Doctor Who 7x05 - The Angels Take Manhattan

[keep_counting]

Yet another point-giving, rambling, and very incoherent review.



THE GOOD:

- The whole domesticity that is the Doctor and the Ponds outing in the park. +10

- The Statue of Liberty is an Angel. +20

- And +10 for playing 'Legal Alien'. It made me giggle

- 'It would be almost impossible!' - 'Loving the 'almost'' +5 for one of River's best lines

- Amy's glasses. +20. I wish I would look as attractive in glasses - especially because I'm half-blind and so need them.

- 'Yowza!' +10

- 'The Roman in the Cellar'. This amused me. +5. And +10 for Amy coming up with the whole 'looking at chapter titles'

- Amy and Rory. Going down together. +10

- 'And you really think you'll come back?' - 'When don't I?' THANK-YOU SHOW FOR MAKING ME LAUGH AND TEARING OUT MY HEART AT THE SAME TIME. +10

- Also thanks for finally using paradoxes right. It only took you three seasons Moffat. +5

- +5 for someone finally having enough sense to just CHAIN UP one of the Angels. Like, put it in a cage or something. Not even the Angels can move through walls, as evidenced by a LOCKED DOOR keeping them out.

- +10 for making the baby-angels REALLY CREEPY

- 'Well, I always wanted to see the Statue of Liberty. I guess she got impatient.' Rory, you got to be so funny and cute this episode! +10

- I felt like Moffat held back with the timey-wimeyness this episode: it could have gotten much more cluttered and stupid than some of it was, and I really appreciate that we didn't get a repeat of some of his earlier missteps. Some of it was far-fetched (and we'll get to that later) but the core of the plot - the angels, the paradox - did make sense (as much as DW ever does). +5

- The Doctor reading aloud and Amy's attitude towards that. They're a family here, guys, and it pleases me a lot. +10

- Melody Mallone! I can get on board with that. +10

(points: 165)



THE BAD:

- Let's just start right of the bat, because there are a lot of things I don't like in this episode. Here we go:

- Amy, calling out to Melody in those last moments and then asking her to please take care of the Doctor, and saying nothing more than that. Seriously, Amy, say a proper goodbye to your daughter that doesn't revolve around the Doctor. -20

- I have to take away -5 for having the Statue of Liberty be an Angel, and then hardly using it at all. Then again, people would have probably noticed a giant statue walking around if it had been used more.

- 'Just you wait 'till my husband gets home' yeah, because River can't take care of herself, clearly. -10

- The whole Doctor/River dynamic is just so... screwed up. And on one hand, I like that Moffat actually isn't ignoring this fact: the way they talk to each other is not sweet-cheeks at all, they're very harsh and River has the attitude of someone who really resents the fact that she's in love with this mad man, and the Doctor's generally just all-over the place when it comes to her. On the other hand, I sometimes get the feeling that Moffat wants this because he thinks its an attractive prospect? Which its really not. They're messed up and kinda not good for each other, but they also need each other, especially now. I'm not going to take away points for this, it's just... observations. I don't know that I want more of this dynamic because it feels like its getting nowhere: especially because we know how River's story ends.

- Why the sudden inability to walk past a frozen Angel? If you keep your eyes on it, you can walk right past it - even touch it - without anything happening. No reason to run for the roof, really. -1 only, because it was such a small detail and that staircase was kinda narrow.

- The Angels are just not scary anymore. Yeah, the babies in the cellar kind of were, but nothing beyond that. -10 for having a whole city full of Angels, and hardly using them at all

- The Doctor running in slow-motion through the park. WHAT EVEN WAS THAT. LOL I'M SORRY. Matt looks awkward running at a normal pace, in slow-motion it was RIDICOLOUS BABY GIRAFFE WITH AN ADDED LIMB. I was all teary-eyed after Amy's goodbye and then WHAM. Lololol. -10 for killing the mood

- I don't understand why the Doctor can't go back and see them. I get that New York in that period is now Time Locked or whatever (not that Moffat thinks that counts for Skaro, but then again, no canon matters but Moffat's canon -.-), but can't they just take a trip OUTSIDE of New York? I refuse to believe that the whole of Earth is Locked in this period. -20 for taking away the Ponds forever, and not giving a good enough reason imo.

- Why did Rory go back and check out that particular gravestone? WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT YOU TWAT JUST GET IN THE TARDIS ADJLKDJKSLJDKSLDHDSJK. -5 for tragedy

- I think that's the end of my review. Yeah, that's... you know. I'm done now. See ya in December guys, yeah?

Points for this episode: 84

Points for the season: 528

You know,

the Ponds are gone

and they lived happily together

but they'll never see the Doctor or River again

they'll never see Brian again. or Amy's parents

and we'll never see them again either

never ever

guys, the angels don't have the phonebox

they got the ponds instead

Comments

[keep-counting.livejournal.com]

A large part of the Ponds' storylines have been dissapointing to me: see River and the whole season six spectacle. Bad storylines are one thing, but bad storylines that diminishes characters and gives them even less depth than the show has already afforded them? Not cool.

I think River can be quite bossy - that's the problem. River can potentially be amazing. The woman we saw in Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead, was this extraordinary, independent, sassy creature. Yet here it all falls short - we never know at what point in her timeline we are, she has a pseudo-weird relationship with Amy and Rory, her supposed parents, and the lack of chemistry between the actors, not to mention the forced 'love'-plot, makes the whole thing just awkward to watch.

Aw, your idea is absolutely heartbreaking! If RTD had still been showrunner, I could imagine something similar to that actually happening. That man lived off of the tears of his fans ;)

[londonmarie.livejournal.com]

RTD had many episodes that kicked me in my feels. Moffat really hasn't done that. In fact with RTD I can recall many episodes and what happened in them. With Moffat there are a few that I really enjoyed. Most of his episodes are forgettable.

River could've been epic, should've been epic. I think that Moffat tried to overplay her so much that she just became a weak character. Overall with Moffat taking over there was a major lack of chemistry between the characters. The Doctor (Matt) and Rory (Arthur) have had great chemistry and have such a bromance. But Moffat tried to play Amy in too many roles to the Doctor. There's best friend, lover, mother, mother-in-law. He's moved her all over the place. Karen, Matt and Arthur even Alex have great chemistry off the show and it's sad Moffat wasn't able to harness that into the show. I'm really looking forward to Jenna as the companion. Even though she and Matt were never on screen together they had great chemistry.

[keep-counting.livejournal.com]

Exactly. River became a 'tell' instead of a 'show': we want to be shown that a character is awesome and capable and fierce, not just told that she is by the other characters/the writers. It doesn't work that way, and it is hard to believe that River is this incredible, independent woman when she's spent her whole life obsessed with the Doctor, manipulated and brainwashed. What bugs me most, is that she gets to have these really powerful moments, and as soon as the Doctor shows up its all about him: she's deferring to him, she's 'less' than him. It is such an unfortunate implication and view on women and relationships in general.

[londonmarie.livejournal.com]

I feel that they tried to have too much happen to River. For me Moffat has made the concept of Time Travel all muddled, because there are so many things that happened at the same moment, so you're left wondering what exactly is true, and the moments in that moment were powerful, and by going back to them and rewriting them makes them less powerful.

I'm bugged by the fact that River is supposed to be this great, wonderful, awesome, epic, powerful character, and on her own she can be. I fell in love with River the moment she stood up to the Dalek in Big Bang. But come series 6, she's kind of this awfully written character, and all the problems I had against her came back up. But when she's with the Doctor she's one of two people, the weak whimpering River trying to get the attention of the Doctor or she's the overpowering, all-knowing, I'm better than the Doctor River. When she's with the Doctor it never seems to be as equals. They don't write the relationship of River and Doctor as partners as equals. I don't understand how their relationship is supposed to work or even draw the audience in.

[keep-counting.livejournal.com]

Exactly. They're supposed to be equals, and probably are in Moffat's eyes, but that's not what we see on the screen, and that more than anything, kills the relationship for me.