Doctor Who review: The Angels Take Manhattan

I haven't seen any interesting news today, which is good so I can get right into the episode.

"The Angels Take Manhattan" had an ominous feel before it aired. The title alone is enough to strike fear even without the knowledge that this is the last episode with Amy and Rory. Then they give it a film noir feel with some haunting musical effects. The creepiness just permeated the episode.

In 1938, Private Investigator Sam Garner is sent to investigate moving statues by the rich, powerful, and mysterious Mr. Grayle. Garner goes to the apartment block, called Winter Quay, which is crawling with Weeping Angels. A girl in the window across from the apartments appears to be playing peek a boo with one of the angels out front. He is invisibly led to a room upstairs where he finds himself as an old man taking his last breaths, but not before warning him that they are coming for him to send him back in time. A heavy step grows closer. The angels chase him to the roof where he is met by the source of the heavy steps, the Statue of Liberty.

This was my 2nd favorite opening. The vortex was black and white, almost a negative effect, with lots of colored flashes in different colors and that strange electric web barrier to the vortex flashed again. At the titles the vortex was a beautiful black and kind of aqua colored and the titles held an image of the Statue of Liberty's crown.

The Doctor, Amy, and Rory in 2012 Central Park, New York. It's pretty, like all this series the episodes have looked magnificent. But I'm already feeling sad and worried. The Doctor reads aloud from a 1930's mystery novel written by Melody Malone. Couldn't have been too much clearer, could they? Amy is wearing glasses. The prequel to "Asylum of the Daleks", "Pond Life", showed her receiving the call about the glasses. Rory goes for coffee. The Doctor rips out the last page of the book, claiming to hate endings. He reads on, the story mirroring the actions of Rory. All bets are off as the Weeping Angels seem to have enlisted all the statues in the city. The Doctor is shocked to read that the character in the book is Rory, just after leaving them. In 1938 Rory faces River Song. They are taken to Mr. Grayle.

Amy is confused. the Doctor just says he found the book in his pocket. River says there are too many time distortions present for the TARDIS to land, she came by vortex manipulator. The Doctor tries and fails to reach them, being bounced back where they begin, or rather when. It's 2012 but they are in a cemetery. Amy asks why and The Doctor says they must be causally linked. The Doctor has worked it out they are dealing with the angels. As they leave we are shown a tombstone with Rory's name on it. Amy reads ahead, learning The Doctor must break something. He stops her, because now he must break something. Once you've read it it's fixed.

The Doctor travels to China, 221 BC to leave a message for River on a vase in the house that she mentions in the book. She texts the message to him so he can have "landing lights" to materialize. Grayle gives Rory to "the babies" cherubs that are in the cellar. They give him some matches for fun. Baby angels are scary as shit. I mean come on, that one blowing out the match as he turns? Needless to say Rory gets zapped away. Grayle has an angel in chains, and he tricks River close enough so when he turns the light out the angels grabs River's wrist.

The Doctor and Amy arrive and Grayle is knocked unconscious. River has been pardoned. It seems the person she killed no longer exists. And we get the question again when The Doctor asks wasn't she the woman who killed The Doctor, River answers, "Doctor who?" Oh, and she's Professor Song now. River song learns about the book she will write when she learns of Amy reading ahead, making it necessary for him to break River's wrist, which he doesn't. They need clues and come up with a plan where River leaves clues in the chapter titles, which I thought was clever. They see that Rory is in the cellar, but The Doctor also sees the title of the last chapter, "Amelia's Last Farewell." Oh the Doctor gets angry. He's read it. But River wrote it for him to read. He leaves her to get herself free.

They learn Rory is gone, but only zapped in space, not time. He is at Winter Quay. River broke her wrist to free herself but didn't tell The Doctor. She tells Amy to never let him see the damage or see her age. The Doctor repairs River's wrist with regenerative energy, angering River, who thought it a waste. Rory finds a room with his name outside. The Doctor, Amy and River aren't far behind. They are unnerved by a smiling angel. They find Rory. He is in a room and there is an old man in the bed, who calls out to Amy. It's Rory. He is so happy to see her. Then he dies. Everyone is shocked, Rory confused. They work out the building is a battery farm for the angels. They zap you back again and again into the room to live out your life and die in.

They are coming for Rory. Heavy steps begin. He will have to run forever, unless he creates a paradox and gets away, then the whole place unhappens. Rory and Amy avoid angels and end up on the roof, where we see the Statue of Liberty again. As Amy looks at it, Rory sees a way out and climbs onto the ledge. If he falls and dies, paradox. Amy pleads with him. he actually wants her to help by pushing and she can't. When she asks him if he could he said to save her he could do anything. Amy joins him on the ledge and tells him it's together or not at all. The Doctor and River find the roof just in time to see them jump together. The paradox is created, everything begins to break up.

They end up back in that cemetery again. Cute banter between River and The Doctor about painting the TARDIS and changing the bulb, which we saw him do in "Pond Life." It's decided to go down to the pub for a family outing. Rory sees the tombstone with his name and calls Amy over. She looks up at him just in time to see him vanish, revealing a Weeping Angel behind him with her finger pointed towards the spot he had just stood in. We finally got to see what actually happened when a Weeping Angel touched you, thank you Steven Moffat.  but they can't get to Rory. The tombstone now shows Rory's age at death. Another paradox would rip New York apart. Amy will take her chance that using the same angel will take her to Rory. A very sweet goodbye between Amy and Melody. Amy asks her to look after The Doctor. The Doctor is frantic, trying to reason with her, it will create a fixed point and he will never see her again. Staring at the angel Amy begins, "Raggedy man,,," and then turns her back to the angel, facing The Doctor in time to say one final word, "...goodbye" before disappearing forever. Her name and age join Rory's on the tombstone.

In the TARDIS, River warns The Doctor not to travel alone. He asks her to join him. River says whenever and wherever you want, but not all the time, one psychopath per TARDIS. HA. Good answer. River will have Amy write an afterword in the book. The Doctor returns to Central Park, where the last page and Amy's glasses are. Although I think he got them from her because she had them at Grayle's. Amy and Rory lived a happy life and they will always love The Doctor. She worries about him traveling alone.

In the end we had a question answered and bittersweet closure. Amy asked to go to the young Amelia, who was sitting and waiting for The Doctor. In "The Eleventh Hour" we saw her sitting there at the end of the episode and heard the TARDIS. It was The Doctor doing what Amy asked him to in the book. Telling young Amelia to be patient, and of the adventures she would have and the stories of Amy's days to come. She finished by saying that "This is the story of Amelia Pond, and this is how it ends."

Next in "The Snowmen" we meet The Doctor when he is on his own, sort of. And it's two in one. It's a Christmas episode AND a companion's first episode. Sort of.

19Hours 10Minutes 14Seconds until "The Bells of Saint John"

Doctor Who: Asylum of the Daleks, Review pt.2: The Review

If you haven't already read pt.1 of this review click here.

Thanks to the unsurprising build of success since the show returned in 2005, the BBC has really stepped up the budget and production value of the show. In the beginning there were times when you had literally no budget for an episode and had to make do with old sets and costumes. Steven Moffatt was right when he promised we would be seeing 5 short movies, and not just in the resemblence of episode titles to the names of movies. The shot through the porthole in the floor of the parliament ship to reveal the Asylum planet alone was worth watching. The locations lend themselves very well to the grandeur the scenes of the show now hold. How else without camera tricks and attempts at special effects could they hope to reproduce an icy planet, or in a later episode, a full on town from the old west. (Both were actually found in Spain).

Besides "Pond Life", they also released a prequel for Asylum. I love the prequels because, tho short, they usually contain something meaningful. In this one, a mysterious hooded figure calling himself The Messenger, comes to The Doctor in his dreams telling him a woman needs his help. The Doctor doesn't want to go until The Messenger writes the coordinates of the planet in Gallifreyan, alone worth watching the 2 1/2 minute video.

The episode opens on Skaro, home planet of the Daleks, but let me skip that for a second. The new Dalek hybrid people are cool and well done. Part Dalek but unknowing of this until activated makes them the perfect traps. It was chilling when The Doctor tried to remind Darla she had a child and she leaned in and coolly replied "I know, I've read my file." In fact the Daleks in general are good and proper creepy in this episode. From unknowing pawns having an eye stalk emerge from their forehead to thousands of Daleks surrounding you speaking in unison, lighting up the room as they beg The Doctor to help them destroy the Asylum. And the asylum itself is an even creepier idea, a place where all the damaged and mad Daleks are kept. But theres someone else in the asylum.

Tricksy you are, Steven Moffatt. It was revealed before the airing that we would get to see Skaro. I understand why it needs to be in desolation, thanks for the continuity Moff, but barring the monument The Doctor was in they showed the actual planet for about a collective 10 seconds. Why wasn't the asylum there? Maybe because it was more exciting on the entire planet that filmed beautifully, unlike filthy Skaro. The second trick was amazing. Most amazing in that it wasn't, widely anyway, leaked that Jenna-Louise Coleman, to be The Doctor's next companion, would be in this episode. Trapped in the wreck of a cruise liner inside the asylum. Jenna is brilliant. Shes charming, witty, intelligent, brilliant in fact and actually Im describing her character. Now Steven Moffatt revealed the name of the new companion as Clara* Oswin, so I knew something was up when she introduced herself to The Doctor as Oswin Oswald.

*As a side note, Clara got her name from the middle name of Elisabeth Sladen, the amazing actress who played the beloved companion Sarah-Jane Smith, who met the 3rd, 4th, 5th, 10th and 11th Doctors.

Of course, Amy and Rory are also collected, separately, to assist The Doctor. Amy is still doing the modeling thing we saw introduced in "Closing Time" and it is so apparent that she and Rory still care for each other. One of my first big questions comes early on when they arrive in the parliament and Amy asks what do they do. The Doctor replies, "make them remember you". I cannot make a connection with this, so if anyone got it please let me know. As far as I saw it never got explained, and perhaps it just hasnt yet. (Tricksy, remember)

Rory gets separated as the beam burrows through the planet into the heart of the asylum itself. The tension as you stare at the dozen or so absolutely still Daleks. Old and cob-webbed, there seems to be no reaction when Rory inspects one. But then the one corrects its eye-stalk from where Rory moved it and I knew it was on. I didn't care for the conveniently placed pipe behind Rory, but seeing the Daleks gradually come alive and react helped me forgive it. It was such an interesting idea to have all the types of Daleks represented, and I especially loved seeing the special weapons Dalek during this scene. I am a huge fan of Resurrection of the Daleks, but I can say that this is my favorite Dalek story of the new series.

Okay, here's my other beef with this episode. When they are in the Alaska landing shuttle and the dead crew are waking up as Dalek hybrids, why didn't they go up the ladder they were standing at and go out? They didn't know about the hatch so why would they risk kicking through the advancing zombie Dalek army to lock themselves inside a room? At any rate it gives us the setup for The Doctor learning of Amy and Rory's split, and with Amy's bracelet gone, a way to reconnect her and Rory later.

They beautifully shot the scene where Amy is hallucinating, seeing a small group of people, including a young ginger ballerina in white turning. Then when she is shown they are Daleks and you see the white Dalek spinning around in a circle, well it was madness and I loved it. I think Moffatt did a good job of making the Daleks creepy and scary in brand new ways.

Okay, let's wrap this up. Putting the Dalek in reverse to destroy them all was genius. I just don't know if I buy the baby thing and Amy giving Rory up. It feels as out of place as her being a model. But there it is. We saw the connection was there so I was fine and even happy that it was resolved by the end of the episode.

I had no idea that Oswin would end up being a Dalek. I figured something would happen, since she wasn't coming back until Christmas. But that was good. It broke my heart a little. The way they went back and forth as she spoke between human and Dalek was great. And if I hadn't thought before something was up with her, I knew it when she looked at the camera and said "remember." Oh yeah, and she hacked the Dalek's pathweb and made them forget The Doctor. Every last one of them. Which leaves us with the reminder of where this series is going. The answer of the question that should never be asked. Doctor who? After dropping Amy and Rory off at home, The Doctor seems pleased, at least that the Daleks are asking that question. Frankly, I'm worried. I don't think we need to know his name. I like the mystery of it we've had in this series, just please be leading to something else more clever than just revealing his name. Even if it is the 50th.

Next up is "Dinosaurs on a Spaceship". only 14 days to the new episode!

Top 10 Things I've Been Watching This Summer

Anybody else remember when nothing was on TV in the summer? Seasons all aired at the same time starting in the fall and didn't take a break halfway through. Everything is different now. For one thing we have more than 3 networks. The load is lighter during summer, but there are plenty of programs to choose from on the myriads of channels available to keep TV junkies like me satisfied. The summer is also a time to catch up on missed episodes and old favorites. Don't go thinking that watching TV is all I've done, but what I've been reading, writing and listening to are for other posts.

So here, in no particular order, are the top ten things I've been watching this summer.

1 DOCTOR WHO - It's pretty much a given that this would be on the list, and given my propensity to talk about this show I'll refrain from any details I'm bound to repeat in future posts, or have in past ones. I am anxiously awaiting the new season's beginning around the end of this month on BBC America. In anticipation of this, I spent the summer watching the entire show again from its return in 2005.

2 CHARLIE'S ANGELS - I almost put this in a post I'm writing about TV guilty pleasures. This is pure nostalgia for me. I wanted to be an angel. The kid up the street had the dolls, the original ones with Farrah. My Matchbox cars were angels on a big case. But Universal channel's weekday airings make me feel like a kid again, as well as providing many laughs. Apparently they never let the actresses do even the simplest of stunts, and the wigs were ridiculous in their attempt to match. And people must have been so stupid in the 70's. I was a kid so I wouldn't know, but many scenarios were either really being done by idiotic cops and businessmen and even the general public, or the audience was ignorantly buying into it as plausible. They do the worst surveillance work and tail a car from 10 feet behind. One of my favorite things is Sabrina's undercover disguise, which is usually chewing gum and speaking with an accent. And Christ were our standards in leading men low back then or what? Regardless, it's a silly, fun time they weren't able to reproduce in the 2011 remake.

3 Master Chef / Hell's Kitchen - Admittedly I would never have watched these if not for my partner. He is a chef and together we get a kick out of the mistakes made by people who supposedly have what it takes. I've come to really like these two, as different as they are. One with the contestants being screamed at by Gordon Ramsey as they make amateur bungles under high stress situations in a competition for a head chef position, and the other with creative challenges being taken on by home cooks who have dreams of stardom. It's really changed the way I think about cooking.

4 Rupaul's Drag U -  Not as exciting as Drag Race, Rupaul's drag queen competition show, Drag U has more heart as it helps 3 real women get in touch with the feminine side they've lost touch with. The one thing I don't like is that at no point does Rupaul appear in drag, but on the plus side you can't get through an episode without multiple laughs at the smack talk of the drag queen "professors" in charge of guiding the women.

5 Dallas - In its original form, Dallas would certainly come under guilty pleasures, along with Falcon Crest and Knots Landing. But this summer's reboot, little more than a miniseries, is to the original show as the new Doctor Who is to the old version. Like Who, Dallas picked up from the end of the original, albeit years later, and has a complete history of loves and hates and battles and bottles to build on. I've tried to think if I would like the show the same as I would if I hadn't watched the original, and I'm not quite sure I would. I'm still thinking of it as a show about Bobby and J.R., when it truly is about the new generation. I think I'm finally seeing that now that we are at the end of the (mini)season. Thankfully it's coming back for a second season. For me all the wheeling and dealing backstabbing twists are back in 21st century form.

6 True Blood - If ever there was anyone who was dragged kicking into True Blood fandom it was me. First off, I abhor bandwagons and tend to resist them until I see if they have any merit. The show has had ups and downs. I didn't care much for season 2, with Maryann, but it has steadily gotten better in my opinion. It must be my religious upbringing that makes the religious mythology we are discovering appealing. It's a very interesting idea that God was a vampire, creating vampire in His image first, then humans for food. They only have 3 episodes left, so it should really get revved up now, one hopes.

7 Chelsea Lately - I could never work for Chelsea Handler, I'd be too afraid, given what she "makes" her staff do on camera. Hanging out with her is a different story. I have read her books and watched her shows for years now and I think she is one of the funniest women on TV today, and all in a natural way that doesn't feel forced or scripted. If you watch her show you see what I mean. The casual banter and remarks on whatever "news" topics came up that day is the crux of what makes this show work. Add to that a funny, sometimes quirky, staff and no punches being pulled and wrap it up in Chelsea's honest and unapologetic attitude and you've got entertainment gold (occasionally silver) Monday through Thursday.

8 So You Think You Can Dance - This also falls under the category "would've never watched but for my partner." I genuinely enjoy this show, but to be quite frank, I don't usually "get it." I enjoy the show but have never been emotionally effected by it. All I see during a routine is moves. I understand creating moves being used to represent actions, but I don't see a routine and think "I really saw that journey they took from tremulous waif being bullied in school to a modern mature woman taking on the corporate advertising world", they're just dance moves chained together. Pretty, yes. Moving? Sorry, no. Maybe they're thinking of "So You Think You Can Mime."

9 Peep Show - Where do I start with Peep Show? It's fucking brilliant. One of the best sitcoms ever. British. Not for the kids, you'll probably end up hearing every naughty word ever. Roomates, Jeremy, slack musician, Mark corporate muckity muck whose at least a bit OCD and carries Jeremy who has been his mate since school. Mark is obsessed with Hitler's Germany and Sophie from work, Jeremy is obsessed with himself, his shit music and every female simultaneously. Jeremy's "bandmate" Super Hans is a functioning crackhead as self-obsessed as Jeremy. Like Seinfeld it's practically about nothing but what happens to be going on, except we are privy to the inner dialog and occasional point of view of both Mark and Jeremy exposing amazingly ridiculous thought processes and deep dark sides to each ones personality. Check it out on Netflix streaming.

10 Saturday Britcoms - When I was a kid, Saturday night was for Love Boat, Fantasy Island and Doctor Who. Who came on PBS, and while I remember watching the britcoms (British sitcoms) I can't remember when. Now they come on Saturday nights. They are not shows currently airing, but they are among some of the best in British comedy. Right now we are seeing Keeping up Appearances, which is quite silly. Are You Being Served? which is 'and you thought it couldn't get sillier'. But then comes the smart, mature comedy of As Time Goes By with the incredible Dame Judi Dench, who is joined by one of the best ensemble casts ever. There's no way I have space to cover the cast of The Vicar of Dibley, but they are clever and quirky and in a sense simple. But if you haven't seen it you have got to check out Dawn French as Vicar Geraldine Granger. Lastly, not really a Britcom, is The Graham Norton show on BBC America. This is my favorite talk show. It's hilarious and a bit unorthodox. You can always tell his guests are having a good time. As do you.