Still determined to finish this before Day of the Doctor airs.
The Time of the Angels/Flesh and Stone
Since their introduction in the now legendary episode Blink the Weeping Angels have become iconic. This is the first story to feature the character since their inception, and it goes further to explain their nature. This is both good and bad. Much of the effectiveness of Blink was how little we knew about the villains and the small scale of the story. The old house and the creepy moving statues was terrifying, and upping the scale on that does not necessarily make things better.
Everything begins with a message from Professor River Song, calling on the Doctor from the Delirium Archive (a museum in the future). The message comes in the form of a message on a flight recorder found on a downed ship. Heading back to the ship at the point that River was on it he finds that the cargo includes a Weeping Angel. It seems that the Angels have previously unmentioned abilities, including being able to transmit themselves through images, or as they put it ‘that which holds the image of an Angel becomes an Angel themselves’. Amy becomes infected after a recorded loop of the captive Angel projects itself through the screen and into her eye.
The Doctor and River lead the crew of the Byzantium through the ‘Maze of the Dead’, a stone labyrinth crowded with statues built by the native race. Naturally wandering through a maze full of statues when statues are hunting you proves to be a monumentally stupid idea. The ‘statues’ are, of course, decayed Weeping Angels who begin to restore themselves, leaving the party of explorers to flee back to the ship. Eventually they reach the forest that makes up a large part of the ship. With Amy slowly changing into an Angel and the crack in time (from the beginning of the season) expanding and deleting people from history they are racing against the odds to escape.
Like it was said before the expansion of the Weeping Angel mythology does not make them a more interesting character. Much of the success surrounding them came from the simplicity of the concept. The ability of the Angels to emerge from video images and take over people is a stretch and works more as a narrative starting point rather than a logical progression of the mythos.
The strength of the episodes comes from the set pieces. The discovery that the decayed statues they are surrounded by are really deadly Angels is initially a scary moment, but then it gets solved with a dues ex machine so the plot can get to the next stage. Arriving at the forest presents new challenges, such as Amy having to escape from the Angels without being able to see where she is going.
Much of the disposable extras come in the form of the militaristic clerics, a religious order who have since taken up arms for their cause. It’s not the first time such a group as appeared in science-fiction yet they remain an interesting, and realistic, concept. Fortunately they do get expanded on in a future episode.
The Vampires of Venice
After it is revealed to the Doctor that Amy habors feelings for him he gate crashes Rory’s bucks party in order to take them on a romantic getaway. Naturally he takes them to Venice in the 16th century. Whilst here the Doctor encounters a school run by Signora Rosanna Calvierri, a very elite academy. The downside to it being that anyone who attends the school is cut of from their family. In order to investigate they enrol Amy into the school and learn that the family running the city is made up of vampires.
As with the witches in The Shakespeare Code the classic monsters are actually aliens, aliens of the amphibious nature. A technological device keeps their true nature hidden from the rest of the world, with the exception of their fangs, and many more of their number are hidden within the canals of Venice. Their plan is to sink the city into the water and convert the human population into their own. Although the creatures are technically a bunch of fish aliens they do share the mythology of vampires.
The reintroduction of Rory sets the series down an unexpected path, with the relationship between two companions becoming a driving force behind the narrative. The almost odd couple pairing of Amy and Rory, and the interference from the Doctor, creates a dynamic never before seen on the show.
As to the episode there is something lacking here. The story begins strong, with the promise of a classic horror tropes running around Venice. When the enemies are revealed be a bunch of fish monsters much of the horror and suspense dries up. With a more striking arch-for this could have been a classic, but it falls short in the monster department.
Amy’s Choice
With Amy’s fiancé Rory now in tow the relationship between the Doctor and Amy is more complicated. Rory is jealous of this mysterious figure that Amy has run off with, Amy has complicated feelings towards the Doctor and the Doctor is downright confused by all of it. They must confront all this with the arrival of a Dream Lord in the TARDIS who bounces them back and forth between the real world and a dream world, with the time travellers tasked with choosing which is which.
Every time the trio fall asleep on the TARDIS they find themselves seemingly at some point in their future. Rory is a doctor and Amy is well into a pregnancy while living in a small country town. The Doctor pays them a visit and they learn that the town’s elderly are really an alien race called the Eknodine. At risk of being turned to dust the three must escape this invasion while falling asleep at a moments notice.
The source of the conflict rests with Amy. In one universe she’s traveling space and time with the Doctor and in the other living the life Rory wanted for them. The Dream Lord (played by the always excellent Toby Jones) forces her to chose between the two of them by declaring one version reality. It’s a well thought out episode that gives the companions center stage, dealing with an emotional arc rather than a science fiction one. In terms of character is does indeed push the boundaries and establishes the pairing of Amy and Rory as one of the best companions in the show’s run.
