Doctor Who - The Girl Who Waited

Originally slated to air second this season, will this episode answer some of our questions about Amy Pond. Can we have a good Amy story this time out? Well Tom Macrae (Rise of the Cybermen, Age of Steel) has a chance to deliver an excellent story for us..

Mild Spoilers

This story took me by surprise because I thought it was connected to the whole Melody Pond ongoing storyline and thankfully it wasn't. Instead we got a temporal mistake that ends up creating two separate timelines and two Amy's from different times. While this normally could lead to hijinks and wink-wink moments it instead presents the viewers with a powerful story on every level.

I want to say that Arthur Darvill (Rory) and Karen Gillan (Amy) were outstanding in this story. I would expect tons of actor and actress nominations up and down the board for this story. Matt Smith is also superb. The setting and effects compliment the story which features some of the best cinematography for the series ever. Moments such as Rory and older Amy at the TARDIS door and the fade between the two Amys as well as older Amy and Earth are incredible scenes. The slow motion fight toward the TARDIS is of motion picture quality and director Nick Hurran should probably get credit for the look of this story.

Anyone not moved by the emotion of all the characters involved probably doesn't get Doctor Who as this is one of the best stories dealing with the impact of time travel on the TARDIS crew. Everything that happens makes perfect sense and all the characters do what they should do given the situation. The dialog is crisp and well timed by the performers. This is the first episode this season that I feel like watching again right away.

The story has an interesting temporal paradox to handle and writer Tom Macrae handles this as well as anyone, including the Moff himself. You throw in all the emotion of the situations and it is just superb. I could go on but really what else is there to say. Next week's looks good as well but I am not sure we are going to see something along this caliber for a while. An instant classic up there with “The Girl in the Fireplace” and “Blink.”