I have long shied away from reviewing any of the Eleventh Doctor's era. Not because Matt Smith is a bad Doctor, in fact nothing could be further from the truth. But I just find the story writing and scripting of most of his era a real muddle and sometimes totally incomprehensible. The Matt Smith era could have been so much better for me. But I will re-iterate it is not Matt that is the problem in any way shape or form.
Matt is an absolutely sublime Doctor. Let's state it from the start. I think he is a wonderous mix of Patrick Troughton and yet also he seems eternally old, despite Matt's being the youngest ever actor to take on the role of the Doctor. He also is rather like Zebedee from the Magic Roundabout in that he never ever is still. Especially his hands are usually a blur and hard to keep up with. But it is in his Doctor's nature where we see his age. He can be very calculating and highly devious, whilst those who mistake his youthful looks mistake that for immaturity soon find out to their cost that he is anything but childish. The Eleventh Doctor in many ways also has some traits of the Seventh Doctor, in that he is sometimes unknowable. Matt manages to make this blend of old and young seem easy and he certainly shows there is no need to fear such a young actor taking on the role of the Doctor. It's just quite a shame that his era suffers from a lamentable amount of storytelling that I fail to conceive or comprehend.
But just every now and then we thankfully do get a merciful reprieve (forgive the pun!) in the form of an excellent story. And in almost every respect A Town Called Mercy is a superb story. It is coherently written for a start so I have no problems in figuring what the story is all about. It has some superb characterisation and direction and the setting is authentic wild west style country and the perfect backdrop for a bit of sci fi tinged western. It's of note that the TV show has seldom ever approached the wild west setting for a story backdrop, only once in the classic era with William Hartnell did we have The Gunfighters, and that was it until this story. The Gunfighters succeeded as a western for me, and so does A Town Called Mercy.
Perhaps the only niggle with this story is the age-old theme of the companions being all but forgotten in the scripting. Karen Gillan's Amy does get one golden moment when she reproaches the angered Doctor for the way he is treating Kahler Jex. In this scene she palpably reminds him that he is no good alone, as his actions when he has been alone for a while show the darker and more callous edge of his character. But aside from this excellent scene, Karen Gillan and particularly the criminally wasted Arthur Darvill are just not present in the story at all, which is a real shame as I love Arthur Darvill's Rory. The companions frequently suffer from shortage of decent storyline because the story sometimes tends to focus more on the Doctor. This is a niggle that permeates plenty of classic and modern era stories. But with the little they do get given Karen and Arthur cope well and are no less than engaging all the way through this story.
Adrian Scarborough as Kahler Jex: he is the character. The man is absolutely stunning as the alien Doctor with a dark secret that the Doctor soon brings to light. That he so doggedly loathes his past and seeks to atone for it in many ways highlights exactly the same aspect of the Doctor. Sometimes he does things he lives to regret. Maybe in Kahler Jex we see a mirror to the Doctor and this is what he does not like. Matt and Adrian's scenes together are all electric and brilliantly charged. These two men know how to deliver palpable and memorable scenes. This is the spice of the whole story. How we deal with our pasts and our mistakes and how we learn from them and make good.
Ben Browder's Sheriff Isaac is extremely sympathetic. One is really saddened when he chooses to give his life to save the Doctor and the townsfolk. He is likeable, and thankfully not portrayed as an idiot like so many western police folk often are, or at least it seems so much to me. The Sheriff is a decent and law-abiding man, and this is excellent to see. It leaves a lump in the throat when he throws himself in front of the Gunslinger's weapon and dies a hero.
Andrew Brooke as the Gunslinger looks formidable: a superb piece of art in his look and his apparel. You respect the Gunslinger as a palpable threat. He reminds one a bit of the Terminators from the film series of the same name. But The Gunslinger has a merciful side which slowly the Doctor is able to utilize when he brings about the final peace between him and Kahler Jex. That the script takes the delightful notion of turning the threat into a defender is a spark of genius to finish the episode. with. The final shots of the Gunslinger guarding the townsfolk of Mercy is a brilliant and effective climax to a highly enjoyable story indeed.
There are also several moments of good humour throughout the episode too. The Doctor's talking to the horse being particularly funny. But the humour doesn't override the darker elements of the story. But in the end, this is basically a sci fi tinged classic western with all the tropes that work so well with that genre. A Town Called Mercy is a rare jewel of the Matt Smith era. It's plot isn't overburdened with subplots. The action is slick and believable. The scripting is very strong and I do believe it is Toby Whithouse's finest story for the show. And Saul Metzstein is the perfect director, he gets the most out of all the cast to add to the success of the episode. I would rank this story in my top five Matt Smith episodes of all time.
The only other slight annoyance is the shortness of the single 45-minute episode format. The story is great, but over far too soon. I seem to think this of quite a lot of the modern era. 45 minutes really isn't ample enough time to make the most of a story. It's like you take a few breaths and the story is over already. But for the time it lasts at least I can say this story is far more enjoyable than most stories around it.
So, with the Gunslinger now protecting the future of the town, I think we can safely assume the town will hopefully no longer be threatened by cyborgs with secrets. Will we ever hear from Mercy again? Let's just wait and see....
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