{"id":25865,"date":"2014-08-27T15:27:06","date_gmt":"2014-08-27T19:27:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/exploringourmatrix\/?p=25865"},"modified":"2014-08-27T15:27:06","modified_gmt":"2014-08-27T19:27:06","slug":"the-doctor-who-kills","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2014\/08\/the-doctor-who-kills.html","title":{"rendered":"The Doctor Who Kills"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

I thought of other titles for this post, but the fact that it manages to include \u201cDoctor Who\u201d in a sense other than as the title of the TV show, while being about that TV show, made me opt for this one. (Does anyone else regularly mistake articles about a doctor who did something, as being about \u201cDoctor Who\u201d?)<\/p>\n

\"androidFans of Doctor Who know that a major debate about the first episode of the current season, \u201cDeep Breath,\u201d is [SPOILER] whether the Doctor actually pushed the cyborg to its death.<\/p>\n

We may or may not find out the answer to that question. But we already knew that killing is not against the Doctor\u2019s programming, contrary to his claim. He doesn\u2019t like doing it, and if he did we would consider him profoundly immoral. But he does kill \u2013 and indeed, indicates that he is \u201cafraid he might have to kill\u201d the machine that has begun to become human through its process of substitution.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t find the issue to be as poignant as some others do.\u00a0The episode seemed to be intentionally echoing \u201cThe Christmas Invasion,\u201d the first full episode in which David Tennant played the Doctor. The Doctor gives the Sycorax leader a chance to surrender, and when he tries again to kill the Doctor, the Doctor sends him plummeting to his death, saying \u201cNo second chances. I\u2019m that\u00a0sort of a man<\/a>\u201d Here\u2019s the clip below:<\/p>\n