basics...Matt Smith returns as Doctor Who for a series split in two (There's no time poetry corner!). Opening with the Doctor's supposed future death, witnessed by Amy, Rory (full time companion now!) and River Song, the first part of the series ends with Amy giving birth and a revelation about who her daughter actually is. The second part of the series builds to the Doctor's inevitable end... or does it?
brilliant...
The on-going saga concerning the identity of River Song gets a whole lot of answers this series, some of which I really should have seen coming, but mostly you only realise they were obvious moments before they are revealed. The increased presence of River and of the excellent Rory meant that the Amy-Doctor love story got less screentime, a good thing, and even better everytime you thought Amy was pining for her raggedy Doctor she actually wanted her loving husband. Aside from the ongoing story there were some top notch 'monster of the week' episodes, from the chilling minotaur/hotel/purgatory one, to the funny James Corden one, and all those ones back at the beginning of the year that have slipped my mind. It was good to see new monsters pushed above series favourites, such as the Gentlemen-like Silence, effectively creepy, and the sinister lady with the eye patch. The whole 'Amy's not really with the Doctor' bit in the first part of the series was audacious and I'll need to rewatch those episodes, like I will a lot of these, to fully grasp what's going on.
One of the problems with Stephen Moffatt at the helm of Doctor Who is his propensity for time travel stories that completely confuse and discombobulate. I'm utterly baffled as to how River's time stream works. The rapid fire delivery of explanations by Matt Smith don't always have time to sink in before another explosion's happening or someone cracks a joke. Of course, watching Doctor Who one already has one's disbelief suspended, but sometimes you want to try to make some sense of the story!
briefly...
A return to form after last series, where I felt grumpy Amy dominated, proves that Doctor Who needs non-young-female companions to truly soar. Splitting the series in half made for effective, suspensful cliff-hangers too.
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