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“The writing, the graffiti. Old High Gallifreyan, the lost language of the Time Lords. There were days, there were many days, when these words could burn stars and raise up empires and topple gods.”
“What does it say?”
“‘Hello, sweetie.’”
Now that’s more like it. After the rather disappointing return of the Daleks last week, this week’s episode saw the return of one of new Who’s most iconic creations: the Weeping Angels. After appearing in the classic episode ‘Blink’ in Series 3, they were back in ‘The Time of Angels’ to terrify young and old alike once more.
The Weeping Angels weren’t the only Steven Moffat creation to return. It was great to see Alex Kingston back as River Song - the pre-titles sequence alone was a joy. Having their relationship occur out of sync is a great example of Moffat’s fascination with the difficulties of being a time-traveller, while the continued mystery around her exact role in the Doctor’s future is nicely played without being overdone. Kingston and Matt Smith bounce nicely off each other, and Smith is given the chance to show his comic skills off beautifully – the Doctor’s frustration at being in the dark compared to River is painted all over his glorious face, and it’s lovely to see.
As for the Weeping Angels, well, I for one am delighted to see them return. It’s interesting that the Doctor seems to be so scared of them, despite having described them as rather kind the last time he encountered them – they kill you by displacing you in time, but they can only move when they’re not being watched. The difference here is that this isn’t just four scavengers; it’s a whole army that’s gaining power. The moment that the Doctor and River realise that all the statues are Weeping Angels is wonderful, and I’m looking forward to seeing how the monsters are dealt with in next week’s conclusion.
This episode was absolutely classic Moffat. It was, of course, scary – the scene with Amy being confronted with the Angel coming out of the TV screen was extremely creepy, and clearly designed to terrify children into thinking that the Angels could come out of their TVs. But what people seem to forget about is that Moffat’s best episodes are as funny as they are scary – just think back to ‘The Empty Child’. Yes, there was that gas-mask kid, but there were also brilliant lines such as “Who looks at a screw-driver and thinks ‘Oh, this could be a little more sonic!’?” The juxtaposition between the old-couple familiarity of the Doctor and River and the new flirtatiousness of his relationship with Amy is magnificently funny and touching.
Bar the BBC’s terrible decision to have a pop-up ad for Over the Rainbow ruin the tension of the final scene (scored with the amazingly epic new hero music), ‘The Time of Angels’ was up there with Moffat’s best work. I just hope that next week’s fabulously titled ‘Flesh and Stone’ can live up to the promise of the Doctor’s final speech of the episode: “Didn’t anyone ever tell you? There’s one thing you never put in a trap if you’re smart. If you value your continued existence, if you have any plans about seeing tomorrow, there’s one thing you never, ever put in a trap…Me.”
Most definitely the best episode in a long time. The Weeping Angels are actually terrifying - not just for little kids!
SPOILERS.
Great episode. The quote used for the lead of this article, and River yelling, "Sweetie?" across the Clerics' camp provided the funny, disarming moments - and the moment that she and the Doctor note the disparity between the number of heads on the statues all around them and those of the supposed creators, along with Bob's masterful line, "I'm dead too, sir. They snapped my neck, sir. It wasn't as painless as I thought it might be... I'm dead, Doctor, and you lied."
This was also the first time that Amy was genuinely in danger from something she'd never seen before but had reason to fear since the first episode - and it shows how she handled it. No whimpering damsel in distress here, she calmly thinks of winking one eye at a time to avoid blinking, then gets angry with the remote and eventually comes up with her own solution. She's cool, level-headed and powerful.
Oh, and of course a little TARDIS in-joke: "It's not supposed to sound like that-- /you/ leave the brakes on."
The best episode of this series. The Doctor, Prof. (sorry, spoilers >.>) Song and Amy were all great and individual. The Angels are so much better than the daleks or cybermen as dangerous opponents - and they're also unpredictable. The best cliff-hanger for seasons as we actually don't know what's going to happen in the next episode. A stark contrast from the last episode - I just hope it continues at this calibre!
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