"I see Keep Out signs as suggestions more than actual orders. Like 'dry clean only.'"

So... a Western. They hadn't done one of those since "The Gunfighters". This one was a bit more serious than that one. There was no "The Ballad of the Last Chance Saloon" for starters.

Also with a title like "A Town Called Mercy", I was expecting an episode about a mosque on the prairie. The Canadians will get that one. ;-)

I don't know, I haven't been exactly wowed so far this season. Maybe it's because I know something big is coming. This is all just filler until Amy and Rory leave. A countdown.


I kind of wish, since these are their last few episodes, that the plots would focus more on them. There have been moments when some issues are addressed, but they fly right by. Just a quick conversation and it's back to the sci fi plot. I wish the plot and the personal stuff could be one. Have a story that touches on the state of Amy and Rory's life, though it does look like we might be getting that next week. I mean, Rory barely did anything in this episode. He ran around and that was it. Amy had a gun pointed at her and she became the deputy. She and Jex only have a few lines about her being a mother. I need something more.

But anyway... Ben Browder! Good to see him doing TV again if only for one episode. Yay for him playing the Marshall of Mercy but I just wish his role had lasted a bit longer. You kind of want him running around with the Doctor and shooting stuff. But it was still a meaty role. In his eyes, Jex is innocent; it doesn't matter what he did. It makes me think that Issac did some nasty things during the war (the Civil War I assume? Forgive the ignorant Canadian). He can understand where Jex is coming from. It also puts him in contrast to the Doctor, who's done some pretty bad stuff himself. How can you forgive if you can't forgive yourself? Westerns do always have that throughline about honour and justice.

And I am glad they are touching upon the Doctor's sudden, well, cruelty. Last week, he didn't have to leave Soloman to die. This week, he nearly let the Gunslinger kill Jex. Amy mades a wonderful point. The Doctor loses some of his, for a lack of a better word, humanity when he's travelling alone. He can't see he's on a slippery slope. This leads me to believe that's the reason why he takes on a new Companion after Amy and Rory. It's not just about getting rid of the loneliness. He needs to have mercy because if he didn't, he'd leave a whole lot more bodies in his wake.

Random: With the Western setting and the presence of sci fi technology, I was totally reminded of Firefly. Maybe if Nathan Fillion had been free he could have played Issac. :-) So, no backstory whatsoever on how Amy and Rory came to be travelling with the Doctor in this story. That's all right. One assumes he keeps popping in with alluring invitations. But would Amy and Rory be aging faster than their friends? That implies they've been travelling with the Doctor for longer than they've been away. Yeah, I can see that, now that I think about it. No horrible American accents this time! I think it helps that everyone was doing a heavy Southern accent. Too bad the Doctor didn't try speaking more "American". I always have a good laugh when Matt Smith tries. And the Doctor speaks horse, of course. No comment about the horse's name being Susan, though. I would have expected a quick, "Susan. I like that name. Good name Susan," without going in to it too much. And why with the changing logo? Why have a different texture each week?


Yeah, not much else to say about this one. Next week looks super interesting. Rory's Dad is back!