Doctor Who Series 6 Episode 2 - Day Of The Moon (Part 2) - Review
Starring: Matt Smith, Karen Gillan, Arthur Darvill, Alex Kingston & Mark Sheppard
Written By: Steven Moffat
Directed By: Toby Haynes
Welcome back to my review of The Impossible Astronaut and Day Of The Moon. You can find my review of Part 1 here:
So let's waste no more time and crack straight on with Part 2: Day Of The Moon.
Picking
up three months after the events of The Impossible
Astronaut, Day Of The Moon
begins with Canton
hunting down Amy, Rory and River across America, whilst the Doctor is
kept prisoner in Area 51. While at first it looks like Canton is working
against them, he is in fact gathering the four back together now that
they have finished their research into how far the Silence have taken
control. Now that the main characters know the Silence are
already in control of the planet, its up to the Doctor and his
companions to lead a revolution to overthrow them.
Kicking
this episode off with a three-month gap is a really good idea, allowing us to start with an action-packed opening as opposed to
resolving last week's cliff-hanger straight away. The opening shots of
Amy being chased through Utah are really dramatic, whilst also
raising yet further questions,
and in particular, what has changed Canton's motives. Unfortunately, this never
happens. While the opening is great, it relies on some strange lapses in logic, as Canton's motives don't
make sense. Why is Canton having to hunt down, and pretend to kill
Amy, Rory and River, if, as it's later revealed, he's working with
President Nixon? This isn't the only thing here that makes no sense, and later on, the scene with the hologram of the Silent in the TARDIS makes no
sense in the way its presented.
However,
with the exception of their scene in the TARDIS, the Silence are really
well-handled here, just as well as they were last week. Something that works far better is the scenes of
the Silence in the childrens' home, which are just eerie, not to mention the fact that share some
brilliant atmospheric lighting and effective direction. The idea of
Dr. Renfrew losing years of his life to the Silence is legitimately
creepy, and something that I wish could have been expanded on a
little more. At this point, I imagine the Silence will return at some point in
Series 6, and I'm glad, because while they are well-handled here,
there are still some many unanswered questions around them, and a lot
of room for development.
The subplot concerning Amy's
pregnancy isn't that great. After being established in a laughably bad scene last week, it doesn't get any better here. (Spoiler Warning!) Amy later tells the Doctor that she was wrong and
wasn't really pregnant. What the hell!? Admittedly it is later revealed that even the
TARDIS appears unsure, and I'm certain this subplot will be developed
as the series goes on, but Amy telling the Doctor that she isn't really pregnant, is one of the worst pay-offs you could ask for. In the childrens' home, there's a scene where Amy sees photos of herself with a baby, and this seems to be a bit too much a spoiler, as it seems to pretty much confirm that Amy is
in pregnant.
Perhaps the best scene, and easily the best moment of this two-parter, is how the Silence are overthrown. (Spoiler Warning!) The moment that the moon-landing footage changes
to footage of a Silent is wonderful to watch. You can see why the Doctor was so confident, and it's clear that the Silence know that they are
in BIG trouble. It's such a clever yet Doctor-like way of defeating them, and I really love it. This is made all the better thanks to a powerful performance
from Matt Smith, and the very impressive battle scene that follows. Speaking
of performances, both Matt Smith and Alex Kingston work brilliantly
off each other again, and the two share some great chemistry.
While not exactly original anymore, the flirting between the Doctor
and River, particularly before the Doctor confronts the Silence, is
still fun to watch and raises a smile. At the same time, the two can
also deliver some emotionally gutting scenes, in particular the Doctor's
first kiss with River. What was the first kiss for the Doctor, is the
last kiss for River, due to their opposing timelines. The
scene itself is beautifully written and heart-breaking, but the look
on River's face is really what makes the scene a tearjerker.
Once the TARDIS heads off into time and space, the
episode concludes with a scene that is guaranteed to get the fandom
buzzing with excitement, and for good reason. The closing shot of the
little girl from the spacesuit regenerating is a stroke of pure
genius from Steven Moffat. I'm so keen to see where
this is going throughout the rest of the series, and I'm sure there are many outlandish theories as to who she is. But while I am excited to find out, I have a few worries in my
head at this point in time. Steven Moffat has left us with a lot of unanswered questions here, not to mention the fact that there are still some questions from Series 5 that have yet to see an answer. From this two-parter alone, we're left asking who is the regenerating little girl, why were the Silence in control of the TARDIS seen in The Lodger, is Amy really pregnant, who is River Song and who is the "Eye Patch Lady" that we get a brief glimpse of? These are questions that need answers, and I'm not keen on the idea of them being carried over to Series 7, so it may be difficult to answer them before this series draws to a close.
But
as of now, is The Impossible Astronaut and
Day Of The Moon a good start to Series 6? Setting aside
some worries about where certain recurring themes and questions are going, this is
a pretty solid opening. Series 6 has certainly started with a bang,
introduced some fantastic and interesting new villains, while also
ramping up the creepiness. There are a small number of
plot holes to be found and the subplot concerning Amy's pregnancy was
poorly set up, but the way the Silence were overthrown was simply
amazing, and the hype that the twist ending has generated is
certainly deserved. For the rest of the series though, the writing
team do need to answer quite a few questions in the span of eleven
more episodes.
Final Score for The Impossible Astronaut and Day Of The Moon
7/10
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