Top Five Big Damn Hero Moments: River Song (Doctor Who)

It’s a bit tricky with River.  On one hand, she’s flush with Big Damn Hero moments because, as a recurring intergalactic butt-kicking woman of mystery, that’s basically her job.  At the same time, though, the writing often consciously highlights these moments as such, and I prefer scenes that grow organically out of the character to scenes that feel calculated to earn a fist-pump.  I’m not exactly sure why River works less for me in this way than someone like Black Widow, who’s frequently a walking fist-pump but who feels so authentic doing it that I have nothing but love.  Why is there a disconnect for me with River?  (Spoilers.)

Making the Sacrifice (Series 4, Episode 9 – “Forest of the Dead”)

This, of course, is the big one – River knocking out the Doctor so she instead of him can be the one to give up her life and save the day.  From a gender perspective, it’s a little uneasy, but the show does fairly well with it, keeping most of the focus on her understanding of his future and knowing she can’t mess with that, as well as the knowledge of how valuable he is as the perennial savior of time and space.  Since this is the Doctor’s first meeting with her in his timeline, he doesn’t even know her yet, which clearly tears her up as she says goodbye.

Escaping the Byzantium (Series 5, Episode 4 – “The Time of Angels”)

Yeah, this is a splashy River-as-James-Bond moment that feels more like a Scene!! than a thing that happened to River in her life, but I still like it.  I like her cleverness throughout the show of using time travel to her advantage in contacting the Doctor, and I like her cool-as-a-cucumber confidence that the TARDIS will show up when she needs it.

Killing the Dalek (Series 5, Episode 13 – “The Big Bang”)

This is a bit of badass violence that works for me, since it comes on the heels of being told that the Dalek has already killed the Doctor in the future (time travel, just go with it.)  She’s feeling the loss of a man who’s still running around (although, is she?  Or is this more of that stupid device where people are totally fine because they know what’s really going to happen but pretend otherwise Because Reasons?), so she’s in prime position to go all scorched-earth on a Dalek, which fits the darker side of her character.  Making a Dalek beg for mercy – damn, River!

Dispatching the Silence (Series 6, Episode 2 – “Day of the Moon”)

Not a whole lot to say here – just a lot of fighting and shooting without much bearing on the character, but she just looks so cool doing it.  So, it’s on the list!

Riding Out the Meteor Strike (Series 10, Episode 0 – “The Husbands of River Song”)

I really like this one.  River has staged her big heist on a starship full of genocidal monsters that she knows is about to go down due to a massive meteor strike, and when everything hits the fan, she rubs it in!  First, this scene again shows off her clever use of time travel, and second, it’s just so River.  “I’m an archeologist from the future:  I dug you up.”  How cool is that?