the m0vie blog

“No, it’s not Apollo 11. That would be silly. It’s Neil Armstrong’s foot.”

– The Doctor discusses his secret weapon

Well, that was fun. Reportedly, Steven Moffat stated that he wanted the season-opening two-parter to feel like a big season finale, with epic scale, huge stakes and genuine consequences, and – to be frank – I think he accomplished it. Perhaps Day of the Moon leaves just a little bit too much hanging for my own personal taste, but it’s still an exciting and fun conclusion to this story arc.

Spaced out...

In many ways, this feels like a conclusion to last year’s big arcs – perhaps a more logical wrap up than The Big Bang. I mean, they even did that thing that Davies was especially fond of, where they reveal the arc word (in this case “silence”) and flash back to various episodes including the key phrase. We discover that (as hinted last week) “The Silence” built the device we saw in The Lodger, and that they were behind the attack on the TARDIS and the Doctor in The Big Bang (even building another “perfect prison” to house the Doctor at the start of this episode).

We also got a resolution to Amy’s “the Doctor or Rory” dilemma, which I hope is final this time. I liked the scene at the end with Amy and the Doctor at the TARDIS console, where she revealed that he was her “best friend”and, indeed, the pair stand around smiling and laughing without a hint of any of the romantic tension we felt last year. I will genuinely be glad if this is put to bed (so to speak), because we had enough Doctor/companion romantic angst with Rose and Ten (although the revelation in the episode’s stinger surely won’t help matters).

Is Pond out of her depth?

Still, we seem to be addressing the ending before the beginning, but that seems oddly appropriate. I remarked last week I’d be disappointed if the Doctor’s assassination at the start of the previous episode wasn’t dealt with here, and it wasn’t. That said, I don’t mind it being the season-long mystery – I was worried that Moffat would string us along about the Silence, making this episode just feel like prelude. While I doubt we’re finished with any of these elements (especially given “Schrodinger’s pregnancy” and the fact that Doctor explicitly acknowledges that the TARDIS in The Lodger is still something of a mystery), there’s still enough meat here that the episode stands on its own two feet.

Indeed, Moffat stays away from the “timey wimey” stuff (mostly) for this episode. I do wonder why Canton didn’t see River land in a TARDIS when she jumped off the building, even though the TARDIS hadn’t gone back yet. The fact that he didn’t have her body to put in the Doctor’s cell indicates that they didn’t recover one, but perhaps I’m thinking too much about this. Instead, Moffat gave us the wonderful high concept of the Silence, aliens which erase our own memories of them and have been occupying the planet since “the wheel.” Indeed, the fact that these creatures have always been around and that the Doctor’s plot is essentially “revolution”, allows Moffat to position the character where he’s best – the Doctor has always been one to challenge the establishment, and here it helps that the establishment is a bunch of very sinister aliens. It’s a pretty cool concept and one which stands with the very best of Moffat’s Doctor Who plots.

Can he count on Canton?

Indeed, the episode’s finale might be one of the most clever resolutions to an invasion I’ve ever seen. I appreciated Davies’ writing on the show for it’s emotional appeal, but the previous showrunner undeniably had problems wrapping up his big two-parters, frequently breaking out the deus ex machina. Here, instead, the conclusion flows relatively logically, and I like the way that Moffat isn’t afraid to play the “secret history” card, by suggesting that the moon landing video we’ve all watched countless times contains footage that we forgot we saw (and especially since it jokingly explains Armstrong’s awkward pause at “and one giant… leap”, where it sounds like the astronaut is trying to remember something). It is, genuinely, ingenious.

On the other hand, it still struck me as a little… uncharacteristic for the Doctor. Of course, the character has been responsible for countless genocides, typically wiping out the last of a given species after it refuses to back down, but there was something about the way the character manipulated the Silence into ordering their own execution which – while fiendishly clever – seems more than a little cruel. Most times, the bad guys at least get a warning of what the Doctor is capable of, a demonstration of his power. Then they decide to mess with him anyway and his response is justified. Here, he barges in, demand they leave, gives them about two seconds before compelling mankind to commit genocide. Maybe that’s the real aspect which bothers me, using humanity to wipe out the invaders – especially without humanity’s consent or even knowledge (since their minds are wiped). Given that the Doctor got so indignant about Amy, River and Rory keeping a secret from him last time, it seems a little hypocritical that he may lead humanity to commit a subconscious purge that we can’t ever remember.

But it wouldn’t be the first time the character has crossed a line.

Silence is Golden?

Anyway, that complaint aside, it was great fun. In the last episode, the Americana sort of overwhelmed the show. There were lots of location shots in broad daylight, which tend to undermine the horror. This time around, there was a wonderful gothic orphanage for Amy to wander around, reminding me a lot of the Hinchcliffe era of the show (indeed, the guy running the orphanage was “Renfold”, which sounds more than a little like “Renfield”, to add to the gothic horror vibe). Concentrating more on the Silence also amped up the horror vibe – I especially love the early sequence in the TARDIS with Canton.

Indeed, the episode does well to revel in the pop culture of America, rather than just the rich locations. We don’t spend as much time in iconic backdrops (though we visit New York and other landmarks early on), but we get a lot more “American” quirks – based around cultural differences rather than the beautiful scenery. “Welcome to America,” Canton remarks after emptying several bullets into an invader, which is a shocking scene simply because this is a British television show – guns just seem so inherently American that it’s strange to see them used so casually on this show. I would have been disappointed if the Doctor’s trip to America didn’t take in Area 51, and it’s great to see it here, as well as NASA.

Now, ware were we?

However, the most fun aspect of the show for me was the “aw, shucks” aspect of the President. There was a wickedly subversive sense of fun in having the President of the United States wander around helping the Doctor out and generally helping to save the world. It might sound like the kind of thing that you’d see in a stereotypical American blockbuster, like Independence Day. However, I don’t doubt that Steven Moffat was smiling out of the corner of his mouth as the President who saved the world wasn’t Lincoln or Kennedy or Roosevelt – any of the iconic heroic ones. It was Richard Milhous Nixon.

Yes, the most hated and controversial US President helped save the world. It’s incredibly cheeky little moment, and a touch I appreciate, especially since Nixon’s term features a lot of good stuff that (in fairness, arguably quite rightly) gets overshadowed by what came after. Still, lines like “hi, folks!” from the US President addressing a bunch of Americans doing their jobs seem subversively fun rather than boringly cliché when they come from “Tricky Dicky.” I adored the bit where Nixon tried to justify the Doctor’s illegal breaking and entering, “I’m sure he has a very good reason for that.” And the fact that the Doctor advised Nixon to record everything that happened in the Oval Office brought a smile to my face.

More than that, though the episode was just fun. I love the flirting with River and the Doctor during the final confrontation, as both seem to be clearly enjoying it. “Is this really important flirting?” Amy asks, reminding them to get back to her. Maybe it’s not important, but it’s fun. I love the way that Matt Smith played the kiss, as the Doctor is unsure what to do with his hands (he really is an overgrown teenager, isn’t he?).

Canton is deserted...

More than that, as much as I might worry that Moffat is treating out-of-sequence narratives as a crutch, I was genuinely touched at the way that he tied together River and the Doctor, with River getting more character work here than arguably any story since Silence in the Library. “Your future’s my past,” she explains, and we see in the context of the story – literally, this meeting is happening out of sequence, as a microcosm of their relationship. It works really well, and I continue to appreciate the big ensemble family that Moffat has built – not around the companion, like Davies did, but around the Doctor. I really want to see Mark Sheppard and Alex Kingston again.

So, we get the set-up for the season. Amy’s daughter, who – based on the ending – might actually have a “time head.” I’ll wait to see how that plays out, but I’m intrigued. As much fun as the pirates from next week look, it’s Neil Gaiman’s episode in two weeks I’m really looking forward to.

Check out our reviews of the current season of Doctor Who:

• The Impossible Astronaut
• Day of the Moon
• The Curse of the Black Spot
• The Doctor’s Wife
• The Rebel Flesh
• The Almost People
• A Good Man Goes to War
• Let’s Kill Hitler
• Night Terrors
• The Girl Who Waited
• The God Complex
• Closing Time
• The Wedding of River Song

Filed under: Television | Tagged: amy pond, day of the moon, doctor, doctor who, matt smith, Neil Armstrong, Oval Office, richard nixon, River Song, steven moffat, tardis, Television, television review, United States |