I would argue that there's a very strong sense of family and last of one's kind in series 5. In each episode we're given examples of various creatures who are either trying to save their race from extinction or have become the last of their species. Family is a huge theme in series 5....and what happens when you lose them. (We go from noble last of species starwhale who sacrifices out of love for children to vampire fish who would destroy anything for her family to a blind creature who lashes out from fear of being left alone)

There's also the compelling visual in Amy's Choice where the old people seem to never die and we see them feast on the children of the village....this in an episode where the Dream Lord taunts the Doctor for liking the young but then just running away after awhile leaving them to never return. This episode, and the Vampire one where the matriarch taunts him about not saving his people but just running away, seems to suggest that the Doctor struggles with being OLD on an epic scale and perhaps sees himself as feeding on youth's energy. In his mind, he doesn't save them, he uses them. He is the antithesis of all the creatures we meet in series 5. He killed his people, he ran away...and keeps running. He is the monster, not all the scary creatures whom we learn episode after episode are just trying to keep their kind alive.

We then of course, have a parentless little girl and a Doctor who while trying to help, seems to almost become a parody of a bumbling dad who can't quite do anything right but wants to be the little girl's favorite and when a 'rival' comes on scene he's petulent, pouty and all the while starts to approve of the new 'love interest'. Amelia becomes his family without him being aware...he's sure he can run away at any point...but he get's in too deep and realizes that he can't. He's becoming the starwhale.

The themes of family and last of kind IMO were never there for Amy/River and Rory.....it has always been about the Doctor. Series 5(and 6) was about him being the last of his kind, the killer of his people. Someone so tired of just existing and hurting those he loves. He's at a crisis point....what do you do when you're the last of your kind? Do you behave blindly, do you behave badly or do you act with love? Amy saved the Starwhale, she saves the Doctor too.(And now we're facing the Doctor losing family all over again)
[x]


About The Wedding of River Song:
Eleven, in the very episode that's about killing off the Lonely God once and for all, meets River when she is Waters of Mars Ten. He's just decided to lay this part of himself to rest, and there's the Timelord Victorious standing right in front of him--and he doesn't run away, or shove her in a cupboard, or try to kill her, or "give her a choice" to make himself feel better about killing her... he marries her. He loves her and accepts her and that's how he gets her to stop.
(c) 10littlebullets


Matt Smith's Best Story?