S05E12 - The Pandorica Opens

The Pandorica Opens was an interesting episode. To be honest, I’m not entirely sure what to make of it, but from one viewing so far, I find the plot was too lacking, including characters like Churchill and Liz 10 that could have easily been written off by a different, and quite frankly, shorter introduction. The entire episode felt too quick, as usual, trying to fit a lot of elements into the forty/fifty minute time span, even though it was only the first part of a two-part episode. It also had a very untidy plot, things didn’t add up, which I hope are somehow concluded into the last part, which really has a lot of expectation to live up to, a lot of answers to give.

Let’s see, it was nice to see River Song, of course--am finding I can tolerate her much easier than I used to, which is positive considering she’s going to be involved in the show for a bit--and it was funny to see Time of Angles/Flesh and Stone written off by the on/off companion with the use of her other catchphrase ‘spoilers’, but let’s not forget the reappearance of Rory! …or should I say Auton-Rory? Am not going to delve into that too much, but speaking from a viewer’s perspective, it was a really touching moment seeing Amy actually remember her fiancée and even more so for when she tried to keep Rory reminding himself of who he is, trying to override the Auton functions that inevitably came into fruition--poor Amy, although I seriously enjoyed her scene fighting against the Cybusman…

Back to general reviewing, I would like to know exactly what the episode was about: How did the TARDIS actually explode? Who’s was the voice within mentioning the fabled ‘silence will fall’ line? Why did every single bloody race the Doctor’s faced recently team together to try and trap the Doctor by uses of complicated meddling in his companion’s very scatty past when even they know he’d be able to escape eventually?! A nice little reference to generalised Who, though, in that his enemies were kind enough--or was it some sick joke of theirs?--to decide to trap him in a box on his favourite planet in the entire universe--the Earth.

Am not sure about the final-final scene of the episode and don’t have high hopes as to how the conclusion will sort itself out (will they go ‘Last of the Timelords’ on us by reversing time, or simply making the events of the Pandorica Opens never to have happened?) but I was generally pleased with the new episode, with lots of fun twist and turns throughout the show resulting in a manic last five minutes.

Doctor = 8/10 (good, not overly great.)

Amy = 8.5/10 (slightly disappointing, but Karen made up for it acting-wise.)

River = 7.5/10 (she needs to find new catchphrases other than ‘Hello Sweetie’ and ‘Spoilers’ but otherwise the entire pre-credits sequence involving her escape from Stormcage was pretty neat.)

Auton-Rory = 7/10 (very Rory-ish, but not much else to it--you’d have thought from being dead he’d be a little… different?)

Plot = 5/10 (and that’s pushing it!)

Overall rating for the episode: 7 out of 10, like last week, acting saved a lot of the screen-time.

Next Episode Preview: There wasn’t one! How can there be? The Universe went bang, bar the Earth… Hmmm.