Warning! Spoilers for Doctor Who season 15, episode 5
Doctor Who continues the Pantheon storyline in “The Story & the Engine,” where a new villain is introduced. A mysterious man calling himself the Barber, who is joined by a woman named Abby, trapped the Fifteenth Doctor and his friends inside a barbershop, which has been refashioned into a spaceship meant to create a web known as the Nexus. The purpose of the Nexus is to catch and destroy ancient mythological gods, whom Abby and the Barber believe have wronged them.
From the moment Abby sets eyes on the Doctor, she treats him with disdain. He seems to recognize her, but can’t quite place how he knows her. Eventually, he realizes that Abby is none other than Abena, the daughter of the African trickster god, Anansi. A surprising cameo by the Fugitive Doctor reveals that she agreed to marry Abena long ago, but broke her promise, thus breaking Abena’s heart. However, it wasn’t the first time that the Doctor weaseled out of marrying someone, as he has a history of leaving women at the altar.
Abena Is Yet Another Person The Doctor Wriggled Out Of Marrying
The Doctor Has Left Other Historical Figures At The Altar
Long before the Doctor broke their promise to marry Abena, there were multiple instances in which he found himself in similar situations, even as far back as the First Doctor, William Hartnell. In the sixth Doctor Who serial, “The Aztecs,” the Doctor took the TARDIS to ancient Mexico, joined by his granddaughter, Susan, and Susan’s teachers, Barbara Wright and Ian Chesterton. There, they encountered an ancient civilization, and the Doctor befriended an elder Aztec woman named Cameca. When the Doctor shared a cup of cocoa with Cameca, he was unaware that he was actually accepting a marriage proposal.
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The new Doctor Who series continued the tradition of the Doctor either marrying or getting engaged to other historical figures. In the 50th anniversary special, “The Day of the Doctor,” the Tenth Doctor married Queen Elizabeth I, but quickly skedaddled soon after. In “A Christmas Carol,” the Eleventh Doctor casually mentions that he once accidentally married Marilyn Monroe. Finally, in “The Husbands of River Song,” River brings up his marriage to the Egyptian queen, Cleopatra. How the Doctor keeps getting himself into these things, who can say, but he clearly has commitment issues.
The Doctor’s Reluctance To Marry Makes River Song Even More Special
She’s Possibly The Only Person He Actually Wanted To Marry
Even with all the “marriages” that the Doctor participated in, there was only one that ever really mattered. In Doctor Who season 6, episode 13, “The Wedding of River Song,” River refuses to carry out a fixed point in time in which she involuntarily kills the Doctor. This causes an event in which time overlaps with itself, which will eventually result in all of space and time disintegrating. To reassure River and gain her trust, the Doctor performs an impromptu marriage ceremony, using a ritual from his home planet of Gallifrey, as River’s parents, Amy and Rory, act as witnesses.
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Although the marriage to River was the Doctor’s way of convincing her to do the right thing, the symbolism of the act is a powerful one. In the past, the Doctor’s marriages were impulsive, fly-by-night occurrences that he never seemed to take seriously. The fact that he incorporated Gallifreyan tradition into the wedding with River indicates that she means much more to him. Though she may not have been his first, the Doctor’s marriage to River Song in Doctor Who is clearly the one that mattered most.
5/10
- Release Date
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December 25, 2023
- Directors
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Douglas Camfield, David Maloney, Christopher Barry, Michael E. Briant, Barry Letts, Michael Ferguson, Richard Martin, Peter Moffatt, Pennant Roberts, Lennie Mayne, Chris Clough, Ron Jones, Paddy Russell, Paul Bernard, Michael Hayes, Timothy Combe, Morris Barry, Gerald Blake, Graeme Harper, Waris Hussein, Rodney Bennett, Mervyn Pinfield, Hugh David, John Gorrie
