It's Amy Pond Week at Tableau Your Mind! [Doctor Who]

Near the End, Let's Go Back to the Beginning

In case you didn't know, this Saturday will mark the last episode of Amy Williams (nee Pond) and Rory Williams as the regular companions of the 11^th Doctor on Doctor Who. A companion is a person who travels with the Doctor on his many journeys, acting as anything from his assistant to his therapist. Since Amy has been the Doctor's companion for the entirety of this blog's existence, it is only fair for us to devote an entire week to the hours and years we spent with Amy, The Girl who Waited, and her Raggedy Doctor. We actually (accidentally) preemptively said goodbye to her almost exactly one year ago, much to our eternal embarrassment.  But now it's really happening, and mum is the word about how she will make her final exit. But we do know that she is leaving. For sure this time.

So here it is: the Amy Pond Week on Tableau Your Mind, which we're sure will get about as many viewers as it will have writers (like, 4). Still, we're willing to do it, because we
have loved so much about the past two and a half seasons of Doctor Who, and a lot of that has to do with Karen Gillan's Amy Pond.

Steven Moffat took over as showrunner and head writer of Doctor Who when it went into its 5^th Series (or season, as I am wont to say), and his version of the show has been defined as much by Amy Pond as by the new Doctor, played by the skeletal and giddy Matt Smith. She really seems to be a companion work-shopped and cobbled together from all the best parts of the other modern companions. She has the working-class wonder and know-how of Rose Tyler (with a little of her love story as well), the pure glee and kindness of Martha Jones (an early episode where Amy saves a star whale is among her best moments), and the brashness and tenacity of Donna Noble (played by the incomparable Catherine Tate). She is also something new: a companion who isn't always with the Doctor, who is allowed to have her own life in the midst of all the crazy planet jumping and the wibbly wobbly, timey wimey...stuff. She is an insta-classic Doctor Who character, full of the bubbly complexity that has defined the best people this show has created.

Over the past two seasons, we have seen Amy grow, regress, learn, and generally feel like a real human being. Sure, sometimes it seemed like she stagnated, and much of the last season felt like the writers were unsure of where to take the characters in general and her specifically. The plot moved along at a fast clip, but some of the beats felt false. Still, she has had a glorious run, and we are excited to explore all of it over this week, looking back at her best moments, the relationships with her 'boys,' the interesting time spent with River Song, and so much more. We hope to have fun, exploring this character and the actress who portrays her, giving them both a fond farewell from Doctor Who.

Join us!