I’m going to warn you right off the bat that this review/recap will be full fo spoilers (with one crazy theory attached at the end). If you haven’t seen the episode yet, you are probably going to want to stop here and wait until you do. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.
The first episode of season 6 of Doctor Who starts with the whole gang being reunited… in Utah. The Doctor wants them all to take a trip – to 1969, which is the year of the moon landing.
The only thing we knew going in to this episode was that someone was supposed to die. Less than 10 minutes in and we see that it is the Doctor. Obviously this has to be some kind of cheat episode where we kill him but then find a way to bring him back or make it so it never happens (or does it?). Whether this all sorts itself out or not, it’s still a phenomenal way to start a season, killing off the title character.
Or so it seems…
It would seem a future incarnation of the Doctor recruited Rory, Amy, River, and a past version of himself to work together – but for what?! All I can say is Wibbly-Wobbly Timey-Wimey. I love time travel!
The rest of the episode drops our group in the middle of the White House and a problem Nixon is having with a mystery caller. The sight of the Doctor sitting behind the desk in the oval office, looking like he runs the whole country is absolutely brilliant!
The Silence is our recurring villain, which was introduced last season and is finally being revealed now. They are truly terrifying creatures that seem to play with people’s memories. The person only seems to be able to remember the Silence if they are face-to-face. This is mostly likely going to be a recurring theme for this season, so we’re going to have to pay special attention to each detail.
The end of the episode has two big reveals – 1) Amy tells the Doctor that she is pregnant. 2) It turns out that the astronaut is the same little girl that has been President Nixon’s mystery caller. There’s almost definitely more to this story, but we’re going to have to wait until next week to find out what it is.
Now, after seeing the episode, my question is – could the astronaut be River when she is a young girl? She says at one point that she kills “a very good man”. She also says they meet for the first time when she is “very young”. We see at the end of this episode that it is a little girl in the astronaut suit. Finally, it has been hinted (if not explicitly said) that the Doctor comes to River when he knows he is going to die. (Sorry, I would have to watch Silence in the Library again to get everything exactly right). Going back to my theory though – Does it fit in River’s timeline if somehow she is the astronaut, and the Doctor knows she is the one meant to kill him in that time and place? I know it’s hard to believe, but I’ve thought it through and it all seems to fit. I would love to hear your thoughts on this possibly crazy theory.
i’m pretty sure the doctor went to river when he knew SHE was going to die. 🙂
but yeah i think that it’s river in the astronaut suit too
I’d have to watch the episode again to be sure, but I could have interpreted it wrong. I suppose that way would make more sense.
Hey, Christine, this is Rob from RobWillReview. Just read your post over again and had another thought that adds even more credence to this theory (even though I’m still not sure if I think River is the astronaut or not)…The first time we saw River in “Silence in the Library,” she was in a spacesuit! It seems very Mofatt to have that sort of thing come full-circle. On the other hand, he might be just playing with the imagery here to misdirect, for that exact purpose. Still, thought that was very cool and worth mentioning!
I hadn’t thought of that right away, but I do find that pretty cool too. Thanks for the input!
Interesting theory. I thought it was a great episode. As for the astronaut? At first i thought it was the doctor (which is why you don’t see) but you’r missing the bigger picture… Why did the doctor let himself be killed? The identity of the killer is slightly less important than what happens as a result-or what wouldn’t happen if he wasn’t killed in those circumstances. I assume he knew the circumstances and the fallout which is why he said don’t do anything no matter what happens.
One question reveals a variety of questions!
I don’t think either of them are pregnant by the way, it has something to do with the silence.
I assume he lets himself be killed because he knows it is something that needs to happen or timelines get screwed up, etc. It would be interesting to explore the alternative universe where he lives past that moment.
Personally, I don’t find these kinds of plots very engaging. It’s not like Agatha Christie where there are clues left for you to construct sufficiently grounded scenarios to solve a mystery. And the classic writers provided realistic denouements. Example 1: how did the Doctor delay the development of the Daleks? He blew up the first generation of mutants in Davros’ lab. Example 2: how did the Doctor defeat Magnus Greel? By destroying the key to the time cabinet and disabling the equipment. Example 3: how did the Doctor save Peri from spectrox toxemia and escape Sharaz Jek? By enquiring about the cure and obtaining the appropriate medicine and by Sharaz Jek dying in the attack on his base.
Steven Moffat’s last few stories require resolutions which actually depend on the author introducing unforeseeable magic factors beyond the details of the scenario. Example 1: how is the Doctor going to stop the universe from disappearing? Oh, didn’t you know that the Pandorica had a never heard of before magic facility to restore all of space and time if necessary? Aren’t I a clever writer? Example 2: how did the Doctor get out of the Pandorica? Oh, he got himself out by being given a screwdriver which he sent to himself after he got out with the screwdriver he sent to himself. Aren’t I clever? Example 3: how did the Doctor prevent the space freighter from crashing? The sonic screwdriver yet again saves the day by doing something in explicable to clear the clouds. Isn’t that clever?
These kinds of plot solutions are not clever, they’re childish. They certainly aren’t surprising because they lack that degree of practical believability necessary to satisfy a viewer. You might as well have a fairy godmother descend on the next plot to save the day. The deus ex machina plot solution is far from a genuinely satisfactory resolution. It’s like having a completely unknown and unforeseeable character walk into a murder mystery five minutes before the end and claim the title of murderer. It’s all just an irritating an easy way out for an author who has not cleverly hidden a mystery: he’s just not given you any prior reference and not at all cleverly.
Steven Moffat could have got me to wonder about “who shot D.r.” if his last few plot resolutions had been grounded on predicaments with realistic solutions. His recent efforts give me no expectation of anything but yet another “wave a magic wand” or “jack in the box” solution so I’m not really interested in whether it was himself, his companions or anyone else who did it.
Where exactly do you get the name ‘silence’ for the creatures in the episode?
Originally it was just an assumption, but it was confirmed by the BBC
http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/dw/characters/The_Silence