Doctor Who Series 7 Episode 3 - A Town Called Mercy - Review
Starring: Matt Smith, Karen Gillan, Arthur Darvill, Adrian Scarborough & Andrew Brooke
Written By: Toby Whithouse
Directed By: Saul Metzstein
Continuing
this series' approach of making each episode feel like a movie
poster, A Town Called Mercy brings
us back to Earth for a Wild West-themed adventure. There's something
about the promotion of this episode and the combination of sci-fi
with the Wild West, that reminded me of the 2011 film, Cowboys
& Aliens. While I
haven't seen the film, given the very mixed critical response that it
attracted, hopefully A Town Called Mercy can
go beyond that to deliver something even better.
The
Doctor, Amy and Rory arrive in a town in Nevada during the 1870s, and
find its inhabitants fearful. The Doctor quickly learns that the
townsfolk are living under the threat of a cyborg masquerading as a
cowboy, known as the Gunslinger. The Gunslinger is looking for
another alien doctor in the town – a man called Kahler-Jex. Jex has
become the town's doctor and cured many sick people, but back on his
own world, he was responsible for creating the Gunslinger after
experimenting on him against his will. The Doctor is left to debate
whether or not Jex should be handed over for what's he done, or if he
should defend him and the town.
A
Town Called Mercy is
exploring a big moral dilemma at its heart, and it sounds like it
should work, but unfortunately it quickly gets too big and complex
for its own good. A lot of this comes down to the mishandling of the
character, Kahler-Jex. (Spoiler
Warning!) We
learn that Jex is a war hero on his planet, and helped to end a war
by experimenting on soldiers against their own free will, to turn
them into perfect weapons. However, on Earth, he has helped the town
of Mercy by providing electricity and curing an outbreak of cholera.
I can see the intent in having these two opposing sides to him, but
it ends up becoming even more complex. We later learn that Jex has an
acid-tongue to him, going as far as trying to provoke and annoy the
Doctor, but he also has a spiritual side, and the reason he fears
facing the Gunslinger is because once he dies, he'll have to carry
the weight of all the souls he's wronged in his lifetime. It's all just
too much and there's too many vastly different and opposing sides to
his character, that in a space of forty-five minutes, are just unable
to fully gel. I'm glad the episode wanted to present a complex moral
dilemma, but it's just cluttered and complexity for the sake of it.
Also, the reason the Gunslinger can't just march into town and kill
Jex is because he himself refused to enter as civilians will get in
the way. But will they? Except for Isaac and the TARDIS crew, the
town are willing to hand Jex over to protect themselves, and I'm
fairly sure they can all overpower Isaac and the TARDIS crew to get
to Jex. If you wanted to keep the Gunslinger out of the town,
couldn't it have been easily rewritten so that Jex's ship was
powering a forcefield that keeps mechanical creatures out? They then
later lower the forcefield at the end to let the Gunslinger in, while
Jex escapes. Surely this would be much simpler to do, and the moral
dilemma would still be intact.
Kahler-Jex
and the Gunslinger aren't the only ones done little justice by the
script, as our TARDIS crew don't fare much better either. The Doctor
ends up taking a turn completely out of nowhere, and acting
completely out of character when he tries to kick Jex out of the
town. Never mind the complaints that the Doctor acted out of
character at the end of last week's episode, this is where he really
did it. He may have been provoked by Jex, but that reaction is still
not justified. He has been taunted and pushed far worse than that in
the past, and I don't see what makes Jex so much more evil or
different enough to warrant that response. Meanwhile, Amy and
particularly Rory are a non-entity in this episode. It's been
established that the two are only travelling sparingly with the
Doctor in this series, and if ever there was a time to show it, it's
here. Rory is just... here, and Amy only exists to talk the Doctor
down from his already out of character act of kicking Jex out the
town.
However,
while this episode is flawed as far as plot and character are
concerned, A Town Called Mercy succeeds
in every other area. The performances, both big and small, impressed
across the board and full credit goes to every actor involved. Matt
Smith got the chance to show his more serious side, something we've
sadly seen less of since Series 5, and often his best scenes come
when there's little dialogue and it's all shown without words.
Although the different sides to his character may have been in
conflict, Adrian Scarborough still nailed the softer-spoken scientist
role, as well as the darker and more aggressive side. The citizens of
Mercy, while none are explored in huge detail, all fit some nice
archetypal roles, such as the kid, the sheriff and the preacher.
Andrew Brooke also deserves a lot of praise for acting so well as the
Gunslinger under all the heavy make-up.
Speaking
of the Gunslinger, I really liked him, and he quickly became an
effective, memorable, yet sympathetic foe. Toby Whithouse has said
that the Gunslinger took inspiration from Frankenstein's Monster, and
this is made very clear. We can sympathize with what he has had done
to him, while his attempts to get his revenge fill this episode's
quota for danger and action. Maybe it's because I've got something of
a soft spot for focused, ruthless and deadly robots/cyborgs, but
seeing the Gunslinger go around shooting deadly bolts and rays in a
Wild West town, and even getting into a traditional cowboy stand-off
with the Doctor, really made my inner child smile.
Rather
like last year's pirate setting in The Curse Of
The Black Spot,
the Wild West setting in A Town Called Mercy is
one that I just never got into as a kid, and I didn't expect to take
to it now. However, I was pleasantly surprised to find that I did,
and unlike The Curse Of The Black Spot,
A Town Called Mercy
actually made the most of its setting. If Doctor
Who's
first venture into the Wild West was ambitious in 1966's The
Gunfighters,
this time it has the budget to finally realize that ambition. Using
that budget, it creates a colourful, faithful recreation of a typical
Wild West town, one that is a nice welcome change following the
previous two much darker episodes. Director Saul Metzstein returns
for the second week running, and he is worth keeping on board as he
provides the episode with a truly cinematic feel. The camerawork is
often wide, sweeping and lively, and isn't afraid to show off the
beautiful town and sandy landscapes.
I
may have made it sound like I didn't like or enjoy this episode, but
while it's deeply flawed, it isn't bad and I mostly enjoyed it.
Everything here works... except the most important part – the plot
and characters. If there were another rewrite of this script that got
rid of the added complexity, that exists purely for the sake of it,
this could have been a really good episode with a convincing moral
dilemma. Everything else, such as presentation and acting talent, is
here, but it ends up feeling hollow as the characters and plot are
simply mishandled.
A Town Called Mercy
6/10