The Doctor must rise to the challenge to drive the stealth aliens away. We join our intrepid trio (plus one Canton Everett Delware III and Dr. River Song) being chased down one by one. The Doctor is locked up in Area 51, slowly being sealed inside the perfect prison, while Rory, Amy, and River are being hunted down by Canton. What?!
No spoilers this time. All I’m going to tell you is the aliens are very old and as mentioned in the first episode, you don’t remember them once you don’t see them. Well, the Doctor has a way around that – no spoilers.
We’re still trying to piece together who the little girl is that keeps calling the President and why. She’s traced to an orphanage run by a Mr. Renfru who looks like he just came out of the 60’s horror movies. The aliens are among him, but of course, he doesn’t know it. We learn a little more about the girl which only adds more questions than answers at this point.
Thanks to some clever writing (and editing) we know the aliens are called the Silence. The editing is to help us, the viewers, remember that the Doctor has heard that term before. Talk about great ways to latch on to previous hooks! How many more are sitting back there just waiting to be pulled in to a major story line? They’re worse than these aliens, me thinks.
Major likes: How they latched on to the “glitch” in the audio from the moon landing right between “…one small step for man pfft, one giant leap for mankind…” BRILLIANT. This is where DVRs come in really handy so I can pause and explain that to Julie. Now she’ll never forget it, when she hears the clip. Just like the “Family of Blood” where the little girl is hiding in the bevel of the mirror.
I also loved the scene where Nixon comes in to rescue the President and Rory, looking totally 60’s dorked out with horn-rimmed glasses, breaks the lunar landing module model.
The final scene is also great when Nixon asks about the future, but the Doctor refuses to provide any information. “Will I be remembered?” and the Doctor responds affirmatively and tells him to say hello to Robert Frost. Classic!
So what about these “aliens”. Why does the Doctor want to get rid of them? Just because they’ve been influencing us for a very long time (minor spoiler, sorry.) If we drive them away, then what happens? Do we suddenly stagnate to another dark ages? Maybe that’s what happened during the dark ages, no influence from intelligent beings providing us with post-hypnotic suggestions. Hmmmm.
The writers certainly are messing with us about Amy’s relationship between Rory and the Doctor. What she says is highly directed toward the Doctor and while Rory is listening in remotely, he finds out that Amy hasn’t been more open with the Doctor about personal matters. IMHO, Rory caves in a little too quickly on both accounts. Maybe he’s ultra-non-jealous or something. NOT! He waited 2000 years for the woman. What would you do if you waited that long and found out she has feelings for another man. Perhaps his rage will come out in a future episode. Wish wish wish.
And what about this little girl. The final scene in the alley way will leave you scratching your head. The Doctor’s scan of Amy certainly was suspicious positive/negative/positive/negative – just have her pee in a cup like we do now. Forget the TARDIS – you can hardly drive the dang thing. The last scene will certainly make you suspicious about what happened before Rory joined the TARDIS crew.
Damn you writers – leaving us with questions and more hooks!
Rating: 9.5/10
