The Pandorica Opens. Bloody hell. A great penultimate episode to a season that has really impressed me with The Eleventh Hour, Time of Angels/Flesh and Stone, Amys Choice, Vincent and the Doctor and The Lodger.
So many great moments to praise in this story, but one that sticks in my mind is that the Doctors clever, stirring, ‘Let somebody else try first’ speech starts with “…right…sorry…dropped it…”. Genius.
I just wanted to pick over some of the strands from this story, and stills on the BBC site, to try and work out what’s going to happen (because the wait for the last episode is agonising)…
- An earlier shot shows the vortex manipulator next to the Doctor, it could be that this is his escape route from the Pandorica. While we’re on that - poor Captain Jack and his missing hand - I wonder if he can grow a new one?
- Something turns the new ‘Dell-designed’ Daleks into stone. Some sort of encounter with the Weeping Angels or the crack? Or fossilised?
- Amelia Pond (the 7 year old Amy) returns
- We don’t actually see River and the TARDIS explode, but we’re meant to assume that. I bet she hasn’t.
My predictions: Something else is behind the ‘alliance’, something controlling/manipulating all of them, and will get rid of them once they’ve served their purpose. The same person that can be heard saying ‘silence will fall’ over the TARDIS speakers. I’m really hoping it’s not the Master resurrected again, but possibly another old foe such as Omega or the Valeyard. Rory really is dead, but the Auton Rory gains his humanity in the same way as Professor Bracewell did in Victory of the Daleks. I don’t think that Amy is leaving the series, but can’t see how without another convenient ‘reset button’ plot resolution. I’m confident that Stephen Moffat is above all that though.
There is one other thing. Back in ‘Flesh and Stone’ there is a scene where the Doctor comes back to tell Amy “remember what I told you when you were seven?”, and he’s wearing his tweed jacket (which by that point had been taken by the Angels). It could just be a continuity error, but my gut feeling is that this was intentional. His words didn’t seem to make sense in that context., so this could be the Doctor from The Big Bang going back (forward?) to that point in history, either intentionally, or accidentally through the crack. Amy remembering what he said to her when she was seven is somehow the key to resolving events.
Anyway, only 3 more days to find out! I almost don’t want to watch it, as it means it will all be over until Christmas…