Steven Moffat can really come up with some fantasic ideas for aliens and monsters. It's in this two part story that we are introduced to the Silence, a race of aliens that have the ability to edit themselves out of our memory. What a brilliant idea. You only remember them whilst you are looking at them. As soon as you turn your back you forget that they were ever there. As such they have been able to live on our world for centuries, planting ideas into the minds of the human race so that we develop in a way suited to their purpose. And just look how creepy they are! You could have one in your house and you wouldn't know because you'd keep forgetting you'd seen it!
Quite a large part of this episode was filmed in the desert landscape of Utah which looks amazing! The show has clearly come on a long way from using the same old quarry in Britain again and again.
This story also sees the start of a series long story arc. At the very beginning of the episode we see the Doctor shot by someone dressed up as an astronaut. The Doctor is dead. But this is a future Doctor so when Amy, Rory and River meet him again they have to keep the secret from him that they have just witnessed his demise. Again this is another brilliant idea. The future Doctor has summoned them all together, including his past self! When the past Doctor calmly steps through a door into the cafe where the others are trying to pull themselves together after seeing him die, their faces are hilarious. It makes it more funny because they are really pissed off with him for what he's done but can't tell him what it is.
River and the Doctor's relationship is explored in more depth. We still don't know who she is but it is clear now that they are travelling in opposite directions through their relationship. As River says "every time we meet, I know him more, he knows me less. I live for the days when I see him..but I know that every time I do, he'll be one step further away from me". This is an example of why I love science fiction. It can explore how relationships and emotions would function in some truely bizarre circumstances. This is further highlighted at the end of the two episodes when River snogs the Doctors face off as he drops her back in prison. She seems confused as to why this has startled him until he reveals that that was the first time they kissed from his point of view. At which River realises that is her last kiss with him.
Throughout this two part story there is a mystery developed as to the identity of a little girl who is being menaced by a "space man". She later appears trapped inside the astronaut suit before escaping. Amy discovers a picture of herself inside the little girls room so there must be some link between them. The biggest mind blowing moment comes at the end of the two episodes where we skip ahead 6 months to see the little girl stumbling through the back alleys of New York. A homeless man ask her is she is alright to which she replies that she is dying but it's okay because she can fix that. And then she starts to regenerate!!!! WHAT.....THE.......HELL???? This totally blew me away when I first saw it and I still get chills from it now. The music adds so much to the scene as the refer nation energy starts to glow around her. Well played Mr Moffat...well played indeed sir!
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