‘THE WEDDING OF RIVER SONG’

Please feel free to comment on my review.

The Eleventh Doctor weds River Song with Amy and Rory

N.B.: Watch the prequel for ‘The Wedding of River Song’ before this episode.

Series 6 of ‘Doctor Who’ comes to a close in ‘The Wedding of River Song’. Most of the questions from the start of the season get answered here in this story. But not all of them, as more are to come.

I saw this episode by Steven Moffat on a Saturday evening at home. I wish this season finale had been a two-parter, since it felt like everything was crammed into one episode to give all the answers.

In the episode, time has stopped. It’s the 22nd of April 2011. But time’s gone wrong, as every piece of history has merged into one. The Doctor knows what’s happening and it’s all River Song’s fault.

The answer is given as to why the Doctor died on Lake Silencio in Utah at the start of ‘The Impossible Astronaut’. It turns out it wasn’t the Doctor who died at all! It was…I won’t reveal it to avoid ‘spoilers’.

I like how this episode resolves what happened during ‘The Impossible Astronaut’ and what happened when the Doctor ‘died’. But it would have been nice had this been a two-part story instead.

The Teselecta makes a return in this ‘Doctor Who’ episode. The Teselecta was the shape-shifting robot that appeared in ‘Let’s Kill Hitler’. It turns out that it holds the key on how the Doctor had died.

The episode also features Ian McNeice as Winston Churchill, who has now become a Roman Emperor in the alternative timeline when time has stopped. He seems to know that something is wrong.

Simon Fisher-Becker also appears as Dorium Maldovar… Wait! Hang on! Wasn’t he beheaded in ‘A Good Man Goes To War’? Oh, it turns out his head survived…and he’s now a talking head…which is strange.

Dorium also reveals some more secrets about the Doctor’s future. He tells the Doctor that ‘silence will fall’ when he goes to Trenzalore and he tells him what the first question is. What is it though? 😐

Karen Gillan as Amy and Arthur Darvill as Rory make a return in this episode. They appear in this alternative timeline where time has stopped, as they help the Doctor to sort out the deadly Silence.

Alex Kingston also returns as River Song. River is responsible for causing time to stop, since she refused to kill the Doctor, the man she loves. She won’t listen to the Doctor, as he tries to touch her.

Frances Barber also returns as the evil Madame Kovarian. It’s clear that Kovarian is gleefully evil and delights in tormenting the Doctor and his friends. She’s annoyed when River doesn’t kill the Doctor.

The Silence makes a return in this ‘Doctor Who’ episode. The Silent aliens remain pretty terrifying, especially when breaking out of their water-filled cells and they attack Amy, Rory and everyone else.

I liked the moment when Amy saves Rory’s life, even after the Silence taunt Rory that she isn’t coming back for him. Amy uses a machine gun to gun the Silence down and she even kills Kovarian.

The actual ‘wedding’ of River Song…isn’t actually a wedding at all. It’s Amy and Rory giving their consent to let the Doctor and River marry and they kiss each other before time resumes once more.

By the way, I like the tribute made to the Brigadier in the episode when the Doctor phones for him and learns he passed away. It was touching, as Nicholas Courtney had not long passed away in 2011.

‘The Wedding of River Song’ is a decent finale to Series 6. It would have been better if this was a two-parter, but I’m pleased that it resolved some of the questions that were hanging in the air from the start.

The DVD/Blu-ray special features for this episode are as follows. There’s an audio commentary with Frances Barber, writer Steven Moffat and director Jeremy Webb. There’s the prequel for ‘The Wedding of River Song’ with Alex Kingston as River Song. There are also two trailers for Series 6, including a Part 1 trailer and a Part 2 trailer. And there’s the ‘Doctor Who Confidential’ episode ‘When Time Froze’. There’s also the ‘Doctor Who Confidential’ documentary ‘A Night’s Tale’, which looks at the making of the first two ‘Night and the Doctor’ mini-episodes and the ‘Space’/’Time’ two-part Comic Relief special.

Series 6 of ‘Doctor Who’ has been a pretty convoluted season indeed. I eventually enjoyed the episodes and I’m pleased to see answers to questions resolved in the final episode. But I still don’t consider this to be my favourite season of ‘Doctor Who’, since there was so much to take in one go!

I’ve re-watched Series 6 especially to review it, and I’ve been able to gain a clearer grasp and understanding of the plot concerning what was going on with Steven Moffat’s jigsaw puzzle of a story arc. Matt Smith’s Doctor was growing on me and it was a matter of time before I got to enjoy him more.

‘The Wedding of River Song’ rating – 7/10

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The previous story For the Eleventh Doctor was ‘Closing Time’ (TV) For Amy was ‘Closing Time’ (TV) For Rory was ‘Closing Time’ (TV) For River Song was ‘Closing Time’ (TV) ‘The Time of Angels’/’Flesh and Stone’ (TV)	The next story For the Eleventh Doctor is ‘The Impossible Astronaut’/’Day of the Moon’ (TV) For Amy is ‘The Doctor, The Widow and The Wardrobe’ (TV) For Rory is ‘The Doctor, The Widow and The Wardrobe’ (TV) For River Song is ‘R&J’ (TLOCJ) ‘Monster Files: Weeping Angels’ (Webcast)
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