The Big Bang, or as I really want to call it now ‘the Big Bang Two’--thanks Doc--was absolutely, one hundred percent, better than last weeks ‘Pandorica Opens’ which still holds some plot holes. I want to squeal for joy at Moffat for bringing such a twisty-turny series of Who to it’s ultimate conclusion and applaud him for being the successor of Who, a better Executive Producer than Russell T Davies ever was. But enough about praise, let’s analysis the episode as one should in a review. Heh.
Leading off from last week’s Pandorica Opens, it was wonderful to see that Amy wasn’t dead, but definitely confusing for the opener of this episode. Her dramatic line just after li’l Amelia opened the Pandorica of “this is where it get’s complicated” was perfect to inform the viewers and Amelia asto what the plot was going to hold after the credits--if the pre-credit sequence of reliving Eleventh Hour but without the Eleven, no stars, stone Daleks and the Pandorica itself in a museum wasn’t confusing enough! To begin with even I was having trouble keeping up with the mad plot of the episode, the whole idea of the Earth being the only planet in the entire non-existent universe to actually exist, but with the eventual help of the Doctor, as ever, some things were soon made clearer.
It was convenient of River to leave her recently-acquired Vortex Manipulator though, perfect for the Doctor to use once Auton-Rory freed him from the easy-open prison, and the use of the Manipulator was fantastic for the Doctor to zap here and there about the ever decreasing universe, to not only confuse the hell out of Rory, but to do the same with the audience, yet what brilliant writing? To reuse those scenes back in 102 AD in context with the ‘present’ with the Doc in his Fez and the mop--yes, I now have the strong urge to buy myself a Fez--Fezzes are NOW cool!
Moving on… The sequence of River trying to save herself as the TARDIS exploded around her was overly used though--all they needed to go was use the sequence twice, then have the one where the Doctor appears (via Manipulator) and it would have made the same amount of sense as using the sequence a good seven or eight times, and save a minute on air-time, not that I’m complaining about length though--the longer the better!
Zooming ahead in the episode, we finally got to see the apparent continuity error way back in Flesh and Stone, and how exciting was that?! The scene with the tone change and the sudden appearance of the tweed jacket again is put into context with the entire series and makes perfect sense, but poor Doctor to have to do that, realising, knowing, he’ll possibly never exist! You have to feel sorry for the Timelord, but only a little more excited as we relive bits of the whole of the series, something RTD would never have thought about--yes, leave traces of what you want for the finale, but to actually involve the finale itself in the prior episodes, simply genius!
Then of course comes the wedding of Amy with Rory, alive and oh-so human. Overly dramatic Pond, Miss Gillan is still as wonderful as she allows her character to slowly remember the Doctor, in a clever repeat of herself remembering Rory in last week’s episode, and of course with a special appearance of River, leaving her book so Amy can bring the Doc back, just brilliant. And I never before realised that wedding phrase could be used so brilliantly in linking the TARDIS--something old, something new, something borrowed and something blue. Oh, so blue…
Clever Moffat though, notice he didn’t explain why the TARDIS actually exploded, the reason silence would fall or why/when River shoots the ‘best man she’d ever known’, it looks like Series 6 has a lot of explaining to do including who River really is--it’s been announced by the big M (Moffat) on Doctor Who Confidential that we’ll find out exactly who River is next series, so expect more of her to come in S6!
Finally, we get a quick glimpse as to what’s to come at Christmas, and although it can’t remember any of what the Doctor actually said, it seems Christmas is going to be a joyride to watch, with Romy (ie, Rory and Amy) right by his side.
Doctor = 10/10 (can I make it a million out of ten, especially for his dancing at the wedding?)
Amy = 10/10 (it’s all about the Pond.)
Rory = 10/10 (looks like Cold Blood wasn’t going to be the last time I’d get to mark him :D So glad he’s now an official, real, a billion percent companion… and A
my’s hubby.)
River = 8/10 (she’s an enigma, wrapped in a mystery and so on, so I don’t know her to mark her yet, but a random interesting fact: chronologically ordered, this is in fact the first appearance of River in Who)
Plot = 7/10 (mad in places, brilliant in others)
Overall rating for the episode: 1,000,000,000 out of 10--need I say more?
After note: No Who ‘til Christmas! Should I weep or get excited? The latter option feels the better, but that doesn’t mean no more reviews from me, oh no, expect upcoming ‘series’ reviews of shows like Glee, Ashes to Ashes, the entirely of Who Series 5 itself, and of course, ‘episodic’ reviews of the Who Adventure Games! There’s a reason for the ‘plus’ in the URL…
2 comments:
But wouldn't it have ben the case that, had Amy failed to remember the Doctor, there would also have been no-one to remember the Daleks, Cybermen etc.? So by getting her to remember him (in order to bring him back), the Doctor has also unleashed all those negative elements into the universe as well?
Great review as always, Jonno! As you know, I've enjoyed your takes on all the episodes this series. Hope there will be more of them, come Christmas and the next series!
Ricky33012 - that's similar in some ways to the actual myth of Pandora's box, where she caused all the evils of the world to be released, but also hope. :)
- Jen
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