Doctor Who Review, Series 6 Episode 2: "The Day of the Moon"

Ooh, so this is very late. This is also a really busy week for me--in fact, this entire month is going to be a whirl of activity. Hopefully it'll be a productive one, too.

I was too busy to watch this episode the day it aired, so I caught it on Sunday instead. I only made one note on my sheet of paper as I watched: "So the best part of this ep so far is 60's Rory. He looks awesome." Unfortunately, after finishing the episode, I'd stay that still remained my favorite part of the entire thing. Overall it was a big disappointment and I ended the episode feeling distinctly underwhelmed. Now, I might be the only person on the internet to feel this way, but it's my honest opinion, and this from someone who was looking forward to Part 2 of the opening a lot. I felt that the pacing was all off in "Day of the Moon", similarly to how I felt "Victory of the Daleks" was a disappointment mainly due to its poor pacing. Twists and turns were flung at us so quickly they didn't have any dramatic impact. I felt no questions--really--were answered, and the solution to the Silence problem seemed both a little out of character for the Doctor--what, he's encouraging that folks everywhere commit murder now?--as well as rushed. Brief moments of terror, like in the orphanage, were too rushed and crammed between other stuff to make a serious impact. The mystery of the little regenerating girl just didn't interest me. The further playing upon the 'Does Amy love Rory or the Doctor' theme just irritated me, because the question has, really, been answered already. So why keep trying to get us worried about things that are already resolved?? Same with the maybe-pregnant maybe-not Amy Pond. I'm just not interested in these issues, which seem extraneous and not really belonging in "Doctor Who". I can watch any old show where love triangles happen or pregnancies or other stuff, I don't need it tacked on here. I'm not sure even why I feel so strongly about this. I just do. Give me aliens and strange planets and distant times and adventure and excitement and good character development; don't give me force-fed drama.

The Silence turned out to be, so far, a disappointing villain too. It lost its subtlety in this episode. They can get wounded by being shot? Amy, the Doctor, Rory, and River were able to chase them for 3 months, all over the continent, without getting blasted by them? Then what's the danger? Even the Daleks are bulletproof. And Moffat, there's only so many times that you can falsely kill off characters before that gimmick no longer pulls at our heartstrings. Did anyone believe for even a second that he killed off our entire cast in the opening minutes of this episode? Yeah . . . I didn't think so.

Some good parts of the episode:
1. Rory. I thought he was brilliant as always, as well as finely acted by Darvill. And did I mention his 60's look?
2. River's 'firsts and lasts' comment, which although nowhere near as effective as that fantastic scene last episode still managed to be saddening. That kiss was a bit much, though.
3. River's jab at the Doctor for waving his sonic screwdriver around during the gunfight.
4. Nixon popping up all over the place.
5. The creepy old man in the orphanage.

But remember how I said I wanted motivations cleared up in this episode to make more sense of the last episode? I don't feel like any of that happened. The Silence is still as confusing as ever, which also contributes to them being less scary than they should be.

My last note: What on earth was with the random there-and-then-gone window in the door of the room with the photos of Amy with a baby in it? And that face which looked through it? This mystery annoys me more than interests me, and I'm not quite sure why; maybe because it seems so unnecessary? If the rest of the story had been tied up and paced properly I wouldn't have minded, but as it is it just seemed like why take up time with small mysterious things that have no immediate bearing upon the story when you aren't even telling the immediate story properly?

Anyway . . . overall I'm not a fan of this episode. I'm very glad that this next episode is a standalone; hopefully we'll get back on track with it. Also, pirates! I'll try for a more detailed review for the next ep, to make up for this slipshod one. Cheers, all!