Doctor Who: Flesh and Stone

Basically, with a Doctor Who story, you know what's going to happen. Barring the odd exception, the Doctor and his companion will survive and fly off in the TARDIS at the end. The joy isn't so much in where the journey ends up, but rather in getting there.

And Flesh and Stone presented quite a journey.

Don't get me wrong, it wasn't flawless. The plot felt less immaculate that in previous Moffat stories. There were a couple of easy coincidences, something that was especially pronounced with the rescue of Amy via the teleport. Now Moffat is writing more, there's been a slight dip in the quality of his plots. But hey ho. At least his plotting remains more effective than his predecessor's. Flesh and Stone's solution was woven throughout the preceding episodes, and it wasn't ended with the Doctor flicking a big switch, as happened far too often under RTD. Furthermore, the Weeping Angels weren't used as effectively as they had been in Blink or even in The Time of Angels. To some extent, they could have been replaced with any adversary. I suppose we should be grateful that the Angels at least look scary when they are stalking the cast. Unlike, say, the frickin' Slitheen.

But there was so much to enjoy in the episode as well. Not least the Eleventh Doctor, who comes across as a truly alien character - none more so than when he tells Amy that she is dying because he can't see any point in lying to her. If anything, it is this sort of thing that helps to expose David Tennant's biggest weakness as the Doctor - at times he was too human. There doesn't seem to be any chance of Smith repeating that weakness.

Furthermore, the episode developed the story arc at the same time as advancing it. We know what the crack is, and we now know what caused it. But we don't know the exact circumstances, and it seems to be clear that the Doctor now needs to keep Amy away from her wedding day. And River Song seemed to be suggesting that she killed one the best men she has ever known... well, that sounds a lot like... the Doctor to me. But maybe that's too obvious. We'll have to wait and see. But now the question is not just "who is River Song?", but also "what is she going to do, and who is she going to do it to?"

Talking about doing stuff to other people... My, my, wasn't Amy frisky at the end of the episode? Companions have fancied the Doctor before. Hell, under the last Doctor, it was almost compulsory. But is has always been a sort of platonic love; one that could be satisfied with a kiss. Not so for Pond. She wanted the Doctor. Not to love him, more to have him. And Matt Smith played the Doctor's response perfectly - the panic of a man who can see off Daleks, Weeping Angels, and Cybermen, but doesn't know how to respond to the suggestion of a one-night stand.

And I do wonder what parents across the country were saying when their tiny tots turned to them and asked "mummy/daddy, what's Amy trying to do to the Doctor?"

All in all, a great little episode of the best thing on TV. And perhaps its greatest success is that it has left me wanting more.