#petition for bf writers to stop beating the long dead '11 is the shitty husband' horse. it's 20-fucking-25 already

[expectiations]

Why do you think Big Finish writers were so hell bent on shitting on Eleven out of all the incarnations after Season 4 of The Diary of River Song? Like, the first series seemed to be more in line with her character in the show but after that they started to be so mean about Eleven as a supposed way to give River her own character.

Oh. My. God. Anon. EXACTLY.

Short disclaimer: I haven't listened to the entirety of TDORS myself (yay APD!) but I have badgered a dear friend of mine for spoilers and the headache we both shared over how they're so intent on painting Eleven in a bad light!

I looked up the timeline and realize that the first season of The first Diary of River Song audio set was released right after the 2015 Christmas special, The Husbands of River Song, while the series that you mentioned was released sometime in 2019.

I love Moffat. I have loved him ever since my teenager years when I binge watched his version of Sherlock. So imagine my surprise when I joined fandom spaces and found him to be hated to an extent that I find unserious. At first, I did not connect that the Moffat I loved for being behind Sherlock, the series, and the Moffat I loved for writing River was the same person. (Yes, I'm that daft really.) But now that I do, I find it so heartwarming to know that I really haven't changed tastes and what I loved during my childhood has crossed over into my young adult years.

But enough of reminiscing and let's tackle your ask.

I have had enough encounters of having the unfortunate experience of reading absolutely in-bad-faith takes on the Doctor and River. Being curious and fueled by the need for answers, I spent hours upon hours foregoing sleep just to figure out why people just seem to not get it when it's literally right there!

A friend made the observation that Moffat expects or assumes his audience to be able to peel back layers in his writing, to read the words that aren't said, to grasp the meaning between the lines. Unfortunately, a lot of people aren't able to do so (which I don't really like saying because it feels rude to me but it's also true) resulting in Eleven, who spent the most time with River, who started the entire thing with River, as also being the most misunderstood dynamic when it comes to DoctorRiver.

They may be the most popular pair but the amount of people that I have seen believe that Eleven was a shitty husband, that he was just the "boyfriend", that he didn't really care, etc. makes me liable for financial compensation. Then the obvious ageism when people say it only felt real when it was Twelve. 🧍🏻‍♀️ Like hello??

Oh and anon, have you listened to the one audio River had with J-ack? I simply REFUSE to listen to that sacrilegious audio. Fortunately, and unfortunately, I had a friend who did and just reading about how they completely destroyed DoctorRiver just to fit into the romantic whatever they tried to push with River and J infuriated me. (Really thankful I found my circle who feel the same intense dislike for that audio)

For the writers, they either get DoctorRiver or they horrendously don't. No in-between unfortunately.

As much as I like THORS, I point at it as one of the culprits in the decade long misharacterization of ElevenRiver. Or the writer's inability to understand ElevenRiver.

To understand THORS, one has to look back at TATM. River obviously just came from Manhattan. Now, people believe River literally just came from the events of TATM BUT, she and Eleven traveled together for a short time. Which ended badly. How do we know that? The next time we see Eleven, he's isolate himself away on a cloud on top of Victorian London (which I believe is one of their favorite Earth era's to visit because why else would he choose that place and that era to have his "retirement" in?), proclaiming he has retired (with Strax blaming the moon), and hardly no River to be found at all (unless you know where to look). On the other hand, we don't see what has happened to River after that brief stint of traveling with Eleven post-TATM until roughly two series later. She is in a state of grief, which she hides behind her mask.

People have taken her "the Doctor does not and has never loved me" speech as the sole indicator of how Eleven supposedly treated River but I'm like no! Absolutely not! She is speaking from a state of grief. What she says may be true to her, but it is not true to what exactly happened!

River Song is an unreliable narrator. And anyone who paints Eleven as lesser than Twelve is no friend of mine.