So it occurred to me that some people in the Rebecca Front fandot might be hesistant about reblogging yesterday’s really great interview with her, since it was posted on The D@ily M@il. So, I’ve taken the liberty of copying the transcript here (below the cut) so that people can still read it without that controversial site in their browser history.
'Sex symbol? I’ve still got it!': Actress Rebecca Front on body confidence and what she's got in common with Theresa May
By KERRY POTTER FOR YOU MAGAZINE
From The Thick of It to War & Peace, REBECCA FRONT’s talent for portraying powerful women has won her legions of male fans. She tells Kerry Potter about body confidence, her (teenage) fashion mentor and what she’s got in common with Theresa May.
Rebecca Front is fixing me with The Look. Even the most cursory of TV viewers will be familiar with it: stern and authoritative, as seen on Chief Superintendent Jean Innocent in ITV crime drama Inspector Lewis (three years on from Rebecca’s departure, her co-star Laurence Fox still calls her ‘ma’am’).
She also deployed it in her role as cabinet minister Nicola Murray in the BBC political satire The Thick of It, as well as in her matriarch roles in period dramas War & Peace and Doctor Thorne. And now The Look is back for Rebecca’s turn in Kay Mellor’s new register-office-set BBC One drama Love, Lies and Records. She plays Judy, an awkward, jobsworth registrar who is furious when she gets overlooked for promotion in favour of her nemesis: gregarious, chaotic working mother Kate, played by Ashley Jensen.
Right now, I am nervously witnessing an impromptu demonstration of The Look up close. We won’t call it ‘resting b**ch face’ because Rebecca doesn’t like the word b**ch: ‘We wouldn’t call a man that.’ We settle for ‘resting angry face’.
‘It’s useful to be able to look quite scary,’ she says. ‘I’m really bad at complaining about things in shops or restaurants because I don’t like confrontation, but sometimes I don’t need to complain because you can just see it in my face.’ And with that, The Look is gone as she breaks into a grin. ‘I am quite a smiley person; I’m actually not stern enough. I’m quite soft and woolly by nature.’
She’s also a million times sexier than many of her characters. ‘I’ve got much more body confident as I’ve got older. I’m fitter and more muscly. I go to the gym three times a week. My teenage daughter [Tilly, 16] has given me more self-assurance. We shop together a lot and I pick up clothes and say, “I don’t think I can get away with that.” And she says, “What does that mean? You’re setting yourself a rule and that’s ridiculous. You tell me not to do that, so why should you?” So I’ve upped my game: I dress more confidently, I carry myself more confidently. You only live once.’
She’s about to get her ears pierced for the second time in recent years, egged on by Tilly, having previously been too scared. That’s the only needle she’ll tolerate though – cosmetic surgery is a big no. ‘Women are under so much pressure: the thought that you have to change your body to be accommodated in society seems wrong to me. I’m hesitant to say I hate it because I don’t want to judge people for doing it – I understand the impulse – but it worries me.’
At 53, Rebecca is happy to look her age. ‘It bothers me that people aren’t allowed to grow old naturally because there’s a beauty in that. I know it’s a cliché but confidence is the sexiest thing and if more women felt confident about the way they looked, they wouldn’t need to have those procedures. It takes guts to say, “I’ve got wrinkles and crow’s feet and I’m not bothered about it. I quite like them, actually.”’
Her tendency to play powerful, brusque characters has won her a legion of male fans. ‘Some men are really drawn to authoritative women, aren’t they? I occasionally get messages from men asking for photos of my shoes because they probably imagine I’m wearing really scary stilettos. I mean, I am today, but usually I think, “Erm, do you want a picture of my trainers?”’
Her turn as Chief Superintendent Innocent especially caught people’s imagination, reportedly inspiring erotic fanfiction about the relationship between Innocent and Laurence Fox’s character DS James Hathaway. ‘I try not to engage with that stuff,’ Rebecca hoots.
Kay Mellor, creator of big-hearted, women-centric dramas such as Band of Gold and Fat Fighters, had the idea for Loves, Lies and Records when she attended a register office to record the death of her mother, noting how the location was a microcosm for life’s highs and lows. Accordingly, the first episode is a rollercoaster of emotion, as sad as it is funny, taking in births, deaths and marriages.
Despite appearances, Rebecca says she’s not made of stern enough stuff to work in that environment. ‘I wear my heart on my sleeve too much for a job like that. With all the deaths and babies, I wouldn’t last more than five minutes. I cry very easily since having my children.’ (As well as Tilly, Rebecca and her TV producer/writer husband Phil Clymer have 18-year-old Oliver.) Being a cry baby does have benefits though: ‘I’ve become a much better actor since I had children. It’s made me less self-conscious and opened up a fast-track to accessing my emotions.’
Creating Judy was a welcome challenge: ‘I thought, how on earth am I going to play this woman as I have nothing in common with her? She has no sense of humour, she’s antisocial, she’s judgmental. We would not get on at all. But I didn’t want to play her like a cartoon villain. She’s just complicated. She’s a human being and it’s my job to understand why she does what she does and find a way into her head.’
The careers of Rebecca and her co-star Ashley Jensen have bloomed in a similar way, with both making the successful transition from comedy to drama. On graduating from Oxford, Rebecca began her career in radio comedy in the early 1990s, working with Armando Iannucci (who went on to create The Thick of It) and Steve Coogan.
Moving into TV, Rebecca starred in the Alan Partridge canon, with shows such as The Day Today, and later in Nighty Night, Queers and The Catherine Tate Show. Ashley, meanwhile, made her name in Extras and Ugly Betty as well as, more recently, in Catastrophe.
‘I’m in awe of Ashley – those shifts she makes between comedy moments and moving moments are effortless,’ says Rebecca. The two bonded so well off-camera that at one point they had a giggling fit so epic, crew members filmed it on their phones.
The current state of politics, however, is less of a laughing matter for Rebecca. Does she wish they were still making The Thick of It? ‘Things have gone so mad it would be hard to find fictional ideas that were crazier than what we’re going through,’ she says. ‘Even Armando couldn’t top this.’
Having played Nicola Murray, she says she has more sympathy for politicians, especially female ones. Indeed, she’s more charitable about Theresa May than you might expect a left-leaning actor to be: ‘We judge women in public life in a different way. She gets criticised for her hair, for what she wears, for being unemotional – I don’t think that would get levelled at a man. I suspect she’s probably a very nice woman. I don’t know her but I don’t look at her and think, “She’s evil.” It’s not a job I’d want in a million years in this toxic political environment. She’s doing an incredibly difficult job.’
And the two women share one characteristic: being a bit square. When asked to share a secret, Rebecca pauses: ‘I’m hesitant about saying anything that will sound like May admitting that running through a wheat field was the naughtiest thing she’d ever done. After she said that, my children said, “Mum that’s you! That’s the answer you would have given!” I’m such a square. I was head girl at school and I’m so law-abiding. If I saw a wheat field I would only enter it if there was a sign saying, “Please run here.”’
Having suffered from anxiety since she was a child, growing up in Northeast London, Rebecca now campaigns on mental health issues as an ambassador for the charity Anxiety UK. Her claustrophobia was written into her role in The Thick of It in a scene where Nicola refuses to get into a lift and is memorably blasted by her spin-doctor colleague, the legendarily vitriolic Malcolm Tucker (Peter Capaldi), as an ‘omnishambles’ (a word, she notes with glee, that’s now in the Oxford English Dictionary).
How did Rebecca feel about her private, real-life issues becoming the butt of a joke? ‘I’ve found humour is the best tool to deal with anxiety. You can’t afford to take it too seriously because it just gets worse,’ she smiles. She still struggles a little with lifts and can’t see herself ever travelling by tube. ‘These days I check in every so often with CBT [cognitive behavioural therapy], maybe once or twice a year if I feel I need a reboot.’
With the tube off limits, she often travels to and from her North London family home by bus. ‘I find them very relaxing and you get great material on buses: people do and say funny things. Nobody expects to see actors on the bus so fans often tweet me to say, “I saw your lookalike on the bus today.” No, it was me!’
She is heartened by Princes William and Harry speaking out about mental health issues. ‘I thought it was great, bless them for doing that. I don’t think the stigma has entirely gone, but it’s really improved.’
But back to business. When it comes to work, Rebecca has never been busier. She’s just finished Down a Dark Hall, a supernatural movie starring Uma Thurman; she’s filming a TV comedy pilot next week, and she recently delivered the draft of her second book of personal essays, following 2014’s Curious. What’s left? ‘Oh, I’m still hugely ambitious,’ she says. ‘There’s loads of stuff I want to do: some Shakespeare, a lot more theatre and drama that will really stretch me as it’s only been in the past few years that I’ve really started to use my drama chops.’
What about playing a femme fatale? ‘I’d love to do that,’ she sighs. ‘But I don’t know if that’s going to come up because there’s still this ageist culture. People don’t think of you like that when you’re over 40. We had a lunch party at our house the other day and I was the youngest woman there. I looked around the table and thought, “Just look at all these fabulous, well-dressed, attractive, funny women in their 50s and 60s.” Why don’t we see that on TV very often?’ I can imagine she’d only have to give a room of casting directors The Look and that would change.
And regardless, she’s blazing a trail as the thinking-man’s sex symbol. ‘I’d be flattered to think that. I’ve still got it going on!’ she grins, slinking out of the door to her waiting car. The Prime of Ms Rebecca Front? You had better believe it.
Rebecca rates
Fashion picks-- I’m too cheap to spend thousands on a frock. When I won a Bafta [for playing Nicola Murray in The Thick of It], I wore a £100 dress from Coast. I like AllSaints, Zara and Asos, and I live in jeans and shirts.
Reading-- The Shock of the Fall by Nathan Filer. It’s told from the perspective of a young man trying to make sense of a life-changing event.
Best beauty product --My daughter introduced me to Mac’s Prep + Prime Fix + finishing spray. It sets your make-up and gives you a bit of a glow.
Listening to Political podcasts – Pod Save America and West Wing Weekly are my favourites. My son, who is travelling, listens too, and we message each other about them.
Breakfast --Avocado and poached eggs on toast – and it’s got to have chilli flakes, otherwise forget it.
Watching --The Shop Around the Corner, a little-known screwball comedy with James Stewart. It’s my favourite go-to feel-good film.
Guilty pleasure-- Hollywood Medium with Tyler Henry. I don’t believe it for a minute but I don’t care, it’s so much fun. I snuggle up with my daughter and watch it.
Most treasured possession-- A book in which I wrote down sweet things my kids used to say at bed time and bath time when they were little.
Tipple of choice-- A dry martini with an olive.
Describe yourself in three words-- Thoughtful, kind and funny – at least, I aspire to be.
Dream dinner-party guests-- We have quite a lot of them over already. Frances Barber is great company and a friend of mine. Ditto Barry Cryer – he’s hilarious. And Jane Austen would have been a hoot, I reckon.
How would you like to be remembered?-- As someone who brightened people’s day.
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Ch. 1: “Extremis” Analysis Doctor Who S10.6: Don’t Trust the Text: Double Fake Out
Don’t Trust Anything You See – Massive Double Fake Out
In the very first chapter of Fairytales and Romance in Doctor Who, I gave the advice not to trust anything you see in DW. I’m going to repeat that caveat again here. What you think you see is not necessarily true. There is so much more going on in “Extremis” than the text suggests.
From the very start of the episode, the subtext says don’t trust everything we are seeing. With Missy and the Vault, there is an inverse reflection of the sun on the water (red arrow), shown below, so things are upside-down from how they look. And things are distorted because of the distorted reflection, which is also disjointed. This suggests there may be a lot more time involved in the whole Vault thing than what it appears. In fact, to contribute to this disjoint nature, the scenes with Missy were dispersed throughout the episode.
We never see Missy going into the Vault. How do the Doctor and Nardole even get the Vault, which is in the middle of the lake, to the university building? Please note that I do believe she is in there, but the subtext suggests it’s not that simple. Also, there are huge gaps of time here. Over many years, I’ve come to trust the subtext over what we think we see.
Did you find it odd that Nardole feeds the Doctor lines like an actor or like someone who has forgotten what they stand for? River is one of the architects of this rescue plan, so Nardole doing River’s bidding isn’t surprising. Besides, Nardole is also a mirror of the Doctor. Interestingly, the Doctor is being programmed here. My question is: what does it mean about the realness of this Doctor?
This type of situation in the subtext comes up a lot. In these cases, I assume that the main events happened at some point, however, not quite the way they appear. I trust the subtext.
Don’t trust the computer simulation part, either, unless you are reading the subtext. I’ll get to that in a few minutes, but lets look at “The Next Doctor” first to see how it informs us.
Massive Double Fake Out Foreshadowed in “The Next Doctor”
In “Extremis,” we’ve been led to believe in the text that the part with Missy is real while the rest of the episode is part of a computer simulation. But the subtext suggests that things aren’t the way they seem throughout the episode. Don’t trust anything you think you see.
The 10th Doctor episode “The Next Doctor,” which I highly trust, says there is a massive double fake out going on with the 12th Doctor. I’ve been wondering for years how this would play out, so this is really exciting for me.
In the 10th Doctor story “The Next Doctor,” Jackson Lake believes he actually is the Doctor. Therefore, at the beginning, we along with the 10th Doctor are led to believe Lake is, as the 10th Doctor states, “The next Doctor. Or the next-but-one. A future Doctor anyway.”
Missing Memories
However, Lake has memories missing, like the 12th Doctor, although Lake’s memory loss is much more extensive. And like the 12th Doctor in Season 8, Lake is searching for whom he really is. He also doesn’t remember his wife, which is similar to the 12th Doctor not remembering Clara, his alchemical wife. Additionally, Lake doesn’t remember he has a son until the end. His young son is a slave, helping to power the CyberKing warship.
Lake starts getting his memories back when the clock strikes 12.
Sonic Screwdriver
Because Lake runs around and acts like the Doctor, he certainly seems like it until Lake and the Doctor go to break into the dead reverend’s house. The Doctor notices the tool Lake is calling a sonic screwdriver, which is our first clue that something is wrong.
DOCTOR: Oh, front door. I'm good at doors. Er, do you mind my asking, is that your sonic screwdriver?
NEXT DOCTOR: Yes. I'd be lost without it.
(It's an ordinary screwdriver.)
DOCTOR: But that's a screwdriver. How's it sonic?
NEXT DOCTOR: Well, er, it makes a noise.
(He taps it against the doorframe.)
NEXT DOCTOR: That's sonic, isn't it?
I squeed in delight when the reference to “The Next Doctor” came up in “Thin Ice.” Spider had already stolen the 12th Doctor’s screwdriver.
DOCTOR: What happened to the girl?
BILL: Does it matter? The boy's the one with your magic wand.
DOCTOR: Sonic screwdriver.
BILL: How is that a screwdriver?
DOCTOR: In a very broad sense.
BILL: All right, how's it sonic?
DOCTOR: It makes a noise.
So DW is showing us once again, but from the 12th Doctor episode, that the Doctor is mirroring Jackson Lake.
Anyway, Lake, not knowing he is Lake, says this whole thing started with Jackson Lake’s death. He was a teacher who came to London 3 weeks prior and died a terrible death. However, his body was never found. Then, there were a string of murders and children abducted. Lake’s death seems to bring on terrible consequences, or at least it’s the beginning of it.
Fob Watch
The 10th Doctor notices that Lake is wearing a fob watch, shown below. The Doctor opens it, but it falls apart. Therefore, it looks like Lake is not the Doctor.
However, here’s the problem. The subtext says the watch is more than it seems. If you listen carefully before the Doctor opens the watch, there are whispering voices.
I trust the subtext.
The presence of the voices suggests that there is a very powerful perception filter on the watch, and Lake’s Time Lord consciousness is inside. We’ve seen perception filters used to create the illusion of a whole second floor of a building. I’m assuming the 12th Doctor has Merlin skills, which create very strong perception filters. Therefore, it’s possible that the perception filter makes it look like the watch falls apart (which is odd) when opened by the wrong person at the wrong time, even the 10th Doctor.
Over the episode, Lake and the Doctor both come to believe he is not the real Doctor.
Roman Cross
Jackson Lake, shown below, is associated with the Roman cross, a symbol of the 12th Doctor. However, the 10th Doctor in the scene is also associated with the cross, so he is also playing the 12th Doctor. This is just like “Extremis,” where we have one 12th Doctor who looks real and another 12th Doctor who, at the end, doesn’t.
Clara, River, Lake & Missy
Jackson Lake’s last name is special because it’s a water term and suggests that he is related to River and Amy Pond. In “Deep Breath,” Vastra associates Clara with the lake, so Jackson Lake is related to Clara, too.
VASTRA: Well, goodness me. The lake is ruffled at last. I often wondered what you'd be like when you lost your temper.
From the Merlin legend, which we examined in Chapter 10 of Fairytales and Romance in Doctor Who, both Clara and River are associated with the Ladies of the Lake. River came out of Lake Silencio and killed the Doctor, and by Clara’s association with him, he gets trapped in the beautiful tower of the legend (confession dial castle) and dies over and over.
Since Missy was using Clara as a proxy, I see Missy as a sort of Lady of the Lake, too. (In the same way, I also see her as a remote stellar manipulator, which refers to the Hand of Omega.) Therefore, it’s really interesting that “Extremis” somewhat connected Missy to a lake by putting the Vault in the middle of a lake.
Mercy, Missy, the 12th Doctor & Rosita
Mercy, a possessed character, who seems very much like Missy, is shown below. She is a dark mirror of the 12th Doctor because of the Roman cross (red arrow). (She walks past other crosses during this scene.) Anyway, like Missy, she seems like an evil Mary Poppins with the umbrella, although without Missy’s charm.
Also, like Missy, she is in a graveyard and commands Cybermen, so this certainly also ties in the 12th Doctor and Danny Pink.
Later in the episode, she is the pilot of this colossal CyberKing vehicle (white arrow), which is rising above the wall near where Rosita (red arrow), Lake’s companion, is standing. Rosita is a transitional companion, who is more proof that there is more to Lake than it seems. Rosita is a Spanish diminutive of Rose, so Rosita is a mirror to Rose. Not only that, Rosita has no qualms about putting Lake and the Doctor in their place, like River, Donna, Bill, and Nardole. Interestingly, all 4 of these characters have connections to the 12th Doctor or Caecilius.
Mercy (yellow arrow), along with several Cybermen, are in the mouth of the colossal beast. That she’s possessed isn’t clear until the end when she figuratively wakes up, looks around, and screams.
This CyberKing vehicle, which has red eyes, is a close mirror of one from “Hell Bent,” with the Doctor (yellow arrow) being the one, along with the general, who is in the nose/mouth of what looks somewhat similar to a CyberKing-like ship (the Gallifreyan Capitol). The 2 white arrows point to eye-like areas. In fact, they are djinni circles, which suggests that they may be connected to the Eye of Harmony. That’s not surprising given that the symbolism here represents the CyberKing ship from “The Next Doctor.” And the Doctor is the pilot, the Star Whale.
Lake & His Son Are Still Prisoners at the End
Near the end, Lake, shown below, carries his son (red arrow) through the fiery area with the Doctor (white arrow) close behind. Check out the chain (blue arrow). All 3 of them are prisoners, and it has nothing to do with being in the building. This situation extends beyond this episode. However, Lake thinks he isn’t the Doctor when the subtext says he is. How does this stack up to “Extremis”? Keep reading.
Based on Lake not remembering his son until the end, this suggests the 12th Doctor doesn’t remember his own child or some other relative besides Clara. That’s not surprising since “Time Heist” tells us that to protect people he loves, he’s forgotten who some of his family members are. Likewise for them.
Lake suffered a fugue state, now called dissociative fugue, when he saw his wife murdered. Some of the symptoms could describe the 12th Doctor.
Wikipedia says
Dissociative fugue, formerly fugue state or psychogenic fugue, is a dissociative disorder.[1] It is a rare psychiatric disorder characterized by reversible amnesia for personal identity, including the memories, personality, and other identifying characteristics of individuality. The state is usually short-lived (ranging from hours to days), but can last months or longer. Dissociative fugue usually involves unplanned travel or wandering, and is sometimes accompanied by the establishment of a new identity.
The 12th Doctor was having a lot of trouble understanding whom he was after regenerating. Can a dissociative fugue explain why the Doctor is choosing different aliases? Perhaps. It could also be that he’s been duplicated and looks like a schizoid man.
The Computer Simulation Doesn’t Add Up, Either
Oddities in “Extremis” don’t stop with Missy’s part, so don’t trust what you see. If anything, just as in Jackson Lake’s case, things get weirder between the text and the subtext in the computer simulation. For example, some things are literally upside down. Also, the Doctor is not totally correct about random numbers. Additionally, if he were only a simulation, I would not expect some of the symbols in the episode to show up in the simulation. Finally, there are oddities with the Veritas and Vault, which I’ll talk about in the next chapter.
Upside-down Stairs in the Library Metaphor
We’re back to the Library metaphor just like the subtext said we had to be, and we’re in Rome too, which the subtext also said would happen. If you missed this explanation, it’s in Chapter 10 of Fairytales and Romance in Doctor Who. I suggest, however, you start at the chapter before, which is the start of my pre-airing analysis of the clips from “The Return of Doctor Mysterio.”
Check out this image below where the stairs (red arrow) in the Library are upside down. Notice, too, the Doctor is standing in the middle of the center circle while no one else is. He is seriously trapped inside several containment circles, all within a djinni circle. Bill, Nardole, and the Cardinal are also trapped. I would not expect this if everyone is really a simulant.
Upside-down stairs do tell us something is wrong. This seems like the 11th Doctor’s first 2 Weeping Angels episodes, “The Time of Angels” and “Flesh and Stone,” where they jumped impossibly high up and impossibly ended up on the ceiling, which was upside down from where they initially were. Obviously, no one jumps in “Extremis,” but the upside-down symbolism is there.
Why would the Monks program upside-down stairs in a simulation? It seems a very strange thing and a waste of time for the Monks to do, when there are so many more important things to program in order to run this type of simulation. The Cardinal said the Library was designed to confuse the uninitiated, but upside-down stairs aren’t confusing to me.
I would never waste my time programming such a thing. Unless it’s code, which is how I’m taking it.
The Doctor, being aware of his existence, is sentient, no matter if he was real or not to start out.
If I were him, I would make stealth clones of myself to have more Doctors working on the problem. Then, I would find a way to leave myself clues of what is happening by changing the programming of the simulation. This is similar to the Vardies. They became sentient and changed the initial conditions of the programming.
The upside-down stairs, therefore, could be clues the Doctor is leaving to tell him things are opposite to how they appear. If that’s not the case, the stairs are at least clues for us.
Here’s one more thought about this. If Donna, for example, can become part of the computer environment in the Library and then become reactualized at the end, the Doctor, as a sentient mind, assuming he wasn’t real to start out, might be able to become actualized, too. On the other hand, he could very well be real to start with.
Random Numbers in Computers
The Doctor talks to Bill about computer-generated random numbers in “Extremis.”
DOCTOR: Computers aren't good with random numbers. If you ask a computer simulated person to generate a random string of numbers, it won't truly be random. And if all the simulated people are part of the same computer programme, then they'll all generate the same string. The exact same numbers.
The Doctor is correct that computers aren’t good with truly random numbers, unless there is a good external stimulus used for the computer to key numbers off of. However, unless it’s a really poor simulation, he is wrong about all the computer-generated people generating the same string of numbers. Moffat gave us the answer to the poor simulation possibility. The Doctor already said the Monk’s simulation was too good. Therefore, the Doctor is definitely wrong, which begs the question of why?
Please don’t assume it’s poor writing on Steven Moffat’s part. In order to be able to read the subtext, we should never assume things that look like mistakes are poor writing. Typically, things that are wrong are clues. It’s up to us to ask why they are wrong.
Anyway, if I were to program a simulation similar to what the Doctor is talking about, each simulated person would call a subroutine to generate their own random number. Therefore, it would be unlikely, given good initial parameters, that a small group of people, like we saw at CERN, would produce any like numbers between 2 people, let alone the whole group.
However, there are other ways characters could arrive at the same string of numbers. For example, say the Doctor is like CAL, where his living mind has been uploaded to the computer. Let’s say people like Bill have had their minds uploaded, too. Or we could make duplicates of Bill and the others, so they actually are simulants. Either way, to make the Doctor and everyone think they are simulated, all we have to do is to change people’s digitized memories from within the program to use the same random number. Then, we tell them if they all come up with the same number, they are simulated.
The effect is the same as what the Doctor said. However, the intent is different. In this latter case, the Doctor would be real, but the Monks want him to have an identity crisis, making him think he isn’t. It’s duplication and identity theft, like what was done to Prisoner 6 in The Prisoner.
The Doctor’s memories being affected has already happened in the subtext back in Season 9 in “The Girl Who Died,” which is a reference to the 4th Doctor episode “The Deadly Assassin.” I’ll get to this in a few minutes because this Classic Who episode seems to be driving so much of what we are seeing and have been seeing for some time.
BTW, if we can’t change memories through computer programming, we can get Doctor Moon from the Library to brainwash people to use the same numbers. It’s just a different type of programming.
Bill & the Oval Office
Bill enters a door leading to the Oval Office of the President of the United States. She is associated with a painting of a reflection of a river, so she becomes River’s reflection.
Then, she sees the dead president, and we see her reflection in the light switch plate (yellow arrow). Therefore, we know there is another face of Bill. Later we see that this face of Bill is not real.
Her mind could be real, though. Let’s say she is CAL, who saw herself as having the body from her memories. We know, however, that she is a mind of pure consciousness. We could program her body to disappear like Bill’s, even though her living mind still exists. Doctor Moon could do that.
Normally, I wouldn’t overthink this, like I am. However, I want to show you that different ways exist to explain what is happening and have people be real.
Everything we see could be happening in a computer, like the Matrix, with living minds. In fact, there is quite a bit of subtext to support this. Certainly, CAL from the Library is one example, but there are plenty of others.
This is Inception. If you haven’t seen the movie, I highly suggest you do. In DW, we’ve seen dreams within dreams. We could also be running nested simulations. The possibilities are endless, really. We’re back to the case of never really knowing if we are in a dream or simulation or reality.
The Horse, the Man & the Architect
Behind the Doctor in the President’s Oval Office, there is a statue (red arrow) of a rebelling horse and a man standing on the ground. The Doctor is both the rebelling horse (the Architect) and the man from the poem in “The Beast Below.” This is all part of the rescue plan.
When we apply the concepts of the Architect and “Time Heist” to this situation, the Doctor here probably does not remember why he is really here because he had a memory wipe, like what happened in “Time Heist” to wipe away any guilt of robbing the bank. The Teller could sense guilt.
Since the Doctor is both man and horse here, I have a hard time believing he is not real.
Is this Doctor really alive but brainwashed into believing he is not? This certainly goes along with what “The Next Doctor” subtext is saying. We don’t have any hard proof that says the Doctor is not real. Likewise, we don’t have any hard proof that Missy’s Doctor is real.
Another possibility, which has support, is that the Doctor is a simulated version that has become sentient. Gaining sentience certainly has come up many times in the subtext for years. In the latest reference, we saw this happen in “Smile” with the Emojibots and Vardy. In my analysis on “Smile” we saw the Doctor mirroring an Emojibot, and we also saw Rory mirroring the sentient Rorybot, as an example I gave from “The Girl Who Waited.”
The Eagle Comes to Abduct Ganymede
In my analysis of “Oxygen,” we looked at the Greek myth of Ganymede and the eagle. Here’s the payoff of that. In the President’s Oval Office, there is an eagle with outstretched talons ready to grasp something. It’s not surprising then that the Doctor places his arm next to the bird in such a way as to make it look like the eagle is grasping him (red arrow), shown below. The Doctor is Ganymede being abducted by the eagle. This is a carefully crafted camera shot, where the Doctor never crosses in front of the bird or the frame of the painting, which just so happens to be a reflection of a river (yellow arrow).
Once again, this subtext makes it really hard for me to believe that this Doctor isn’t real. Why have this as subtext if what the Monk said was true? Well, it could pertain to the “realest” Doctor, whoever that is. However, I’m applying it here, especially because this is similar to what happened in “The Next Doctor.”
In the image below, the Monk, on the other hand, represents both River’s reflection (yellow arrow) and the eagle (red arrow). Since the Monk is associated with River’s reflection, just like Bill, the Monks are more than they seem. Keep in mind the Doctor is in a war with himself. How does the Doctor defeat himself?
Anyway, we are back to the Monks abducting the Doctor, which should not be surprising, if you’ve been following my analyses from the beginning. It’s what we examined back in Chapter 14 of Fairytales and Romance in Doctor Who from “Tooth and Claw.” The subtext in that episode shows that the Doctor is the Scottish boy abducted by monks.
There’s also Melody Pond’s abduction by the Headless Monks. It’s a theme. In fact, being in the Oval Office is a reference back to the 11th Doctor episode “The Impossible Astronaut,” where we saw President Nixon and heard a little girl calling for help. Later, we saw the little abducted girl in the astronaut’s suit. The little girl, however, is not who we thought she was. I started alluding to that back in Chapter 13 of Fairytales and Romance in Doctor Who. The little girl represented The Ghost and the 3 hidden faces of the Doctor.
Interestingly, in “The Next Doctor,” there is a bird that looks like the same eagle, which has outstretched talons like the one above. This angle admittedly makes it difficult to see the whole bird. I invite you to check out the video of the episode, as the eagle shows up several times, along with a second bird, which also looks like an eagle. Anyway, the image below shows a skewed camera angle, so we know things aren’t the way they seem. The eagle appears to either be grasping at the books, which are metaphors for River, or it’s grasping for Jackson Lake. I could make a case for either one.
One interesting thing about this scene is that Lake talks about children being abducted just before we see this image.
The Eagle & the President
There is a symbol of an eagle in the middle of the carpet (red arrow), shown below. This is a metaphor for the president. The Doctor (green arrow) is sitting in the president’s chair, making him a mirror of the president. However, the president (yellow arrow) took his life.
Before we see all this, Bill sees the news about a White House blackout where the president hasn’t been seen for at least 12 hours. This is a reference to the 12th Doctor, or at least one of his faces, who took his/her life. This explains a weirdness I saw earlier, which I’ll explain in a few minutes.
The Monks said they killed the Doctor over and over, so the president’s death represents one way they’ve done it. The Doctor has been suicidal, at times, which may well be part of the plan here by the Monks. Make the Doctor take his own life, so he doesn’t regenerate.
The Doctor is also associated with the eagle via the flag behind him (red arrow). He is both Ganymede and the eagle because he is the abducted child who escaped, as well as the Architect who is coming back to fix things.
2 Crosses & 2 Doctors
Regarding the president taking his life, I mentioned something weird came up. The weirdness came up earlier in the episode when the Doctor sat in the chair in the Veritas’ cage. There are 2 crosses at the top of the chair (red arrows), shown below. This was very surprising, as I expected to see 3, one for each face of the Doctor. The President’s death could explain why there are only 2 crosses.
Additionally, the 2 crosses matches the 2 images (red and yellow arrows) we see below once this Doctor sends an email to the other Doctor.
The 2 crosses and these 2 images above also make it difficult for me to believe that this Doctor is not real.
Hypothesis
Right now, my hypothesis is that this Doctor in the simulation is a real living mind being put through a very elaborate fake out designed to break his spirit, very similar to what we examined in my analysis on “Knock Knock” with Prisoner 6 from The Prisoner series.
What could be better for people trying to conquer Earth (also a metaphor for the Doctor) than to confuse the Doctor with what is truly real and what is fake? Especially when he has become more vulnerable with his blindness.
I won’t be surprised if most everything is happening within the computer. Just envision the Doctor being CAL. This is how I’ve been picturing this playing out for years. All along, he’s been having problems understanding what is real and what is not, and we’ve seen that through the Great Work. Since he is mostly conscious now, he is aware of the dilemma. However, there is still mind control going on.
The Prisoner, Mind Control & the POP Directive
At the end of “Extremis,” the Doctor emails himself a message from within the computer simulation, which has a possible link to “Pop Goes the Weasel.”
In my analysis on “Knock Knock,” we looked at one of the meanings of “Pop Goes the Weasel,” which was played at the end of the episode from the Vault. POP was the directive to protect other people in the iconic British TV series The Prisoner. The Doctor’s emailed message, shown below, basically is the POP message: “Save Them.”
The Prisoner is absolutely being referenced in Season 10. Mind control, brainwashing, mistaken identity/identity theft, and other psychological methods are used to try to break Prisoner 6, like what is happening to the Doctor. We may get some of our answers to whom is doing this by looking at a Classic Who episode, which has the Master framing the Doctor for murder and trapping him in the Matrix in a fight for his life.
The Doctor Is So in Trouble: “The Deadly Assassin”
In the 12th Doctor episodes, the 4th Doctor episode “The Deadly Assassin” is heavily referenced. In fact, this classic episode is where the Master uses the word “extremis.”
We’ve already examined numerous references to the Eye of Harmony, which first shows up in “The Deadly Assassin.” However, there are other very important allusions to look at, which, in part, explain what we are seeing and have been seeing for some time. The Doctor is so in trouble with Missy, especially with his blindness.
What Referencing the Doctor’s Prydonian Birthright Means
In this Classic Who episode, the Doctor receives a premonition that the president of Gallifrey will be assassinated. And, to his horror, he will be the assassin. He tries to stop it back on Gallifrey by leaving a note with the Prydonian Seal (red arrow), shown below.
HILDRED: I found this in the capsule.
(Spandrell takes the Doctor's note and reads it.)
SPANDRELL: To the Castellan of the Chancery Guard. I've good reason to think the life of His Supremacy the President is in grave danger. Do not ignore this warning. The Doctor. And he signed it over the Prydonian Seal.
ENGIN: Apparently he is or was at one time a member of that noble Chapter.
A few seconds later, Spandrell gives us some important information.
SPANDRELL: He's a Prydonian renegade, sir, and as you know, when a Prydonian forswears his birthright, there is nothing else he fears to lose.
In “Extremis,” the 12th Doctor says
DOCTOR: On my oath as a Time Lord of the Prydonian Chapter, I will guard this body for a thousand years.
So both the 4th and 12th Doctors have nothing left that they fear to lose. That’s not surprising given both Doctors’ situations. The 4th Doctor will end up being executed if he can’t clear himself. With the 12th Doctor, we saw a never-seen-before side of him at the end of “The Return of Doctor Mysterio.” He is really suffering from River’s death, and the subtext also suggests he’s suffering from his missing memories of Clara.
The Doctor’s oath was very serious, and he broke it. Uh…oh. The consequences can’t be good, but whom does he answer to?
However, we know the rescue plan required him to break his oath. He made multiple promises, according to “The Pilot,” so what about those?
How did the 12th Doctor get into this mess with executing Missy? What all did Missy do because 1000 years is a long time? How did the executioners convince the Doctor to become involved in this? Who’s watching the watcher of the Vault?
Premonition Means the Master Corrupted the Matrix
A premonition shows up in dialogue in “The Girl Who Died,” when the Doctor first sees Ashildr.
CLARA: Okay, so, why are you staring?
DOCTOR: I don't know. Nothing, probably. Too much time travel, it happens.
CLARA: What happens?
DOCTOR: People talk about premonition as if it's something strange. It's not. It's just remembering in the wrong direction.
This obviously is a reference back to “The Deadly Assassin,” meant to tell us Missy is probably fiddling with “reality.”
Anyway, regarding the 4th Doctor, his note doesn’t help. The Master frames him, making it look like the Doctor commits murder. Then, a Time Lord tortures the Doctor, trying to get him to talk. Spandrell stops the torture, and the Doctor talks to him.
DOCTOR [on screen]: Well, this is the bit you won't believe. People talk of a premonition of tragedy, but I actually saw it happening. I saw the President die as vividly, as clearly as I can see this room now.
I find the next part very interesting.
ENGIN: Precognitive vision is impossible.
I’ve found this statement very odd given all that we’ve seen in nuWho. How then is the Doctor able to look backward and forward in time? Unless, that is, the Master or Missy is using the Matrix or something similar to mess with the Doctor’s mind. This sounds like the Matrix has been corrupted.
Another possibility is that we are in the Dark Times when the old rules applied, we’ve seen several Dark Time monsters, like the spidery creature the Empress of the Racnoss. There is certainly circumstantial evidence for this being that time period. This is a topic for a future chapter.
“The Most Dangerous Game” & the Battle in the Matrix
The Matrix, according to “The Deadly Assassin” episode, normally contains the minds of deceased Time Lords, which actually is what we saw with the Cloister Wraiths in “Hell Bent.”
However, living minds can get uploaded. It is clear to the 4th Doctor that a living mind is in the Matrix. In this episode, we find out what the Matrix is
SPANDRELL: What is the Master like on mathematics?
DOCTOR: He's brilliant, absolutely brilliant. He's almost up to my standard. What's that?
ENGIN: The APC control.
DOCTOR: APC?
ENGIN: Amplified Panatropic Computations.
DOCTOR: Brain cells.
ENGIN: Yes. Trillions of electrochemical cells in a continuous matrix. The cells are the repository of departed Time Lords. At the moment of death, an electrical scan is made of the brain pattern and these millions of impulses are immediately transferred to the
DOCTOR: Shush. I understand the theory. What's the function?
ENGIN: Well, to monitor life in the Capitol. We use all this combined knowledge and experience to predict future developments.
The big “C” room of brains in TRODM certainly sounds to me like a visual representation of this dialogue above. And this is one reason why I have believed that the Eye of Harmony is used to make predictions.
The Time Lords keep something called biog data (a.k.a, bio data) on each living Time Lord. However, the Master deleted his.
The TARDIS Wikia says:
Spandrell and Engin cannot comprehend why there is no bio data extract for the Master in the APC Net (aka the Matrix). This is a network of past and present Time Lord minds that acts as an enormous database and future forecaster. The Doctor decides there must be an unauthorised second access point into the Matrix. The Master used this to forecast the assassination into his mind and then wipe all trace from the Matrix. He reasons that either the Master or the assassin working with him must be inside the Matrix. Despite the stern warning from Engin, he interfaces with the Matrix to find him.
This technique of forecasting could easily be used in the Test of Shadows. Just project a string of numbers that everyone then repeats for the test. Sadly, if this is true, living people could be taking their own lives.
Here’s the 4th Doctor below (red arrow) interfacing with the Matrix through electrodes on his temples. The 12th Doctor could easily be interfaced to a machine like this.
What ensues with the 4th Doctor is reminiscent of the short story by Richard Connell “The Most Dangerous Game.” If you haven’t read it, it’s a great short story. The Master’s proxy in the Matrix hunts the Doctor as prey. The whole scenario looks real, including the Doctor’s blood.
The Doctor gets a leg wound and says that he rejects the reality. While the wound and blood disappear, they return right away because the Master has control of the Matrix and inserts his own reality. As the Doctor says, he is experiencing illusions and dreams.
Outside the Matrix, the Doctor is in trouble because of the various wounds he gets, along with the hand-to-hand battle he has with the Master’s proxy in the Matrix, who is the chancellor. The Doctor narrowly escapes really dying. Then, outside the Matrix, the Master tries to kill him and destroy Gallifrey.
While in the Matrix, the Doctor’s body isn’t real, even though we see him as such. It all happens in virtual reality. If the Master wanted to, he could have the Doctor’s body disappear or someone like Bill disappear, yet Bill could still be outside of the Matrix hooked up to the machine, just like the Doctor is.
Is that what happened to Bill in the simulation? Or is Bill really a shadow character?
The Allegory of the Cave: Reality vs. Shadows
Sadly, I had written this section months before Season 10 started, but I never posted it because it’s from my unfinished chapter on the Library Metaphor. So here’s a small part of my Library chapter.
What’s happening with CAL and the Doctor can be partially explained through the Allegory of the Cave. Plato wrote about this allegory of reality vs. the shadow world of the cave in his work the Republic.
In it, a group of people have been chained to the wall of a cave all of their lives, only allowed to look at a blank wall. The hidden jailers project shadows of real objects on the wall. The prisoners, knowing nothing else, believe the shadows to be real, so they live their lives mind controlled in a world of illusion. They know nothing of what actually is causing the shadows.
Plato likens philosophers to the prisoners who gain their freedom and walk into the sunlight. They come to understand that the shadows on the wall are not reality at all.
Like the cave prisoners, CAL and the Doctor have been mind-controlled prisoners. Doctor Moon and the Dream Lord (or someone controlling the Doctor) are the ones using dreams and other techniques to keep CAL and the Doctor unaware of the real situation. CAL and the Doctor have been programmed, so to speak, to see only the dream world.
Symbolically, Rory (a Dinosaur metaphor) died in a cave at the end of the 2nd part of the Silurian episode, “Cold Blood.” (The Silurians, like Vastra, have been on Earth since the Age of Dinosaurs, and now live underground.) After that, Rory got converted into a plastic Roman. CAL got converted into a control node of the Library computer before her body died. Since Rory and CAL are mirrors of the Doctor, the Doctor got converted into something, but his initial self died. In “Deep Breath,” his mirror was a cyborg, which is what CAL is.
There is an irony, however, in the Library. Many shadows are actually real, while the “real world” is a deception. When the Library is under attack by the shadows, Doctor Moon tells CAL the truth that the “real world” is a lie while her nightmares and the Library are real. Something similar is happening to the Doctor. (Ironically, BTW, the Dream Lord’s dreams are actually very close to the truth.)
The Doctor has to wake up fully to be rescued from his imprisoned state to save the universe. But what is the universe really?
That begs the question: Doctor Who? It’s the oldest question in the universe, according to the Walter Simeon’s Great Intelligence and Dorium Maldovar, the blue alien who lost his head to the Headless Monks. If it is the oldest question in the universe, the Doctor has to be the first thing in the universe. So what exactly is the universe?
As far as CAL is concerned, the Library and her dream life are the universe. After all, her grandfather built it around her to keep her entertained, so she was the first person in the universe. In a similar way, the universe must have been built around the Doctor.
The Test of Shadows & CAL
I mentioned the shadows being real in CAL’s Library. This actually excites me now to revisit this because I wouldn’t have mentioned this otherwise. It does add something to the notion that the so-called shadow people in the simulations may be real.
Star Trek, the Holodeck & the Matrix
It’s clear we are in some sort of virtual reality. The question is where?
When I saw “The Girl Who Died,” because of the premonition linking the episode to “The Deadly Assassin,” I wondered if the Doctor really was in the Matrix.
However, many ideas have been put forth over the years in the subtext (such as a computer, android, cyborg, Dalek, Matrix, Void), so I hadn’t come to any conclusions.
“Under the Lake” and “Before the Flood”
For example, just before “The Girl Who Died,” we saw “Under the Lake” and “Before the Flood,” which featured a couple of Star Trek references. In the image below, we see the Doctor once again standing in the middle of the mural of Jörmungandr on one side and a boat with the 3 crew of the original Star Trek series on the other.
The second Star Trek reference is on the flood door, shown below. 1701B refers to the Enterprise-B, the starship used in the crossover movie Generations, which features some of the original Star Trek crew, along with the Star Trek: The Next Generation crew. In this movie, we see former Captain Kirk in the Nexus, which is an extra-dimensional realm in which one's thoughts and desires shape reality. Time and space have no meaning, allowing one to visit any time and any place that one can imagine. The Nexus most closely sounds like a cross between the Void in DW and the Ghost of Love and Wishes gemstone. In the Void, space and time have no meaning.
In the 11th Doctor episode “The Big Bang,” the Doctor flew the Pandorica into the Void to close the cracks in the universe.
“Oxygen” & the Void
We examined the opening to “Oxygen”: “Space, the final frontier.” It’s also the first line of the opening credits to Star Trek. The Doctor also mentions something else twice.
DOCTOR [OC]: Space, the final frontier. Final because it wants to kill us. Sometimes we forget that, start taking it all for granted. The suits, the ships, the little bubbles of safety, as they protect us from the void. But the void is always waiting.
The Doctor’s use of the void is really curious here. It doesn’t seem to be the standard astronomical usage. A cosmic void is a large region of space that contains very few or no galaxies. I see lots of stars in the background, so it doesn’t look like a cosmic void. It seems unlikely that he means the Void, but it’s possible.
“Extremis” & the Holodeck
Once again in “Extremis,” we get a Star Trek reference after Bill and Nardole run out of the CERN projection.
BILL: They're not real?
NARDOLE: No, no, they're holograms. They're holographic simulations. And the people in them, too.
BILL: Sorry, what?
NARDOLE: You know, like the holodeck on Star Trek, or a really posh VR without a headset. Through there, those places, that's basically Grand Theft Auto.
Is there really a holodeck-type simulation running? We saw that in “The God Complex,” where the hotel with rooms containing people’s greatest fears, is actually a holographic prison. Once the beast (red arrow) collapses, the hotel starts disappearing, until we see the hologrid and computer in the image below. The Tivolian and Minotaur are actually real.
This certainly could be part of the Matrix, too, and the Eye of Harmony under the floor of the Panopticon in the Gallifreyan Capitol.
Before the Minotaur dies, the Doctor translates its words
(The Minotaur growls.)
AMY: What's it saying?
DOCTOR: An ancient creature, drenched in the blood of the innocent, drifting in space through an endless, shifting maze. For such a creature, death would be a gift. Then accept it, and sleep well. I wasn't talking about myself.
(The Minotaur dies.)
The Minotaur, which is a mirror of the Doctor, is talking about the Doctor. This does suggest the Doctor is in a prison ship with a holodeck, like the Starship UK. However, I haven’t seen anything definitive yet that says where he is. Since there are multiple Doctors (real or not), he could be in multiple places, which was implied in “Extremis.”
The choice of the Minotaur goes along with the Greek story of Icarus, which we’ve seen before in our examination of “The Pilot.” The Minotaur interestingly is a hybrid, part man, part bull, whose heritage is connected to Poseidon, the Greek sea god, who is also god of other waters, of earthquakes, and of horses. Once again, there is a connection here to the sea.
BTW, Danny Pink, after he integrates alchemically with Clara in “The Caretaker,” is associated with the flag of Bardados, shown below, which has Poseidon’s trident on it. Therefore, the Doctor is associated with Poseidon, which goes along with fish and sea creatures symbolizing the Doctor.
I do expect that we may see some type of sea episode, given that sea creatures are metaphors for the 12th Doctor. Or was Loch-less as close as we get?
The Matrix, Missy & the Master
We’ve seen the virtual reality world in the Matrix data slice that Missy was uploading minds to in “Dark Water” and “Death in Heaven.” So Missy could very well be controlling the Doctor through the Matrix, especially since Danny Pink, a mirror of the Doctor, ended up there.
On top of that, we see projections from the Matrix in “Hell Bent.” The Cloister Wraiths are projections of dead Time Lords from within the Matrix. However, there is something curious in the Cloisters with the Doctor and Clara.
In the image below, the Doctor (red arrow) and Clara (white arrow) have 2 concentric, broken circles around their heads. Also, both the Doctor and Clara have 4 crosses each on the compass points. The circles suggest that both the Doctor and Clara are beings of pure consciousness. The broken parts of the circles suggest that they are not trapped. Therefore, they are either ghosts, or they are living minds inside the computer.
If we go by “The Deadly Assassin,” Missy and maybe the Master are using the Matrix to lure the Doctor into a deadly trap. After watching “Extremis,” Missy will most likely want revenge. Because of the huge number of references to “The Deadly Assassin,” I’m betting she and the Master have a large hand in what is happening, beyond what we’ve examined.
BTW, in “The Deadly Assassin,” we learn a bit more about the Master’s powers.
ENGIN: What about his character?
DOCTOR: Bad.
ENGIN: Oh, Doctor, could you please be a little more specific?
DOCTOR: Yes. He was evil, cunning and resourceful. Highly developed powers of ESP and a formidable hypnotist. And the more I think about it, the less likely it seems.
ENGIN: What?
DOCTOR: Well, that the Master would meekly accept the end of his regeneration cycle. It's not his style at all.
ENGIN: But that's something we must all accept, Doctor.
(Engin hands the Doctor a drink.)
DOCTOR: Thank you. Not the Master. No, he had some sort of plan. That's why he came here, Engin.
The last we saw of John Simm’s Master, he was burning up his own life force. Is he trying to steal the Doctor’s regenerations?
The Master’s ESP capabilities explain why Nardole talks about the friend in the Vault sensing the Doctor’s injuries.
NARDOLE: What if you came back injured or sick? You really think our friend down there won't know that? Won't sense it? Look at me!
Real Life: Some People Think We Are Living in a Simulation
The idea of living in a simulation comes straight out of the headlines. Several rich people have hired scientists to get us out of the simulation they believe we are in. In fact, Elon Musk, co-founder and CEO of Tesla, Inc. believes that life is almost certainly not what he calls “base reality.” Popular Science had an article about a year ago about it.
However, whether one is living in reality vs. dreams is a very old question. In Daoist philosophy, there is an ancient text attributed to Zhuangzi (c. 369 BCE – c. 286 BCE). His most famous story was that he dreamt of being a butterfly. He woke up and didn’t know if he was Zhuangzi dreaming of being a butterfly or a butterfly dreaming he was Zhuangzi.
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