Back in June, the midseason finale of Doctor Who left off with the reveal of River Song’s identity and the kidnapping of Amy’s baby. So it was a bit surprising to me that we’d return with such a disconnected episode about killing Hitler.

Don’t let them fool you. “Let’s Kill Hitler” isn’t actually about Hitler, except maybe as a comic foil, but instead he’s cleverly used as a MacGuffin for a whole lot more. Hitler is just the frosting, you could say, on a delicious cake that goes layers deep this week.

Doctor Who (s06e08): Let’s Kill Hitler

Mels: A significant factor in Hitler’s rise to power was that The Doctor didn’t stop him.

I’ve always hated when a new character is brought in that has supposedly been friends with our main characters for a long time. I get that characters are supposed to have lives outside of what we get to see, but bringing someone new in has always felt like just a sneaky way of instigating new drama. Enter Mels, an old friend of Amy and Rory’s, who quickly hijacks the Tardis and does exactly what I was afraid of.

Except we learn there’s a lot more to Mels than we know. Shown through flashbacks, we realize Mels is actually Melody, their daughter, and she grew up alongside her parents, Amy and Rory. It’s thanks to her that Amy even realized Rory liked her. And more amusing is the fact they later named their daughter Melody after their friend, actually daughter, Mels. I feel like some kind of Terminator joke could be made right about now.

Doctor: She did kill me. And then she used her remaining lives to bring me back. as first dates go, that’s mixed signals.

We also learn Mels has been simply biding her time to do what she was trained: kill the Doctor. So the episode starts with Mels hijacking the Tardis to kill Hitler, but after a spectacular amount of foreplay ends up poisoning the Doctor. Mels is a completely new and crazy character in comparison to River Song, and watching Alex Kingston play her, after she transforms, was quite a joy. I’m fascinated to see how she goes from here to the River Song we know in the future. I mean, past. My head hurts to think about it all.

Mels: Who’s River Song?
Doctor: Spoilers…

Mels does seem well on her way to becoming River after learning about her future from Amy and using all her rejuvenations to bring the Doctor back to life. (Years of brainwashing, gone in an instant!) Does this mean Mels/River is now doomed to live out her life with an expiration date while using the book the Doctor left behind to find him again and again? Her future has started to become his past.

And what about the Doctor? He now knows all the details about his death in April 2011 thanks to the records kept by the history-fixing-terrorist-killing robo-people. We know the Doctor will eventually stage and invite everyone to witness this event, so there must be more he finds out between now and then. Until then he’ll continue to learn little scraps information about the Silence: They’re a movement. And the silence will fall when an uknown question is asked. Hm.

But my favorite part of the episode has to be the Doctor alone, in the Tardis, and calling out, “Come on, there must be someone left in the universe I haven’t screwed up yet.” before little Amy Pond appears. Aaw. I was actually liking Rory a lot more this week, but I don’t think I’ll ever be over the connection between Eleven/Amy. (Even if the Doctor now has to ask Rory’s permission each time he wants to hug her.) Plus, the whole idea of the Doctor thinking River was right and he’s destroyed everyone’s lives paints a bleak picture as to his state of mind. He really has fallen.

Notes:

I loved the killer robots: “Welcome. You are unauthorized. Your death will now be implemented.” and “You will experience a tingling sensation and then death.” and “Remain calm while your life is extracted.”