I’m a week late, yes, but you all knew I would be. Today you get two Who reviews, so be thankful for the small things!
In the second part of the epic return of the Weeping Angels, we find the Doctor, Amy, River, and friends all running from these stone menaces. It will never cease to amaze me how Doctor Who can take something as simple as a stone angel and turn it into one of the most frightening monsters on television today! As Amy’s countdown is running out and the tear in the universe becomes larger and more threatening, is this episode a good return to form, or another entry in the odd up and down roller coaster of quality that has been this season?
As always, it should be noted that spoilers are discussed.
I’m going to go ahead and give this episode two thumbs up. The first Angels episode was cool, and I enjoyed it and all that, but this episode was awesome. A LOT happened within the span of 50 some odd minutes, and that’s the way I like my television. So let’s take a look at some of the things we got out of this, shall we?
First and foremost, there is the obvious point of discussion: the conclusion of the story. The Doctor comes up with a crazy plan to save everyone which leads to them escaping through a trick of gravity, which is always great, and he leads them through a wild chase through the ship’s oxygen factory. The opening sequences features a lot of great Angel moments as the Doctor and the soldiers flee from the Angels in complete darkness, using gunfire as the only form of light. Amy also becomes a victim of the Angels with an Angel inside her brain, which could have been entirely terrible and ended up bringing a great plot device into the episode. Since the Angel resided in her brain and fed off visuals, Amy spent the remainder of the episode (past discovering this) with her eyes closed, as seen in the image at the top of the article – an obvious stark contrast to the whole “don’t even blink” mantra that had been chanted the entirety of the episode. This was the coolest thing to me about the episode because it showed that Moffat, who wrote this and the previous episode (as well as “Blink,” the original Angel episode), understands his characters and creations well enough to flip things on their ass and run with it well.
And as we draw closer to how the Doctor ultimately wins, we move to the second huge plot point: the crack in the wall. My big complaint about the show is that Moffat has not been subtle about the crack past the premiere and hasn’t been doing the typical Davies story arc, where everything makes sense at the end of the season. It’s with this episode that I realize, you know what? Moffat has a different take on how to do the over-arcing tale, yes, but I’ll be damned if he hasn’t figured out a good way to pioneer the show to his direction. Do I prefer the quiet mystery Davies used to do? Yes. Does Moffat’s style not work at all? No. It’s clear now that Moffat really wants this at the forefront of the equation, because not only is the crack a huge part of this episode – which ends up telling us a LOT and puts a new spark in the Doctor’s eye – but it’s obviously leading to something even bigger (which I will touch on later). It, in a way, kind of reminds me of the LOST storytelling format: we are given bits and pieces of information to a larger puzzle, all of which leaves us asking questions and yet still ultimately glued to the television set to find out what happens next.
Now, the final moments of the episode leaves us with two things – one is awesome, and one is terrible. The first is the return of “Pandorica.” It’s what River mentions at the end of the episode before being teleported away, and it supposedly ties in to her larger story with the Doctor (which is brought up a lot in this episode). Don’t remember where the Pandorica thing comes from? Well, it was first mentioned in the first episode of this season, “The Eleventh Hour,” by Prisoner Zero. This I believe is the first clue as to what we can expect from the finale, as the Doctor clearly thinks Pandorica is a joke, but two people – both of whom are prisoners – mention it in a very real sense. This is awesome.
Continued belowThen there’s the whole “snogging” thing – this is terrible. Ok, we all know this exists… the sexual tension between the Doctor and his companions. None is more true than 10 and Rose, especially with the end of season two. But let’s be real here for a moment: Amy throwing herself at the Doctor with a series of sexual innuendos right after revealing she’s about to get married was completely stupid. I’m all for Karen Gillan undressing and all that nonsense, but it did not work at all in this. It came off as tacky and ridiculous versus something that the fans would want to wait to see, like with the aforementioned 10 and Rose. Yes, they all fall in love with the Doctor and his crazy lifestyle, but the quiet tension that always lurked in the background made for compelling television. I previously called Amy Pond “kind of a whore” in an earlier review, and this episode didn’t exactly change my mindset on that one. The humorous thing is that in doing this, we did make a push towards wherever the season is ultimately headed with it’s story, but I’m sure there are much more interesting ways the Doctor could have discovered it was “all about Amy.”
I could take a moment to discuss the acting in this episode, but really all I can say is that Matt Smith is an amazing Doctor. He has some amazing lines this episode, and he delivers them with a sense of panache that I absolutely adore him for. He also has some great moments of anger this episode, and since this Doctor is almost ALWAYS positive (he just needs time to figure out the thing!), seeing Smith flip the spectrum and let out a bit of harsh reality into situations that he’s trying to keep light hearted is great. I would imagine that any doubt anyone had on Smith’s talent as the Doctor is long gone by this point, as he is by far and large the best part of the show right now (though, being the titular character, I suppose he has to be, right?).
The Weeping Angels original episode, “Blink,” was/is my favorite episode of Doctor Who. I loved the way that it was formatted, expertly incorporating Doctor Who’s aspects of time travel and enriching the universe with a new foe. While this episode is no “Blink,” it’s certainly a better follow up to the lore of the Angels than the previous episode, which is odd to say. Again – I liked the previous episode, but this was flat out great (outside of the “snogging” bit (and yes, I only say snogging because it’s a Brit show and I’m trying to be relevant/culturally humorous). The episode pushed us further into the overall story of this season, which is always a big plus in my book, and it helped me rectify previous complaints I had with Moffat’s story telling. To say it’s a return to form already would be too soon, but it’s definitely the third best episode of the season.
