‘THE ANGELS TAKE MANHATTAN’

Please feel free to comment on my review.

Weeping Angels with the Eleventh Doctor, Amy, Rory and River

This episode by Steven Moffat is the last adventure with Amy and Rory travelling with the Doctor. I felt emotionally saddened by Amy and Rory’s departure and the cast’s performances are well done.

‘The Angels Take Manhattan’ also features the return of the Weeping Angels taking over New York in 1938. This is a terrifying episode with the Angels, including the Statue of Liberty who is also an Angel.

The Doctor, Amy and Rory find themselves in a death-chilling confrontation with the Angels. It also features one of the most heart-breaking departures I have seen in ‘Doctor Who’ with Amy and Rory.

Alex Kingston returns as River Song, who is now a Professor. This story, in terms of River’s continuity, is set between ‘The Time of Angels’/’Flesh and Stone’ and ‘Silence in the Library’/’Forest of the Dead’.

River is there to see her parents Amy and Rory before they leave. Disguised as Melody Malone, she writes a thriller novel for the Doctor to read in Manhattan 2012, before coming back in time to 1938.

Mike McShane guest stars as crime boss Grayle. He’s initially concerned with the statues in 1938 Manhattan, before it transpires he has been keeping one Weeping Angel in his office as a ‘girlfriend’.

Rob David guest stars as P.I. Sam Garner. He meets a future older version of himself at the Winter Quay apartments that becomes his resting place of death, as he gets sent back in time by the Angels.

The Winter Quay also becomes the death place for Rory Williams, as he sees a future version of himself dying in bed. This was a shock for me, as this was the beginning of the end for Amy and Rory.

Being chased by Angels, Rory attempts to change his death by committing suicide and fall off the top of the Winter Quay to break the paradox. A really emotional scene ensues between Rory and Amy.

Amy, who is trembling with emotion, joins Rory, as they both fall off the building, much to the Doctor’s horror. But the paradox is broken and Amy and Rory are alive, much to the Doctor’s delight.

They all return to the cemetery where the Doctor had left the TARDIS in 2012. Rory sees his own gravestone before he is sent back in time by a surviving Weeping Angel, which was a shock to watch.

What follows is a gut-wrenching, heart-breaking goodbye between Amy and the Doctor. She looks away and gets zapped back in time to join Rory and live the rest of her life with him before they die.

The Doctor sees Amy and Rory’s names on their gravestone and becomes immensely heartbroken before he and River leave in the TARDIS. I felt sad after watching how Amy and Rory leave the series.

The Doctor eventually manages to find an afterword written by Amy in River’s ‘Melody Malone’ novel. This was a sweet, final farewell from Amy and Rory to the Doctor since they clearly loved him.

‘The Angels Take Manhattan’ is one of the most heart-wrenching episodes I’ve seen. It’s a fitting farewell for two well-loved companions of the Eleventh Doctor who I’ve grown to like over the years.

Certainly in this first half of Series 7, Amy and Rory have become better characters compared to the previous seasons they were in. I wish I could have appreciated them more in the other episodes.

After ‘The Angels Take Manhattan’, there’s a trailer for the 2012 Christmas Special called ‘The Snowmen’. I was looking forward to seeing Jenna Coleman appear properly as Clara in Series 7. The DVD/Blu-ray special features for this episode are as follows. There’s the ‘A Fall with Grace’ behind-the-scenes featurette. There’s the ‘Doctor Who at Comic Con’ featurette and there’s ‘The Last Days of the Ponds’ behind-the-scenes featurette, featuring interviews with Matt Smith, Karen Gillan and Arthur Darvill.

Series 7 – Part 1 is a fairly good collection of episodes that mark the end of Amy and Rory’s travels in the TARDIS with the Eleventh Doctor. The first five episodes of Series 7 clearly depict the Eleventh Doctor TARDIS trio in a better light and there are more compelling stories to enjoy from this season.

Matt Smith, Karen Gillian and Arthur Darvill are very good as the Eleventh Doctor, Amy and Rory in the first five stories of Series 7 of ‘Doctor Who’. It marks the end of a chapter in the Eleventh Doctor’s life, and I was looking forward to seeing how his era continued with him meeting Jenna Coleman as Clara. 🙂

‘The Angels Take Manhattan’ rating – 8/10

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The previous story For the Eleventh Doctor was ‘The Broken Man’ (Comic) For Amy was ‘The Broken Man’ (Comic) For Rory was ‘The Broken Man’ (Comic) For River Song was ‘Carnival of Angels’ (DRS) (Audio)	The next story For the Eleventh Doctor is ‘Bite of the Morphuse!’ (Comic) For Amy is ‘The Ruby’s Curse’ (Book/Audio) For Rory is ‘The Ruby’s Curse’ (Book/Audio) For River Song is ‘The Legacy of Time’ (Audio)
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