Doctor Who: The Wedding of River Song

Now, there are certain very dramatic things that a writer can do in their show. Killing off the lead character is certainly one. Especially if that happens in the opening episode of the series, swiftly followed by a slow countdown to that actually happening within the overall narrative. And the drama is only intensified if it is a lead character of a show that has been running for 48 years with that same lead character at the heart of it (albeit played by different actors of varying levels of talent). As openings go, the murder of the Doctor on the side of Lake Silencio is a pretty impressive way to open up a season of Doctor Who. It does also make the season finale very difficult to write, and to pull off in a way that will convince even just some of the viewers, let alone all of them. So, how did Moffat get on with it all, then?

First up, you have to admire the ambition of this episode. To create a universe of static time, where Area 52 is installed by the USA in a pyramid, where Churchill has become and remains Caesar (and spends at least some time dancing with Cleopatra), and where an unexpectedly alive Doctor is a bearded soothsayer imprisoned in the Tower of London requires a pretty hyperactive imagination. Of course, sometimes ambition doesn't quite pay off in Doctor Who - if only in terms of the realisation, as evidenced here by the hot-air balloon Minis flying across London at the start of this episode. They looked very cartoon-like; so much so that it was slightly distracting. Yeah, we know they are not real, but do they really have to look that unreal? But overall the attempt to create an alternate universe worked well forever existing in the same second was nice, and a brilliant concept to boot. It was nice to see Charles Dickens talking about his next Christmas Special, and if we are going to have a massive info-dump throughout about half of the episode, then why not have it as a conversation between the Doctor and Winston Churchill?

This was also a relatively complicated narrative. While I believe even the most casual of viewers will have picked up on what was going on and followed the story if they were so inclined, the dual narratives - of the Doctor trying to save himself at the same time as River ruining his plans by trying to save him as well - was much more complicated than your standard RTD season finale. It was also nice how the stories dovetailed at the end, and we were given the Doctor back - after he asked a favour from the Teselecta rather than just walking moodily away. Furthermore, it is also good that the Doctor, as far as his enemies are concerned, died - therefore there can be no more getting his enemies to flee by reading books or by getting them to trawl their visual memory banks. This story leaves the Doctor as an unknown (except to his friends) mad man with a box - just the way the whole thing began.

It was also good to see Rory threatened with death but then being saved by his wife before he got wiped out (again). It was also nice that the script acknowledged that he keeps on dying. It would be even nicer if this drew a line under the whole Rory dies all the time thing. Let's not have episodes ending with the apparent death of Mr Pond. Unless, y'know, he actually does die.

And the moment when the Doctor decided he should go to face his destiny was brilliant, even if it did bring a tear to my eye. I thought that Brigadier Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart would just vanish from the series, never to be heard of again. But after the death of the man who played him for decades, the show made the decision to let the Doctor know that one of his oldest and most loyal friends had also passed away. But the Brigadier never forgot the Doctor. He was always there, waiting for his mad old alien friend, with a glass of brandy. A wonderful little moment, played brilliantly by Smith, and a fitting tribute to Nicholas Courtney. I hope they find a way to do something as nice for the late Elisabeth Sladen.

But I'm skirting the issue here. There was much to enjoy, but was it the way in which the Doctor died but didn't ultimately satisfying? Well, no. Then again, it never could be. You cannot kill off your lead character and then not have killed him off without some sort of cop-out clause in your script. But here the episode did not, at least, do too badly. At least it wasn't obvious idea of the Flesh Doctor being killed on the beach; the use of the Teselecta was, at least for me, slightly more surprising. And since the Resurrection of the Doctor was always going to be a bit of a cop out, it is better that it was a slightly unexpected cop-out rather than the obvious one.

And there were other problems too. Not least the fact that Madame Kovarian and (in particular)the Silence were underused. Look, the Silence are a great enemy, Mr Moffat. Give them time to shine. Please, please, please can we have an episode next year where they are placed centre stage? Not just afterthoughts and the partial motive power to your overall narrative?

And while we're on the subject of the next season, let's try to tone down the scope of the threat a little bit. Last season, the whole of the universe was at stake in the finale. This season, the whole of time was decaying. What next? Is there any way to raise the stakes for the next season finale (which may well be the last stand of the Eleventh Doctor?) Well, yes, but it involves more of a threat to the Doctor and company rather than everything else there has ever been ever. The Caves of Androzani is consistently voted one of the best Doctor Who stories of all time, yet its scope is really rather small. Some soldiers, a corrupt politician, a disfigured madman in fetish wear and the Doctor and Peri (not forgetting the very unconvincing monster). No threat to the universe, just a little local trouble that could have lethal consequences for both of the then leads of the show. I'd like to see Moffat doing something like that. And I'd also like to see him doing something spooky again. Because while The Wedding of River Song was a breathless roller-coaster of an episode, it was only the awesome physical presence (as opposed to anything they said or did) of the Silence and the pit of flesh-eating skulls that could send a shiver up the spine. We hear a lot about the darkness of Moffat-era Who. Fine, it is darker than the RTD era, and most of those that preceded it. But let's make sure it is scary as well.

But overall, I feel immensely satisfied by the way this season ended. Not the best episode that the series has, or will, ever produce(d), to be sure. But a good finale that tied up enough of the loose ends to leave me, at the very least, feeling positive about the whole thing, but with enough up in the air to make me desperately excited to see what happens next.

And the question was, of course, "Doctor Who?" It has been the one asked for damn near half a century now, and again I'm excited to see where all this is going as we head towards that fiftieth anniversary and the Fall of the Eleventh...