To say this second year into Matt Smith's tenure as The Doctor has been unusual is an understatement; all manner of weird and wonderful supporting characters, from the sublime Chirsitine Chong as Lorna Bucket to the bonkers but brilliant Lilly Cole as The Siren, not to mention mind bending time-streams put into play by The Doctor, River, Amy and Madame Kavarian, so there was a lot riding on this finale and, in this humble reviewers opinion, Mr Moffatt delivered on the action and emotion while still leaving enough room for the characters to breath and grow in the future.
Although still not quite able to recover from the departure of the wonderful David Tenant, some biewers have had trouble adjusting to Smith's rather schizophrenic and emotionally erratic Doctor, but as this is no ordinary sci-fi, we have to allow the rules of "proper" drama to apply: this is a man who has spent four of the most turbulent years of his life surrounded by the people he loves, only to go into self-imposed exile in order to save those same people, so it is no surprise that it would take more than one series for his character to settle in any way (if at all). And this is where I will defend Matt Smith, and his skill as an actor to intentionally play the Doctor as a man trapped in his own mind most of the time, a past he can't escape, and now in the shape of the beautiful River Song, played with effortlless, scene-stealing brilliance by Alex Kingston, a future-past-future he is very wary of. Add to this Rivers true identity and her connection to Amy and Rory, and it's no surprise the man is a bit off-kilter.
So Saturday's finale was a relief, leaving me with a contented glow that we have only just scene the "new" Doctor finally come into his own, as Amy, Rory and River/Melody refuse to take a fixed point in time for an answer and literally risk reality to save him. The return of the Teselecta was a neat trick, as was Ian McNiece as the most adorable screen incarnation of Winston Churchill to date, and throwing in some genuinely arresting visuals of a parallel world where "all of history is happening at ionce". And although it is hard to upstage such a naturally magnetic actress as Ms Kingston, seemingly young and old at once, it was a welcome departure to see Karen Gillan and Arthur Darvill play against charcter type, "Captain" Williams brave and steadfast and Amy taking on a role more suited to her future daughter, her utterence of the word "Sweetie" being a million miles from the playful pronunciations of River, and the look on Kavarian's face priceless. And likewise, watching River run almost the entire emotional gamut in in the space of five minutes, down to the worlds most ad-hoc wedding, was quite a treat, especially to see the heart behind the brains and balls.
And so to the "oldest question in the universe"; for those not aclimatised to Smith's Doctor, this could have been a potentially disastrous suggestion, but needless to say Moffatt is savvy enough writer to use this as a breather and not an ending, and also an audacious but welcome use of the shows title, and I'm sure I'm not the only viewer who had a wry smile at not guessing what was "hidden in plain sight". Matt Smith has truly arriver and, even if we potentially have to lose Alex Kingston, we know that we are in safe hands with him, Gillan and Darvill. Roll on Christmas.
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