Doctor Who: Matt Smith’s 11 Best Understated Moments

9. €œThere€™s only one person in the universe who hates me as much as you do.€

hates me as much as you There were three big twists in €œAmy€™s Choice.€ Both locations were dreams, and Amy really was in love with Rory. But the most important and most terrible was that the Dream Lord was the Doctor€™s darkness. All the nasty ways he wormed under Rory, Amy, and the Doctor€™s skin were the thoughts the Doctor didn€™t let himself have. He was the angel of the Doctor€™s darker nature. We don€™t find out that the Dream Lord and the Doctor are two parts of the same person until the end of the episode, when the Doctor says he €œthought it was obvious.€ But when you re-watch and look at the Doctor, you can see something strange when he realizes who the Dream Lord is€”and it€™s all down to Matt Smith€™s complex acting. He doesn€™t feel afraid, or repulsed. He feels victorious. Look at his face: he€™s figured out his own riddle, and he€™s proud. Why? The answer lies in his self-hatred. We love the Doctor, but the Doctor hates himself. Because he knows more about himself than anyone, and what he knows makes him hate. A few later moments I€™m going to talk about can be traced back to this moment, when the Doctor faced his demons and did not slay them.
Contributor
Contributor

Rebecca Kulik lives in Iowa, reads an obsence amount, watches way too much television, and occasionally studies for her BA in History. Come by her personal pop culture blog at tyrannyofthepetticoat.wordpress.com and her reading blog at journalofimaginarypeople.wordpress.com.