Top 10 River Song Moments (10-6)
Guest contributor James Hardy begins the countdown.
Between Series 4 and 7, across nearly 5 years, the Doctor repeatedly meets a mysterious woman who intrigued audiences globally with her unique, beautiful and complex character: Professor River Song, the Doctor’s wife. The character had many amazing moments but I have narrowed it down to a top ten. There are three aspects I’ll be marking the moments on, before averaging the totals and creating an overall score. These three aspects are:
- Emotion – what always gives River’s episodes that extra element to her character is the deep, heart-breaking or heart-warming emotion piled into the dialogue from her character. Whether it’s her dialogue, her charm, or her many, many exits/deaths, River revolves around real emotion.
- Plot – fitting in with her story arc is also very key. If things get confusing or her character doesn’t match this moment, the episode is marked down on the plot. This also applies if the episode plot was poor or this moment didn’t suit the episode in question.
- ‘Riverness’ – un-cleverly named aspect of her character. I’m talking about her charm and essence. That element of River that makes her so loveable. That deep layer of loneliness with the flirty charm she carries around when she meets the Doctor.
10. “Again? Who is this River?”
– Let’s Kill Hitler
The episode itself feels compressed and like a piece of the puzzle that didn’t quite fit into the series. But, at the same time, it contained that moment when Melody realises who she really is. The Doctor recognises this psychopath as his friend, but she sees him as her victim. Melody is an unlikable and hated killer throughout the episode until this one moment. The Doctor, so used to meeting this mysterious River, calls Melody by the name she had never heard but, when she realises the character that many love and has created series’ worth of mystery is born. I love it because it explains enough about her character to convert her from the killer we didn’t like to the woman we love. This only narrowly made it into the top 10 however, as the episode wasn’t the best but I still cherished this particular moment and felt it needed to be in the list.
- Emotion – 9/10
- Plot – 5/10
- Riverness – 1/10
- Overall – 5/10
9. “Father dear, I think mummy might need another drink”
– The Wedding of River Song
Although better than Let’s Kill Hitler, this wasn’t the best episode (never mind finale), but the moment when Amy discovers the truth about the Doctor being alive was very pleasing. ‘Oh, that man,’ she says ‘always has a plan.’ Demonstrating just how much she knows him, the Doctor’s wife speaks of seeing Amy, so young, without Amy having the faintest idea who she was and the scene compares it to the family she was developing. It also links in a lot of loose plot threads that tied together her story arc.
- Emotion – 4/10
- Plot – 8/10
- Riverness – 8/10
- Overall – 6/10
8. “Are you married, River?”
– The Big Bang
As if the episode hadn’t left enough story arcs wide open for future episodes, The Big Bang leaves River standing in Amy’s garden after the wedding warning him of what is to come. I love this scene because of the mystery it leaves behind. “You’re going to find out who I am very soon now,” she says “and, I’m sorry, but that’s when it all changes.” Like she said, things do change a lot following Series 5, but I cherish this scene because it is just mere months before the Doctor’s ‘death’ and Amy’s pregnancy get in the way and River’s mystery is very nearly solved. This gives River that extra layer of mystery and the question of marriage is brought into the equation with River’s essence and charm.
- Emotion – 4/10
- Plot – 9/10
- Riverness – 9/10
- Overall – 7/10
7. “It’s me, I’m Melody Pond. I’m your daughter”
– A Good Man Goes to War
Of course this would be in the top 10, but you’re probably surprised to see it so far from no. 1. This is simply because, although very sudden, unexpected and quite emotional, it wasn’t as powerful as it could have been. It was just the big reveal and it was done purely to create a cliffhanger. And although I loved the idea of the prayer leaf, there was more emotion and power from earlier in the episode (coming to that in the top 5.) It also completely confused the episode. What once was a battle for Amy’s baby with power and emotion following the plot, turned out to be River orientated, as if we hadn’t had enough already.
In case you can’t tell, some of River’s life I don’t like. This is primarily why Series 6 episodes are quite low on this top 10, as Amy’s pregnancy, the Doctor dying, Madame Kovarian appearing and the Silence creature/Silence Will Fall arc all happening at the same time so confusingly that River’s story didn’t fit the plot by the end of the episode. What we don’t know is that River’s story crosses all four of those confusing plots and that is explained later in the series, but, at the time, it makes no sense and the final moments are both confusing and sudden. Alex Kingston’s acting, however, was superb and probably some of the best we’ve ever seen on Doctor Who.
- Emotion – 9/10
- Plot – 8/10,
- Riverness – 5/10
- Overall – 7/10
6 – “Didn’t you used to be someone?”
– The Angels Take Manhattan
‘Weren’t you the woman who killed the Doctor?’ the Doctor says with River trapped in the hand of an angel as if, for once, River can’t escape the Doctor’s questions concerning who she is. Even with her character revealed, she still stops to clarify where she is in her life. I loved ‘sorry I’m late. Traffic was hell,’ with River’s giggle. And, finally, we see the new-wed elements breaking into the show although they aren’t as close as your ordinary couple in this scene. River’s charm is at full flow here with her witty remarks, further proving that ‘old-married-couple’ essence between the two of them. Although there were no mysterious comments, cliffhangers or husband-killing, she is perfect in this episode. She balances the old mysterious River, no one knew well, with the nagging wife some, or possibly too many, can associate with. And we all loved ‘does the bulb on top need changing?’ at the very end.
- Emotion – 5/10
- Plot – 8/10
- Riverness – 9/10
- Overall – 7/10
Don’t forget to read tomorrow’s article and get to know the top 5 best River Song moments. But, what’s your favourite? Leave a comment!
