Series 7 Mini Review Con't - "The Angels Take Manhattan"
~ THE ANGELS TAKE MANHATTAN ~
The Mid-Series Finale, Steven Moffat's weeping angels, an emotionally charged episode, and the end of an era...
For anyone who's been paying attention to news around Doctor Who, you'd have known months ahead that this was the episode that the Ponds would be leaving the show "for good." This episode was basically all about ending the Ponds' story emotionally & in the "right" way.
Impression:
I'm likely to be more of a "crier" than Matt Smith is, but I'm pretty well trained in holding back the tears. No tear drops for this episode but I think it's because I have Vulcan-like skills. This episode was very emotionally impacting though and l felt quite a bit. I was glad to be more scared of the weeping angels this time also. Doctor Who monsters don't scare me very often. The cherubs were especially freaky with their demonic child laughter and the huge baring teeth of the Statue of Liberty weeping angel in the backdrop of character shots on the roof was almost reminiscent of "Jaws." I was delighted with River Song's return. I missed that woman so. My first "aww" moment was when the Doctor used one of his regenerations to heal River's wrist, then kissed it delicately. He was quite sentimental, as River firmly stated. I think the Ponds have sort of done that to him, however. His hope and emotional attachment to them is apparent from this series which climaxes in this episode. The Doctor was also "useless" in progressing & instigating the events & plot which I think contributed to the somewhat "non-miraculous" developments in plot, but made sense for the Doctor's character development because his emotional attachment to his "family" led to a more emotional response to the attacks against them. Beautiful moments and great acting by Karen Gillan & Arthur Darvill, it was the ultimate pinnacle of their reign. Matt Smith kills it with his performance. At the graveyard, he lets out this frustrated & heart-wrenching shout which just summed up the Doctor's hope for and attachment to the Ponds. Also, how beautiful was the music?
Retrospect:
In the end, importance was placed on ending the Ponds' journey with the Doctor "correctly." They went for a "storytelling"-flared theme as present in the Ponds' first season, a sense of family through character relationships, character development for the Ponds' maturity contrasted to the Doctor's state of emotional wreck & attachment, River's presence & knowledge about the Doctor, Amy's choice, and a sense of aging & the permanence of endings. I also liked the "spoiler" theme that was underlying everything as well: "Once you've read it, it's set in stone," like how once you've seen what's to come, it's stuck in your mind as you watch it unfold and taints the experience a bit (in my opinion anyway). I think a lot of Whovians can relate to the dangers of "reading ahead." The conclusion, the way in which they decided to cause the "set in stone" (<-- clever) way for the Ponds to leave the Doctor, was not really as much of a "boom" as other clever ideas that Moffat had come up with before, but one of the most "proper" ways for the Ponds to have gone. In "The Power of Three," the Doctor recalled past companions explaining to Rory's dad, Brian, what happened to them saying, "Some left me, some got left behind, and some... not many, but... some died. Not them, Brian. Never them." With this Pond ending, Steven Moffat also made the Ponds essentially depart through all three of those options. Rory died 3 times in this episode, in keeping with the running gag. This episode was concluding the Pond's time with the Doctor, they've grown, matured, become strong together, independent, and it was about how it impacts the Doctor after he's gotten so emotionally attached to them. They've also sort of rubbed off on each other in a great deal. When Moffat tied it all up at the end with their last page and recall of Amy's earliest adventures with the Doctor, I was assured that this was the right way to end a companion's reign.
[Extended Cut]
What hit me about this episode, putting aside the lovely emotional bits & relationship moments between characters, was that it was a very contained ending episode for a companion. This 7th Series seemed to have been all leading up to this departure episode, but what was odd about "The Angels of Manhattan" was that it was a standalone story that could be watched without seeing episodes 1 through 4 of this series. I've sort of gotten used to the "movie"-styled shortness of these "non-two-parter" episodes, so by the time I watched this one, I wasn't overly bothered by the lack of explanation. If you try, you can figure out the reasons for "this & that" when it doesn't quite make sense. Plus, the focus for this episode surrounded characters & emotions more than anything.
I think the director, Nick Hurran, has been great in keying in emotional moments for such episodes as this. However, like in "Asylum of the Daleks," I have issues with the more non-emotional aspects of the storytelling. He played up the creepy giggling cherubs well, but left out explanatory shots of the main weeping angels to enhance what the creatures do & how they work. It doesn't seem like he caught/understood the details of the mechanics of the world quite well. But again, this was an emotionally charged episode, so if you had to take one over the other, I suppose emotion needs to take precedence over the mechanical details this time around.
*** In my next post, I'll have a Pros & Cons Overview of Series 7: Part 1 ***