From Newsgroup: rec.arts.drwho.moderated   
   From Address: jphalt@aol.com   
   Subject: Re: jphalt's Doctor Who reviews   
      
   THE WEDDING OF RIVER SONG   
      
   1 episode. Approx. 45 minutes. Written by: Steven Moffat. Directed by:   
   Jeremy Webb. Produced by: Marcus Wilson.   
      
      
   THE PLOT   
      
   It's April 22, 2011, at 5:02 pm, and the Holy Roman Emperor Winston   
   Churchill (Ian McNeice) is troubled. It's always April 22, 2011, and   
   it's always 5:02 pm. "Tick-tock goes the clock," Churchill quotes,   
   "but the clock doesn't tick." He's become aware that something is   
   wrong with time, and sends for the soothsayer - who he locked up in   
   the Tower of London for insisting that something was wrong with time.   
      
   The soothsayer is, inevitably, the Doctor, and he has a story for   
   Churchill. A story involving a fixed point in time at Lake Silencio,   
   on April 22, 2011, at 5:02 pm. The time at which the Doctor was shot   
   by a spacesuit-clad River Song. Only River didn't shoot him,   
   disrupting time and causing all of history to happen at once. Now the   
   Doctor must work with his old companions, or at least their   
   counterparts in this scrambled universe, to sort out history's   
   failure, before the entire universe comes apart at the seams.   
      
   His reward if he succeeds? The death that was prophesied for him - or   
   so it would appear...   
      
      
   CHARACTERS   
      
   The Doctor: Apparently was energized by his encounter with Craig and   
   the Cybermen, and has decided to finally push for answers as to why   
   the Silence wants him dead. This involves killing a Dalek and tossing   
   its eyestalk onto a countertop as if it were a calling card, then   
   surviving a Raiders of the Lost Ark-style double-cross inside a crypt.   
   Once he finds out the nature of "the question" the Silence wish to   
   suppress, he seems resigned to his fate, and tries to push River to   
   restart time in order for his death to move forward. Of course,   
   there's more to his "death" than appeared at the season's start, but   
   that's no surprise. He may avert his fate, but he does acknowledge   
   that his reputation has become a liability. "I got too big," he   
   declares, "Too noisy. Time to step back into the shadows." Back to   
   being a traveler who simply has adventures, rather than a legendary   
   warrior who changes the very meaning of the word "Doctor" with his   
   presence. I look forward to seeing that - though I wonder if either   
   character or series truly can go back to those simpler times.   
      
   Amy: Thanks to living next to the Crack in Time while growing up, she   
   is able to hold onto her memories of the Doctor even in this bizarre   
   alternate reality. She also remembers what Kovarian did to both her   
   and her daughter, and lets out her anger all at once, in a single   
   memorable moment. The best scene in the episode for both character and   
   actress, though, comes at the end - a lovely, quiet moment in which   
   Amy and River share a genuine mother/daughter moment. Really, the only   
   true mother/daughter moment they've had to date. Given that Alex   
   Kingston is old enough to be playing Karen Gillan's mother, it's   
   startling how convincing the relationship plays.   
      
   Rory: The Doctor isn't the real hero of Series Six: Rory is. In any   
   reality, Rory has this season embodied all the greatest virtues:   
   compassion, decency, patience, and unconditional love for his wife.   
   All that without the arrogance the Doctor has so often been guilty of.   
   The scene in which Rory stands at the door, insisting on protecting   
   Amy, River, and the Doctor even while suffering enormous pain, is   
   absolutely in keeping with the man who waited century after century   
   for Amy's return and who couldn't bring himself to sentence Old Amy to   
   death even to get back his beautiful young wife. I do regret that the   
   script doesn't even allow him to get a shot off. Yes, Amy saving him   
   is a cool moment and wonderful to see. But Rory should at least be   
   allowed to stand for a moment before his fall.   
      
   River Song: Has been so affected by the Doctor that even the control   
   by the Silents' suit can't make her willingly kill him. Which,   
   ironically, the Doctor considers just as bad a thing as the Silents   
   do. The Doctor spends the last part of the episode pushing River to   
   restore the timeline in which he dies... the one thing she is not   
   willing to do, no matter what it might mean for Time in general.   
      
      
   THOUGHTS   
      
   I honestly didn't think Moffat could pull it off.   
      
   Although I appreciated the character work (if not the plot) of Closing   
   Time, I'll admit to some frustration at seeing the finale to such a   
   complex season being confined to a single episode. So much that had   
   been planted in the early part of the season, it seemed impossible   
   that it could be satisfactorily wrapped up in 45 short minutes. I   
   honestly wondered if Moffat was perhaps admitting that he had reached   
   too high this season, if he was just going to wrap it up with a quick   
   throwaway before moving on.   
      
   I suppose I should have had more faith. There have been some "off"   
   episodes here and there. I still think the triggers of Amy's   
   kidnapping and River's identity were pulled too soon, leaving too much   
   dead space between the mid-season cliffhanger and the finale. But The   
   Wedding of River Song does a remarkably good job tying the season   
   together, while still leaving some questions and tantalizing hints for   
   next year.   
      
   What really surprises me is how The Wedding of River Song manages to   
   avoid feeling rushed. It moves very quickly, with the momentum that   
   characterizes most of Moffat's episodes, but not so quickly that   
   you're strained to keep up. It enjoys the benefit of having so much   
   set up in Moffat's previous Series Six episodes. We know what happens   
   by Lake Silencio, we know who River is, and we know that the Silents   
   want the Doctor dead out of fear of him. With so much groundwork   
   already laid, this 45-minute episode is left with the luxury of simply   
   pulling triggers.   
      
   The episode's big reveal isn't really how the Doctor avoids actually   
   "dying." That's fairly mundane plot stuff, and the solution's very   
   obvious the second a creation from a previous episode reappears. The   
   important moment comes just a bit earlier, when River shows him in a   
   big way what Craig tried to make him see in Closing Time: That even if   
   he isn't perfect, he is a force for good. We get the inverse of last   
   season's finale. Last year, we saw a universe of his enemies showing   
   up to ensure his defeat. This time, we see a universe of those he's   
   helped come to return the favor. Which they do, if only by making him   
   recognize the enormous amount of good that he's done.   
      
      
   Of course, it is a Steven Moffat episode, so it's also stuffed to the   
   brim with cool and clever concepts, many of which seem to exist simply   
   to be cool and clever. For some viewers, I understand that this is a   
   problem - and I do understand that, particularly if you really want   
   every moment to "mean something" within the series context. But I find   
   it rather enjoyable to stuff parallel universes, pterodactyls, and   
   flying balloon-cars into an episode just because it "looks cool."   
   Besides, while the alternate reality may be unnecessary (the basic   
   plot components could have just as easily occurred in "our" universe,   
   pre-Lake Silencio), it does allow Ian McNeice to show that he really   
   is a good actor, thanks to appearing prominently in an episode which   
   doesn't suck. How ironic that "Emperor Winston Churchill" here feels   
   like a more believable portrayal of Churchill than the cartoon in the   
   episode that was actually set during World War II.   
      
   It's not a perfect finale, and some threads are still left dangling   
   that shouldn't be. Particularly, Moffat's script never adequately   
   addresses the gaps that had been left in the opening 2-parter. We   
   still don't know exactly when Amy was taken, we still don't know when   
   or why the Doctor dropped Amy and Rory off before the trip to America,   
   and we still don't know what happened to them during the 3-month gap   
   between episodes. I don't know whether Moffat had something in mind   
   that he just didn't have time to address, whether he changed his mind   
   about something as the season progressed, or whether he just never   
   came up with anything good enough to adequately fill the gaps.   
   Regardless, the failure of the finale or any other point in the season   
   to address what I still believe were deliberate holes in the premiere   
   is the one failing of this episode, and the one reason why I'm not   
   ultimately awarding it full marks.   
      
   But it is a fine episode, filled with lovely moments. Add in a tribute   
   to the late Nicholas Courtney's Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart,   
   perfectly timed so that it not only acts as fan service but also moves   
   along the plot of the episode, and this is very good work. Not quite   
   Moffat at his best, but still thoroughly enjoyable.   
      
      
   Rating: 9/10.   
      
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