703. A Town Called Mercy

Source : Doctor Who @ BBC

First aired 15 September 2012. 

In this third episode of the seventh series, The Doctor inadvertently travels to wild-western America with Amy and Rory where they encounter some things that don't quite make sense. Things like electric lights in Mercy village's main street years before they were even invented, for instance.

Source : Radio Times

 As we find out, there is another person in the village who calls himself a Doctor. This doctor turns out to be an alien named Kahler-Jex who crash-landed on Earth about ten years ago.

When our Doctor investigates the strange alien doctor, it is revealed that this Doctor is actually a criminal who was once part of a team who experimented on volunteers to create an army of cyborgs who either died or killed countless people... And the one remaining cyborg is waiting for the townspeople to hand over the doctor so he can stand trial. Right then and there...

In a story that can pretty much only happen in Doctor Who's world, the alien doctor repents and confesses before committing suicide as punishment for his past crimes. The cyborg hunting him, having no purpose other than justice and revenge, plans to self-destruct out in the desert. The Doctor has a word with the justice-loving cyborg who decides not to self-destruct but instead becomes Mercy's protector, remaining in the desert outside the town looking out for the village and its inhabitants.

Source : We Got This Covered

While this episode was not my favourite yet this season, I did enjoy it. We've encountered Daleks and dinosaurs so far and both featured in action-packed epic episodes. This episode is as typically Doctor Who as any of them, however not as wild as the previous two. It is a tale of soul searching and choosing to do the right thing, even when that is not the easy thing to do.