And now I present in completeness, which includes DVD minisodes, the evolution of the Doctor’s feelings for River.

It’s really, really, really long. And I do mean that, I’ve been working on it for a week and it’s every episode that River’s in and there’s gifs and … it’s just long. But most of the length is due to the gifs.

SitL/FotD (or also the episodes where he is confused and irritated a lot):

Confusion on how she knows him/why he would be coming when she called -

Curiosity of what is in the book/his future -

Intense curiosity of who she is and who she is to him -

Confusion/Fear as to why he would give her his screwdriver -

Burning need to know who she is at this point -

Suspicion as to why she has his screwdriver -

Shock and perhaps a little fear over her knowing his name -

Irritation over not being “her”, or the, Doctor -

Slight excitement over someone so clever being important to him -

Irritation because she’s trying to keep him from killing himself -

Determination to keep her from killing herself to keep him alive -

Depression over her death -

Joy over finding the neural interface -

Joy over saving her -

Extreme joy over opening the doors of the TARDIS by snapping -

These two episodes … just, they’re probably the most important episodes to understand the progression of his feelings for her. Here’s this archaeologist who walks in and knows a lot about him, and he has no idea as to who she is or why she would know any of this. Well, their timelines are all wibbly-wobbly and she’s someone extremely important to him in the future - he just hasn’t gotten there yet.

He spends a good portion of SitL kind of knocked off his feet and trying to reassert his authority because while River will do what he tells her to do, everyone in that room obeys her. He isn’t comfortable because she has all of this knowledge about him from the future and he doesn’t even know who she is.

He acts suspicious, confused, and just irritated because he doesn’t understand his relationship with her yet. He even disrespects their her diary, which Eleven never does because he understands that some things just have to be lived; whereas Ten wanted to know then and there what was going on.

Then in FotD she begins to lash out at him because she doesn’t know how to handle this Doctor who doesn’t know her at all. He’s so much more human than her Doctor and she even says that to him by telling him that he needs to be less emotional. And then she drops the bombshell that she knows his name, and he starts acting less suspicious of her and more open to who she possibly is to him.

Of course, his God Complex at the end means he needs to try to keep everyone alive and that means keeping her from sacrificing herself; but even River has a slight God Complex here: if he dies then who knows what will happen to time, who knows what will happen to all of the lives he has yet to touch, and selfishly if he dies there then she’ll be erased completely and she’ll be stuck with an ordinary life in Leadworth or she could just not exist at all since she was the reason her parents got together in the first place. So she takes his place so he can live and grow and continue on doing what he does best and that’s saving people.

And he knows she’s important to him, that’s why he takes her death so hard, because he is losing yet another person who means a lot to him - and he doesn’t even fully know her yet.

As for her death/burial, there are hints of their future relationship here: he gives her a Time Lord burial, or as close to one as he could. See, when Time Lord’s officially die, they don’t really die, a record of their brain activity is saved to a network of computers known as The Matrix where they live out the rest of eternity. And what does the Doctor do in the future? Insures that she will be given a Time Lord burial by making a record of her brain activity so it can be saved to a computer where she will live out the rest of eternity.

ToA/FaS:

Irritated that she knows how to fly the TARDIS and he still knows basically nothing about their relationship -

Even though he gets sullen because he’s not “the very best” at flying the TARDIS he still smiles so this signifies that he’s impressed that she can fly it -

Running from his future/her past because of the foreknowledge of her death, and the fact that he doesn’t like to be dragged into anything -

Excitement at hearing the word “Spoilers” -

Irritation of the timey-wimey-ness of the whole thing -

Trying to listen in on River and Amy’s conversation about him -

Realization that they’re on the same level intellectually -

Jealous of the possibility of her being engaged to Father Octavian -

Which turns to smugness when he finds out that she’s just in Stormcage -

Frustrated that she’s being a Negative Nancy -

Complete joy that she was able to save Amy -

Extremely pleased that she understands his plan -

Space? What personal space? -

Curiosity as to what’s next for them -

Excited that he will be seeing her again -

Needing to hear from her that he can trust her, even though he kind of knows that he will eventually -

And here where the first big steps begin to happen:

He’s not running from her exactly, he hates being dragged into things and their relationship is kind of predestined - and on top of that you have the fact that he has already lost her once, and he will just lose her again and when he loses her then he will know her so well and he will love her so much then, and after everything and everyone he lost in his Tenth Regeneration he wants to avoid it, also at this point he assumes that she’s human (this is important and will be brought up later).

But in ToA you see that he’s interested and that, while he wants to run from his and her future, he can’t help but be drawn towards her.

And in FaS is when you see the biggest indicator that he’s interested in her: his jealousy over the fact that there might be something between her and Father Octavian. He gets really territorial really quick, because even though he’s still not there in his timeline, he knows that the idea of her being with Father Octavian isn’t right. So the news that she’s just in Stormcage makes him happy and he doesn’t address it until the end.

And yes, he lashes out at her, you tend to do that with those you love most even when you know it’s wrong. He lashes out at her because he’s trying to save Amy his way and she’s going on fixing the transporter which he had already dismissed as a possibility. But when she’s done what she needed to do to help and he’s so grateful to her then. She doesn’t hold his outbursts against him because, while Eleven is very closed off emotionally, when he does have an outburst it’s generally for a good reason - and losing a Companion is a really good reason.

Then the end on the beach, he can’t help but get close to her, he can’t help but be fascinated and ready to begin the running through time and space with her, but he’s not there just yet and he’s not ready to begin all of that running.

So he looks forward to their next meeting, and he’s ready to begin learning to fully trust her completely. He still doesn’t know exactly what she is to him, but he knows that he will have time to figure that out.

Here she is a friend, and a potential crush.

TPO/TBB:

Impressed that she went to the length she went to get his attention -

Happy at seeing her again/Amused that she convinced Romans that she was Cleopatra -

Masked irritation towards her over the graffiti -

The fact that they share a look at seeing the Pandorica and Amy remains forgotten in the background -

The “Oh” when she points out that he’s missing the big picture of Stonehenge broadcasting everywhere and to everything -

Relying on her to get the information of who is coming -

Happy that she came through on bringing him Romans -

Relying on her to bring the TARDIS to him -

His crush is showing -

The fact that he allowed her to go arm-in-arm with him when all she needed to do was touch the Vortex Manipulator (and that the first thing he looks at when they arrive is her) -

The first nose bop -

Happy at hearing her again -

Respecting her diary -

Interest in her marital status -

His response to her saying “but that’s when everything changes” -

No, I wasn’t lazy with these episodes, just out of all of the episodes River is in, with the exception of AGMGTW and Closing Time, these are the ones that she is in the least.

But TPO is where his infatuation comes out the most, and that he needs her becomes more noticeable: he trusts her to get his TARDIS to him, he trusts her to find out how many and exactly who is out there.

And then in TBB he doesn’t deny her, he shows up in his TARDIS where she has been stuck for nearly 2000 years on repeat and he takes her by the arm back to Earth. There was no reason for them to be arm-in-arm, she only had to touch the Vortex Manipulator, but he allows her to go like that and then the first thing he does when they arrive is to make sure that she’s completely there alongside him.

At this point he cares about her enough to do that, it’s not just his God Complex, it’s that if something were to happen to her he would be legitimately hurt by it, and a hole could potentially blow through space and time but he only thinks about that when it’s necessary.

But then the ending, he’s moved on trying to look in their her diary, he’s accepted to just take it as it comes. Sure he’s still curious, and he still wants to know what will happen, but he’s respecting her now.

And he takes the interest in her, he wants to know whether or not he is allowed to fall in love with her. He wants to know if she’s already spoken for, he wants to begin courting her but of course she’s not going to make it easy on him.

And his reaction when she says “everything will change,” he’s taking her words in the negative and possibly thinks that she means that he’ll think less of her. And he says “Nah” because he doesn’t think that he could ever think less of her. *this paragraph is just pure speculation on my part*

At this point, he has a crush on her, he just doesn’t know if he should act on it yet.

The Impossible Astronaut:

I just want to point this out:

(Even though you can just barely see it in these caps, it’s shown in the Brilliant Book though) River’s envelope has Gallifreyan writing on it, make of that what you will.

Actually here’s a picture from the Brilliant Book where you can see the Gallifreyan on hers, thank you Charina.

Matching diaries, not to mention two adventures that are mentioned (one it looks like he had lots of fun on) -

Excitement of seeing her and whatever trouble is to come -

he goes to River when he’s going on about how time moves plus the second nose bop (also what personal space?) -

And cheek bop -

Lashing out at her because they’re all lying to them -

Still acknowledges that her loves likes her while he’s lashing out -

Claiming he doesn’t trust her -

Falling back on her knowledge to make up for his lashing out -

Claiming he doesn’t know what she’s doing with his TARDIS -

Proving that he does indeed trust her (to save him at least, which is a pretty big deal), and that he knew what she was doing to his TARDIS -

Knowing what she’s saying even though she’s in the TARDIS -

Calling her “Mrs Robinson” showing that he is attracted to her -

And asking her for information again to make up for the earlier outburst -

Also lack of personal space when he’s flirting with her when he mentions how two of the Founding Fathers fancied him -

(And sidljfdskjghdsgkfsdg the look he gives her here! Just sets my shipper heart on fire)

He notices the faces she has -

Especially since they involve him -

Actual concern for her to be going into the tunnel -

Smugness over the fact that she’s a screamer -

Guiltiness over being caught flirting -

Worried about her going back into the tunnel -

Ignoring 1103!Doctor because his feelings will be dealt with later on. But he is incredibly cozy with her, I guess being together for a little less than 200 years could do that.

But onto 909!Doctor, he starts off friendly and flirty with her and then when it’s become abundantly clear to him that they are all keeping secrets from him he lashes out at her.

This isn’t because he doesn’t trust her, it’s because she’s already been keeping secrets from him, secrets he can’t know. And now here’s another one, and now Amy and Rory are in on it and he can’t figure out why. So he lashes out at her, he presses her buttons and tries to get her to tell him, even though he knows that she won’t, but he just needs to try to break her because he needs to get his frustrations out.

Of course then he turns around five minutes later and expects her to save him, and she does. He trusts her, not completely, but he trusts her enough. Also, he does kind of amp up the flirting after he says he won’t trust her, like he’s trying to make up for the outburst.

But by this point he has begun to fall for her, and he’s excited to find out more things about her and then experience them along the way.

DotM:

Amused and slightly worried that she broke from the established plan -

Glee over catching her unawares -

Starts the flirting in the Silence’s lair -

Compliments the fact that she’s not afraid to kill the Silence if necessary (which by the way, the Doctor doesn’t like guns, yes, but he doesn’t mind people using them when necessary, there are several people, Jack and Brigadier for example (also Sarah Jane once), who he spends time with who use guns and he has no issue with it) -

Carries on with the flirting even though it’s not necessarily the right time (which, logical explanation: he had looked away from the Silence and as had she so they were caught up in themselves until Amy reminded them and they saw the Silence again) -

He automatically backs up into her when he’s making the consoles explode so the Silence don’t go to full power and she’s killing them, proving that they are in sync -

He invites her to come with them -

Curious of the promise she has to live up to -

He’s disappointed that she can’t -

He’s into the kiss, but then flails -

Then he goes back into it -

Even moves his hand up to her hair -

And then she pulls him closer and he flails again -

Shocked that there was even a kiss at all because it was his first -

But he did like it -

And he’s looking forward to more -

This episode is so in your face with it.

He likes her. He really, really likes her. I wouldn’t say that he’s in love with her yet, but he does really like her.

It’s just the surprise of the first kiss, which he wasn’t expecting at all, that throws him off. He knew it was going to happen, she already told him that, he just didn’t know when it would.

But this episode just kind of cements for him that he will indeed completely fall in love with her, he’s already well on the way there.

AGMGTW:

Just this scene real quick (because it is important to their relationship) -

He takes Stevie Wonder out of his time period to 1814 to sing to her under London Bridge for her birthday.

You don’t just take someone like Stevie Wonder out of their time period to sing for just anyone, unless you have feelings for them.

And back to the point:

Anger at the fact that when he needs her she isn’t/couldn’t be there -

Finally demanding a truth from her -

Shock/Surprise/Joy that’s she’s Melody (and that he hasn’t totally failed yet) -

Guilt/Shyness/Excitement over the fact that there was kissing and perhaps more between them -

He wants to look good before he leaves -

He only has eyes for her when he leaves, he doesn’t even give Amy or Rory a second glance -

So many people just love to try to liken this relationship to Jacob and the kid that Bella and Edward have, not even close. A huge difference would be that he knew her before he even met Amy and Rory, another would be the fact that he fell in love with adult River and not baby Melody. But moving on …

See, it took me sometime to figure out exactly when he fell in love with River, he loves her by the end of DotM but when did he fall in love with her?

Sometime between DotM and this episode, and he does see her during that time but it’s at night while Amy and Rory are asleep, that’s when he falls in love with her.

It explains half of the reason why he was so betrayed by the fact that she was not there at Demon’s Run, the other half obviously because he lost, but he needed her. He needed her to be there and help him, and she wan’t there. So he was even more hurt and betrayed than he would have been.

But when does he allow himself to be in love with her?

Here. In AGMGTW.

Not because she’s a Pond, that has nothing to do with it.

When Amy tries to seduce him he gives three reasons for why it can’t happen between them, the third is explained in The God Complex

1. “I’m 907, and look at me. I don’t get older, I just change. You get older. I don’t, and this can’t ever work.” - hence why Rose got his clone
2. “But you’re human!” - he’s not going to allow himself to fall in love with another human
3. “You’re Amy!” - in TGC he sees Amy as Amelia showing that the entire time Amy has been his Companion he has seen her as the seven year old girl who waited for him all night in her garden.

The most important of these are the first two, because he believes that River is human.

And what is revealed about Melody? The time radiation from the TARDIS manipulated her DNA enough to where there were some deformations and then the Silence experimented on her to make the deformations in her DNA more dominant. Ergo, she became more Time Lord than human.

She can could regenerate and she can live a long life and never age, unless she chooses too.

So he allows himself there that it’s okay to be in love with her, she’s not human - he can have centuries, even millennium’s (of course they won’t, but he doesn’t know that), with her rather than decades or just years. So here’s when he allows himself to give in to his feelings, because even though he will lose her he can still have a long, long time with her.

LKH:

To start with: he doesn’t once call her Mels or Melody, he calls her River … multiple times. He’s a 900+ year old Time Lord whose brain moves faster than a humans and he can’t get her name right? Amy and Rory were able to distinguish the difference, but him? No. Not at all. He only refers to River as possibly being someone else twice -

The fact that they can predict each other’s next move (mostly, but then he’s never been able to completely read her) -

His possessiveness of her and protectiveness of the River he knows -

The fact that he tries to remain unresponsive when she kisses him the first time -

He’s dying but her safety is more important to him -

He’s dying but he dresses up for her, wasting his time -

Even Melody realizes that River is someone really important -

And he’s still begging River for help even though he knows that Mels/Melody won’t -

Whatever he whispered in her ear for River -

He didn’t actually want her to use up all of her regenerations -

He refers to it as a date -

Some of the Eleven/River shippers, myself included, have referred to this episode as “The Love Letter to River Song”

Because, really, it was.

If there was ever an episode where his feelings for River are clear, it’s this one.

I’m not even going to go and explain it, I think my captions for the gifs did enough of that.

But really, whatever he whispered in her ear was not his name, because she did not know his name in TWORS. And unless it had been something really passionate and loving why would it have broken through a self-proclaimed psychopath’s mold?

The TARDIS taught her to feel in the few minutes she was in there trying to save Amy and Rory. But the Doctor taught her that she could, and would, love.

TWORS:

How he introduces her -

He does try to reassure her at the lake -

He shows her that she will still have a future with him -

He tries to warn her subtly that he’ll be fine -

(He does really slightly wink and smile a bit here, just this gif sucks because the scene is so quick)

He only gets angry at her the moment she breaks from the narrative -

Even though he’s angry at her for breaking time he still takes the time to flirt with her -

Irritated at her because she isn’t taking it seriously -

Then begins lashing out at her, and even mocking her -

Angry because he hasn’t found out the distress beacon’s full function yet -

Proud/Surprised/Impressed over just the extent the distress beacon functions at -

Then lashes out because he doesn’t think that he’s worth it -

Curiosity about what exactly the point to all of this is -

Tries to interrupt her but he can’t bring himself to -

And then goes back to trying to get her to restart time -

He doesn’t like hurting her, but it’s what has to happen -

The look on his face when she says that she will suffer most of all -

Acknowledgement that she’s not going to budge easily -

And the fact that he still looks at her with so much love -

He does look rather pleased when he says that she married him -

And he calls her his wife -

Also this kind of says it all -

All right, let’s get this out of the way.

He marries her. River is standing there at this point defenseless, she has used everything she had to get him to reconsider and in that moment she thinks that she has lost. But she hasn’t, all he had to do was reach out and touch her after Amy uncuffed him and she would have let him, but what does he do? He marries her.

He’s giving her the ultimate symbol of love and trust, not because she needs to see it - but because he wants her to see it, he wants her to see that he loves and trusts no one as much as her now. Yes, he still loves everyone he has been in love with, but he moves on, and now it’s River’s turn.

Also, when he’s lashing out at her, what does that look like?

Him lying to her in TiA when he says that he doesn’t trust her. He’s doing in and on the pyramid what he was doing in TiA to try to get her to break, this time he’s doing it because he really does need for her to break.

And it explains why she looks so heartbroken in TiA when he’s lashing out at her then, because she’s been through that once before and it’s why she doesn’t break. Because she knows that he doesn’t mean a single word of it.

Of course she doesn’t embarrass him, he looks so proud and overjoyed over that she made the beacon work like that - he only says that she embarrasses him because he believes that after all of the pain and hurt he has caused the universe that he isn’t worth it, he isn’t worth anyone saving him. But there she is, telling him differently and he ends up conceding because she’s right, and she has a right to know the truth.

Bad Night:

Bad Night confirms the fact that while Amy and Rory are sleeping he does indeed run into River, and goes to parties/dates/adventures with her … and he dresses up for her.

The Doctor doesn’t change clothes for someone willingly; he’ll change them if the situation calls for it and he absolutely needs to; ie. The Lazarus Experiment and The Voyage of the Damned and for Amy and Rory’s wedding. But willingly change for someone? He doesn’t just do that.

And it continues the theme that he’s not extremely open about his relationships, he could never tell Martha or Donna just the true nature of his relationship with Rose they only inferred and guessed - but he’s never come out and just said it. And here he has Amy, who has had a feeling since she first met River that there was something between them, confronting him about it, so he avoids it and tries to convince her that nothing is different. But, of course, Amy is right: he was with River, and he’s gone and dressed up for her too.

And Bad Night was in between DotM and The Rebel Flesh/The Almost People, judging from the way he acts towards Amy and the way Amy mentions River.

First Night/Last Night:

First of all: both of these minisodes take place after TWORS, and it is implied in TDTWATW that he hasn’t seen River since Area 52/Lake Silencio, and it’s also kind of confirmed that it’s after TDTWATW from dialogue about Amy and Rory being on board, so these don’t take place until before what will be the start of series 7. So, in a way, if you count (and if they count) the wedding in TWORS, this is a honeymoon for them.

Once again he’s dressed up for her, in a tux that has never been seen before, and the moment she walks in his face lights up -

Just the description of where he’s taking her -

But there is a four hundred foot tree growing out of the tip top in the north side of a mountain in the middle of the sea. And if you take the lift to the top and look up at exactly twelve minutes past midnight on the twenty-first of September 2360 you can see more stars in one sky than at any other moment in the history of the universe. It’s like daylight, only magic.

Admiration for the fact that not even prison could hold River (although, I will not be giffing this since you only see her reaction to it, but the sound of his voice is enough to hear the admiration)

And just a little fact a few friends have pointed out: he’s checking her out when she heads off to the wardrobe -

Irritation that later!River tricked him -

And concern that she’s taunting Sontarans -

Exasperation that she’s not listening to him when she starts thinking that he took someone else to where they spent their honeymoon -

He calls her “dear”, the only other person he calls that is the TARDIS -

The sheer joy that he sees his future self with River -

And the heartache both Doctor’s share when she says Darillium -

The “enjoy tonight because you’re just going to get closer to this day” (AKA to some of my friends: “you’re going to get laid tonight” face) look his future self gives him -

The whole point of First Night/Last Night, while to show us that they are indeed a couple and do go off and have beautiful dates, was to show the Doctor that to the very core of her, the River he fell in love with, she will never change. Yes, she will mature more, but some things about her: how much she loves, her flirtiness, her fun side, her stubbornness - none of that will change, even late in her life.

That was the point of the three River’s, he had to see how similar the future River’s were in comparison to the youngest River and that was the meaning of this line -

But it was also to show that he is really and truly in love with her, and I think it did a brilliant job of doing that.

Also, I think these two are “sneak peeks,” shall we say, to what they’ll be like next series. Because since they take place after the Christmas Special, which was at the very end shown to be a huge step in him opening up to his emotions, it could mean that he will be more loving to her.

Never to the degree Ten was with Rose, Moff just doesn’t write fluff like that.

And plus, that’s just not the kind of relationship River and Eleven have.

Ten/Rose was more like high school sweethearts. River/Eleven is more like that married couple that has been together for decades.

_____________________________________________________________________

Basically, their relationship has had a gradual climb to it, although some people have missed it, he starts off tolerating her in SitL to being so in love with her in First Night/Last Night. How is that not a change? He grew to be in love with her, he hasn’t been forced into it - sure, he was told by her that it would happen, but it’s a choice.

And while the Doctor may lie, he would never lie about his feelings. He’s lost too many people over them.

And you can try to say that it’s just the actors, however:

• Actors have their own interpretation
• Directors have their own interpretation
• the script says what must happen and the actors and directors work to make that happen.

Basically, the writer has the building blocks of what is supposed to happen in the script through stage directions, and then the director and actors build on it. So no, it’s not just Matt and Alex, and even David.