| Show | Doctor Who / Series V / Episode 4 |
| First Broadcast | 2010/05/09 - 19:30 (Link: ABC Details) |
| Related Links | Doctor Who WikiWikipedia |
| Previous Episode | Victory Of The Daleks |
| Next Episode | Flesh And Stone |
Stephen Moffat brings back two of his creations in this episode: River Song and the Weeping Angels and combines them into an enigmatic thriller. The Weeping Angels are revealed to be far more powerful and dangerous than Blink would suggest and give this episode a thriller / horror feel. Meanwhile, more is revealed about River Song, but she's still a mystery.
The episode begins with the Doctor and Amy in a museum. He discovers a "home box" with graffiti in old High Gallifreyan. It begins "Hello Sweetie" (the first words River Song said to the Doctor in the Library). The Doctor steals the box with its ancient message and uses the information in it to locate and rescue River Song.
They follow the space ship Byzantium to the planet Alfava Metraxis ostensibly to capture the solitary Weeping Angel on the ship. It turns out the whole thing is a trap. The planet is home to an army of angels in an impoverished state. The solitary angel is attempting a rescue by crashing the Byzantium and using the resulting radiation to re-animate its brothers. The episode ends in a cliff-hanger with the Doctor, River and Amy seemingly trapped and the angels approaching. Overall a good solid episode that leaves a lot of questions to be answered.
Amy has looked into the eye of an angel and survived. But has she been infected in some way? Is the dust coming out of her eye real or imagined? The angel certainly seems to have some power over her mind, causing her to think her hand is stone at one point.
And what do we make of River Song? She knows all about the Doctor (her diary is seen again). This time we see her in her relative past, a Doctor, not a Professor. But we find she can fly the TARDIS and well. She uses the stabilisers and the (occasionally annoying / silly) erratic flight of the TARDIS becomes smooth - something the Doctor finds boring. Shockingly, she lands the TARDIS without the groaning/wheezing. Apparently this iconic sound is the result of the Doctor always leaving the brakes on. One imagines Doctor Who fandom will be in uproar over this. River Song has also been to prison.
As to who she is in the Doctor's life, we're still left wondering. The obvious theory of her being the Doctor's wife is explored. Amy is convinced the way River treats him suggests this is so. River counters that nothing is ever that simple with the Doctor. Will we find out in the next episode? I doubt it.
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