"The Wedding of River Song" Doctor Who Review (Minor Spoilers)

It all comes down to this. Another season of questions and seemingly impossible ways out for the Doctor. Will it all make sense and more importantly, will the season finale be satisfying?

Some Spoilers

Rather than go into the story I will just point out the good and bad. The good first. The idea that time has faulted and everything exists all at once is interesting in of it self, creating some pretty cool imagery and ideas. The telling of how the world got to this point was a bit jumbled and confusing especially when you start to pick it apart or think about it too much. I love thinking about Moffat's plots but over the past couple of years have accepted that these mega (universe or time is dying) stories are not made for detailed examination. Just accept the ideas and go from there.

Bringing the entire story full circle was actually done well with a fair bit of cheating cop-out with how the Doctor dies. The “last time” at the start of the episode was clearly the answer and really blew any chance of a surprise. Hopefully they don't reveal that tonight for BBC America. The rest of the circle fits together relatively well and I have little to complain about.

The heartbreaking phone call the Doctor makes was welcome and moving. The scene where Rory faces off against the Silence is excellent as is Amy and Rivers talk toward the end of the episode.

The writing finally addresses Amy's feelings toward her baby and River with some key moments including her confrontation with the babies kidnappers and that scene at the end. The wedding, death of the Doctor and so on, all seem to link well with the rest of the continuity of the series, at least from my shallow look back.

For the bad I will have to say that Steven Moffat seems to be bring the viewers to an almost impossible cliffhanger and conclusion, only to sort of reset everything. The ending is virtually just like last season. The ending is almost like the dreaded “The Last of the Timelord” as millions of people confess their hope and love for the Doctor. This has been done enough for the next few decades so enough self congratulation and self love for the series. The Doctor is great, we know that already... enough telling us that over and over again please.

There is a feeling of a let down. This story was not nearly as bad as “A Good Man Goes to War” but not anywhere near as good as some of the best of the season like “The Doctor's Wife” and “The Girl Who Waited.” I can just hope that someday we will have a season without a huge upcoming problem – end of time, end of the universe, end of the Doctor, etc. Let's hope for something not as massive and ridiculous because we all know that these ends are not going to happen. Perhaps it is time for the show to address the death of a companion. They hinted at this with “Stolen Earth” and this did energize the tension. Sure, this is a gimmick but it is more affective than something that we know we won't lose. Even if the companion does not die, at least that is something we all know could happen and viewers will be more invested and nervous and tense on the outcome of this than “All of everything will cease!!!” blah, blah, who cares.

Back to this story - Moffat does a pretty good job putting this all together and hopefully things will go on without too many unanswered questions. Still, the ending leaves us with a bigger question, the biggest ever for Doctor Who.

I apologize for my title photo, I usually try to create something that is original and not as staged like the BBC promos but I ended up creating an almost duplicate of the official photo, just a bit different.  I have had little time and limited resources since I have been working on the reviews for the same day release.  In the past I found other photos and worked on wallpapers on the Sunday and had more time to do something different.  I can't always keep up with this so that is why some of the "covers" weren't that good or different.