. It makes an abnormally loud noise.
I dump all 94 lbs of clothing on my bed and go back to the door to lock it behind me, because murderers.
But…I notice that the metal around the doorknob has become lose, probably from my Power Ranger-style kick.
And now the door won’t re-open. Chuckling, I give myself a minute to regain my composure, and pull on it again.
The door does not open.
Hmmm. This can’t ACTUALLY be happening, can it? There is no way I’m trapped in my own apartment.
I take a deep breath and reposition my stance. I pull as hard as I possibly can on this god damn door.
It does not open.
I look around to see if Ashton Kutcher snuck into my apartment while I wasn’t looking – I’m definitely being Punked. THERE IS NO WAY THAT I’M TRAPPED IN MY OWN HOME.
I’m now doing that thing from the movies where my foot is on the wall to brace myself, and I am literally PULLING with all of my being on this fucking door.
It does not open.
Maybe my hands are just sweaty? Yeah, that’s gotta be it. I put on oven mitts because of the grippy part. And I pull as hard as I can.
It does not open.
As the terror slowly begins to sink in, I do what any other person would do in this situation – call their doorman for back-up. I tell him that I can’t seem to open my door, and ask him to bring up the spare key to see if he can open it from the outside.
The following video is actual evidence taken from the moment that my dear Tony comes to assess the situation. [Director’s note: please observe the shoe marks to the right of the doorknob from where my foot was.]
youtube
You heard it with your own two ears, people; Tony confirmed it.
I’m fucking locked INSIDE my studio apartment.
“This can’t be happening”, I say aloud. “On the ONE day that I actually was going to get shit done.”
While Tony is calling the locksmith, I begin to wonder what life would be like if the door just never opened again. “Maybe I can make a ladder out of sheets and lower myself the 9 stories to the street,” I think in my brain. I then remember that I broke my pelvis from running up a HILL, so the chances of me surviving the descent are slim-to-none. I wonder how long it would take me to build up enough body mass to knock down the door. I dig through my junk drawer to look for any secret tools I may have forgotten about. What if the fire department has to come and scoop me out of my window like a cat stuck in a tree? I can see it now… “FDNY RESCUES SLIGHTLY OVERWEIGHT MILLENNIAL FROM 9th FLOOR MANHATTAN APARTMENT DUE TO STUCK DOOR.” Oh my god. THAT WOULD BE SOCIAL SUICIDE. Actually, maybe I could finally fulfill my dream of being on Ellen.
I can barely get deep in this stress-fantasy before there is a knock on my broken door; Joe, the locksmith, has come to rescue me.
Within the first 10 minutes, he pops out the doorknob and somehow, magically, is able to get the door open. THIS IS SO GREAT. All he has to do now is pop the doorknob back in and he can get on his merry way. And I can continue on with the promise I made to myself for being productive on this Saturday. I CAN STILL SAVE THE DAY. CARPE GOD DAMN DIEM, Y’ALL.
But of course, this is me we’re talking about. Shit can never be that easy.
Joe comes into my apartment wearing gym clothes and lets me know that this emergency totally interrupted his workout. At the very second I start to feel guilty for ruining this guy’s weekend, I realize that he is a GUM SNAPPER. He is smacking on that piece of Trident like it’s his last day on earth. Like he was trying to win the World’s Loudest Gum Chewer contest. I start to feel less bad for him and more sorry for my eardrums.
Anyway, Chompy Joe makes a full assessment of my door, muttering to himself about the various parts that he’ll need to back to “the truck” and get. He starts to ask me a lot questions about the innards of my door’s lock system – do I know which way the bolt was installed, have I ever replaced the trigger, etc. I want to scream YOU ARE TALKING TO A PERSON WHO LOCKED HERSELF IN HER ACTUAL APARTMENT but instead I politely shrug and tell him I’ll be no help.
Joe and his gum go back to “The Truck” and reappear a half hour later – he begins drilling and hammering and screwing and chewing boisterously. I don’t want to seem like a helicopter parent, so I begin folding the skyscraper of clothing that’s atop my bed. After 15 or so minutes, Joe calls out to me that he’s fixed the door. WOW. THAT WAS FAST. WHAT A PRODIGY.
I run over to him, which is a lie because you can’t run in my apartment because it is so small. He confidently attempts to walk me through the steps he took to replace the lock. Except when it comes time for him to demonstrate his success, we discover that he DID NOT FIX the lock. And thus begins the real emotional turmoil / the below hellacious cycle:
1. Joe mutters to himself while futzing around with my locks. That sounds sexual. It is not sexual.
2. Joe lets me know that he finally has discovered what the problem is, and heads back out to “The Truck” to get more necessary parts.
3. After 30 minutes or so of truck rummaging, Joe returns to the scene of the crime and begins playing around with the door.
4. After 10 more minutes, Joe calls back out to me that the locks are repaired.
5. Joe tries to show me that my door is fixed.
6. The door is still not fixed.
6.5 The locks are still broken.
7. See step 1.
8. Repeat.
THIS PROCESS RECURS A TOTAL OF FOUR TIMES. Since I know nothing about locksmith-ery so I TRY give Joe the benefit of the doubt. Luckily, I had no formal plans that day so I had time to devote to this stupid circumstance.
Since it doesn’t take 3 hours to fold laundry, I begin to struggle to pass the time while Joe is pretending to know what he’s doing working very diligently. I organize my dresser. I clean out my refrigerator. I put all my dishes away. I cure the common cold.
Finally, I hear a familiar sound - a CLICK in the door in tandem with a positive cheer come from Joe. “I really fixed it this time, Sara. Come look.” Joe closes the door. He tests both locks. Pulls on the door when it’s locked. IT’S FIXED. IT’S REALLY FIXED, ISN’T IT?!
Clearly pleased with himself, Joe begins to pack up his tools in his little locksmith bag. He hands me the bill and lets me know that I can call to tell him my credit card number over the phone so I don’t need to go with him to The Truck. I sign some forms, give Joe a heart-felt thank you, and wave as he turns towards the door leave. He turns both locks to free himself from my apartment.
But the door doesn’t open.
Joe pulls as hard as he can on the doorknob, clearly shaking it with all of his might.
I burst into laughter – OH JOE! My little trickster! It’s so funny that we’re on the level where you feel so comfortable playing such a silly joke on me. You devil!
Then, there is a long pause.
Joe slowly turns back and looks at me square in the eyes. He stares into the depths of my soul. I watch the energy literally drain out of his body, as his shoulders slump over.
He doesn’t even need to say a word. I already know that he’s not joking.
We are now BOTH stuck inside my apartment.
The panic really starts to set in. How THE HELL DID THIS HAPPEN. HOW ARE WE GOING TO GET OUT. Are there any other Joes out there that can come rescue us? God, I hope they aren't chompers. WAIT. I DON’T KNOW IF I HAVE ENOUGH CANNED GOODS FOR TWO HUMANS TO SURVIVE. I only have 4 boxes of cereal which is DEFINITELY only enough for me. WHAT AM I GOING TO DO. Do I need to marry Joe now? He's not really my type. Ugh, okay fine. I’ll do it if he closes his mouth.
Luckily, that doesn’t need to happen because Joe still had the DRILL with him. He proceeds to SHAVE DOWN the top of my door in order to free us. So creative. He busts the top lock out and as the minutes turned to more minutes – we were finally free.
Given the extensive injuries that my poor door and lock endured, and the emotional scarring that Joe will now have, I am handed an updated $275 bill…
…which I immediately send to the owner of my apartment to deal with for having the world’s crappiest door of all time. I COULD HAVE DIED IN THERE.
Needless to say, I opened a bottle of Sauv before the sun even thought about setting that day. It made everything better.
Sometimes, when I can’t sleep, I wonder what Joe and his gum are up to. Has he changed up his flavors? Did he ever finish that workout? Did someone teach him that society prefers that humans chew with their mouths closed?
And I wonder if he ever thinks of me.
Joe, if you’re reading this – thanks for the memories. LYLAL (Luv Ya Like A Locksmith.)
#SauvMyProblems
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