Quote Originally Posted by Tergon View Post
Yeah, but Four (Baker) was always like that. Eleven I like because he really does seem to be like a big kid sometimes, even cheekier and more excitable than Ten, but that emotion swings both ways, and when he gets angry he burns hot. Watching him roaring in General Run-Away's face - "When they ask you if trying to get to me through the people! I! Love! Is any kind of a good idea! ...tell them your name." That sent shivers down my spine. In that moment I think I began to like Eleven more than Ten (Though Five (Davidson) remains my favourite).
I'm not saying that making Eleven willing to kill is a bad thing by default, it's all dependent on how they handle it. And, well, I'm not sure I see the plot line that's being followed here. He's the Doctor, he's the good guy, he heals and he cares and he saves people... except, suddenly, one person per episode who he's perfectly willing to kill without warning. In contrast to how he's acted since we first met this regeneration, and for no readily apparent reason, the Doctor is suddenly a cold-blooded killer.

Give me some justification and I might think otherwise. But as it is, it just doesn't fit with what the character has been built into thus far.
Except this is how 11 has been for pretty much his whole run, manic, overwhelming joy and wonder that covers up a darkness, an abiding anger and a willingness to kill. Look at how he was in Victory of the Daleks (though the Daleks always bring out the worst in all the new-Doctors), Day of the Moon (he essentially hypnotized the entire Human race to commit genocide against a race they don't even know exists), How he acts towards Uncle in the Doctor's Wife, Good Man Goes to War is an obvious one, the list goes on. Yes, he's being a bit more 'hands on', but I think that comes in part with how he's realizing that he has *always* killed people, always been responsible for others deaths, and now, rather than letting other people kill them or letting them kill themselves, he is taking it into his own hands to an extent.

Don't be tricked by his exterior, 11 is by far the darkest Doctor of the New run, and is pretty far up there even with respect to the old run. He pretends to be a big child, because he knows how old he is and is trying to fight the effect his age has on him. And as the last few series have shown, it's a fight he may very well be losing. (Valeyard anyone???)


Quote Originally Posted by Calemyr View Post
I actually think it's kinda the reverse - Eleven's behavior isn't what comes natural to him, it's what he wants to be. He's a lot like Nine, in that he puts such a high premium on manic joy because without that joy he'd fall into a self-destructive depression. So he focuses on the good days, on the quirky surprises that fascinate and amuse him, on anything that evokes a positive emotion in him, really. And he states flat out that companions are integral to that - at his age, there isn't a lot left in the universe that evokes those emotions, but seeing them in the eyes of a friend is just as good. (Another reason his isolation is really bad for him.)

His moments of darkness aren't out-of-character, they're moments when the smiling mask slips.
I agree with this completely. You said it better than I could.