It’s a curious thing, this continuation of The Time of Angels is. While it certainly provided the back half of this story, the pacing and segmentation of the story (Escape, Forest w/Dr, Forest w/o Dr, bridge, and coda) made it feel, at least in the minds of the THT Brain Trust, to be equally interested in setting up the season-long storyline as resolving the plot involving the Weeping Angels. There’s been a fair amount of discussion out there (you know… THERE) about the parallels between this season and the Eccleston season in 2005 in terms of story choice and underlying running story. But whereas the clues planted in 2005 were quite, quite subtle (for those who even knew to be looking for such things at the time) there’s no subtlety this time around.
It’s a bit of a surprise to see the “crack” motif taken on head-on, though not unwelcome it has to be said… But one wonders if this will begin to exclude casual viewers should it feature too prominently from here on out. We suspect Moffat is too canny for that. As for Amy, Moffat seems determined to put this character through the ringer, but it should also be noted that half of the Moffat scripted episodes are now out of the way. Will other writers be as determined to put Amy through her paces?
Paces and pulses also quickened at the end of the episode with the Smoochie, Smoochie Time (as described by Smith and Gillan). At the risk of sounding die-hard traditionalist, we ‘re always a but discomfited by overt sexuality in Doctor Who. Amy seems to switch into this mode in odd ways and odd times–but it also seems this ties back to the overall theme for the season. As for timing–she’s getting married during the World Cup! But because June 26th, 2010 is also a Saturday, what will be the schedule implications for the rest of the Season? Should the season run uninterrupted, June 26th would be when episode 13 airs. Hmmm.
Images and caps for Flesh and Stone are now online