History Recap / DoctorWhoS32E3TheCurseOfTheBlackSpot

'''Original air date:''' May 7, 2011

'''Production code:''' 2.9

Written by Steve Thompson.

The one where Rory dies on a pirate ship. And gets better. Yet again.

* ArtisticLicenceHistory: In a CutScene, Avery explains to Toby that he started out attacking Spanish ships in the name of the King, and is only an outlaw for doing the same thing without official sanction. The historic Avery served in the Royal Navy while Britain and Spain were both part of the Grand Alliance against France, and turned to piracy when a ''Spanish'' port failed to deliver their letters of marque.

* SneezeOfDoom: The Doctor's sneeze causes the Siren to notice him, prepare a fireball, and come after him instead of Avery. Though it ends up being a inversion, as the Siren's reaction to his sneeze helps him to figure out her true nature as the ship's doctor.

* ArcWords: In the website prequel: "Marooned in a silent ocean..."
* ArtisticLicenceBiology: The Doctor refers to whatever contagion killed the spaceship's crew as bacteria and a virus in the same sentence. He doesn't exactly know ''what'' it was, so we can forgive him for just blindly guessing. Ignore all his theories.
* ArtisticLicenceLinguistics: At one point, a pirate says that he's not going to mollycoddle the boy. Thing is, the word "mollycoddle" wasn't around in this time period. (Then again, [[TranslationConvention TARDIS translation circuit...]])

* TheAtoner: Played with. When faced with the disdain and feelings of betrayal from his young son, Captain Avery is not exactly proud of his decision to abandon his wife and son for a life of lawlessness, thievery and mutiny as a pirate, espicially when his greed and reluctance to give up the last of his bounty unwittingly gets Toby captured by the Siren. Ultimately, Avery decides to give up his career as a pirate and his old life on Earth, so he can remain with Toby in space and raise his son while the Siren attempts to heal him of his Typhoid fever. Of course, the fact that Avery's crew accompanies him on his journey into the stars, and Toby seems to have accepted being the son of a pirate, [[ReformedButNotTamed implies that he might not be entirely done with his roguish ways]].

* BrokenPedestal: Toby is devastated when he finds out his father is a pirate, although it is shown that he already has preexisting resentment about his father never coming back to see his mother before she died. [[RebuiltPedestal By the end, he accepts that his father is a flawed man but still has virtues as well.]]

** Toby starts the episode having a naive, one-dimensional world-view, typical of a young boy who's been sheltered from the world before now by his mother. He believes his father (who he hasn't seen in years) is a great, honorable navyman and that pirates are evil monsters. Learning his father is a criminal who abandoned his family for gold pretty much destroys Toby's view of the former and complicates his beliefs about the latter. When Avery's leftover greed gets him nabbed by the Siren, Toby is about ready to write his father off as a lost cause, but Avery risking his life to rescue him and choosing to accompany him into space for the rest of his life convinces Toby to give him another chance. By the end of the episode, Toby's hero worship of his father has been broken down and rebuilt into something more realistic, and he seems to have accepted that while pirates are outlaws, they're also still people, since he seems to have intregrated into Avery's crew and even helps them aid the Doctor in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS32E7AGoodManGoesToWar A Good Man Goes To War]]".
* ChekhovsSkill: A ship is a ship; that's why Avery can pilot the spaceship at the end. Just point him at the Atom Accelerator/Steering Wheel.

* CompensatingForSomething: The pirate's guns, according to the Doctor (and Freud).
* ComicallyMissingThePoint: Despite the fact there is no possible way to do so given the situation, [[{{Cloudcuckoolander}} the Doctor]] is less concerned about walking the plank and more concerned that the pirates aren't doing enough evil laughing ''as'' he walks the plank.

* {{Foreshadowing}}: Toby's hero worship of his father figure is steadily broken down over the course of the episode, as he becomes aware of the man's uglier faults and is eventually almost killed because of them. However, with Avery resolving to change his ways, the boy's relationship with his distant father is eventually rebuilt into something far more realistic and genuine. The Doctor and Amy will have their own ugly period of [[TraumaCongaLine Trauma Conga Lines]] and disillusionment later in the season ("[[Recap/DoctorWhoS32E7AGoodManGoesToWar A Good Man Goes To War]]", "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS32E10TheGirlWhoWaited The Girl Who Waited]]", "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS32E11TheGodComplex The God Complex]]"), where the Doctor is confronted with the worst parts of himself and Amy's starry-eyed view of her Raggedy Doctor is chipped away and eventually replaced with a far more healthy and realistic view of her best friend / father figure / imaginary friend, allowing their relationship to noticeably improve in the future.

* {{Flynning}}: Justified; Amy hasn't taken any swordfighting classes, and it wouldn't matter if she did, since the Siren will "curse" those with the smallest of cuts anyway.
* FriendlyPirate: Henry Avery, despite being a pirate who was driven by greed, he loves his son and his wife. He was devastated to hear about his wife's passing and cast his treasure to keep his son safe (although he tried to keep one piece). He also becomes one of the Doctor's allies who [[GondorCallsForAid he calls for to assist]] in the "Battle of Demon's Run".

* HeelFaceTurn: Captain Avery starts as a minor antagonist early in the episode, threatening to make the Doctor and his fellow stowaways walk the plank and continually threatening the Doctor with his flintlock. But with the implacable threat of the Siren looming over Avery's crew and son, as well as the Doctor's companions, the two captains put aside their differences and join forces for the rest of the adventure. By the end of the episode, they've become friends, to the point where Avery worries about the Doctor's companions (as opposed to trying to kill them earlier) and the Doctor calls upon the Captain's help later in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS32E7AGoodManGoesToWar A Good Man Goes To War]]".
* HistoricalDomainCharacter: Captain Henry Avery. In reality, he did indeed serve with the Royal Navy and become a notorious pirate, before abruptly vanishing from the historical record in 1696. They even mention him stealing the treasure of the Mughal of India, a feat which made Avery the richest pirate in the world. Now we know what happened to him and that treasure.
* HistoricalHeroUpgrade: The real Henry Avery was, well, a pirate. He spent some time working as a slave trader kidnapping West Africans to sell in the Americas, and the capture of the ''Ganj-i-Sawai'' treasure ship was followed by a week of torturing, murdering and raping everyone onboard. Not exactly swashbuckling adventure.

* MindScrew: The Eyepatch Lady [[note]] Madame Kovarian [[/note]] shows up peeking through a nonexistent window again.
* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: Captain Avery ignores the Doctor's warning to toss out the last of his stolen bounty, which allows the Siren to manifest and capture Toby. As far as anyone knows at the time, she seemingly kills him. The man is horrified and incredibly guilt-ridden afterwards.

* NonActorVehicle: Lily Cole doesn't have a great deal to do as the Siren except waft around and glare at people.
* PhraseCatcher: The Doctor cuts Avery off when he's about to say "Bigger on the inside" because there's no time for that right now.

* SmallNameBigEgo: Amy's convinced she was a great pirate, despite the fact she was only a threat because a slight scratch would send the Siren after someone. She also gets pissed off when a hypnotised Rory says the Siren is the most beautiful thing he's ever seen.

* {{Troperiffic}}: According to WordOfGod, you simply ''can't'' do a pirate story without using every single pirate trope there is, such as WalkThePlank, PirateGirl, PirateBooty and so on. Although, [[TalkLikeAPirate no one says "Yo-ho-ho" any more]].
* TruthInTelevision: Captain Avery is identifiable as a real-life 17th-century pirate. [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Every Henry Every]] was also known as "Long Ben" Avery, and his pirate career is defined by two key facts: In 1695, he committed the largest theft in history by capturing a '''Mogul''' treasure ship, and afterward, he vanished, never being arrested. Hard to hang a pirate when the Doctor's handed him a spaceship!

* WorstAid: It's highly unlikely CPR alone would rescue somebody who almost drowned. On top of that, whatever Amy is doing doesn't even resemble proper CPR, and it was [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking explained to her by a nurse!]] Presumably, the Siren did the bulk of the work.

* BrokenPedestal: Toby is devastated when he finds out his father is a pirate, although it is shown that he already has preexisting resentment about his father never coming back to see his mother before she died.

* PirateEpisode

The Siren gets into the hold anyway, and takes the leech victim. At least the Doctor [[RunningGag gains a nice hat]]. Once they're safer, the Doctor surmises that she's using water like a portal. Where on a ship in the middle of the ocean can you find somewhere with no water? The powder magazine. The Doctor tells Avery not to be threatened by the fact that he's [[NiceHat got a hat now]].

* NiceHat: The Doctor continues his RunningGag of picking up hats. This time, it's a tricorn pirate hat. Amy and Captain Avery also get them.

* BadassBeard: Captain Avery and most of his crew sport thick, bushy [[SeadogBeard seadog beards]]. Rory, while stupefied by the Siren, says he wants to grow his own "brilliant" beard like the pirates.

* SneezeOfDoom: The Doctor's sneeze causes the Siren to notice him and come after him instead of Avery. Though it ends up being a inversion, as the Siren's reaction to his sneeze helps him to figure out her true nature as the ship's doctor.