Doctor Who - A Town Called Mercy - review.

Karen Gillan, Matt Smith and Arthur Darvill in A Town Called Mercy.

I have never been a huge fan of Toby Whithouse, 'School Reunion' was funny but lacked a proper alien threat whilst 'The Vampires of Venice' was good fun but yet still no threat. Last year's 'The God Complex' was a tricky one, I found when first watching it, it was disappointing but upon second viewing I uncovered it to be a smart and sophisticated episode that had a deep moral. 'A Town Called Mercy' has made me rethink whatever I thought previously about Whithouse. Its a smart Western that incorporates everything you'd expect from it. The Doctor riding a horse (new companion, Susan), gun fights and a proper Western set. The TARDIS crew arrive after yet another misfire from the Doctor in the town of Mercy, a town under siege from the weirdest threat possible for them. Andrew Brooke is absolutely brilliant as The Gunslinger, a cyborg dead set to kill Kahler-Jex. Jex is played by British actor, Adrian Scarborough who performs brilliantly as usual, the character Jex is an intriguing one and you start of liking him but the story takes numerous twists. Stargate actor, Ben Browder plays Isaac, the Marshall of Mercy and the Doctor's best friend in this episode. Toby Whithouse delivers a terrific script and believable characters without giving us a proper villain slightly similar to the Minotaur from 'The God Complex'. It has the seriousness of 'Asylum of the Daleks' and completely destroys the hilarious romp of last week, Dinosaurs On A Spaceship. As episode three it stands in the same spot as last year's 'The Doctor's Wife' - my favorite episode of series six, now the best episode so far of series seven would have be this.


NEXT TIME:
"The year of the slow invasion", Mark Williams is back as Rory's dad, Rory in his pants... its the Ponds sitcom plus the return of UNIT.