Everyone’s favorite Doctor Who monster once again returns as the Weeping Angels invade New York.
The Angels have always been a heavily feared monster in the series. Created by Stephen Moffat, the Angels are an ancient race, as old as the universe itself, whom feeds on the temporal energy created when they kidnap and send their victims back in time. It’s a polite death, yet it’s still an untimely end.
In “Angels Take Manhattan” we also get to see the return of Doctor River Song, who is now completely pardoned of murder since the man she murdered never existed. The Doctor has been moving though time and space erasing all memory and records of him and his actions, continuing on with the motif of Doctor “Who” that was teased at the end of last season. Does this mean that a final showdown between the Darkness and the Doctor is incoming in the second half of the series? I’m not sure, but I can’t wait for the series to return at Christmas.
It has been well known that this would be the final episode for the Ponds. The question was how will the show runners end their tenure. Death seems out of the character of the show, but it’s not unheard of. Based on last week, I wouldn’t see the Ponds just voluntarily leaving due to being tired or bored.
In fact its interesting to see that for this final episode, you can easily tell the Ponds have aged quite a bit since last week, and are likely in their later 30s early 40s. Last week touched based on the idea that when they go on their adventures, a lot of time does pass for them, despite what happens around them. Here in 2012 New York, they have lived an extra 15-20 years from their normal reality.
It’s therefore a bit of bittersweet circumstances as we’ll never know what kind of adventures this trio had over the decade. Two us, we’ve only seen them for a few years. But to the Ponds, they’ve had a decade of adventures and excitement that we may never know. Even for the ever living Doctor, that is a long time to bond together, making this final departure all the more painful.
In the end, I will miss the Ponds dearly. They are by far my favorite companions of any series I’ve watched, rivaling the beloved Sarah Jane Smith. Godspeed Amy and Rory, it’s been an amazing ride.
Other Observations
- The crew was great at making the subtle changes to Amy and Rory to make them look 15 years older than they really were.
- The Statue of Liberty is a Weeping Angel. How could it ever not be observed long enough to move though.
- River takes to calling the Doctor “husband”
- The writers manage to “kill” off the Ponds without actually killing them.
- Apparently Karen Gilliam lost the last page of her final monologue, and had to ad-lib it during the single take they were going to go with.
- “You think you’ll just come back to life?” “When don’t I?”
- “Do I have lines on my eyes?” “No” “You didn’t look!”
