Doctor: Matt Smith (Eleventh Doctor)
Companions
Karen Gillan (Amy Pond)
Arthur Darvill (Rory Williams)
Others
Alex Kingston – River Song
Mike McShane – Grayle
Rob David – Sam Garner
Ozzie Yue – Foreman
Bentley Kalu – Hood
Burnell Tucker – Old Garner
Production
Directed by Nick Hurran
Written by Steven Moffat
Produced by Marcus Wilson
Executive producer(s)
Steven Moffat
Caroline Skinner
Incidental music composer Murray Gold
Series Series 7
Length 45 minutes
Originally broadcast 29 September 2012
The Doctor, Amy, and Rory enjoy a picnic in New York's Central Park in 2012, with the Doctor reading from a pulp novel about a 1930s detective named Melody Malone. Despite Amy's insistence, the Doctor refuses to read ahead to reveal spoilers and tears out the last page of the book. Meanwhile, Rory goes to get coffee and is sent back to the 1930s by a cherub Weeping Angel. There, he meets River Song, who is playing the part of Melody Malone. In the present, the Doctor and Amy are shocked to find Rory written into the book. Amy insists on reading ahead, but the Doctor warns her that anything she reads will be destined to happen. Instead, they attempt to take the TARDIS back to the 1930s, finding the time machine struggling to make the journey.
Rory and River are captured by Mr. Grayle, who has a weakened Weeping Angel in his possession. Mr. Grayle orders Rory locked in the cellar with a number of the cherub angels, while he has the Angel grab River by the wrist while he interrogates her. River is able to use her vortex manipulator to set a beacon for the TARDIS, allowing the Doctor and Amy to arrive. Amy, aware of River's having written the book to help guide them, uses the table of contents of the book to look for Rory. The Doctor is dismayed when he reads about River's wrist being broken and the title of the last chapter, "Amelia's Last Farewell". He refuses to help River escape, hoping that the future can be changed. However, River breaks her own wrist to free herself, and the Doctor uses his regeneration energy to heal her. Amy finds the cellar empty and the Doctor is able to use River's vortex manipulator to locate Rory at the nearby Winter Quay apartment building.
Inside, Rory finds himself drawn to an apartment with his name on it. Just as the Doctor and the others arrive, Rory finds an elderly version of himself in the bedroom. The Doctor warns that Rory's fate is now sealed—he will die in that room, without having seen Amy for a very long time beforehand. He deduces that the Angels have been using the Quay as a battery farm, sending the victims to their past while feeding off their time energy. Rory and Amy refuse to accept their fate, and as the Angels converge, they flee to the roof, where the Statue of Liberty, revealed to be a Weeping Angel, waits for them. Rory surmises that if he kills himself by jumping off the roof, he'll create a paradox that will destroy the building and the Angels, resetting the future. Refusing to allow him to die alone, Amy joins him and the two jump off the roof.
The Doctor, River, Amy, and Rory suddenly find themselves near the TARDIS in a New York graveyard back in 2012, Rory's plan having worked. As the four prepare to depart, Rory catches sight of a tombstone with his name on it. He is then touched by a surviving, albeit weakened, Angel and sent into the past. The Doctor is unable to take the TARDIS back to get him, due to the paradox Rory and Amy created. Amy refuses to be parted from Rory and willingly allows herself to be touched by the same Angel in the hopes of being sent back to the same time as he was. Her name then appears along with Rory's on the tombstone. The Doctor is distraught, but River reminds him that while their fates are now sealed, Amy likely published the Melody Malone book in the past and may have left him a message. The Doctor races back to where they had their picnic and recovers the final page, finding the afterword written by Amy to him. Amy explains that she and Rory lived out a good and happy life for themselves, and asks the Doctor to visit her childhood self to assure her that he will come back for her to take her on amazing journeys. The episode ends with a young Amelia Pond sitting in her back garden, then looking up and smiling as the TARDIS engines are heard.
The Angels Take Manhattan