For review purposes I watched these in one go, and I'm so glad I did because to be honest, separately they confused the hell out of me! Quite possibly this review will confuse the hell out of you too, because I'm trying to work theories out in my head while writing it and it's a bit all over the place.
- Seeing River Song back in action as a sort of Who universe Poison Ivy with her hallucinogenic lipstick was something I was greatly looking forward to, and I really enjoyed her here. Yes, she can come across as smug, but wouldn't you be if you found you had the upper hand with the Doctor? Presumably, in her timeline, he was always the one with all the answers, and here she's found the roles reversed - she must find it fun. We soon discover that she can also write in Old Gallifreyan and drive the TARDIS perfectly (remembering to leave the brakes off), even though she implies that while she learned from the best, that person wasn't the Doctor. Intriguing...
- One thing that struck me about her was the major difference between her treatment of Donna and her treatment of Amy. River knows who Donna is, what's happened in the The Stolen Earth and Journey's End, and is openly shocked to see her. The complete opposite happens with Amy. River doesn't seem to find her presence unusual, doesn't ask about her, just praises her and shows concern and a will to save Amy when she is in trouble.
- I do have a pet theory that Amy grows up to be River Song, even though I know it's crackpot! It is however based on that last paragraph, and I also reckon that's why the crack gets so powerful around the two of them - if they're one person, it would affect the space/time continuum, as seen in Father's Day, way back during Christopher Ecclestone's tenure, when demons came through cracks in the universe after Rose touched her younger self. Anyway it's fun to come up with these notions!
- Nothing really to do with continuity here, but I like the irony of Bishops hunting Angels!
- This is another episode where Amy proves herself to be exceptionally smart. She manages to cheat the not-blinking by just closing one eye at a time, and figures out how to get rid of the Angel that's coming from the TV. I think it's noticeable that the Doctor doesn't praise her for this: he's very mistrustful of her, trying to make her stay in the TARDIS, leaving her behind when going to face the Daleks - he's afraid to let her out of his sight but also doesn't want her getting involved in stuff.
- We're given other intriguing insights into River Song; the Bishop hints that if the Doctor knew "who and what" River is, he wouldn't help her.
- And another echo from Silence in the Library, Angel Bob communicating with the group is very reminiscent of the ghosting technique.
- Is it just me or is the Treeborg forest just an expanded version of the garden on board Icarus II in Sunshine? Yes, I'm nitpicking again, but I keep seeing so many sci-fi film references this year! I'm betting the whole series will turn out to be a rip-off of Moon or something.
- The Angels also repeat Prisoner Zero's line: "The Doctor in the TARDIS doesn't know" when referring to the crack. What is it that every race in the universe seems to be aware of when he isn't? Is the Doctor himself forgetting something he shouldn't?
- The Doctor's jacket very obviously gets stolen by the Daleks. There's a massive close-up of them holding it after he escaped, so you can't miss the fact that THE DOCTOR DOESN'T HAVE A JACKET.
- So.... Why is he wearing one when he comes back to comfort Amy in the forest? Literally seconds after leaving her, still clearly jacketless, he reappears and for once is nice to her, begging her to trust him and to remember what he told her when she was seven. Personally I think he's referring to the phrase "Do everything I tell you, don't ask questions, and don't wander off" but if his appearance to her at the end of The Eleventh Hour wasn't just a dream, he could have said something then. He also tells her that the whole point is that she has to remember. He is presumably not just referring to what he said, but also to the Daleks that she's forgotten. Oh, and he's wearing a jacket. And then when we next see him, he isn't.
- Is he travelling back through his timelines rewriting history? Were there two Doctors in this episode? Our survey says yes...
- The date 26/06/10 comes up in the base code of the Universe. The Doctor doesn't realise it's a date until he returns Amy to her time and sees that it's actually the day she's supposed to get married.
- Amy panics in the forest when she realises that the crack is the exact same shape as the one on her wall, and starts saying that it's following her. We know this is true, we've seen it on Starship UK, in the TARDIS, and in London. What's strange is that the crack doesn't affect her, even though she looks straight into it. She remembers the Clerics Crispin and Philip, while the remaining Cleric insists they've never existed, before getting swallowed by the crack himself.
- It turns out that, according to the Bishop, River killed "a good man; a hero to many" and tells the Doctor "you don't want to know [who], sir, you really don't." River admits to it at the end of the episode and says the man she killed was the best man she ever knew. The Doctor asks who, and she tells him it has to be lived.
- Now the Doctor himself doesn't seem to think it's him that she kills, even though the rest of us are clearly supposed to think that. Seeing as River Song does appear in the series finale (The Doctor's future, her recent past - she's recently been in prison for the murder, so it must have happened recently, etc) it's plausible to assume that she commits her murder there. But Matt Smith has signed a three year contract so I don't think it's him.
- If I bring my pet theory back into it, does she kill Rory?
- And another thing. The Pandorica opening is clearly very central to this series. River remembers what happens. How come she can't shed light on the present situation then?!
- Yes, I know, Time can be rewritten. But still. What do you all make of it?
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