“A Good Man Goes To War” Remains A High Point Of Matt Smith’s Doctor Who Tenure
The 11th Doctor's heyday was full of surprises.
For those who remember, it's almost impossible to wrap your mind around the fact that Matt Smith’s epic second season of Doctor Who was airing a decade and a half ago. But back in June 2011, the second season of Smith’s tenure, and then-showrunner Steven Moffat’s twistiest season up until that point, was rushing toward a mid-season finale, a fairly new concept at the time. This was a moment where Doctor Who seemed to be playing a long game, and finally revealed the origin of a fan-favorite character who had existed since 2008.
And, 15 years after it aired, the seventh episode of Doctor Who Season 6, “A Good Man Goes To War,” remains a high point for the show, and a moment in which it felt like anything was possible.
Retro spoilers ahead.
When she was first introduced in the 2008 two-parter, “Silence in the Library” and “Forest of the Dead,” River Song’s (Alex Kingston) story seemed like it was closed. But even though the 10th Doctor (David Tennant) witnessed her death in Season 4, the timey wimey nature of the show meant that the majority of River Song’s story was depicted onscreen after her death, primarily in the tenure of the 11th Doctor. Because Smith was a bit younger than Tennant had been, the dynamic between the 11th Doctor and River in the Moffat era was a bit different from perhaps fans had imagined it would have been back before the 10th Doctor regenerated. In the Season 6 debut, the Doctor even jokingly called River “Mrs. Robinson,” referencing the fact that visually, she looked much older than him, even though we know that the Doctor is several centuries older than River, give or take.
Alex Kingston as River Song in the ending of “A Good Man Goes to War.”
But prior to “A Good Man Goes to War,” the Doctor still had no idea who River was, or why she was so entangled in his life, including various points in his yet-to-be-discovered future. And so, “A Good Man Goes to War” becomes, eventually, a story about the origin of River Song, even though you don’t know that’s the case until the very final moments.
Following another modern-classic two-parter, “The Rebel Flesh” and “The Almost People,” the premise of “A Good Man Goes to War” is all about the Doctor raising a makeshift army to rescue Amy (Karen Gillan) and her newly born baby girl, Melody Pond, from the clutches of the servants of the Silence on the asteroid known as Demons Run. Moffat goes hog wild, introducing all sorts of over-the-top Doctor Who concepts here, many of which would stick in the canon for ages. This is the first time it is established that a future version of the Catholic Church has a massive army. “A Good Man Goes to War” also cleverly establishes allies of the Doctor, known later as “the Paternoster Gang,” consisting of the Silurian Madame Vastra (Neve McIntosh), Jenny Flint (Catrin Stewart), and Strax, a Sontaran nurse (Dan Starkey).
In one of the most timey-wimiest twists from Moffat, this is the first appearance of this trio, despite the fact that the episode establishes that the Doctor has known them all for a while. Today, it's unclear which is more jarring: To watch this episode with the future knowledge that Vastra, Jenny, and Strax are a huge part of the 11th and 12th Doctors’ lives, or to try to remember that this episode randomly established these characters as having always been around.
The introduction of the Paternoster Gang is, in a sense, a microcosm of Season 6’s larger goals, which are revealed in the final moments: River Song is the adult version of Melody Pond, and always has been. This makes her Amy and Rory’s daughter, and the future wife of the Doctor.
Guest star — and future Strange New Worlds hero — Christina Chong brings memorable pathos to the character of Lorna Bucket, someone else whom the Doctor has encountered somewhere in the past (or the future) and whose life was changed forever. Moffat toys with one of his favorite themes, here, which plays out through his entire tenure as showrunner, and is embodied by several versions of the Doctor, from Smith to John Hurt, to Peter Capaldi: the notion that the Doctor is as much of a warrior as he is a heroic explorer.
Christina Chong as Lorna Bucket in “A Good Man Goes to War.”
The stakes in “A Good Man Goes to War,” in the end, aren’t really what we thought. The Doctor grapples with his own sense of personal morality, while the future knowledge that Melody/River Song lives to fight another day feels like cold comfort for Amy and Rory. All of this sets up an epic second-half to Season 6, which didn’t actually end up debuting for another six months with “Let’s Kill Hitler,” an episode that drops another bombshell about River Song — she’s part Time Lord!
That said, despite being the middle point in a larger story, “A Good Man Goes to War” is one of the high points of Moffat’s various big swings during his Who era. It remains one of Smith’s most interesting performances, and the twist still feels massive, even when you know what’s coming.
