God, this pisses me off.
Not River. River’s amazing (and I may have fallen into worship of Alex Kingston when I wasn’t looking; dear god, please let me age at least 1/4 that magnificently).
But I hate that she EXISTS to be a romantic interest. I mean, that’s why the character was created (by the series producer and also literally by the other characters who created her within the plotline of the show).
I have so much River rage. SO MUCH. I don’t know what I wanted but it wasn’t him telling her that she “embarrasses” him right before they got married, and it wasn’t that she was groomed to kill him from the time she was a little girl, only to fall in love with him. I don’t blame River the character for loving him. I just wanted something different.
I just want her to be an amazing time-traveling adventurer who is a friend of the Doctor’s and crosses paths with him sometimes and lends her awesomeness to the day when she happens to turn up. I just…don’t want her to be a romantic interest AT ALL. It feels so…artificial. So much like she has to be justified to exist in the story.
And while their flirty chemistry works and feels real, their relationship doesn’t. Their relationship feels like it was written for the same usual artificial ‘oh this has to be here for the plot which doesn’t actually need it, it would all work just the same way if they were simply friends‘ reasons (i.e. the hero needs a girlfriend, IT’S IN THE RULES!). And it feels like they say and do things that are flagged as ‘things people in relationships say and do’ in an attempt to convince us that this is a relationship we’re looking at.
And just. ARGH. YOU DON’T NEED TO PERSUADE US THAT SHE’S GOT SUFFICIENT REASON TO BE HERE. It’s not a frigging club membership! You don’t have to justify her existence in the story just because she’s a woman who doesn’t occupy an immediately obvious role in the Doctor’s life! She can just BE THERE when she feels like it! Like the rest of us go about life!