Welcome to my first Doctor Who Review! I am posting this a day late because . . . well, I didn’t do much writing on Easter! But in future I think I’ll aim to post my reviews every Monday. This is kind of a recap as well as a review, where I just go through the episode bit by bit and talk about how I saw it. It’s also ridiculously long. I’m clearly not practiced at this yet XD
Okay, and off we go: Welcome to Series Six, everyone, and don't forget to
look behind you!
I have to admit that I was less than thrilled with the opening of the episode. It was too slyly risque; Moffat moments like that stick out of the show like a sore thumb, in my opinion. But he then immediately followed it up with a delightful peek of Amy and Rory all settled down and domestic, and then a few seconds of the Doctor on video dancing with Laurel and Hardy, which was so amazing I couldn’t stay disgruntled. I’ll just pretend that opening fifty seconds or so didn’t happen; it seemed way out of character.
The mysterious summons which Amy, Rory, and River received were appropriately exhilarating; we, like them, have been newly summoned to rejoin the Doctor in his adventuring, so I shared their excitement, though seriously--the guards at the Storm Hold Prison must be the worst in the universe. How many times has River broken out now?
An interesting aspect of this episode is its setting in America and how that setting is handled by the British cast and crew. Mostly it works well; the accents were actually pretty fine, and the Oval Office was a great set. I wish I knew what the British audience thought of it; I imagine it is a lot different for American viewers like me. There was definitely a different feel to the episodes though, which I think came from them being set in America: the Oval Office set, though nice, felt really foreign to the world of “Doctor Who”. Strange that that should be so, when I’ve seen the Police Box land on all sorts of alien planets and locales around Britain and rock quarry after rock quarry without blinking an eye! What did you think of the American setting? One thing it had going for it was the sight of the Doctor wearing a Stetson hat (not a common hat in my area of America anyway, but still great).
Let’s pause here for a moment of silence for that very fine Stetson gone, alas, all too soon.
Okay, moving on.
The Doctor invited his friends to share a meal with him, and after they had all eaten and had drunk wine (or, in the Doctor’s case, spat the wine out in disgust) he went alone to meet with a bizarrely creepy astronaut which just strode out of the Lake they had been picnicking beside. Matt Smith’s acting in this whole scene was just sublime--sad, weary, and resigned but steeled. The look on his face when he looked at the Astronaut’s blank visor was heart-wrenching in its gentle, sad empathy:
'Hello. It's okay, I know it's you.' I watched the lifting of the visor three times, but was unable to make out what’s inside. A face? An emptiness? Who knows? Well, I have a feeling we will know by the ending of this Series, but never mind that for now.
The Doctor/Astronaut conversation continues for a little while as his three disciples waited and kept watch, little knowing that they had just partaken of their Last Supper with their soon-to-be-killed leader--VERY SUBTLE, MOFFAT. Maybe I’m just reading too much into it since this is Easter weekend, after all; or maybe airing the episodes on Easter weekend was very deliberate. Who knows?
Disciples or companions, whatever you want to call them, Rory, Amy, and River are very shortly watching in horror as the Doctor is
shot. Shot
twice. By the creepy Astronaut. It was excruciating to watch. To see the Doctor shot once is horrible enough--remember Ten’s near-regeneration?--but
twice? As River herself says a little bit later, that’s
cold.
So he staggers to his feet and looks, numbly and wide-eyed, at his hands as they light up with the flames of regeneration. He turns towards Amy, where she’s screaming for him just like all the traumatized kids watching the episode (as well as the little Amelia inside her and the little Doctor-loving kid inside me) are,
apologizes as his face is obscured by the golden mist and he begins regenerating, we are all watching with bated breath and disbelief, and then that disbelief is increased about tenfold as we see the Astronaut shoot him yet again and he drops to the lakeshore stone dead.
This was beautifully shocking. Just the fact that it gets so much of an emotional response from me is marvelous. Consider:
1) Logically, the Doctor cannot regenerate yet. I’ve seen the series trailers and keep up-to-date on Doctor Who-related news, and know there has not been any word of Matt Smith ending his run yet (and thank goodness for that, too!)
2) Logically, the Doctor cannot be permanently dead. This is simple enough; the show is Doctor Who, after all.
3) Logically, this’ll all get cleared up in a complicated, Moffat-y timey-wimey way, and the show will go on.
And despite all this cold logic I still got emotional and worried for the Doctor?
Take that, Spock!
Meanwhile, a fourth person has arrived: An elderly, white-bearded man who I for a moment thought was Nicholas Courtney, but wasn’t. Of course he wasn’t; the Brig has left with Sarah Jane for that big Unit HQ in the Sky, alas. It was Canton Delaware III, an American with his own invitation in a TARDIS-blue (that should be a paint color) envelope and a can of gasoline. The gasoline was for the Doctor’s body, which Amy was currently sobbing over like a heartbroken child. Yes, that’s right: the children of America, Britain, and Canada were all treated with the sight of their beloved Doctor getting cremated today. Also to some nice music-work by Murray Gold. I liked the detail of Rory choosing to setting the Doctor’s body afloat on the lake to burn, like a proper Viking funeral.
Delaware leaves fairly quickly, pausing only to deliver this wonderful line in his wonderfully gravelly voice:
'I won't be seeing you again, but you'll be seeing me.'River notices that there’s a typewritten number 4 on his envelope; there’s a 2 on hers, and a 3 on the Williams’/Ponds’. This, she explains as the trio head back to the diner from earlier, is because the Doctor invited
four different groups, not just the three that showed. What was the Doctor playing at? He had mentioned the year 1969 and the moon landing. Did he have a plan? Was it a clue? Were they supposed to save him? Rory is willing to help her figure things out; Amy refuses because in her eyes it’s too late. She hisses 'He’s
deaaaaad' with the perfect amount of flat despair. I’m really liking Karen Gillan’s performance in this episode. She’s grieving, but not as though she loved the Doctor romantically, not like when Rory was killed last season. That distinction is really important to me.
Then Rory notices the blue number 1 envelope sitting on an empty table, the trio mill about in confusion a moment, and then who should come waltzing into the room with his
'special straw which adds more fizz.' but the Doctor himself, quite cheerful and not-dead. Amy hugs him. River slaps him. Rory pokes him, just like the Doctor poked the seemingly-resurrected Rory during the last series episode “The Pandorica Opens”. Did anyone else catch that? I couldn’t stop giggling.
The Doctor is confused by these reactions, as he knows nothing about his having just been murdered, of course. In fact, this version of the Doctor is approximately two hundred years younger than that version which was just killed. He was also invited by envelope, presumably by his future self.
The plot thickens.
River, Amy, and Rory, although appropriately weirded out, tell the Doctor nothing about his recent demise-in-the-future and instead convince him that he needs to find someone named Canton Everett Delaware III in the year 1969. No problem, he says, that’s an easy year.
'Canton Everett Delaware the Third. That was his name, yeah? How many of those can there be? Well . . . three, I suppose.' Actually, only one. There were three Canton Everett Delawares, but only one can be called the Third, right?
While the Doctor fiddles with the controls and complains that no one is watching how clever he is being, the rest of them huddle under the console and guiltily discuss what to do. River is adamant the Doctor cannot be told about his death, as that would rip a hole in the universe due to time paradoxes, etc. Amy is extremely reluctant to go along with this. Rory does his lovable best to do what seems most sensible. Amy’s Ten-ish dislike of listening to warnings of fixed events and time paradoxes will be important later.
After the Doctor rants a little about the nature of time (I
loved how he snarled
'Thursday afternoons'; I don’t like them either, Doctor) he informs the others that he’s not going through with hunting down Delaware after all; he doesn’t trust the mysterious messenger, and he doesn’t trust them. And suddenly everything gets even more intense and compelling. The Doctor finally challenges River Song to tell him who she is, no more games, and I’m delighted that he’s getting fed up with her ‘Spoilers’ act now and standing his ground; he doesn’t even really pay any attention to poor Rory; and then it’s up to Amy to persuade him to embark on this adventure that she knows will somehow, someday, lead to his death. This was some beautiful acting by both Smith and Gillan; Just watch both their faces when she says she swears by
'fish fingers and custard', the myriad emotions flitting across their faces and the Doctor’s faint, twisted little smile. Amazing. Only DW could make that ridiculous phrase bear so much emotional power and dramatic weight; that’s part of why I love it so.
One last note on this scene: I loved how quick and concerned the Doctor was when he asked Amy whether she was threatened. It reminded me of how his future self had seemed so concerned to put his Astronaut assassin at ease, too. Oh the empathetic Doctor. You gotta love him.
Wait, another last note: After the Doctor puts his trust with Amy and tells her he puts his life in her hands, she manages to hold herself together until he turns away, whereupon she falters a bit dangerously close to how devastated she feels at knowing she has that trust and is betraying it. And then, in the background, Rory reaches out to silently console her. It’s such a sweet moment for the characters, and again highlights how they’ve both changed since the first series and how close they are. D’awww.
The Doctor meeting Richard Nixon was a hoot:
'Oh LOOK, it’s the Oval Office! I was looking for the . . . Oblong Room . . .' *walks into the side of the invisible TARDIS and topples over* Hilarious.
Once a gang of overly enthusiastic Secret Service Agents are appeased, he then offers to clear up Nixon’s problem. The President’s been getting nightly phone calls from a creepy little girl (well, Nixon thinks it’s a boy, but of course he’s wrong) and wants to know where they’re coming from and what to do about them.
'I’ll take the case!' The Doctor says breezily, channeling his inner Sherlock, and then continuing to say that he’s a consultant for Scotland Yard. Yep, definitely Sherlock. Keep your shows straight, Moffat.
The Secret Service guys aren’t impressed, and start pointing guns at everything that moves, eg. The Doctor and Co. The Doctor tries to talk them out of shooting anything; River exasperatedly cuts him short with an exclamation of
'They’re Americans!', a phrase which here clearly means
'Save your breath, they’re Americans and therefore there’s no reasoning with their violent tendencies.' I wasn’t sure whether to be offended or amused. This was probably the most awkward British vs. American moment of the episode. As the episode was written the British view of Americans seemed to be one of awe but also a feeling of British superiority, which is strange. Luckily it didn’t come up much.
Ex-FBI agent Delaware, who had been meeting with the President at the time of the Doctor’s appearance, is both impressed and amused by the Doctor and gets the SS to stand down, while the Doctor introduces his crew with one of the best lines of the entire show:
'These are my top operatives. The Legs, the Nose, and Mrs. Robinson.' The SS get some great one-liners too, my favorite being “Do not
COMPLIMENT the
INTRUDER!”
I’ll take a moment here to say that I adore Mark Sheppard in this role as Delaware. He’s hilarious and manages to be cool, even though he wears no bow tie and refuses to fetch the Doctor a fez. Poor Doctor. He’s remarkably hat-unlucky in this episode.
My next note is an all-caps
‘IS AMY PREGNANT??????’ Was my question answered by the end of the episode? Maaaaybe. For now though all we know is that Mrs. Rory Pond is feeling sick and is escorted to the nearest restroom by a SS guy, who waits outside the door. She enters the bathroom--
--AND RUNS STRAIGHT INTO A SILENCE! SILENT! WHATEVER YOU CALL ONE OF THESE THINGS IN THE SINGULAR!
Now, I have this weird paranoia about entering public restrooms on my own, especially when they’re seemingly empty. So thanks for playing off of that fear, Moffat. Thanks so much. Now I can’t blink, visit the library, step in a shadow, see something moving in the corner of my eye, or enter a public restroom without thinking of one Doctor Who monster or another. This show is going to make me a nervous wreck.
Silence aside, it looked like a pretty nice bathroom. Reminded me of the ones at fancy hotels I dance at. My brother marveled at how fancy it looked; apparently men’s restrooms aren’t anywhere near as dolled up. No flowers or
anything.
Now, for hilarity’s sake, I’m just going to copy and paste what my original notes, which I typed out as I watched the episode for the first time, said about the next scene, in which we both said hello and goodbye to Random Victim No. 1 of this story:
‘star trek thing!’ haha . . . OH THE FREAKINESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSAAAAAAAAAH OHMYGOSHHOWITMOVESITSMOUTHISOPENINGAAAAAAAAAAHE’SSILENTSCREAMINGFORHEROHMYGOSHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!! OHHHNOWITSGOTAVOICEOHMYGOSHHHHHH
I was surprisingly scared and suitably impressed.
What I failed to mention in my original notes is:
1) I really liked the ‘memory editing’ concept and how it was played with here; terrifying
2)
“Joy. Her name was Joy.”--
Why is this so frightening? My brother agrees with me. Also, the Silence/Silent (I think I’m going to use Silent as the singular) attacks by shooting electricity out of its hands and has a deep voice, two ‘scary’ things that are somewhat cliche in my opinion, but somehow they
way it happens and the
way that voice sounds makes it completely scary. The tired ‘seen it before’ cliche doesn’t apply here somehow.
I wonder whether the photo Amy snapped on her phone is erased or whether she’ll see it again later. I also wonder what the Silent meant when it told her to tell the Doctor about what he doesn’t know and what he must never know? Is it trying to manipulate her towards its own end? Another question: Why does the SS guy not know what a phone looks like?
Once Amy looks leaves the bathroom she no longer remembers the Silent, of course, just as she has forgotten her previous sightings of this creature twice before in the episode. The Doctor meanwhile has very cleverly pinpointed where the little girl on the telephone is calling from, and when she calls again pleading for help and saying the mysterious “Spaceman” is with her, he dashes into the TARDIS along with his companions, flippantly calling out
“Canton, on no account follow me into this box and close the door behind you.” Best invitation into the TARDIS ever? Probably.
Canton’s reaction to the inside of the TARDIS was amusing, as was Rory’s reaction to his reaction (In my notes I have a scribbled
‘Nonchalant Rory, O how I love thee’ which was written about this scene I believe). It seemed like Canton was intended to be standing in for the clueless American newbie viewer right then, and if his out-loud thinking was a bit too blatantly explanatory at times (
“So we’re in a box that’s bigger on the inside and it moves through time and space?”) it was also blatant enough to be a cheeky joke directed at those of us who know the show, so I guess I can forgive that. The rest of the episode is extremely newbie-unfriendly, though. Timey-wimey and multilayered almost to a fault, I can’t even imagine what it’d be like trying to start on Doctor Who with “The Impossible Astronaut”. I imagine it’d be massively confusing, but would it make the viewer want to come back for more? I don’t know. Start your friend with “The Eleventh Hour”; it’ll make them appreciate this episode way more when they finally get to it,
The rest of us, meanwhile, after chuckling at Canton’s
‘How long has Scotland Yard had this?’ query, are busily shuddering at the disgusting alien glop hanging off of mysterious alien tech that’s scattered about the Floridian warehouse the Doctor has tracked the little girl’s phonecalls to. The Doctor and River are back to their normal jokey, sniping-with-words antics again at this point, which I’m not sure I like. I’m not a big fan of River Song--I love her in the “Silence in the Library” two-parter, and her death remains one of my favorite DW moments ever, but her attitude in Series 5 really got on my nerves. I loved the Doctor’s ‘I’m tired of your games’ moment with her earlier in this episode, and the fact that the banter is back so quickly--right after we’ve seen the depth of the distrust behind it--was a bit unbelievable to me. Still, this is the
Doctor we’re talking about, whose entire character in recent series has been built around his doing and talking about zany, lighthearted, silly things to belie the darkness within, so am not too bothered.
While the banter is ongoing, there is a brief shot showing that the group is being watched by none other than our old NOT-friend the Impossible Astronaut itself. This is interesting, given a later revelation that I will discuss in a moment.
River climbs down a hatch into an underground tunnel to scout for danger. The shot of her clambering down the ladder reminded me of the Second Doctor and Jamie climbing down a ladder into London’s sewer system, I think? Didn’t they do that to find a nest of Cybermen living down there under the city, or are my memories playing me false? Anyway, I couldn’t help but think of Jamie, possibly because I’ve been re-watching a lot of his episodes lately, possibly because he and the Doctor climbed up and down so many ladders they’ve become irrevocably connected in my mind. River quickly stumbles upon a . . . . nest? of Silents. Silence. Silences. They’re doing a
lot of wonderfully creepy posing. She scrambles back up the ladder to tell the others, and then--
”All clear”, she says calmly enough, though still gasping a little with adrenaline that she can’t remember the cause of.
“Nothing down there . . . I want to take another look around.”AUGH, MOFFAT!She pops back down, and the Doctor sends Rory after her:
The Doctor: “Rory, would you mind going with her?”
Rory: “Yeah, a bit.”
The Doctor: “Then I appreciate it more.”
Oh, Doctor. Rory’s unenthusiastic and long-suffering
“Coming, River,” made me laugh. Also, I was suddenly much more nervous because Rory does have a track record for dying, and splitting up the group is
never a good idea.
When he catches up to River, she complains of feeling a bit queasy. Wait, so she’s pregnant too? . . . Nah, of course not. I think the sickness is a side-effect of seeing the Silence. So I guess Moffat was just messing with us hyper-observant fans and trying to make us
think that Amy is pregnant even though she was just feeling the effects of one-too-many Silent sightings. All right then, moving on. The two bravely go forward, following the tunnels, and unaware that they’re surrounded and followed by creepy suit-wearing aliens. I care about Rory’s welfare more than River’s at this point.
They reach a locked door. River decides to break it open; Rory is disapproving because he’s the sensible one. Always.
Then, we get the single most emotional scene in the entire episode--yes, more even than the Doctor’s death earlier, because that’s equally as much a puzzle as a tragedy and so works on a few different levels which distracts from the emotional core.
Rory: What did you mean--what you said to Amy? ‘There's a worse day coming for you’?
River: When I first met the Doctor—a long, long time ago--he knew all about me. Think about that. Impressionable young girl and suddenly this man just drops out of the sky. He's clever and mad and wonderful. And he knows every last thing about her. Imagine what that does to a girl.
Rory: I don't really have to.
River: Trouble is, it's all back to front. My past is his future. We're traveling in opposite directions. Every time we meet I know him more, he knows me less. I live for the days when I see him. But I know that every time I do he'll be one step further away. The day's coming when I'll look into that man's eyes—my Doctor—and he won't have the faintest idea who I am . . . And I think it's going to kill me.
With this short conversation we get insight into both Rory and River’s characters. Rory I already understood fairly well, ever since his great lines in “Vampires of Venice” about how dangerous the Doctor makes folks to themselves, but what I felt I learned about River here was wonderfully profound. This woman is brash and often irritating and full of bravado and sassiness--that’s why some like her, that’s why I am just meh about her--but her over-the-top behavior gets monotonous really quickly. She
needs vulnerability. And here I finally got a glimpse of the depth of her character hiding behind that sassy exterior, something I haven’t seen since her first appearance with Ten. Suddenly her crazy behavior is pitiful instead of irritating; her frantically living up as much as she can while she’s with the Doctor, to make up for and store for all the lonely and empty stretches of her life between her encounters. Unlike other companions, the more she travels with the Doctor, the less fulfilling it is and the more she wants it. Once given a glimpse of the hollowness at her core and that terrible, prophetic fear of the day the Doctor won’t know her at all (which we have of course already experienced and know will happen just as she says) I still don’t exactly like her, but I do empathize with her again and care about her character for the first time in a long time. And I wanted to smirk
‘Spoilers!’ at her. Really, the whole scene is a beautiful--and essential--piece of acting by Darvill and Kingston. Without the emotional wallop it packed and the slow breather it provided in the midst of all the crazy, creepy, frantically-paced madness, the episode would have been much the poorer for it.
Okay, gushing over. As River finishes speaking the door opens to reveal the interior of the pseudo-TARDIS from “The Lodger” last season! I
knew it would be making a reappearance! Neither character realizes its significance, which is understandable since they weren’t in “The Lodger”, but I think River should have recognized a TARDIS, shouldn’t she, seeing as how she’s so adept at piloting the Doctor’s? While she examines the tech, Rory keeps watch at the door. River realizes the tunnels are incredibly ancient
and extend across the entire earth, but I don’t see why the revelation surprised her so much: I mean, we’ve already seen the Silurians underground, for goodness sakes, so it’s not the first time. There’s probably a billion other societies living down there too, it’s like we’re living on the outer shell of a swarming beehive of evil!
Speaking of swarming evil, Rory looks out of the door to see a swarm of Silence approaching, looking as creepy as ever--or creepier, even, these underground Silence looked more glisten-y than the bathroom one did. Horrorstruck, he whips around to call out to River, and the words change in his mouth so that he instead calls out that the coast is clear.
Augh, you Silence and your memory-editing skills!We get to look through a Silence’s eyes as it creeps up behind Rory, see the whitely flashing electricity light that means its attacking, and see River look around wildly, and yell Rory’s name. And there we are left for a whole week.
Augh, Steven Moffat and his film-editing skills!Meanwhile, back in the dark warehouse, Amy is getting better acquainted with Delaware, and the Doctor is sticking his head in a box. (Forgot to mention this earlier, but I loved when he was geeking out about the earth space tech he found in the warehouse.) Suddenly the little girl’s voice, the same as in the telephone calls, is heard. The trio go racing off in search of the source; the girl’s wailing that the
‘spaceman’ is going to eat her. Delaware gets ahead, yells, and when the Doctor and Amy catch up they find him knocked out cold. Amy, feeling nauseous again, tells the Doctor insistently that she needs to tell him something important. He rightly points out that now is not the best time, but she insists, and blurts out her secret:
She’s pregnant.The Doctor’s expression mirrors mine. Things start going slo-mo, haunting music plays, echoing footsteps sound, and dreamlike they look up to see
the Astronaut walking slowly through the doorway towards them. The Doctor is bewildered; he of course hasn’t seen the thing before. Amy is horrified as it raises its hand just like it did when it killed the Doctor earlier.
Amy lunges for fallen Delaware’s gun! Her hair looks gorgeous in slow motion! The Doctor doesn’t notice, because he’s still focused on the Astronaut and has just seen that the visor is clear and the face behind it is that of
the terrified little girl, who is crying for help! His wide-eyed disbelief is unnerving; it takes a lot to shock a Time Lord. He notices Amy now and asks her what she’s
dooooooinggg, as the slow motion makes it sound;
Saaaaaaving your life! she replies as she whirls around, gun in hand.
The Doctor screams
Noooooooooooooo! Amy fires the gun, then screams as she realizes what exactly she’s shooting at! She and the Doctor both stare in slack-jawed horror at . . . . something! In slow motion!
Cue credits!
As you might be able to tell, I’m not sure if I liked this ending or not. It seemed
really abrupt and kind of forced, and the slow motion, though dramatic, was also just a little humorous. Slow-mo talking is just inherently funny. This episode was so packed with stuff, without any filler at all except for that irritating scene at the very beginning, that I guess they just couldn’t find a good place to end. I have a hunch that the story will work much better when we can watch both “The Impossible Astronaut” and next week’s episode, “The Day of the Moon”, together.
This episode really felt like a Part One. So much was set up: The Silence, the Doctor’s death, the introduction of Delaware, the return of the pseudo-TARDIS, Amy’s pregnancy, the Astronaut and the girl--but did we get any pay-off at all? Well, not really. We don’t know what the Silence are up to or what kind of threat they pose. We don’t know why the Doctor died or how his death is going to be prevented. I have no idea yet why Delaware is going to be considered the Doctor’s fourth-most trusted friend. Why is the pseudo-TARDIS back? Is Amy pregnant? Has the Astronaut eaten the girl? I DON’T KNOW!
I can speculate, though! I don’t think Amy’s pregnant. I think the Silent manipulated her mind when it wiped it of all memory of itself, and so when she felt the sickness and the suppressed urge to tell the Doctor some important secret (about the Silence and his death) her mind supplied its own answers: she’s pregnant! Seeing as how she drank wine earlier in the episode and River also felt the nausea, I think it’s just a false alarm.
Also, who’s in the Astronaut suit? It was standing silently, watching the Doctor and co., stalking them through the warehouse--was it being worn by the girl then, or empty? Was the girl elsewhere in the warehouse? If so, why didn’t she call out? And is the
Spaceman the Astronaut? What if it’s actually the
Doctor and the girl’s calling from the future, scared of him? Or something? (That sounds a bit far-fetched even to me, but whenever I hear ‘Spaceman’ I can’t help but think of Donna Noble’s nickname for the Doctor.)
Who shot the Doctor? I don’t think the little girl killed the Doctor. I’m not sure who did. BUT--The mysterious being rising from and then descending into the Lake reminded me a lot of the Lady of the Lake, except the figure within the suit was not necessarily female. Still, I think that the imagery just might be deliberate. Think about it: River Song is a murderess. Who did she kill? The obvious answer would seem to be the Doctor. The Doctor recognized who kills him, and he almost seemed to be forgiving and reassuring whoever it is. The astronaut comes from a Lake. What is Song’s first name? River. What is Amy’s last name? Pond. Pond, River, Lake. Coincidence? Maaaaaybe, but I like to think there’s something going on here. I don’t think it’s as simple as ‘River’s in the suit’ because she was already incarcerated for murder and yet seemed really shocked when the Doctor was killed (so she didn’t recognize the suit as her past self) but what do you lot think?
As to the Silence--I don’t really know what their deal is at all. All I can say for certain is that their existence adds a whole other layer of creepiness to the Series 4 episode title “Silence in the Library”.
I enjoyed the episode, but it was so very full of laying down the bones of the story it didn’t really offer any emotional or intellectual reward except for a few notable scenes that I already gushed about. It served as a brilliant first-half to what seems to be a first-rate story, but just how good this Part One is depends entirely on how good Part Two is. Which means I guess I’ve written just a lot of waffle without coming to a proper conclusion or opinion, but oh, well. Let me know what you think of both the episode and the review: Would you like my reviews to be shorter in the future, or to focus on something more or something less? Do you have any theories about where this episode is going? River Song: like her or dislike her? How about Amy Pond this episode? Do you think she’s pregnant? And something I forgot to mention earlier: River Song claiming that the Easter Island heads were all carved to look like the Doctor’s. I find this incredibly hilarious . . .
I’m looking forward to “The Day of the Moon” and hope that it has many more wonderful character moments like the River/Rory conversation--as well as that it
really scares me :D
