Chronological Doctor Who Watchthrough #17:
A Town Called Mercy (1860s)
The time period of this episode is a little ambiguous. TARDIS Wiki says 1870 but I can’t work out why, I don’t believe any year is explicitly stated in-episode. The only real in-universe indicators I can think of are the Wild West setting and the Doctor’s statement that electric street lights are about ten years early. Based on these facts, I’m putting it loosely in the 1860s.
I really like this episode. Kahler-Jex is an absolutely fascinating character and it feels like every scene with him pulls back another layer. Upon first meeting, he seems like a nice guy, if a little suspicious. We later learn that he’s a seeming monster who experimented on people without consent and caused unimaginable amounts of pain and death. What’s more, we see him happy and willing to threaten Amy with a gun and later double down in his actions. We then hear the Doctor’s revelation that his ‘reformation’ is a kind of punishment he chose for himself, and we can see from his reaction that the Doctor is absolutely right. He talks about his own religious beliefs, explaining his fear of death, and showing that he does actually understand that he has wronged people. And when the Doctor pushes him over the line, to let him die, but then changes his mind, he does not come back. While he doesn’t have the guts at this point to leave of his own accord, once pushed over the line, he stays there. Even seeks forgiveness from the Gunslinger. All this hints at a much more conflicted and guilty character than the confident and self-assured exterior he projects. And of course, in the end, he chooses to face his fear and sacrifice himself for the greater good.
There’s a reason the episode opens with a direct link drawn between Jex and the Doctor. They are characters, as Jex himself says, with many similarities, but Jex embodies the idea that ends justify means, and the Doctor embodies the opposite, except of course for a moment of weakness in which he does push Jex to (almost) his death. This fundamental difference in ideology is the framework this episode is built around. Even the Gunslinger has his own point of view, in that when he’s the means, he is angry enough to hunt people across the Universe, but he is willing to go to any means to achieve his own ends. Or - he says he is. But when push comes to shove, we see that he can’t kill innocents (apart from one accident with Isaac).
My favourite scene in the episode is the one where the Doctor threatens Jex’s life. It’s less extreme than something like what we see in ‘The Waters of Mars’ or ‘Hell Bent’, but it’s a fantastic example of the Doctor going too far. Matt Smith and Karen Gillan’s acting in this scene as she has her little speech about how they need to be better ties wonderfully into this Doctor’s overall arc, particularly for series 7A. And I’m really glad the Doctor’s antics have a very tangible effect in that Isaac gets killed, which hurts.
I also want to mention that team who designed and created the prosthetics and costuming for the Gunslinger did a ridiculously good job, as did Murray Gold in composing a brilliant Western-style score.
