Doctor Who isn't the most worth-journaling-about thing in my life in the last year or so. It's just the least exhausting.  My journal entry title was just a shot at the Amy Pond era (which, I must say at the outset, I almost completely enjoyed) and a cheap made-you-look joke.

Yes, Karen Gillan does well enough as companion, but it's never sat right with me that Matt Smith's character is co-star-and-don't-you-dare-forget-it, seeming to share a back seat with with the awkward third wheel that she happens to be married to. You'd think being well over twice the Doctor's age (shut up, it's not a spoiler because it doesn't make sense out-of-context) would exert SOME gravity in their little constellation, but apparently in the Whoniverse it doesn't stack up to much compared to "But...I mean, just look at her!" power.

Even if you forgive Rory's strange failure to mature and give points for her character being genuinely interesting even if she had been recast at the last minute with Catherine Tate or Harriet Jones, the writing gets rather heavy-handed in reminding the viewer exactly who it is what wears the pants around here.

Now don't get me wrong. I have always loved companions who were their own characters and did more than get rescued and prompt exposition.  And of course there are real, good, working, lasting relationships where one or both partners don't fit the "traditional" gender role stereotypes. Amy being the stronger voice in their relationship does not equate to or really even imply ball-busting.

Even the little glances Rory and the Doctor share that say "Yeah, she has us wrapped around her little finger" would be okay. Even Amy's advances on the Doctor could be seen as understandable impulses. But where record-scratch sound effect happens is when Amy gets uncomfortably close with the Doctor /while Her husband is there./  Not only that, but she never really seems to realize what she's doing wrong, let alone feel terrible about it. It just seems out of character for someone the Doctor would choose to be his companion. It seems (somewhat less) out of character for the Doctor not to have a serious talk with her about that behavior.

Yes, the Doctor "doesn't do domestic", although he said that prior to his current generation. Yes, the Doctor has a history of being (or pretending to be) fantastically boneheaded about human relationships. On the other hand, 11th seems much more susceptible to social discomfort and awkwardness, which suggests he's tuned in at least well enough to get when one of his friends is acting in a way that would hurt (not to say emasculate) another of his friends.

And yes, you could argue that it's part of Amy's character arc to develop from the kind of woman who would do that to the kind that wouldn't. But that doesn't explain away the times when the writing is intentionally ambiguous, and neither the characters nor the viewer can can tell which guy she's expressing her feelings about.

Okay, so, say all of that is by design. In that case, I have to wonder: Why would they make her the focal point of the story, but then set out to sabotage her likability?

Bla bla bla bla that's what I get for bringing my mobile device with me to bed when I'm supposed to be recovering from a cold.

Also, how to tell you're not doing so well:
1. Put ice in glass
2. Put away ice, get out h2o and juice
3. Pour h2o and juice into plastic cup
4. Be surprised that no ice floats to the top, and how much liquid fits in there even with the ice
5. Put away h2o and juice
6. Turn back, reach for drink, find glass with nothing but ice in it
7. Spend two full seconds thinking you've gone insane
8. Realize you put ice in glass, poured other stuff into plastic cup that happened to be sitting on another part of the counter, then went back to the glass