The Angels Take Manhatten Review
Review for 7x05; The Angels Take Manhatten. Of course there will be spoilers.
Overview
“This is the story of Amelia Pond. And this is how it ends.”
MOFFAT!!!
This episode was a mix of chaotic, exciting and bittersweet sadness all from the pen of Steven Moffat himself. An episode that flung you from one emotion to another with the abandon of a roller coster.
This was the Pond’s final ride. And what a ride it was.
Episode Summery
We always knew this day would come, the day that the Ponds would leave, because no-one travels with the Doctor for ever. But when it came I never thought it would be like this. I’m not ashamed to say I teared up a bit.
This season up to now has been about the Ponds attempting to strike a balance between their home lives and their lives with the Doctor. While they were happy to travel with the Doctor from time to time, they were beginning to put their home life first as seen last week, in the Power of Three. But in the end it seems that the choice was taken out of their hands. Two things I am glad to see is that 1: They ended up happy and 2: They ended up together. I would not have been happy if they had been separated.
But of course, this is Steven Moffat that we are talking about. It would be impossible for him to just let the Ponds leave. They can’t just walk off into the sunset without tugging at our heartstrings a little bit. And this of course, involved everyone’s favourite Moff monster. The Weeping Angels
And of course as is usual with Moffat it involved paradoxes, loops and the like. But this time, unlike in the pass, it was fairly easy to keep up with what was going on. However the main emphasis of this episode was it seems to me that you can’t escape fate. In the end Rory, couldn’t escape the Angels.
But Amy could make sure he didn’t end up alone.
The Doctor
The hardest part of watching this episode, were the times when the Doctor was confronted with the fact that he couldn’t win. That there were bits of the future set in stone. The look on his face when he thought River had changed the future, and the look when he realised they were gone, were just heart-breaking.
We know from The Power of Three, that the Doctor is afraid of losing the Ponds as even for Companions they are special to him - or this version of him at least - and that he was hoping to put off saying goodbye to them for as long as possible. So seeing the Doctor - The Lord of Time - flummoxed and unable to do anything was extremely difficult.
This also of course gives us a look at another facet of the Doctor. We sometimes see him as all powerful and capable of everything. This episode proved that wasn’t true.
We all know that the Doctor will take Amy’s advice and find someone new. But it won’t be quite the same for him without the Ponds.
The Companion
Rory. Rory, Rory, Rory. Side-lined for most of this episode, it all came down to him in the end. I like to think, that had it been an option, he would willingly have gone on the run, avoiding the Angels for all time. But when push came to shove, he took a stand, trusting that what the Doctor and River said was right.
I think it was good to have River there. While we must be nearing the end of her time line - she’s a professor now after all - having Melody appear in her parents final episode made perfect sense to me.
And Amelia. As we saw in Asylum of the Daleks, it has long been Rory’s opinion that he loved Amy more than she loved him. But this episode, even more than that one proved him wrong. She willingly went back in time, knowing she would never see the Doctor again, just to be with the man she loves.
The Bad Guy
Every time we see the Angels we see another side to them. We’ve had “the image of an angel becomes an angel” and now we have an Angel farm. Though to be honest I liked that concept. The ideas of Angels in Manhattan also makes sense. That place was riddled with statues.
It also made sense for the Angels to be cause of the Pond’s departure. They were Moff’s companions and the Angels are his villains. The perfect pair.
Conclusion
What more is there to be said than this. Goodbye Ponds. It’s been one hell of a ride.
Next: Christmas.
Overview
“This is the story of Amelia Pond. And this is how it ends.”
MOFFAT!!!
This episode was a mix of chaotic, exciting and bittersweet sadness all from the pen of Steven Moffat himself. An episode that flung you from one emotion to another with the abandon of a roller coster.
This was the Pond’s final ride. And what a ride it was.
Episode Summery
We always knew this day would come, the day that the Ponds would leave, because no-one travels with the Doctor for ever. But when it came I never thought it would be like this. I’m not ashamed to say I teared up a bit.
This season up to now has been about the Ponds attempting to strike a balance between their home lives and their lives with the Doctor. While they were happy to travel with the Doctor from time to time, they were beginning to put their home life first as seen last week, in the Power of Three. But in the end it seems that the choice was taken out of their hands. Two things I am glad to see is that 1: They ended up happy and 2: They ended up together. I would not have been happy if they had been separated.
But of course, this is Steven Moffat that we are talking about. It would be impossible for him to just let the Ponds leave. They can’t just walk off into the sunset without tugging at our heartstrings a little bit. And this of course, involved everyone’s favourite Moff monster. The Weeping Angels
And of course as is usual with Moffat it involved paradoxes, loops and the like. But this time, unlike in the pass, it was fairly easy to keep up with what was going on. However the main emphasis of this episode was it seems to me that you can’t escape fate. In the end Rory, couldn’t escape the Angels.
But Amy could make sure he didn’t end up alone.
The Doctor
The hardest part of watching this episode, were the times when the Doctor was confronted with the fact that he couldn’t win. That there were bits of the future set in stone. The look on his face when he thought River had changed the future, and the look when he realised they were gone, were just heart-breaking.
We know from The Power of Three, that the Doctor is afraid of losing the Ponds as even for Companions they are special to him - or this version of him at least - and that he was hoping to put off saying goodbye to them for as long as possible. So seeing the Doctor - The Lord of Time - flummoxed and unable to do anything was extremely difficult.
This also of course gives us a look at another facet of the Doctor. We sometimes see him as all powerful and capable of everything. This episode proved that wasn’t true.
We all know that the Doctor will take Amy’s advice and find someone new. But it won’t be quite the same for him without the Ponds.
The Companion
Rory. Rory, Rory, Rory. Side-lined for most of this episode, it all came down to him in the end. I like to think, that had it been an option, he would willingly have gone on the run, avoiding the Angels for all time. But when push came to shove, he took a stand, trusting that what the Doctor and River said was right.
I think it was good to have River there. While we must be nearing the end of her time line - she’s a professor now after all - having Melody appear in her parents final episode made perfect sense to me.
And Amelia. As we saw in Asylum of the Daleks, it has long been Rory’s opinion that he loved Amy more than she loved him. But this episode, even more than that one proved him wrong. She willingly went back in time, knowing she would never see the Doctor again, just to be with the man she loves.
The Bad Guy
Every time we see the Angels we see another side to them. We’ve had “the image of an angel becomes an angel” and now we have an Angel farm. Though to be honest I liked that concept. The ideas of Angels in Manhattan also makes sense. That place was riddled with statues.
It also made sense for the Angels to be cause of the Pond’s departure. They were Moff’s companions and the Angels are his villains. The perfect pair.
Conclusion
What more is there to be said than this. Goodbye Ponds. It’s been one hell of a ride.
Next: Christmas.