The first two-part special of the Steven
Moffat era sees the highly anticipated return of two of
his most popular creations: the terrifying Weeping Angels
and the enigmatic River Song. It goes without saying that
in “The Time of Angels”, fans are expecting
a great deal out of Moffat—and he delivers big time.
Moffat
reintroduces viewers to River Song through a very cleverly
executed escape sequence. Found trespassing aboard the starship
Byzantium, River Song flees her captors by exploding the
hatch doors open, gracefully launching herself into space,
and flying right into the arms of a very perplexed and somewhat
disgruntled Doctor. “I’m nobody’s taxi
service and I’m not going to be there to catch you
every time you feel like jumping out of a spaceship.”
The
fun of the episode’s opening quickly turns into imminent
danger when the ship crash lands atop the ruins of ancient
civilization on an alien planet, and River Song reveals
that a Weeping Angel that had been locked up in the ship
is now missing. Never one to let such a dangerous enemy
escape, the Doctor and Amy join River Song and her band
of combat clerics (the Church has moved on in the far future)
in the search of a rogue Weeping Angel hiding among a labyrinth
of stone statues -- as the Doctor puts it, a needle in a
haystack of needles.
Although
they do not evoke the same bone-chilling terror this second
time around, these Weeping Angels still have the ability
to scare fans with their whole new range of powers. Now
instead of “killing you nicely” by transporting
you back in time and letting you “live yourself to
death”, the new Angels will just simply snap your
neck, simple but brutal.
In addition
to the Doctor’s “Don’t blink” rule,
looking into an Angel’s eyes and recording its image
are also very big don’ts—something Amy Pond
learns the hard way when the Weeping Angel on the security
tape suddenly jumps out of the screen a la The Ring.
Thank
goodness Amy has a knack of finding her way out of trouble
as well as getting into trouble in the first place. She
continues to surprise us as the Doctor’s companion
with her ingenuity and spunk. At a later point in the episode,
Amy even says “I don’t need you to die for me,
Doctor. I’m not that clingy,” still maintaining
her feisty character as the Weeping Angels have her seemingly
trapped.
It was
also quite refreshing to see her react to River Song’s
strong familiarity with the Doctor with curiosity rather
than a sort of lovesick jealousy. Amy teases the Doctor
about his relationship with River (resulting in the very
hilarious “Ooh, Doctor, you sonic’d her!”)
and also bluntly asks the questions viewers want to know
about their time-jumbled relationship. “Her past,
my future. Time travel. We keep meeting in the wrong order,”
says the Doctor as he tries to explain it to Amy.
Ultimately
more questions are being asked than answered. River Song
reveals that she knows an unprecedented amount about the
Doctor. Not only is she unabashedly cheeky with the Doctor,
but she apparently is also well-versed in Ancient Gallifreyan
and can drive the TARDIS much more smoothly than the Doctor:
“I had lessons from the very best. Shame you were
busy that day.”
But
she is undoubtedly hiding more than just the secrets of
her time-travel diary—what is the story behind her
time in prison? And why will the Doctor refuse to help her
if he discovers who she really is? Would finding out that
River Song may be the future Mrs. Doctor really be that
bad?
“The
Time of Angels” left viewers at a natural point for
a cliff-hanger, though it is arguably not as urgent or hair-raising
as previous Doctor Who cliff-hangers. As a two-parter,
the plot plays out patiently, and eventually allows the
tension to build up to great moments of genuine creepiness
and determined heroism.
From
the look of next episode’s “Flesh and Stone”,
Moffat will be upping the tension as he adds more heart-pumping
terror to the Weeping Angels. Tuning in to the story’s
conclusion is definitely worth risking a heart attack.
