Review of The God Complex
Warning: This review contains episode-specific spoilers and wild speculation about future episodes.
Perhaps it’s the fact that it was originally intended to be part of Series 5 instead of Series 6, but for some reason The God Complex has had a whole lot of hype. All sorts of superlatives were used, and somehow it was supposed to be something to which we all really looked forward. Having seen it, I can’t say that I didn’t enjoy the episode, but it certainly wasn’t All That. To begin, there were some important ways in which it was quite derivative.
I had really mixed feelings, for example, about Rita. Overall, I loved her (nearly as much as the Doctor did), but you really know from the get-go that we’re not taking on a new Companion (even if poor Amy doesn’t when the Doctor pretends to “fire” her). Which, of course, means she’s another Astrid Peth – perfect Companion material doomed to die heroically/horribly. Personally, I’d rather not invest emotional capital where the investment is sure to fail. That makes it hard to engage as fully in the episode as it might deserve.
More blatantly, though, it takes a page straight out of The Curse of Fenric. The climactic scene with Amy is a perfect rehash of how the Doctor has to ruin poor Ace’s faith in him in the earlier story, and for effectively the same reason (though it’s actually done much more gently here). Although I do like the way it sort of references the previous episode by turning Amy Pond: the Girl Who Waited into Amy Williams: the Girl Who Stopped Waiting, there’s no hiding the fact that the major plot point came straight out of Fenric.
When we get to the more original details, there are so many, it’s hard to know which ones matter (typical of this Moffat era). Some of them are clearly there for color, like the photos that include not only humans but a Sontaran, a Tritovore, a Judoon, and probably others I’m not remembering. Others are likely just there as nods to previous episodes, as when Rory briefly wields a mop. But what’s up with the bowl of fish the Doctor points out for rescue (which are later stealthily consumed by Gibbis)? And how much attention are we supposed to pay to the images on all of the monitors in the security room?
Other details are just as clearly designed to spark fan speculation (and who am I to gainsay them?). The most obvious, of course, is the question of what was in the Doctor’s room. If you listen carefully, you can hear River’s voice among those whispering “praise him” just before the Doctor opens his door to the sound of the Cloister Bell tolling. His spoken reaction is predictable: “Of course. Who else?” Based on what we learned in Amy’s Choice, I think it’s a safe bet that it’s some version of the Doctor himself – possibly even the Valeyard (though I think that’s a stretch). At any rate, I suspect that the Doctor’s greatest fear is himself, or at least what he has the potential to become (e.g., an angry god).
Surely we’re also meant to be ooh’ing and ahh’ing over the portentous things the fallen god/Minotaur says – not only the big line near the end (“An ancient creature drenched in the blood of the innocent, drifting in space through an endless, shifting maze – for such a creature, death would be a gift.”) but also one in the salon (“You have lived so long even your name is lost.”) can be taken to refer to the Doctor, as indeed the former is all but outright stated to be.
My personal favorite little bits of speculation, though, center on smaller details. First, there’s the reappearance (after Night Terrors) of the Rubik’s Cube. (Have you noticed that there are 9 x 6 colored spots on one of those?) I think it’s also some sort of timing clue, since when he picks it up off the reception counter, it’s scrambled (like in Night Terrors), but when we see it again very briefly later in the episode (after the Doctor suddenly goes from smashing things in anger to sitting on the opposite side of Amy & Rory), it’s been solved.
And speaking of timing clues, how about Rory’s comment about “after all the time I spent with you in the TARDIS, what was left to be scared of?” (and, shortly thereafter, “I’d forgotten not all victories are about saving the universe…”)? If that doesn’t point to an alternate universe/timestream Rory (after all, he can remember being the Centurion for nearly two thousand years), I’m not sure what does. It’s also terribly convenient that the Doctor ditches Amy & Rory here so that they can do some cross-stream interaction later. (And so he can hook up with Craig and keep the same interpersonal dynamic. ~sigh~)
Mostly, though, the ending sets up our Lonely God again. His posture at the very end, however, is very different from Ten’s expressions of loneliness. He looks broken and afraid – not just lonely, but alone; it’s incredibly evocative of Gethsemane (more fodder for fans of Doctor-as-Christ imagery). Given that he’s purportedly headed to his death in another two episodes, it’s clearly apropos. I’m just hoping that’s not the last moment to love in the series.