if the Doctor hadn't choosen 1913, would all those people have died?
Yeah, but even there, I have a really hard time blaming the Doctor for the devastation inflicted by the Family. They are responsible for their own crimes. The Doctor ended up in 1913 out of compassion, because he was trying to avoid bloodshed. It's tragic that the Family didn't give up, and followed him to inflict more pain on others, but it's not his fault that they chose to act so violently.
I can hold him a bit responsible for not thoroughly thinking through the situation; his blase attitude did result in him leading a group of homicidal aliens to a vulnerable human population. But again, he was trying to act out of kindness, and if his plan had worked no one would have died. I really just can't blame him for what the Family did. It would've been far worse if he'd caused those deaths out of selfishness or cruelty, but I give him a pretty big pass since he was acting out of compassion.
I also think that Joan was being pretty damn unfair by blaming it on the Doctor. He's saved this world more times than she can imagine, and she really doesn't know the whole situation. I don't blame her for lashing out; she was suffering at the time, and could barely look in the eyes of the alien who'd taken away than man she loved. So she struck out and got him to go away, but I don't think we're meant to take her statement as Truth; it's coming from a very (understandably) biased POV.
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if the Doctor hadn't choosen 1913, would all those people have died?
Yeah, but even there, I have a really hard time blaming the Doctor for the devastation inflicted by the Family. They are responsible for their own crimes. The Doctor ended up in 1913 out of compassion, because he was trying to avoid bloodshed. It's tragic that the Family didn't give up, and followed him to inflict more pain on others, but it's not his fault that they chose to act so violently.
I can hold him a bit responsible for not thoroughly thinking through the situation; his blase attitude did result in him leading a group of homicidal aliens to a vulnerable human population. But again, he was trying to act out of kindness, and if his plan had worked no one would have died. I really just can't blame him for what the Family did. It would've been far worse if he'd caused those deaths out of selfishness or cruelty, but I give him a pretty big pass since he was acting out of compassion.
I also think that Joan was being pretty damn unfair by blaming it on the Doctor. He's saved this world more times than she can imagine, and she really doesn't know the whole situation. I don't blame her for lashing out; she was suffering at the time, and could barely look in the eyes of the alien who'd taken away than man she loved. So she struck out and got him to go away, but I don't think we're meant to take her statement as Truth; it's coming from a very (understandably) biased POV.