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THE WEDDING OF RIVER SONG

1 episode. Approx. 45 minutes. Written by: Steven Moffat. Directed by:
Jeremy Webb. Produced by: Marcus Wilson.


THE PLOT

It's April 22, 2011, at 5:02 pm, and the Holy Roman Emperor Winston
Churchill (Ian McNeice) is troubled. It's always April 22, 2011, and
it's always 5:02 pm. "Tick-tock goes the clock," Churchill quotes,
"but the clock doesn't tick." He's become aware that something is
wrong with time, and sends for the soothsayer - who he locked up in
the Tower of London for insisting that something was wrong with time.

The soothsayer is, inevitably, the Doctor, and he has a story for
Churchill. A story involving a fixed point in time at Lake Silencio,
on April 22, 2011, at 5:02 pm. The time at which the Doctor was shot
by a spacesuit-clad River Song. Only River didn't shoot him,
disrupting time and causing all of history to happen at once. Now the
Doctor must work with his old companions, or at least their
counterparts in this scrambled universe, to sort out history's
failure, before the entire universe comes apart at the seams.

His reward if he succeeds? The death that was prophesied for him - or
so it would appear...


CHARACTERS

The Doctor: Apparently was energized by his encounter with Craig and
the Cybermen, and has decided to finally push for answers as to why
the Silence wants him dead. This involves killing a Dalek and tossing
its eyestalk onto a countertop as if it were a calling card, then
surviving a Raiders of the Lost Ark-style double-cross inside a crypt.
Once he finds out the nature of "the question" the Silence wish to
suppress, he seems resigned to his fate, and tries to push River to
restart time in order for his death to move forward. Of course,
there's more to his "death" than appeared at the season's start, but
that's no surprise. He may avert his fate, but he does acknowledge
that his reputation has become a liability. "I got too big," he
declares, "Too noisy. Time to step back into the shadows." Back to
being a traveler who simply has adventures, rather than a legendary
warrior who changes the very meaning of the word "Doctor" with his
presence. I look forward to seeing that - though I wonder if either
character or series truly can go back to those simpler times.

Amy: Thanks to living next to the Crack in Time while growing up, she
is able to hold onto her memories of the Doctor even in this bizarre
alternate reality. She also remembers what Kovarian did to both her
and her daughter, and lets out her anger all at once, in a single
memorable moment. The best scene in the episode for both character and
actress, though, comes at the end - a lovely, quiet moment in which
Amy and River share a genuine mother/daughter moment. Really, the only
true mother/daughter moment they've had to date. Given that Alex
Kingston is old enough to be playing Karen Gillan's mother, it's
startling how convincing the relationship plays.

Rory: The Doctor isn't the real hero of Series Six: Rory is. In any
reality, Rory has this season embodied all the greatest virtues:
compassion, decency, patience, and unconditional love for his wife.
All that without the arrogance the Doctor has so often been guilty of.
The scene in which Rory stands at the door, insisting on protecting
Amy, River, and the Doctor even while suffering enormous pain, is
absolutely in keeping with the man who waited century after century
for Amy's return and who couldn't bring himself to sentence Old Amy to
death even to get back his beautiful young wife. I do regret that the
script doesn't even allow him to get a shot off. Yes, Amy saving him
is a cool moment and wonderful to see. But Rory should at least be
allowed to stand for a moment before his fall.

River Song: Has been so affected by the Doctor that even the control
by the Silents' suit can't make her willingly kill him. Which,
ironically, the Doctor considers just as bad a thing as the Silents
do. The Doctor spends the last part of the episode pushing River to
restore the timeline in which he dies... the one thing she is not
willing to do, no matter what it might mean for Time in general.


THOUGHTS

I honestly didn't think Moffat could pull it off.

Although I appreciated the character work (if not the plot) of Closing
Time, I'll admit to some frustration at seeing the finale to such a
complex season being confined to a single episode. So much that had
been planted in the early part of the season, it seemed impossible
that it could be satisfactorily wrapped up in 45 short minutes. I
honestly wondered if Moffat was perhaps admitting that he had reached
too high this season, if he was just going to wrap it up with a quick
throwaway before moving on.

I suppose I should have had more faith. There have been some "off"
episodes here and there. I still think the triggers of Amy's
kidnapping and River's identity were pulled too soon, leaving too much
dead space between the mid-season cliffhanger and the finale. But The
Wedding of River Song does a remarkably good job tying the season
together, while still leaving some questions and tantalizing hints for
next year.

What really surprises me is how The Wedding of River Song manages to
avoid feeling rushed. It moves very quickly, with the momentum that
characterizes most of Moffat's episodes, but not so quickly that
you're strained to keep up. It enjoys the benefit of having so much
set up in Moffat's previous Series Six episodes. We know what happens
by Lake Silencio, we know who River is, and we know that the Silents
want the Doctor dead out of fear of him. With so much groundwork
already laid, this 45-minute episode is left with the luxury of simply
pulling triggers.

The episode's big reveal isn't really how the Doctor avoids actually
"dying." That's fairly mundane plot stuff, and the solution's very
obvious the second a creation from a previous episode reappears. The
important moment comes just a bit earlier, when River shows him in a
big way what Craig tried to make him see in Closing Time: That even if
he isn't perfect, he is a force for good. We get the inverse of last
season's finale. Last year, we saw a universe of his enemies showing
up to ensure his defeat. This time, we see a universe of those he's
helped come to return the favor. Which they do, if only by making him
recognize the enormous amount of good that he's done.


Of course, it is a Steven Moffat episode, so it's also stuffed to the
brim with cool and clever concepts, many of which seem to exist simply
to be cool and clever. For some viewers, I understand that this is a
problem - and I do understand that, particularly if you really want
every moment to "mean something" within the series context. But I find
it rather enjoyable to stuff parallel universes, pterodactyls, and
flying balloon-cars into an episode just because it "looks cool."
Besides, while the alternate reality may be unnecessary (the basic
plot components could have just as easily occurred in "our" universe,
pre-Lake Silencio), it does allow Ian McNeice to show that he really
is a good actor, thanks to appearing prominently in an episode which
doesn't suck. How ironic that "Emperor Winston Churchill" here feels
like a more believable portrayal of Churchill than the cartoon in the
episode that was actually set during World War II.

It's not a perfect finale, and some threads are still left dangling
that shouldn't be. Particularly, Moffat's script never adequately
addresses the gaps that had been left in the opening 2-parter. We
still don't know exactly when Amy was taken, we still don't know when
or why the Doctor dropped Amy and Rory off before the trip to America,
and we still don't know what happened to them during the 3-month gap
between episodes. I don't know whether Moffat had something in mind
that he just didn't have time to address, whether he changed his mind
about something as the season progressed, or whether he just never
came up with anything good enough to adequately fill the gaps.
Regardless, the failure of the finale or any other point in the season
to address what I still believe were deliberate holes in the premiere
is the one failing of this episode, and the one reason why I'm not
ultimately awarding it full marks.

But it is a fine episode, filled with lovely moments. Add in a tribute
to the late Nicholas Courtney's Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart,
perfectly timed so that it not only acts as fan service but also moves
along the plot of the episode, and this is very good work. Not quite
Moffat at his best, but still thoroughly enjoyable.


Rating: 9/10.

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