Is he gone?
Good. Let's get on with it then. I think a fair reaction to this episode would be, simply, what the fuck is going on? Part one was a dense tangle of unresolved plot threads and unexplained mysteries, and I think that I mentioned that as such it would be difficult to properly gauge until the second part and we got some explanation. Well, part 2 has come and gone and if anything we now know even less than we did before. I think that the episodes great weakness is it's total lack of closure. Mysteries deepen but nothing is really resolved. Sure, The Doctor breaks the Silences domination of the earth by turning the entire human race into killers, but to be fair we didn't even know we'd been been invaded. We don't find out anything new about the Silence, we don't find anything out about the pseudo TARDIS. We don't even INVESTIGATE. At the end of the episode we just bugger off for a regular episode. This is an issue we've seen before at the end of the previous season. If you're going to put in these great season spanning mysteries and be this up front with them then it does rather grate when you keep putting them on hold. Now, obviously I don't know how the future episodes are going to tie into the overarching plot, but having the characters explicitly state that they're skipping the main plot for a bit to go have an adventure...? It's a bit much. I suppose we just need to bare in mind that this is all essentially a prequel.
Something else that isn't resolved is the cliffhanger from episode 1. I mean, 3 months later? Seriously guys? Something about the opening sequence doesn't quite hang together.It feels kind of tacked on. I get that maybe it's meant to be a cunning master plan to build the Not-The-Pandorica in order to have a secure Silence free location, but where the hell does the US government get zero balanced dwarf star alloy from in 1969? it looks great for the trailers, no question, but the government conspiracy angle is rather undermined by then pulling Nixon out of the box as a sort of get out of jail free card. Though I admit that Nixon-In-A-Box is pretty funny.
However for all my bitching there's still a lot of good stuff here. The abandoned orphanage is beautifully creepy, as is it's caretaker. Renfield really sets that whole sequence off. I know technically his name is Renfrew, but that's not fooling anyone. The guy is pure Renfield. There are some interesting and creepy devices used. The combination of the hand recorder, the count marks and the characters perception sells the creepiness of the Silence rather well. The way the Doctor turns the Silences' powers against them at the end is quite clever, but ultimately HORRIFYING. I mean, there are CHILDREN watching. It's not like the Silence are defenceless after all, there's gonna be heavy casualties on both sides before they all manage to go into hiding. And what about the bodies? Rotting corpses that you can't remember just lying around everywhere. That's gonna cause some issues. I suppose you could say that the Doctor kind of gave them a chance to surrender, but he does seem a bit blase, cheery even, considering all the death that's unleashed.
Still, I'm sure it'll all make sense in time. Let's get onto the Mysteries. Because that's what we have here. A whole bunch of plot threads waiting to be resolved
- Who kills the Doctor?
- Is he REALLY dead?
- Who are the Silence really and what are they up to?
- What's that pseudo-TARDIS doing there?
- What about that globe spanning network of tunnels?
- Who is the little girl?
- Why was she in the suit?
And that's just from episode 1.
- What's up with the shrodingers pregnancy Amy may or may not be experiencing?
- Who the hell was that woman with the eye thing in the non existent hatch?
- Who might just be dreaming?
- What is Amys connection to the girl?
- What happened in that room?
- What were the Silence doing to Amy that terrified her so?
- How is Amy connected to the Silence?
- WHY IS THE LITTLE GIRL REGENERATING OH MY GOD YOU GUYS?!?!?!etc
Now, there are gonna be all kinds of crazy fan theories about all of this. Which is great. It's fun to theorise about these things. There's clearly a high degree of timey-wimey shenanigans going on. It's implied that the girl is Amys (though maybe not). The fact that the girl is shown regenerating rather implies that she's a Time Lord, which I'm sure will send the fan fic types into a frenzy. I mean, you don't get to be a Time Lord just from exposure to the vortex when you were a fetus (or do you?). Beyond that there isn't much we can definitely say about anything.
One thought that occurs relates to that ominous phrase "Silence Will Fall". I can't help but notice that statement could have more than one meaning when you're dealing with a person or race who refer to themselves as the Silence. Just throwing that out there.
Right now my thoughts are heading in the direction that The Silence doesn't just refer to our mysterious grey headed chums. One thought is that The Silence is, in fact, a Time Lord. They do seem to prefer the definite article after all. The whole thing with Amy, the girl, and the nasties is some sort of convoluted plot. Possibly to create a new Time Lord body for it to take over, possibly even to make it get born in the first place. But really, who can say for sure. No doubt the next time we get a bit of exposition the theories will shift again. I'm counting on The Doctors' Wife to provide the next Paradigm shift.
Until next time...
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