Karen Gillan shows what she can do.
Cast and Crew
Matt Smith as The Doctor
Karen Gillan as Amy Pond
Arthur Darvill as Rory
Josie Taylor as Check-In Girl
Imelda Staunton as the voice of Interface
Written by Tom MacRae
Produced by Marcus Wilson
Directed by Nick Hurran
Originally shown on the 10th of September 2011
Premise
Amy gets stuck in another timestream for thirty-six years.
High Points
- Bad-Ass Amy.
- “You’re Amy. He’s Rory.”
- “If anyone could defeat predestiny, it’s your wife.”
Low Points
- Sorry, how much damage does a torn painting do?
Scores
Originality: The story’s made out of derivative elements, but it feels fresh when they’re all put together. Five out of six.
Effects: I really liked the teleportation effects, and the handbots are great. Unfortunately, the ageing makeup is its usual slightly dodgy thing. Five out of six.
Story: Horrible. Brilliant. Six out of six.
Acting: Karen Gillan really outdid herself this time. Really outdid herself. Six out of six.
Emotional Response: The Amy/Rory dynamic in this episode really got to me. Five out of six.
Production: Good. Six out of six.
Overall: I loved it. Six out of six.
In total, The Girl Who Waited receives thirty-nine out of forty-two.
This episode has me concerned for the future. I really like the Rory/Amy dynamic, and I loved the way they summed that up with her introductory speech about the Last Centurian before the midseason break. My concern is that they just spent an entire episode driving home the power of their relationship with three episodes left in the season. I ask myself: why would they do that now instead of earlier in the season? I answer myself: to make it that much more affecting when the relationship gets torn apart in the not-too-distant future.
I hope I’m wrong.
Hope you are wrong too, but I don’t think you are…
I dunno. They tried to tear Rory and Amy apart before. Heck, Rory DIED. And even THAT didn’t stop them.
What got me was that Arthur Darvill had an interview about this episode (Newsarama, I believe), and he characterized this episode as “Rory’s Choice”, in contrast to last year’s excellent Amy’s Choice. And it works.
I haven’t watched this yet so I’m avoiding the actual review, but can someone tell me if this was part of the season-end arch? If it is I’ll just wait till I have ALL of them and watch them in a row…
It’s a stand-alone story, but some of the character relationships may be setting up for the finale.
Not really. Similar themes from previous episodes but no Riversong.
Thanks! I’ll go watch it and be right back.
Wow. I really loved this episode.
Apart from the painting thing (:
I thought the painting thing was a reference to “City of Death.”
I really loved it too!! :)
It was creepy, sad, really showed Karen’s delightful acting abilities and how important Rory is.
And I LOVED the timey wimey stuff:
This wass the only way they coulda got Amy out. With those horrible robots, neither Rory nor Amy would have survived without the old Amy.
And the old Amy wouldn’t have existed if a previous version of Amy hadn’t refused to help.
And the previous version of Amy didn’t use Rory as a reason to help..
So, what changed between the previous version of Amy and the old version of Amy…
And that change, is that what’s gonna keep our Amy from being bitter and hateful to the Doctor when that which we all (W Blaine, et al) of us see happening to them?
I sure hope so…
Oh my, this was such fantastic sci-fi, and fantastic drama. The consequences of being a time-traveller. An impossible choice. Love! Destiny! Wibbly wobbly, timey wimey! HOW DID DOCTOR WHO GET SO GOOD?
Moffat
Douglas Adams.. ;P