The Angels Take Manhattan
I'll...just sit over here in this corner and cry, shall I? Don't mind me.
Oh, Amelia Pond, you brave, fierce, stubborn, glorious girl, never anything less than fully and unapologetically yourself: I will miss you. And Rory Williams, patient centurion, always being left behind; voice of caution and caretaker: you too.
Bye-bye, Ponds.
And goodbye, Karen and Arthur, you ridiculous hipster stupidfaces you. I am so going to miss watching you three be ridiculous and darling.
It's the very ending that gets me - because of the way the Doctor runs to that last page of the book, and the way the shot of little Amelia in her garden is intercut with the Doctor at the TARDIS console: he's running to hear from her again, to see her again. Because it's time travel, and even though Amy's gone, he hasn't lost her; time steals, but it also provides a touch of grace. That's what makes it a hopeful ending, against all odds (and Amy's afterword specifically tells him to go and give little Amelia some hope; that's so important to this iteration of Doctor Who) - that and her voice telling him that she and Rory will always love him, which is one of the two things that I wanted from this episode. The other was that Amy and Rory would be together and happy, and I got that too. I would have wanted it another way, I think, especially after "The Power of Three" and its insistence on everyday life, but they'll have an everyday life in the past, too, and be happy, so I'll make my peace with it, in the end. I just hope the Doctor listens to River and Amy, because when they're saying "Don't be alone," they're also saying "Don't blame yourself for this." And he needs that message, because Amy - like River - made her own choice to travel with him. "Was it worth it?" "Shut up, of course it was." And she chooses, too, to go after Rory; she isn't tragically ripped away from the Doctor. It's all been Amy's choice. (Yes, yes I did. Because she does the same thing here that she does in that episode: the Doctor will always be her beloved Raggedy Man, as she calls him at the very end of this episode, her childhood hero and her imaginary friend, but it's not the real world without Rory. And she makes that choice, both times, so bravely, regardless of the consequences to herself.)
Later, when the tears have dried, I'll worry about how the Ponds' loss will affect this Doctor - like he said in "The Power of Three," Amy was the first face this Doctor saw, his first companion, and his family, and I don't know whether my beloved Eleven will emerge on the other side of that loss. Who will he be, now? (I just--argh. I hope that he can remember what he himself said in "Vincent and the Doctor": the bad things don't cancel out the good things, or make them any less important. I hope he can believe that, because it's so true.) But for now, farewell, dear Ponds. It's been lovely.
Oh, Amelia Pond, you brave, fierce, stubborn, glorious girl, never anything less than fully and unapologetically yourself: I will miss you. And Rory Williams, patient centurion, always being left behind; voice of caution and caretaker: you too.
Bye-bye, Ponds.
And goodbye, Karen and Arthur, you ridiculous hipster stupidfaces you. I am so going to miss watching you three be ridiculous and darling.
It's the very ending that gets me - because of the way the Doctor runs to that last page of the book, and the way the shot of little Amelia in her garden is intercut with the Doctor at the TARDIS console: he's running to hear from her again, to see her again. Because it's time travel, and even though Amy's gone, he hasn't lost her; time steals, but it also provides a touch of grace. That's what makes it a hopeful ending, against all odds (and Amy's afterword specifically tells him to go and give little Amelia some hope; that's so important to this iteration of Doctor Who) - that and her voice telling him that she and Rory will always love him, which is one of the two things that I wanted from this episode. The other was that Amy and Rory would be together and happy, and I got that too. I would have wanted it another way, I think, especially after "The Power of Three" and its insistence on everyday life, but they'll have an everyday life in the past, too, and be happy, so I'll make my peace with it, in the end. I just hope the Doctor listens to River and Amy, because when they're saying "Don't be alone," they're also saying "Don't blame yourself for this." And he needs that message, because Amy - like River - made her own choice to travel with him. "Was it worth it?" "Shut up, of course it was." And she chooses, too, to go after Rory; she isn't tragically ripped away from the Doctor. It's all been Amy's choice. (Yes, yes I did. Because she does the same thing here that she does in that episode: the Doctor will always be her beloved Raggedy Man, as she calls him at the very end of this episode, her childhood hero and her imaginary friend, but it's not the real world without Rory. And she makes that choice, both times, so bravely, regardless of the consequences to herself.)
Later, when the tears have dried, I'll worry about how the Ponds' loss will affect this Doctor - like he said in "The Power of Three," Amy was the first face this Doctor saw, his first companion, and his family, and I don't know whether my beloved Eleven will emerge on the other side of that loss. Who will he be, now? (I just--argh. I hope that he can remember what he himself said in "Vincent and the Doctor": the bad things don't cancel out the good things, or make them any less important. I hope he can believe that, because it's so true.) But for now, farewell, dear Ponds. It's been lovely.