Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Angels Take Manhattan

I finally watched it! I was too scared; because, I thought, if I didn't watch, the Ponds would forever be there. But I guess I just had to at some point.

Well we all know that it was coming; that we'd have to say goodbye to the Ponds. All episodes in season 7 is pretty much preparing us to when it happened. Or, it might be just that because I know that it's happening, I see random things to be connected to it instead of just...random things.


I still haven't watched all of Pond Life, the season 7 prequel. Supposedly it explains what happened between season 6 and "Asylum of the Daleks," which I was quite confused by. Anyways, Amy and Rory has been given the chance to live their lives. The Doctor visits them –– or take them away from their real lives –– less and less often. Some number of months have passed by between each episode. It's like easing them (and us) into being in the real world, just like everyone else.

It seems that they're always bringing up the issue. Brian, Rory's dad, asked the Doctor about what happened to his past companions. Amy and Rory themselves talked about their two separate lives, and I believe they decided to choose the real life; they just can't give the Doctor up just yet. I mean, how could anyone? What got me the most was that moment in "Dinosaurs on a Spaceship," when Amy told the Doctor about him never returning and leaving them not knowing, and the Doctor assured them that it's not possible, that they'd be there til the end of him. And then she said, "or vice versa," that look between the two of them... I almost cried right then.



Back to "Angels Take Manhattan" itself. Of course they had to start it off in a nice, peaceful scene; the three of them are enjoying their time at Central Park, the Doctor reading a book. And then Rory had to go and get freaking coffee. On his way back, he encountered a (baby?) Weeping Angel who zapped him back to 1938, where/when he meets River Song.

This episode gives us another interesting look at time travel. The book that the Doctor is reading is actually written by River Song *after* all these happened, and it's about what's happening to them at the exact moment, and what happened to Rory in 1938 in parallel. I'm confusing myself by writing that sentence. The Doctor mentions that time can be re-written, unless you've read it: "Once we know what's coming, it's written in stone." (Cue the pan out to the first image that made me cry)

Damn you, Moffat!

Side note: I just learned that Rory's middle name is "Arthur." :)

The best part is when I forgot that I actually saw the image above that made me cry. The episode's climax of when Amy and Rory tried to run away from the Angels, climbed up to the ledge and jumped, I was rooting for them to be right and to beat the Angels that, for a few moments then, I forgot that Rory was supposed to die. Until afterward, when they were back at the cemetery and he saw his name on a tombstone, when I thought, "oh shit!" And they just took away that happy ending kind of feeling that we just had for a few seconds. A very Whedon-y type of thing that they did there. But, unlike Whedon, we did get our happy ending. They just had to do it. I can't even begin to imagine the backlash if they didn't give Amy and Rory a happy ending.



Somewhat unrelated, are we done with River yet? She was fun and interesting at first; the mystery of who she is was definitely interesting. The fact that she was in two of my favorite episodes of the David Tennant era probably makes me like her even more. And she's definitely an important part of the Doctor's life. But are we done with her now? There's no character development and she's become repetitive and boring.

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