Doctor Who: The Wedding of River Song

Sooo, the long-awaited season finale, which explains what happened in the first seven minutes or so of episode 1, has been screened. Needless to say, spoilers lie ahead.

New Who has typically had wildly overblown and often quite bad season finales. (Yes, RTD, turning the Master into a crying nancy-boy whose ‘revenge’ is to refuse to regenerate and die [totally contrary to past history as well as being lame in its own right] is rubbish).

So, how did Moffat do with his first season finale as New Who overlord?

Bit mixed. There’s a lot to like. First and foremost, Amy Pond in a trouser suit. I also liked the marvellously bonkers imagery at the start, in particular, showing bits of time melding together (Roman chariot waiting at a red light, steam engines leaving the stock exchange and so on).

I also loved Amy, in her foxy trouser suit, taking revenge upon the creepiest midwife in the universe.

Annoyingly, there was a reasonable plot emerging but two things irritated me a bit. Firstly, two different scenarios (River Song killing and not killing the Doctor) taking place somehow ending time. Leaving aside the strange irrational plot twist, why would that end time? Why not just splinter the universe into two parallel dimensions? [Regarding the fixed point: if it’s fixed, it can’t be changed, making the ‘not killing’ bit impossible]. Secondly, a load of gobbledegook and nonsense apparently means that them kissing would reset everything and she could kill him (as she knew he was the Teselecta[sp] robot).

But why not just have that in the first place, without the nonsense in between? Moffat’s tenure has seen some great dark moments (I still think the excellent two-parter at the start of the season was the best of the series) but there are times when the season’s decided plot and reason are optional extras.

Overall, the finale was pretty good, and easily better than all (perhaps excepting the daleks versus cybermen) that have gone before.

I hope River Song does not feature anywhere near as prominently next season. Pretty pleased with the Doctor speaking of going back into the shadows. Shouty, cocky New Who Doctor is less likeable than understated Old Who Doctor.

Thaddeus