Let's Kill Hitler

Let's Kill Hitler
by Steven Moffat
Originally Broadcasted: August 27th, 2011

The Doctor has spent all summer trying to find Amy and Rory's daughter, Melody. When the three meet up, along with Amy and Rory's childhood friend, Mels, they find that Melody has been there all along. Meanwhile, a highly advanced prison ship called the Teselecta is after Adolf Hitler, yet they find an even greater criminal: The person who kills The Doctor...

Steven Moffat really stepped up his game in Series 6. All throughout the season, surprisingly and startling revelations were revealed. We had The Doctor dying in The Impossible Astronaut, a little girl seemingly regenerating in Day of the Moon, finding out Amy was a Ganger in The Almost People, and the revelation that River Song is Amy and Rory's daughter in A Good Man Goes to War. As mind blowing as every single one of those moments were, none impressed me more than Mels in this story regenerating into River Song (although she hasn't taken that name on yet). Mels' backstory is shown and she has been known by Amy and Rory all their life as a good friend, despite a few criminal character flaws. So to then see her regenerate into River Song was nothing short of amazing to me! I actually feel like it would be an interesting idea to bring back Mels for another story. River is half Time Lord, so she doesn't always have to be played by Alex Kingston. Don't get me wrong though, for Alex Kingston is fabulous as River Song. In this episode, she shows off a completely different side of the character. This River Song hasn't yet fallen in love with The Doctor. She's just trying to complete what she was brought up to do: Kill The Doctor. And she almost succeeds. But in the end, she gives up her remaining regenerations to save The Doctor's life (also nicely doing alway with the rule that Time Lords only get a certain number of regenerations). The sub-plot to this story with the Teselecta was also quite interesting, and provided an interesting contrast to the setting of pre-World War II Berlin. For those that don't know, the Teselecta is a ship manned by miniaturized humans that can morph into any human being. Thanks to the TARDIS spinning out of control and knocking the human disguised Teselecta over, The Doctor unknowingly saved Hitler. Now what show other than Doctor Who can you have your main characters lock Hitler in a cupboard!? This story is a perfect example of what's so good about modern Doctor Who. You have heart pounding plot twists, tender moments with the characters, and hilarious humor. Definitely my favorite episode of Series 6!

Luke's Rating: 10/10