A Town Called Mercy

Prequel A prequel to "A Town Called Mercy" was released exclusively onto iTunes, and titled "The Making of The Gunslinger". It depicts the actual making and formation of the Gunslinger, from a normal humanoid body. It also has an explanation of the making of the Gunslinger in voice-over by Kahler-Jex. Synopsis The Eleventh Doctor, Amy and Rory arrive at the American Frontier town of Mercy. They find that no one has been able to leave or enter town due to "The Gunslinger", who demands they turn over the doctor, who transpires to be Kahler-Jex, an alien scientist that crashed to Earth years earlier. The townspeople rescued him, and in exchange, he provided them with primitive electricity and the means to stop a cholera outbreak. The town's marshal, Isaac, is hesitant of turning over his friend to the Gunslinger, despite being near the end of their supplies. The Doctor sneaks out to get the TARDIS but finds Jex's crashed ship and discovers he was one of several scientists that did inhumane experiments to create cyborgs on their war-torn homeworld. The Gunslinger arrives, and confirms the Doctor's theory that he is one of Jex's experiments. He has sought vengeance and killed all but Jex. Though he cannot harm innocents by his programming, the Gunslinger warns that Jex must be brought to him or he will take more drastic measures. The Doctor returns to town, and angrily drags Jex to face the Gunslinger. Amy asserts that the Doctor has changed for the worse from months of travelling on his own. Jex pleads that he has atoned, but the cyborg prepares to kill him. Isaac pushes Jex out of the way and takes the lethal shot. As he dies, Isaac gives the Doctor his marshal badge and has him promise to protect Mercy. The Gunslinger departs, warning he will return for Jex at noon tomorrow. Jex tells the Doctor he is remorseful for all those deaths his work has caused. The townsfolk demand the Doctor turn Jex over, but he reminds them that Isaac's death will be for naught if they do so, and has come up with a plan from learning about Jex's society. When the Gunslinger arrives the next day, residents wearing facial markings similar to Jex race through town, confusing the cyborg and allowing Jex to flee to his ship. However, instead of taking off, Jex tells the Doctor he is ready to face justice in the afterlife, and causes the ship to self-destruct. The Gunslinger, having no further purpose, prepares to travel a distance away from the town to self-destruct, but the Doctor suggests a new role for him. As the Doctor, Amy and Rory leave, the Gunslinger stands watch over Mercy as its new marshal. ==Production==

{{Multiple image | direction = vertical In looking to give each episode of the series a distinct feel, showrunner Steven Moffat pitched the Wild West theme to writer Toby Whithouse, suggesting that the episode could be about a town terrorised by a robot. Moffat had been planning for the first five episodes of the series to have "movie marquee" themes. Browder was offered the role and gladly accepted; he was aware of the show as his children had watched it, and he also wanted to do a western. The two episodes are Metzstein's first Doctor Who credits. Much of the episode was filmed around the desert area of Almería, Spain, where studios have built Wild West-style streets that have been used in the making of over 100 Western-set films, such as A Fistful of Dollars. Filming took place at Oasys/Mini Hollywood, and Fort Bravo/Texas Hollywood. While Smith was allowed to try riding the horse, most of the action shown in the episode was done by his stuntman. ==Themes==

James F. McGrath of the religious website Patheos found that "A Town Called Mercy" had strong religious themes and moral messages, writing that it "really is about mercy, about forgiveness, about war crimes, about vengeance, and about justice". He interpreted Amy's comment about how the Doctor's behaviour was due to his being alone for too long to mean that "when we loosen our ties to other human beings, we can begin to treat matters of mercy and justice, and the fate of other persons, differently, impersonally". McGrath also noted a "take-home religious message" in the scene near the end where the town gathers in the church while the Gunslinger and the Doctor face off; he felt that it emphasised the importance of valuing human life. Gavin Fuller of The Daily Telegraph wrote that the Western concept was "effectively window-dressing for Toby Whithouse's powerful morality tale, where not everything was quite as it seemed and went on to explore issues of morality, ethics, conscience and justice". The A.V. Club reviewer Keith Phipps noted that the "never-ending struggle between order and chaos" was common in Westerns, and the episode represented this with the question of "what should win out: Lawless revenge or civilized justice?". Ian Berriman of SFX interpreted the border around Mercy as a metaphor for the Doctor nearly "crossing [the] line" and "[breaking] his own moral code". He likened the Doctor's debate to that of the Fourth Doctor (Tom Baker) in Genesis of the Daleks (1975) and the Fifth Doctor (Peter Davison) in Resurrection of the Daleks (1984). In addition, reviewers noted that the episode presented its characters with "shades of grey", rather than black-and-white villains typically seen in the show. ==Broadcast and reception==

"A Town Called Mercy" was first broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC One and BBC One HD on 15 September 2012 and on the same date on BBC America in the United States. Overnight ratings showed that it was watched by 6.6 million viewers live, the highest overnight figure of the seventh series thus far. It was the third most-watched programme of the day, and was also the most popular programme the next day on BBC iPlayer. It later came in third on the iPlayer chart for September with 1.4 million requests, behind the first two episodes of the series. When final consolidated viewers were taken into account the figure rose to 8.42 million, also beating "Asylum of the Daleks" to be the highest rated of the series. It also received an Appreciation Index of 85, considered "excellent". Critical reception "A Town Called Mercy" received generally positive reviews from critics. IGN's Matt Risley rated the episode 8.5 out of 10, calling it "a weighty, progressive, sumptuous and entertaining adventure". He praised Whithouse and Metzstein for setting the right mood and found the highlight to be the Doctor's moral uncertainty. Neela Debnath, writing for The Independent, praised the "brilliant twist" in having Kahler-Jex be the villain rather than the Gunslinger. She found the Doctor holding Jex at gunpoint as "completely uncharacteristic", but interpreted it as foreshadowing Amy and Rory's departure. Patrick Mulkern of Radio Times was more critical, writing that he did not "believe" or "feel" it. He felt that Westerns and Doctor Who were two things that "never quite gelled" and also criticised the "languorous pace" and the fact that Rory had little to do. However, he did praise the "gorgeous" set and the "cleverly constructed . . . morality play". ==References==