Welcome to the town of Mercy.  Old-school Western meets New-school Gunslinger.  The Doctor, Amy Pond and Rory Williams are diverted while en route to the Day of the Dead festival in Mexico.  However, the TARDIS always has her reasons for diverting the Doctor and his companions wherever they may land.  In this case, it was to meet his equal and opposite — Doctor Kahler-Jex.

The marshall of Mercy, Isaac, performs an act of bravery to save Jex and has an unfortunate demise at the hand of the Gunslinger.  With the Gunslinger intent on exacting his revenge on the bad Doctor Kahler-Jex, Jex eventually finds a way to leave the town of Mercy with the help of the Doctor, but Jex commits suicide instead to save the town and to save himself ultimately.

This episode to me seemed very “filler” to me — heavy on religion but low on substance overall concerning the Doctor and his companions.  Although the Doctor meets his equal and opposite in Doctor Kahler-Jex, he seems unaffected.  In fact, when the Doctor does react, he  seems reminiscent of the Chris Eccleston’s Doctor Who, the Doctor born of war (as David Tennant‘s Doctor said).  Lastly, this episode seems to preface a second part, acting as a prologue of sorts.

Related articles

• Review: ‘Doctor Who’ Goes Spaghetti-Fi Western With ‘A Town Called Mercy’ (geek-news.mtv.com)
• Doctor Who: 7.03: The Quality of Mercy Is Strained (forbes.com)
• Doctor Who – How the West Was Won (televisionwithoutpity.com)
• Doctor Who Review: “A Town Called Mercy” (MINOR SPOILERS) (nerdist.com)