Storytime with Rachel F Hundred

Living up to expectations

“The Big Bang” is a resounding finish to what has been a great season of Doctor Who under the new regime. Having left the story with the Doctor locked in the Pandorica, Amy dead, River trapped in the exploding TARDIS and Rory looking at a new life in plastic, “The Big Bang” resolves everything in a very clever way: Rory saves Amy, the Doctor saves River and the universe, and Amy saves the Doctor.

Time travel is at the heart of this story and it is complicated. Some parts of it don’t really make sense even with the best attempts to explain most of it with clever flashbacks. But that’s OK. It doesn’t matter. After all, until someone actually does time travel and finds out how it works for certain, the paradox of how River knew to give Amy her blue book when the Doctor had been wiped from all existence can go unexplained.

Overall, Moffat does a great job of explaining his story because it is complicated with lots of back and forth travel through time, (the Doctor goes back to tell Rory to get him out of the Pandorica, they put Amy into the Pandorica as it can rejuvenate her life-force, and the Doctor travels forward to send young Amelia to wake up the Pandorica, so allowing the Doctor to travel back to tell Rory… yep: complicated) and at the end of the day, Doctor Who is meant for a young audience (certainly younger than me). The resolution to the cracks in time is fabulously done with the Pandorica flying into the heart of the exploding TARDIS sending its memory and knowledge of the universe back to the moment of the big bang and effectively rebooting the universe. What Moffat does leave unexplained is the silent part of the threat and why the TARDIS explodes at all — and he does this deliberately to use both enigmas as hooks into the next season. Very clever.

Moffat serves up a veritable fan’s wish-list for the season finale: humor in abundance, a touching happy ending for Amy and Rory who get their wedding day, the Doctor at his best and pay off for those who have watched every episode — things like noticing the Doctor’s jacket returning strangely in “Flesh and Stone” (31.05) or the call-back to “Vincent and the Doctor” (31.10) with Amy crying because she’s sad. This episode feels to me as though it has been written by a fan who knows very definitely what he would want to see in the season finale as a fan and so delivers this. Yes, I know I love Moffat’s writing at the best of times but here he outdoes himself. The writing is first-rate (and I only have one minor complaint, which I’ll come to).

So, too, is the acting. Matt Smith shines in this episode. His Doctor is so perfectly brilliant and quirky that I just want to squish him. The physicality he brings to the role, from being punched by Rory to the way his whole body freezes when he gets shot by the Dalek to the way he dances with the kids at the end: wonderful. Love, love the moment he wakes up in the TARDIS and exclaims at having escaped the explosion (the line “brilliant, I love it when I do that” is delivered to absolute perfection). But it’s the goodbye scenes with Amy and Amelia where he really puts in his best performance, because it is in these scenes where Smith manages to sell the Doctor as a wise, 900 year old alien with a soft spot for a lonely child. Loved, loved the Amelia goodbye scene in particular because it was just heart-breaking.

Emotion is something this episode has in spades and a lot of that comes from the relationship between Amy and Rory. The documentary of Rory’s protection of the Pandorica with Amy inside of it; how he waited 2000 years for her is brilliantly done — I had tears. And Karen Gillan puts in another good performance as Amy. My only real complaint here is with the writing which has Amy twice alluding to wanting to kiss the Doctor on her wedding day. While the fact that she’s had to remember him into existence might excuse the first instance — didn’t we deal with Amy’s crush back in “Amy’s Choice”? And moreover, given how grandfatherly the Doctor is with seven year old Amelia there is a real sense of icky. Part of the annoyance on my part, though, could be because I love Rory.

For me, the best new character of the series has turned out to be the one I had the most misgivings about. He seemed to be such a candidate to take over the mantle from Mickey but Rory has carved out his own place as a brilliant addition to the TARDIS. He’s heroic, deeply in love with Amy and not afraid to stand-up to the Doctor. Arthur Darvill has done a fabulous job with the character and I want Rory as a permanent companion next year — that’s all I’m saying.

Hints about the next season do seem to indicate Alex Kingston’s River Song will be back and that the mystery of who she is will be revealed. There were some lovely nods to a darker River in the way she faces down the Dalek and the way River apologizes to the Doctor for what is to come. Smith and Kingston have wonderful chemistry. The “honey I’m home” moment was just classic, and the whole “Are you married?” conversation was superb. I also like that they’re playing River and Amy as allies at the moment (the destruction of the fez was great). I’m looking forward to seeing where this goes.

In conclusion

Indeed, I think that’s the real success of this finale and the season as a whole. It managed to live up to expectations, provided a great pay-off for fans and seeded enough to keep the audience wanting more. More than that, this season more than any other has been a brilliant remix of the old Classic Who with the newer styling of the Reboot, and as a result, it has become so much more than the sum of its parts. I’ll even forgive its one or two failings (“Victory of the Daleks” and “The Lodger”, I’m looking at you) because the rest has been a trip. Kudos to all. Bring on the next season.