I am so sorry, but I just cannot get worked up about the
Weeping Angels beyond their introductory story Blink. They are inconsistent as
a monster; their powers changing on the whim of the author to suit the purposes
of each individual plot. At least in our present adventure they have returned
to their original form and send their victims back in time rather than snapping
their necks. This is their most unique and intriguing attribute and I wish it
would remain constant, but New Who’s timey wimey nature means you never know
from serial to serial which Angels will
appear. While the more traditional Angels populate our present story,
they have ample opportunities to zap people back but they seem to prefer posing
and stalking menacingly rather than actually doing the deed, unless of course
the plot calls for it. Plus they have an added power of moving their victims to
new locations rather than through time; and again it is at the convenience of
the plot which power they utilize. (I won't even get in to the preposterous nature of their battery farm of a hotel.)
The Angels are appropriate to Amy’s farewell appearance; she
is the one companion most associated with them; I only wish they were treated
with the respect that they deserve based on their Blink credentials.
The Statue of Liberty Angel is the epitome of my complaint.
Give me a break. New York City; are you seriously telling me that the Statue of
Liberty can make her way through the city that never sleeps with no one
noticing? A thousand (at least) eyes are on her at all times. How can she
possibly be a danger to anyone if she can’t move unless unseen? This is giving
in to the basest of all common denominators. How can I think of the Angels as
anything but laughable after that?
The potboiler detective novel conceit provides some
entertaining atmosphere, however like so much of Who lately, it is not fully
exploited and gets abandoned along the way. It opens with the Raymond
Chandler-esque Detective Garner taking a case from the shady Grayle. Garner
meets his aged self on his deathbed and finds himself surrounded by the Angels
in the seedy hotel that Grayle sends him to. Coming face to face with Angel
Liberty on the roof, we never see Garner again. It’s moody and eerie and sets
up the tone of the serial perfectly. But that’s it and I’m left wondering.
I’m left wondering when and why Garner was writing this
scene out. As it was happening I was reminded of a Twilight Zone episode (my
second reference in as many entries) in which the words an author writes come
to life. I thought perhaps Garner would be a character trapped in his own book
trying to write his way out. But no, Garner is forgotten and it is Melody’s
book instead that becomes focal to the plot.
The segue to the Doctor reading aloud in Central Park to Amy
and Rory from this very book is clever and the scene amusing. (“Yowzah.”) When
Rory and River show up in the pages I am alarmed just as much as Amy and the
Doctor. It is a great start to the episode. As it goes along, however, I begin
to feel let down. The book that River has written, under the pseudonym Melody
Malone, becomes yet another Doctor Who contrivance that helps and hinders on
the whim of the author and has no logical reason for existing.
To start our story this book, which River has obviously
slipped into the Doctor’s pocket when he wasn’t looking, clues the Doctor and
Amy in to Rory’s disappearance and provides the date when they can find him.
Now my first thought is, why doesn’t River simply slip the Doctor a note
warning him about the Angels and spelling out exactly what they are up to and
where they are located? Why the need for this convoluted way of communicating?
Except that the Doctor and River like to play these dangerous and exciting games
regardless of who gets hurt.
My next thought, since River is determined to write this
book, is why doesn’t she simply rewrite history? If the Doctor is so sure that
what he reads is bound to come true, why not write a happy ending? Why did she
put in those lines about breaking her wrist? Why didn’t she change it to
breaking the Angel’s wrist? River is forever bringing up that history can be
rewritten—here’s her golden opportunity. But she doesn’t think of it because
the author of our piece has fixed her history.
Then I start thinking about why River is in 1938 New York to
begin with and why she is posing as a detective. She hasn’t read her book yet;
she hasn’t even written it yet. I can understand to some degree her desire to
track down Angels, but why the Melody Malone detective guise? I guess because
she is River and it is just one of those River whims; however it feels forced
to fit the tenor of the story rather than the driving force setting the tone.
And from this point the detective motif is dropped and the tale turns into a
monster chase.
It is decent enough as a thriller, full of threats and
chases and dark corridors; everything that Doctor Who does best. There are
paradoxes (River’s book being the biggest) and Blinovitch Limitations galore as
the Doctor, River, Amy, and Rory race through those hallways and up and down
stairways trying to avoid the Angels. Within this context there is ample room
for the emotional departure of Amy and Rory.
Rory teetering on the edge of the roof while Amy tries to
talk him down is an especially effective scene. This is their moment; this is
the payoff for the endless rounds of does she love him or not; of who has the
biggest pull on her heart, the Doctor or Rory; of who loves who more. This is a
quiet little pocket of life; the two of them standing alone determining their
own fate; staring down death together. And I love it when Doctor Who pokes fun
at itself. Rory when Amy asks him if he thinks he’ll come back to life: “When
don’t I?” It is a brilliantly funny line delivered with the tragic desperation
of the situation. They are rewarded for their leap of faith. The Angel Hotel
From Hell disappears and the indestructible couple wake up in the recurring
graveyard.
However this is where the episode loses me again. I’ll start
with the departures themselves. First Rory and then Amy are whisked back in
time by an Angel even though someone is looking directly at that Angel at the
time. In Rory’s case Amy is facing it. I suppose she blinks, but given that she
knows how these Angels work that is unpardonable. In Amy’s case both the Doctor
and River are looking at the thing. How many opportunities have these Angels
had to transport any one of our quartet, not only in this serial but in each
and every one they have appeared in together, and yet never once do they
actually do it until now, in full daylight and with eyes upon them. But
that is the least of it.
“You are creating fixed time. I will never be able to see
you again.” Rubbish.
First I have to wonder, how many ways are there to create one
of these magical fixed points? Seems any one can do it if they really tried.
And what does a fixed time have to do with the Doctor not being able to see her
again anyway?
Amy and Rory have been sent back in time to live out their
lives to a ripe old age (87 and 82 respectively if you can believe their
gravestones). But here’s the thing—the Doctor has a time machine. Now the show
tries to get around this with some mumbo jumbo about how he can never take the
TARDIS back to New York or it would rip the city apart. OK, so materialize in
New Jersey and take a bus, a plane, a train, a taxi; rent a car. Amy and Rory,
for that matter, could leave the city. They could travel anywhere they want and
wait for the Doctor to pick them up.
How about River getting them out of there with her vortex
manipulator? (“Less bulky than a TARDIS; a motorbike through traffic.”) She obviously
will be able to see them since it is she who tells Amy to write her afterword
for the Doctor.
I don’t buy any of it.
The still frame shot of young Amelia looking skyward is
sweet and reminiscent of Sarah Jane’s parting shot in The Hand of Fear. However
it only serves to remind me of the much more honest nature to that companion
parting. At least the Doctor had the courage to admit he was leaving Sarah
behind, and that makes it much more heartbreaking than this phony separation.
But goodbyes are never easy, Gary . . .
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