History Recap / DoctorWhoS31E7AmysChoice

* NoExceptYes:
-->'''Amy:''' They're just old people.\\
'''The Doctor:''' No, they're ''very'' old people.
* OhCrap: The Doctor, Amy and Rory get one when they see on the TARDIS's monitor they're on a collision course with a cold star.
** Amy and Rory get another one at the end when the Doctor announces he's going to blow up the TARDIS.

** Also inverted twice. First by the Doctor, when he explains that the psychic pollen chose his darkness because, effectively, Amy and Rory have none; "I choose my companions with great care". Second when Amy explains why she made her choice, stunning Rory.

* XanatosGambit: Both realities are dreams. So whichever they choose, the Dream Lord still wins. Too bad for him The Doctor figured this out.

-->'''Rory:''' They're just old people.\\

Rory is relieved to be back in the village, confident that that's the real world. Tranquil, peaceful and relaxed, he's positive that nothing bad could ever happen here. Unfortunately, he's quite wrong; the playing children have disappeared, replaced by piles of dust. There's also sinister group of pensioners approaching.

* BatmanGambit: Considering his true nature is part of the Doctor's mentality and the Doctor wants Amy and Rory to stay together, Dream Lord's true purpose was to get Amy and Rory to sort out their relationship.

** The mention of The TARDIS manual which was last seen in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS22E2VengeanceOnVaros Vengeance On Varos]]
** The Dream Lord calls the Doctor "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS27E13ThePartingOfTheWays the oncoming]] [[Recap/DoctorWhoS28E4TheGirlInTheFireplace storm]]".

* DreamLand: The Dream Lord states that either the Tardis or Upper Leadsworth is a dream. Surprise! They're both dreams.
* DreamWeaver: The Doctor/Dream Lord is resonsible for both of the dream worlds and what happens in them.
* DreamWithinADream: Waking up from Upper Leadsworth into the other dream of the TARDIS near a cold burning star.

** "Did he tell you about Elizabeth the first? Well, she ''thought'' she was the first."

* GreatGazoo: The Dream Lord is almighty within the dream world and he uses this power for taunts and shipping.

* SadisticChoice: Amy's choice to give up either her life in the TARDIS (Doctor) or one in Upper Leadsworth (Rory).

* TogetherInDeath: Amy had every intention of invoking this on the chance she might get to see Rory one more time. If the Upper Leadsworth reality is real, then at least she won't have to live in a world without Rory.

* WhatTheHellHero: A rare case of the hero doing it to himself. The Dream Lord spends the entire episode telling the Doctor that he's a horrible person: he doesn't keep in touch with his Companions, he puts them in danger, he hides things, he never apologies for anything, etc.

* WouldHitAGirl: Twice. First time, Rory whacks one of the elderly alien-ladies that's about to kill him. Second time, The Doctor, [[BewareTheNiceOnes of all people]] whacks an old woman ''with a lamp'' when she comes through the window and kills Rory, making her fall off the roof of Rory and Amy's house. Although, in a way they really didn't since all of that was a dream.

* FauxAffablyEvil: The Dream Lord. He's having so much ''fun'', with all his different costumes. Notably, though, he is genuinely AffablyEvil around Amy; unlike Rory and the Doctor, who he constantly hurls insults at, he is never verbally abusive towards her and actually treat her rather nicely. It is, for course, quite a bit of {{foreshadowing}} about both his true identity and intentions.

* ShipperOnDeck: When we realise that the Dream Lord is the Doctor, we realize that even the Doctor's darker impluses ship Amy and Rory.

* FauxAffablyEvil: The Dream Lord. He's having so much ''fun'', with all his different costumes.

In the TARDIS, the Doctor wakes from a horrible nightmare, having apparently fallen asleep under the console. It involved Amy and Rory being married in a dull village, with Amy being pregnant. Thing is, Amy and Rory appear to have had the exact same "really good... mare". There's something going wrong with the TARDIS console it seems to be getting slightly cooler in the TARDIS, with their breath gradually misting up, something that no one appears to have noticed. The Doctor dismisses it as a shared psychic incident in which they jumped a time-track. Except that there's suddenly the sound of birdsong in the TARDIS.

* GenreSavvy: The Doctor, conversely to Rory, has realised that they're stuck in a SchrodingersButterfly plot while Amy and Rory are still trying to figure out what's going on. He's also the first one to figure out that both worlds are dreams.

* WhatTheHellHero: A rare case of the hero doing it to himself. The Dream Lord spends the entire episode telling the Doctor that he's a horrible person: he doesn't keep in touch with his Companions, he puts them in danger, he hids things, he never apologies for anything, etc.

** "Who are you? What do you want?"

* TitleDrop: Twice, in slightly different contexts. First a sadistic choice from the Dream Lord and then a more friendly one from Rory/

* ShipperOnDeck: When we realise that the Dream Lord is the Doctor, we realize that even the Doctor's darker impluses ship Amy and Roy.

%%* CuckoosNest

* EvilOldFolks

* GracefulLoser: The Dream Lord. Of course, it's an act to make the Doctor, Rory and Amy think they've won.
* GreatGazoo: The Dream Lord.
* HeldGaze: Rory and Amy at the end when she is trying to tell him that she loves him as they gaze into each other's eyes, finally realising what both know before they BigDamnKiss.u

* HurlItIntoTheSun: The Doctor ''really'' doesn't like the TARDIS manual.

* InfantImmortality: Subverted, or at least it would have been if the schoolkids weren't a dream.

* LoveTriangle: Rather obvious as the Dream Lord actually taunts Amy with it.

* MindScrew
* MonsterOfTheWeek: Parodied. The Doctor can predict what race the elderly REALLY are and why they're on Earth without them even having to say anything. Of course, they're all part of the dream anyway.

* OneCharacterMultipleLives: The Doctor, Rory and Amy are all living this trope. They keep going back and forth between two sets of lives -- one where they're all on the TARDIS and one where Amy and Rory are living on Earth and she's pregnant -- and have to decide which is the "right" timeline.

** "If you had any more tawdry quirks you could open up a tawdry quirk shop..." He pretty much talks to The Doctor ''entirely'' in these, to the point that he sometimes he has to ''remember'' that he's got this SadisticChoice scheme to push along. Once you realise that he, "the one person in the universe" who hates him quite ''that'' much, is part of the Doctor, you ''really'' want to just hug him.

* RunningGag: Amy keeps insisting that whichever reality they're in currently is the real one, despite insisting just as strongly whenever they switch to the other one.
* SadisticChoice

* SchrodingersButterfly: Used so much in this episode, it could be the Dreamlord's pet.

* ShipperOnDeck: When we realise that the Doctor is the Dream Lord, it brings this trope to a whole new level. Which makes the Doctor all the more tragic.

** Elders in a rural village killing residents to keep up their façade and the heroes facing them off? [[Film/HotFuzz Well...]]

* SubvertedRhymeEveryOccasion: The Dream Lord keeps pulling this. "Two worlds: Here, in the time machine, and there, in the village that time forgot. One is real, the other's... fake."
* SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute: So much so that some fans wonder if the Dream Lord is just a glorified figment of the Doctor's imagination, or an intended CallBack / CallForward of the Doctor's incarnation as the Valeyard, especially considering the Twelfth Doctor's first appearance is at Christmas 2013. Bit of FridgeBrilliance, as the Dream Lord might in fact ''be'' the true origin of the Valeyard. Since the Valeyard no doubt lied to the Sixth Doctor about being created when his thirteenth regeneration was experimenting with ways to break the twelve-regeneration limit. And the fact that the Dream Lord appears to survive the end of the episode.

* TitleDrop: Twice, in slightly different contexts.
* TogetherInDeath: Though subverted, Amy had every intention of invoking this on the chance she might get to see Rory one more time.

* UncannyVillage: Rory and Amy live in a beautiful, quiet English village.
* WhatCouldPossiblyGoWrong: Rory at one point insists that nothing bad could ever possibly happen in his idyllic life in Upper Leadworth... seconds before the Doctor discovers that via a subversion of InfantImmortality things have gone badly wrong in his idyllic life in Upper Leadworth.
* WhatTheHellHero: A rare case of the hero essentially doing it to himself.
* WhenEldersAttack: "Oh, that's ridiculous."

* XanatosGambit: Both realities are dreams. So whichever they choose, the Dream Lord still wins. It can also qualify as a BatmanGambit if the Dream Lord's true purpose really was to get Amy and Rory to sort out their relationship.

In the TARDIS, the Doctor wakes from a horrible nightmare, having apparently fallen asleep under the console. It involved Amy and Rory being married in a dull village, with Amy being pregnant. Thing is, Amy and Rory appear to have had the exact same "really good... mare". And there's something going wrong with the TARDIS console. And it seems to be getting slightly cooler in the TARDIS, with their breath gradually misting up, something that no one appears to have noticed. The Doctor dismisses it as a shared psychic incident in which they jumped a time-track. Except that there's suddenly the sound of birdsong in the TARDIS.

And Amy, Rory and the Doctor wake up back on the village bench where they drifted off only moments before. As Rory and Amy realise they've had the same dream ''again'', the Doctor is inspecting his surroundings suspiciously, noting that his bow-tie and braces have changed, and warns the two not to trust anything around them. They may seem to be awake now, but then, they were also convinced that they were awake back on the TARDIS. They're dreaming, somewhere. But are they dreaming of the past or the future? Which one's the real world and which one's the dream?

The trio wake up back on the TARDIS. The Doctor's a bit cross about all of this, which leads him to lash out at the TARDIS, which only ends badly for him and his foot. And unfortunately, he threw the TARDIS manual into a supernova the last time it disagreed with him, so no help there. Amy and Rory, meanwhile, are still struggling with the whole "awake / dream" problem they seem to be facing. Their surroundings feel perfectly real to them. But then, a dream ''always'' feels real when you're in the middle of it. The Doctor urges them to keep a watch on their surroundings and look out for anything that doesn't ring true, something a lot more easily said than done when you happen to be on a dimensionally transcendental time machine piloted by an alien in a bow-tie. A big clue presents itself, however, when the TARDIS suddenly switches off. Dead. And then there's suddenly the birdsong...

The Doctor doesn't have a chance to elaborate on this [[CaptainObvious apparently amazingly obvious fact]] before the three once again hear birdsong, waking up back in the TARDIS. Or are they falling asleep? Either way, everything is off in the TARDIS, including the heating. And the scanner. They could be anywhere, and someone is overriding the Doctor's control of the TARDIS.

The Doctor quickly figures out that he's incorporeal by chucking a ball at him, but the Dream Lord is hardly impressed. Being there and yet not there in a spooky fashion is kind of in the job title. Amy is quick to figure out that the Dream Lord creates dreams and illusions, to which the Dream Lord counters that they haven't given "the gooseberry" a chance to have a turn guessing at him. Rory retorts that Amy is ''his'' girlfriend... but, as the Dream Lord notes, Amy is a little hesitant in confirming that.

However, the Dream Lord is much more interested in calling out the Doctor. He poses a challenge. Two worlds, an impossible time machine and a quaint little village that time has forgotten. And in each, a deadly challenge. But only one of them is real, the other is mere illusion. If they die in the dream, they wake up in the real world. And if they die in reality... well, there's a reason they call it reality, Rory. Time for them to go back to sleep. Or are they waking up?

The Doctor has put together a wind-up contraption, allowing them to turn on the scanner and see what's outside. And what they see doesn't make them very happy. A frozen star "burning cold". Since such a thing should be impossible, this is a fairly big clue that they aren't in reality. But it's a big universe, and something that ''should'' be impossible isn't necessarily so. And they've only got fourteen minutes until they crash into it, which isn't the problem it may seem since they'll have frozen to death long before then. Rory is pissed off, since this particular threat just seems tailor-made for the Doctor -- the race against time, one man required to save the day -- and all he wants is the quiet village. The Dream Lord sends them off again.

Rory is relieved to be back in the village, confident that that's the real world. Tranquil, peaceful and relaxed, he's positive that nothing bad could ever happen here. Unfortunately, he's quite wrong; the playing children have disappeared, replaced by piles of dust. And there's a sinister group of pensioners approaching.

Of course, as the Dream Lord posits, a crowd of threatening pensioners is absurd. Surely, this must be the dream? But what does Amy think? The Doctor [[BerserkButton definitely does not appreciate the Dream Lord's taunts]], which only tickles the Dream Lord, particularly in comparison to Rory's comparatively feeble reaction. Of course, all of this has just served to confirm the Doctor's suspicions about who the Dream Lord ''really'' is, since there's only one person in the universe who hates the Doctor this much....

While they're arguing, however, [[WhenEldersAttack the pensioners attack -- quite literally]]. With reinforcements. And eyes in their mouths. Eyes that spew lethal green gas. Ednodines, a proud race who were chased from their home-world by "upstart neighbours" and have decided to pay it forward by doing the same to the humans by possessing their elderly. Starting with an unfortunate postman who wanders into the scene solely to get turned into dust by green gas.

Rory and an exhausted Amy make it back to their cottage, but possessed pensioners have made it there first. Rory takes some persuading, but eventually manages to take the fight to one of them with a lump of wood. Once inside, Amy laments that they left the Doctor behind. Having not seen him in years and struggling to reconnect, he's nevertheless taken the bullet for them. Rory is optimistic about the Doctor's chances -- perhaps incorrectly so, as he's fighting to remain conscious while chased by the elderly. The Doctor struggles his way into a local butcher's, all the while taunted by the Dream Lord, managing to lock himself into the storeroom as the pensioners break into the shop. Sleep falls.

Back on the TARDIS, Amy must endure the Dream Lord's taunts about the Doctor. About how he always leaves her, and never apologises for it. Amy challenges him, asserting her faith in the Doctor and demanding to know who the Dream Lord is, but he counters with one simple question: has the Doctor told Amy his real name? He once again (while flirting rather disturbingly with Amy) asserts that she needs to make a choice between the Doctor, the dashing and charismatic but unreliable hero, and Rory, the dull but dependable boyfriend. It's a SadisticChoice... [[TitleDrop Amy's choice]].

Having returned to the world of the village, Amy is in time to witness Rory make a symbol of his devotion to her... by sacrificing his ponytail. Unfortunately, it also appears that her labour has started. Having also had to endure the taunts of the Dream Lord, the Doctor arrives to perform a rescue. But before they can escape, Rory is surprised by one of the possessed pensioners and hit with a jet of gas. The Doctor and Amy can only watch as Rory, fatally wounded, crumbles to dust in Amy's arms. Despite Amy's pleas, there's nothing the Doctor can do. "Then what", Amy screams at him, "is the point of you?"

Broken, Amy has decided that this world has to be the dream. And even if it's not, she's not prepared to live in a world which doesn't have Rory in it. The pensioners have stopped attacking, perhaps sensing what Amy plans to do... or perhaps because it's just a dream. Less certain, the Doctor asks Amy if she's sure about what she wants to do. And when she affirms she is, he hands her the keys to the van. As the Dream Lord watches, Amy and the Doctor smash into the side of the house...

...And wake up back on the TARDIS, moments away from plummeting into the cold star. But, the Dream Lord assures them, fair's fair -- and he takes control of the TARDIS, steering them away from the cold star and turning the ship's power back on. Accepting defeat gracefully, the Dream Lord leaves them to ponder on the results and implications of their dreams, and fades away. Rory is alive, and he and Amy celebrate their survival. But the Doctor isn't quite so ready to celebrate. In fact, he begins to overload the TARDIS engines, confident in the belief that this too is a dream -- because the Dream Lord operates through deception and misinformation, because the Dream Lord has no power in the real world, and because he knows who the Dream Lord ''really'' is. And the TARDIS suddenly goes white.

* AllJustADream: Both the frozen TARDIS and 2015 Upper Leadworth.

* AskAStupidQuestion / CaptainObvious:

* BabiesEverAfter: The village is more or less Rory's dream for the future. And Amy's very pregnant.

* BreakThemByTalking: Done to the Doctor by, basically, the Doctor himself. Amy also gets lectured.

** And probably more on purpose, the whole scene is identical to the scene in ''Series/{{Torchwood}}'' series one when Rhys died ([[ResetButton well, kind of]])

** "I’m surprised you haven’t got a little purple space dog." Well, K9 wasn't ''purple''...

* CuckoosNest

* DreamLand
* DreamWeaver: The Doctor/Dream Lord.
* DreamWithinADream

* EnemyWithin: The Dream Lord is a manifestation of the Doctor's self-loathing.
* EroticDream: According to the Dream Lord, Amy's been having some about the Doctor. Which, given that the Dream Lord ''is'' the Doctor, gets all kinds of interesting.
* EverybodyLives: The only characters in this episode who were ever alive to begin with are the Doctor, Amy and Rory.
* EvilMeScaresMe: The Dream Lord is the manifestation of the Doctor's more malevolent tendencies.

** "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS32E7AGoodManGoesToWar And you could be giving birth right now]]. [[Recap/DoctorWhoS32E6TheAlmostPeople This could be the dream]], I told you.

It's five years since Amy and Rory travelled with the Doctor. They're back living in ''Upper'' Leadworth. (A bit more upmarket than Leadworth, according to Rory.) Amy is heavily pregnant. Rory has grown a stupid ponytailed mullet. Life is good, if a little humdrum. Until the Doctor drops by for a visit. Firstly, he crushes their flower garden with the TARDIS. Secondly, he doesn't seem to caught on to the fact that Amy is pregnant, which is a little irritating for her, since he caught on quite quick to the fact that she's increased in size. Thirdly, outside of the company of his friends he finds the village unbearably dull, and ponders what they do to stave off the "self harm". Rory points out that it's relaxing, and peaceful, as evidenced by the bird song. Which seems to have a dulling effect on the three, gradually sending them to sleep....

* TeleportSpam: The Dream Lord keeps popping in and out of existence mid-conversation. Props to the special effects department for making it impossible to tell beforehand when he's going to.

** Possibly a coincidence, but Amy questioning the Doctor about if he can't save people like Rory "then what is the point of you", it is remarkably similar to when the Ninth Doctor says to the [[Recap/DoctorWhoS27E6Dalek Dalek.]] "If you can't kill then what are you good for? What's the point of you?"
** And probably more on purpose, the whole scene is pretty much identical to the scene in ''Series/{{Torchwood}}'' series one when Rhys died ([[ResetButton well, kind of]])

* PanickyExpectantFather: And Time Lord. Both Rory and the Doctor engage in a certain amount of useless flapping when they think Amy's about to give birth. It culminates in the Doctor cupping his hands under the area where it's expected to come out like he's preparing to catch a football.

** More casual fans might suspect the Dream Lord to be a different Master when the Doctor says "only one person in the universe hates me as much as you do".

* SpotTheThread: The Doctor insists they all try to do this; he waves his hands in front of his face looking for scan-lines or motion blur. Rory and Amy point out it's kind of hard to spot what doesn't ring true when you're on a time machine that's bigger on the inside with a bow-tie-wearing alien. (Though the cold star is pretty darn impossible even by the standards of the show.)

** "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS32E7AGoodManGoesToWar And you could be giving birth right now]]. [[Recap/DoctorWhoS32E6TheAlmostPeople This could be the dream]], I told you."

* HeldGaze: Rory and Amy at the end when she is trying to tell him that she loves him as they gaze into each other's eyes, finally realising what both know before they BigDamnKiss.

'''WARNING! THERE MAY BE UNMARKED SPOILERS!'''

* AskAStupidQuestion:

* CaptainObvious:
-->'''Dream Lord:''' Now then, the prognosis is this: if you die in the dream, you wake up in reality, healthy recovery in next to no time. Ask me what happens if you die in reality.\\
'''Rory:''' What happens if you die in reality?\\
'''Dream Lord:''' (''withering'') You ''die'', stupid, that's why it's called reality!

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