Howling:Does the doctor ever "fall" into a "trap" in A Good Man Goes To War?

In the first half of series 6, much was made of the declaration (I would call it a prediction, but it was a statement of River Song's from her memories) that in A Good Man Goes to War, the Doctor would "rise higher than he's ever been before ... and fall so very far" (I'm not sure of the exact wording, but I think I'm pretty close). When the episode came around, I kept waiting for anything like that to happen ... and I was disappointed. Then at the end of the episode, River reiterated the prediction, meaning that it was still to come ... but I thought from the way she spoke that she was referring to wherever he was going and what he was going to do right then - certainly we never got any other explanation as to where he was off to in such a hurry, and without Rory and Amy... So I thought it might show up in the next episode. But then the prequel to episode 8 revealed that he went ... nowhere much. Hung out in the TARDIS and didn't answer his phone. And he was gone for three months, but we have no hint of what he was doing, and whatever it was, it doesn't seem to have had any effect on the Melody/River storyline... Have I missed something, or is this supposed to be still to come, or yet to be revealed?

The other thing they were talking about in the episode was a "trap" drawn around the Doctor, that he wouldn't realise he was in until it was too late. Certainly they managed to hide the fact that Madame Kovarian got away with the real Melody for a good long while ... but how is that a "trap"? The concept of a trap, to me, means that the victim is 1) stuck and 2) probably injured in some way, if not outright killed. For one, they weren't stuck - they still had the TARDIS, and secondly, no actual harm came to Amy, Rory or most importantly the Doctor in that episode. If the soldiers were meant to kill everyone left behind that kind of defeats the purpose of taking Melody... so what was the "trap"? -- the angel Jean - Smith's little elf☎ 13:52, September 13, 2011 (UTC)

The Doctor rose higher then ever before when he won the battle, and fell so much further after he lost Melody, realized that she was going to be turned into a weapon, and then realized what he had become over the years that he could inspire such fear in people. It all makes sense if you actually pay attention to what River says at the end of the episode. The trap was to replace Melody with a ganger and then to leave the Doctor's army at Demon's Run with the Headless Monks. I don't know if you noticed, but they actually did kill 2 out of 5 members of his army. The trap didn't neccessarily have to kill the Doctor, just make sure that he wouldn't retrieve the baby.Icecreamdif 15:00, September 13, 2011 (UTC)

While I think that the Melody pond situation works as the trap, I agree with Smith's little elf here that the episode didn't feel finished. This was supposed to be the Doctor's 'darkest hour'. This is a man who's inspired terror in entire worlds, who's had death follow him forever, who's tortured a Dalek and a copy of whom committed Genocide. Overall I saw nothing in that episode that comes even close to being the darkest moment for such a man. If it is the whole Melody becomes a weapon thing, then the Doctor has been specifically said to do that to people before and had a whole bunch about ready to destroy the world a couple of finales back. That was a far darker hour.

River did say that it was today though that would mark the Doctor's darkest hour. So maybe that means that the Doctor returns there, to that day, and does as predicted in the future.210.49.167.47 10:05, September 16, 2011 (UTC)
 * I think you are interpreting "his darkest hour" wrong, you are thinking about it being about death and preform large and difficult choices when it is a victory only for it to completely collapse around him. Imagine that; you have just performed a great victory only to have it snatched away from you, that would be worse then simply losing outright to have all that hope and suddenly none. That is "his darkest hour", the problem is that people are interpreting it wrong. The Light6 13:38, September 16, 2011 (UTC)


 * TheLight6 is right. The "rise so much further" was beating a whole army with minimal bloodshed (maybe no bloodshed) and rescue two people in 5 minutes flat. The darkest hour was all that getting reversed plus getting three people killed. Also note they were trapped as Kovarain put a shield round the TARDIS.--82.11.57.232 18:04, September 16, 2011 (UTC)

Well, if the Doctor had been with everyone else they probably would have been able to escape, since he didn't seem to have too much trouble taking down the forcefield with his sonic screwdriver. It really became his darkest hour when he realized how the rest of the universe saw him (though you'd think he'd be able to figure that much out in The Pandorica Opens). All that stuff with "Why would a Timelord be a weapon?" "Well, they've seen you," and then River's whole speech about how Doctor means great warrior to the gamma forest is really how the Doctor fell lower than ever before. That, and his best friends' baby being kidnapped to be brainwashed to kill him. Also, keep in mind, it was River who said that the Doctor would fall farther than ever before, and since her being kidnapped, raised by the Silence, and brainwashed to kill the Doctor was a direct result of Demon's Run, it is hardly surprising that River would see it that way.Icecreamdif 19:17, September 16, 2011 (UTC)