DW: The Angels Take Manhatten--Reaction post

[amberfocus]

Well...so..huh. That's it then.



This episode was a little messy for me. Not like episode one or two of this season, and nowhere near the hot mess that was season 6, but still messy. Or maybe just uneven. I liked it well enough as a plot if I hadn't seen so much of it a.)coming or b.)before. I really did like quite a bit of it, but right now all I can think of was the stuff that annoyed me. Can we please get a new showrunner that is better than SM, but a touch more grounded than RTD? Pretty please.

I think we can retire the weeping angels now, because since we can't keep a straightforward mythos on them from one episode to the next and they are no longer scary at all and haven't really been since Blink. The angels are supposed to be made out of stone. Stone. Alien stone. Now they can be any statue. Hey, they can be bronze off that fountain. Or they can be copper, and gigantic, and made in France and shipped over to the US and put together with documentation out the wazoo, but it's a weeping angel. No. I don't think so. And also, the angels depend on secrecy. People would notice this. (SM, could you please stop setting things in my country if you can't be bothered to get your facts straight on...oh, anything at all?)

Was there any point at all to River being in this episode? I'm not sure she really contributed to the plot. I mean, Amy could have written the book in the end. That would have made more sense than River being able to send the book back into something that apparently couldn't be entered by the TARDIS...and also, why not? I mean, clearly not 1938, but what about dropping by in, oh, say 1952? They knew enough about the future to bet big on something somewhere and get enough money to move back to their home country. Or at least get the heck out of New York, tombstone or no tombstone, so why did they stay?

I liked Amy choosing to go with Rory, both on the roof and in the cemetery. Not that there is romance in jumping to one's death, but to me it showed that Amy had finally grown up and grown into her marriage, that she was cleaving to her husband and forsaking all others. That she would rather be with him in any time period than without him in her own. I would not have jumped off a roof, but I definitely would have made the same choice in the cemetery to go back and be with my husband. She should be choosing her husband over the Doctor. It's about time. And the Doctor being such a baby about it, expecting her to choose him over Rory was just stupid. He knows better than this, or did before this regeneration. And anyway, he can see them again. Any time up to that point in their lives he could pop in. It doesn't have to be in order. They are the ones that will never see him again. Follow some of the rules of continuity already.

I dunno, mostly I'm left with a weariness over recycling bits of plot. Angels, check. Letter from someone now dead ala Reinette, check. Impossible, supposedly, to ever see his companions again, check. Doing something to completely reverse something you wrote in a previous season, check. Screwing with your own mythology yet again so it makes even less sense than before, check. Blatantly contradicting yourself, check. Time loop, check. Stuff and nonsense, check.

Comments

[angelfireeast.livejournal.com]

The Weeping Angels have joined the Daleks and Cybermen in the over used and no longer cool villain camp. Seriously a great idea to start with pushed too far and spread to thin.

I was annoyed that no one even commented on the massive stone angel. Just changing their history, abilities and size all in one go - it's totally okay NOT!

I think River was thrown in this episode because someone remembered that she was the Pond's daughter and maybe should be around. Also the doctor needed someone with him after Amy and Rory 'left'. I'm tired of River to be honest. Her best episode was her first episode. It feel like most of the time the writers have been failing to live up the promise of River Song. Yes, she fun and is great but still not all she should be.

Am I the only one horrified at River's comment about not showing any weakness or physical age in front of the Doctor? Add that to the list of really healthy relationship.

It kinda ticked me off that the Doctor was so emotional over losing Amy that he forgot till later that they where River's parents. Also he was complete dick to leave her to break her own arm while he was off having tumper tamum (sp) about losing Amy. Then he was all caring later about her pain. Jerk.

Thank you for mentioning the rules of continuity of the Pond/Doctor out of order relationship. If he can do handle that kind of relationship with River then why can't he see and spend time with Rory and Amy again?

I don't get why Amy and Rory would choose to stay in New York. They got rid of 99% of the angels so why not leave? Go find the Doctor in another time period? Anything? Because they saw the tomestone it couldn't be changed. Just like River had to break her arm.

I dunno, mostly I'm left with a weariness over recycling bits of plot. Angels, check. Letter from someone now dead ala Reinette, check. Impossible, supposedly, to ever see his companions again, check. Doing something to completely reverse something you wrote in a previous season, check. Screwing with your own mythology yet again so it makes even less sense than before, check. Blatantly contradicting yourself, check. Time loop, check. Stuff and nonsense, check.

I'm so glad I wasn't the only one who saw these things and was annoyed by them. I felt like this story - the departure of Amy and Rory - could have been so much better if only the writers had tried.

btw what about Brain?!! He and Wilf should go create 'my heart is destroyed because my child/grandchild traveled with the Doctor and was lost sorta'. The Jones family would attend those meeting to share their own heartbreak.

[lunawho.livejournal.com]

I was left wondering if the Doctor ever bothered to tell Brian what had happened.

And I was left wondering how no one in New York noticed that the Statue of Liberty was a Weeping Angel. I mean, a 300+ (however tall) ft statue leaves its place in New York Harbor, walks across Brooklyn and only a HANDFULL of people get sent back in time? PLEASE. Most of NY would have been gone. Or there would at least have been some press.

Not to mention, most of the emotion of the episode got erased because it never ACTUALLY happened anymore. They reset the time line, which is becoming an overused trick in the Moffat episodes because that's all he seems to do is reset time and all character development gets lost and the episode becomes a waste of time. I'm getting bored of taking what could be an interesting idea and using it as a get out of jail free card.

And by having the Doctor suddenly have regeneration powers when he doesn't need to regenerate and using it to heal River, he's made the Doctor come across as something of a dick. All those times that a companion has injured themselves trying to help them, some near-fatally, and he's done jack-all to help them when apparently he could have just healed them himself? Wow. Way to ruin 49 years of DW canon in 6 seconds for no real reason at all. It added nothing to the plot and just made the Doctor come across as a jerk to all his former companions.

I just want to forget this episode ever happened.

[sinecure.livejournal.com]

And by having the Doctor suddenly have regeneration powers when he doesn't need to regenerate and using it to heal River, he's made the Doctor come across as something of a dick. All those times that a companion has injured themselves trying to help them, some near-fatally, and he's done jack-all to help them when apparently he could have just healed them himself? Wow. Way to ruin 49 years of DW canon in 6 seconds for no real reason at all. It added nothing to the plot and just made the Doctor come across as a jerk to all his former companions.

So much word. Everything you said, and the others, but... yeah, that one pissed me off the most. That and, ya know, being able to make Time Ladies and Time Lords merely by them being conceived in the TARDiS. What. ev.

[kitsune17.livejournal.com]

Oh thank god.

Was I a little teary at the end? Yes. The emotion of not wanting her husband to be all alone got to me. But seriously. 1939 is locked? Alright, go to 1940 or some time later, pick them up, and move on.

Also, did they reset the "Rory is an automaton" storyline? I can't remember. If not, how does he age?

The "Let's use my regeneration blah blah to heal you" was bullshit. The only possible shred of anything I'm giving it is that River gave the Doctor her regenerations, so there's some sort of special whatever between the two of them. But that comes with a hard side eye followed by an eye roll.

[susanb03.livejournal.com]

I agree. I did really like the fact that Amy finally CHOSE Rory. The rest.... well I kept waiting to see this 'heart wrenching' thing... never happened.

[mkejenkins.livejournal.com]

I can only say *ditto* to everything everyone else has said. Moffat's plot devices are so tired and worn out. No originality, no creativity at all. It makes watching the new episodes more of a chore than anything enjoyable.