Yeah, things were going just a little bit too normally for a Steven Moffat written show. The first three episodes were running in a pretty basic chronological order, but then we get this fourth installment that the previous three episodes took place during. Things that were mentioned during the season to date are seen in this episode as Rory and Amy have adventures with the Doctor, such as Rory dropping his phone charger in Henry VIII’s chambers. Plenty of nice touches to seal together the continuity. On the whole this is a solid concept for an episode. Narrated by Amy it provides a different perspective on events as the Ponds come to terms with their dual lives as companions and normal working folk.
This is a difficult time for The Doctor who for the first time becomes aware that the Ponds have a life beyond him and tries to integrate himself into their ‘real’ world (previously companions of the Doctor travelled with him for some time before being dropped back to their own time line). This causes problems for the Doctor who has difficulty sitting still for any amount of time. With Amy and Rory unable to coincide their normal life with their adventures through time and space they have to decide if it’s time to leave.
Meanwhile the Earth is being invaded. By cubes. Overnight millions and millions of small black cubes appear scattered all over the Earth and not even The Doctor can fathom their meaning or intent. He assigns Rory’s dad to keep an eye on them while The Doctor heads off in his TARDIS and the Ponds go about their everyday life. Months pass without the cubes doing anything, people just get used to seeing them everywhere and start using them as door stops and paperweights. After five months they finally go active, unleashing a planet wide attack on the human race. The Doctor and the Ponds team up with the newly formed UNIT and the Brig’s daughter to get to the bottom of things.
The ‘Slow Invasion’ concept is classic Doctor Who sci-fi with a good sense of mystery, although the third act doesn’t provide the satisfactory conclusion to the invasion story that it builds up to. Of course the episode isn’t about the invasion, rather it’s just a framing device for the conundrum faced by the main characters. The relationship between the Doctor and his companions is challenged in way we haven’t seen before and whilst being brilliantly written it would’ve been cool to see more of the Doctor trying to fit in and his impact on the day to day life of the Ponds, perhaps with the Slow Invasion plot being shifted a bit more into the background.
Still, this episode continues the high quality that Season 7 has been delivering to date, and next week looks to continue the awesomeness. Plus we might see the fan theory come to life: is the Statue of Liberty a giant Weeping Angel that always has someone looking at it?
