The Angels Take Manhattan
I watched on a really crappy proxy stream, and I got like five hours of sleep last night, so this is probably not super coherent. But anyway, initial reactions! Largely cut-and-pasted from my responses to other people's reaction posts, as that's one way to collect your thoughts....
I did cry, but less than I expected to. I was mostly spoiled for all the important bits, which I think was good because it gave me time to prepare myself. When I first really started to believe they were going to Weeping Angel Amy and Rory, I was really worried about it, but I did come around to the idea before the episode aired. And I thought they did a really good job with the creepy noir sci-fi vibe, although I was a bit confused by some of it. (Although that was partly because of my crappy stream and my inability to understand more than half of anything the cast of Doctor Who says, ever.)
Well, I thought I was over "our love can break time," but this time it got me. The part on the roof was just so ridiculous in all the ways it should have been, because it was such a stupid plan, and they could hardly work up the nerve for it, but in the end they really did want to be together more than anything else. And if that's how it is for them, I think they will be happy wherever and whenever they end up, as long as they have each other. I had been quite worried that we would see their graves, but in the end I was okay with that, too. Because that was what seeing Rory die was about, wasn't it? That it wouldn't be wrong for them to die, because everyone will, but it would be wrong for them to go like that.
The nice thing about past New York is that I think it's a compromise between the things Amy and Rory have always wanted--a little bit of adventure, a little bit of normality. And now they will be able to settle down without always waiting to hear the TARDIS. Maybe they can adopt some kids now that they know they'll be sticking around long enough to see a school year through. But it is sad for the Doctor, and for their parents. I hope River goes and explains what happened. Then they don't have to see the Doctor and be angry at him, and they'll finally get to meet their granddaughter without wondering why she's older than her parents. River was wonderful, by the way. I don't think I've liked her so much since S5.
But I guess they didn't get to raise Melody in NYC like fandom was predicting, which was sad. I couldn't work out how that was going to happen, because I thought she would then go to Leadworth after they died, and I couldn't figure out how she would be as immature as she was in LKH if she'd already had one childhood with them raising her and then another with them as peers. And what time have they been sent back to? The thirties again? The sixties, like fandom was predicting? It didn't say when they died, just how old they were when they did, so they lived like 50 years wherever they got sent....All things being equal, I think I'd like to imagine it as 1969, since that was what I'd been prepared for. And because even if they don't get to raise Melody, maybe they find her when she's running around in the alleys, and they look after her for a bit and help her find her way to Leadworth. And maybe they run into the Doctor again when they're old. Or when he's young? Wasn't he fooling around with UNIT in the seventies?
And also because I have recently discovered the appeal of crossover fanfiction and I have a slightly ridiculous desire to see the Ponds meet Madeleine L'Engle's Austin family. Wikipedia says The Young Unicorns, in which the Austins briefly take up residence in a rather sinister version of New York City, was published in 1968. Coincidence? Or crossover waiting to happen? Although I suppose even if they were sent back to the thirties, they'd still be alive in the seventies to do any of those things.
So anyway, all that to say, goodbye, Ponds. It's been a wonderful run, a bit of a glorious mess at times, but still good. And I'm really going to miss you.
I did cry, but less than I expected to. I was mostly spoiled for all the important bits, which I think was good because it gave me time to prepare myself. When I first really started to believe they were going to Weeping Angel Amy and Rory, I was really worried about it, but I did come around to the idea before the episode aired. And I thought they did a really good job with the creepy noir sci-fi vibe, although I was a bit confused by some of it. (Although that was partly because of my crappy stream and my inability to understand more than half of anything the cast of Doctor Who says, ever.)
Well, I thought I was over "our love can break time," but this time it got me. The part on the roof was just so ridiculous in all the ways it should have been, because it was such a stupid plan, and they could hardly work up the nerve for it, but in the end they really did want to be together more than anything else. And if that's how it is for them, I think they will be happy wherever and whenever they end up, as long as they have each other. I had been quite worried that we would see their graves, but in the end I was okay with that, too. Because that was what seeing Rory die was about, wasn't it? That it wouldn't be wrong for them to die, because everyone will, but it would be wrong for them to go like that.
The nice thing about past New York is that I think it's a compromise between the things Amy and Rory have always wanted--a little bit of adventure, a little bit of normality. And now they will be able to settle down without always waiting to hear the TARDIS. Maybe they can adopt some kids now that they know they'll be sticking around long enough to see a school year through. But it is sad for the Doctor, and for their parents. I hope River goes and explains what happened. Then they don't have to see the Doctor and be angry at him, and they'll finally get to meet their granddaughter without wondering why she's older than her parents. River was wonderful, by the way. I don't think I've liked her so much since S5.
But I guess they didn't get to raise Melody in NYC like fandom was predicting, which was sad. I couldn't work out how that was going to happen, because I thought she would then go to Leadworth after they died, and I couldn't figure out how she would be as immature as she was in LKH if she'd already had one childhood with them raising her and then another with them as peers. And what time have they been sent back to? The thirties again? The sixties, like fandom was predicting? It didn't say when they died, just how old they were when they did, so they lived like 50 years wherever they got sent....All things being equal, I think I'd like to imagine it as 1969, since that was what I'd been prepared for. And because even if they don't get to raise Melody, maybe they find her when she's running around in the alleys, and they look after her for a bit and help her find her way to Leadworth. And maybe they run into the Doctor again when they're old. Or when he's young? Wasn't he fooling around with UNIT in the seventies?
And also because I have recently discovered the appeal of crossover fanfiction and I have a slightly ridiculous desire to see the Ponds meet Madeleine L'Engle's Austin family. Wikipedia says The Young Unicorns, in which the Austins briefly take up residence in a rather sinister version of New York City, was published in 1968. Coincidence? Or crossover waiting to happen? Although I suppose even if they were sent back to the thirties, they'd still be alive in the seventies to do any of those things.
So anyway, all that to say, goodbye, Ponds. It's been a wonderful run, a bit of a glorious mess at times, but still good. And I'm really going to miss you.