Amy's Choice and Why Amy and Rory Were Always Toxic in Doctor Who (Train of Thought)

Midnight Chimes - Train of Thought

Amy and Rory have a toxic relationship in Doctor Who not only in Asylum of the Daleks but going all the way back to series 5, episode 7, Amy's Choice, where two episodes after cheating on Rory, Amy kills herself because she apparently can't bare to live without him.

[ThePonderer]

...I feel kinda dumb now that I spent like two hours talking about this episode for my podcast and it never even occurred to me think about how the baby should/shouldn’t factor into Amy’s decision making.
You’re right, there’s really no reason for her to even be pregnant in the episode, and somehow it barely registers in my mind that she is as I watch and talk about this story.

Maybe a big part of that is that I’ve now spent a decade KNOWING that neither reality is true so I can’t even begin to approach the episode from the perspective that I should be concerned for Amy’s child as if it were real, but really reflecting on it the way the episode treats it is so...odd.

I still love this episode with a passion though. That weirdness aside I honestly think it’s a really smartly written thing that naturally pushes Amy’s character in a direction it needed to go, from a narrative perspective.

[PatRex]

I've been rewatching a few DW episodes lately but missed that one. Why is my subconscious more clever than my conscious?

I think Toby Jones being awesome as the Dream Lord distracted me from the awful implications when I watched it.

[tardisnet]

You make a lot of strong points here, it definatly doesn't reflect a healthy relationship in the real world. That being said Amy and Rory are still some of my favourite companions in the modern era. Their relationship is flawed and Amy is a flawed character but that's part of what I love about her character, she is a very psychologically damaged character and she has a lot of great character development in the way she manages to overcome a lot of her issues and commit to her relationship to Rory and grow up. By the end of her run Amy and Rory are a united team and they make their decisions together. I enjoy how their story shows how far they are willing to go for each other and find it a very uplifting progression and development. I would hardly call it a healthy relationship in the real world but its a relationship I very much invested in emotionally

[thaddeusr.]

I am not sure why writers would want a dream to be realistic when the rules don't apply. Also there is a difference between tragic/grim romance and unrealistic/dependent relationships.