A Dazzling End

Following this finale, it’s really funny to go back and re-read our Let’s Kill Hitler reaction post, from what seems like so long ago already. In that, our biggest concern with the second half of Series Six was that Moffat had built too large of a house of cards this time around. That, as io9 recently put it, he wouldn’t catch all the balls he was juggling in the finale. He was doing so many wonderful, fascinating, unique things to the show, to the Doctor’s, the Ponds’, and River’s plotlines--but would it all come together in a way that both made sense and was satisfying?

In that sense, this finale did not disappoint in the slightest. Some things felt a bit rushed, yes, but that seemed mostly to be a consequence of the fact that the finale was only one episode long (which we’ll deal with later). And in the end--in those last ten minutes especially--everything felt complete. It made sense. The Doctor evading death was not a hand-waving, timey-wimey thing this time, as it was in The Big Bang last year. His emotional journey--at least for this season--has been completed in a way that actually brings us closure. River’s biggest mysteries were solved in a way that did not feel ret-conned. Sure, there are still some questions, but we were not left with the burning, gaping holes we were left with at the end of Series Five. And after all the doubts we had about Moffat’s ability to pull this off, seeing it all play out in this way was so incredibly satisfying.

Say goodbye, to the world you thought you lived in

The Girl Who Waited was a brilliant example of why we love this show so much. Because when Doctor Who gets it right, it gets it right. At its core, this show is not about time travel or aliens or sci-fi or even saving the world. An episode doesn’t need to have a monster or a villain -- all it needs is a situation that puts the companions and the Doctor in a place where they discover painful things about themselves and have to make difficult choices.



When we first heard the episode title, I naturally assumed it was going to be all about Amy, and perhaps a reflection back on her childhood. It never occurred to me that Amy would have to wait, again. Yet wait she did. "You could spend a lifetime in here.” And she does. It’s progressed from "twelve years, and four psychiatrists,” to thirty-six years, and a lifetime of bitterness and loneliness. To me, the whole episode was an exploration, a magnification, of that small but nonetheless emotionally powerful scene in The Doctor’s Wife, where House manipulates Amy to stumble upon an aged Rory, and then his rotting corpse, surrounded by horrifying graffiti -- HATE AMY.

Day of the Moon review

Apologies, dear readers, for the lateness and slight incoherent-ness of this post—it’s finals crunch time for your dear bloggers, and even the Doctor must wait for papers to be written. But anyway…

Laura and I both came away from this episode with mixed feelings. The things that they are setting up have the potential to be brilliant, and the episode ensured that this season is going to be a hell of a ride. But there are some things we are skeptical of, and critical of. Still, let’s start with the brilliancy:

Rory. Oh my GOD how much do I love Rory. His brilliance and awkwardness and just... everything. He is so in love with Amy, and it is so clear with every single breath he takes. I love that they brought up his 2000 years as a Centurion, it is just so essential to proving how wonderful and special he is. And that moment when he is trying to pretend to be an American secret service made me laugh forever more.

My love for River grows exponentially with each passing episode. Superficially: somehow that dress was even hotter than that jean jacket. Non-superficially: I love everything about her. I love the ridiculous flirting that is going on between her and the Doctor, I love the relationship she has fostered with both Amy and Rory. And having just finished a paper about gun-slinging females with empty personalities, I love that she is a strong female character with depth, conflict, and emotion. The kiss between her and the Doctor was both brilliantly funny (Smith looked like he had a Jelly-Arms Jinx on him or something) and heartbreakingly poignant. I’m sad that we’re already leaving her so early in the season, and I hope her return in the fall is just as brilliant.

The Impossible Astronaut review

First of all, wow. That was no calm, fun series opener. I’m not going to spend too much of this talking about plot, because I want to see what Moffat does with the second part of this story. Here, he threw an incredible amount of information at us, and while I want to criticize him for that, I think I’ll wait until it’s wrapped up to pass judgement. I also have some huge issues pending with Amy's final statement before the cliffhanger, but I will also leave that till next time.

That said, I have to give him points for sheer nerve. Who kills off the Doctor and ensures that he doesn’t regenerate in the first ten minutes of a season? Yes, this road had been sort of paved by RTD in Turn Left and The Stolen Earth. Yes, in some ways every viewer knows he won’t be dead in the end. But that didn’t stop it from being an incredibly powerful and arresting moment. I sort of cried. The scene where they meet his past self in the diner almost hurts. And the scene in the TARDIS, the companions trying to get the Doctor to trust them instead of the other way around, had incredible acting from all of them. You could almost taste the tension. For once, the audience is in the know, and the Doctor was out, and the reversal of that normal situation is so striking.