The triumphant return of Modern Recap-itulation, something itself marks the beginning of the end, for a story itself that marks either the beginning or the end of a character in Doctor Who, depending on how you look at it.
WIth the production gaps between Series 9, 10, and 11 reaching inevitable, regrettable heights, it’s easy to forget that The Husbands of River Song, Alex Kingston’s last appearance as River, aired in 2015. It only seems more recent than that. But the Recap-itulation team go back to Kingston’s beginning (2008!), and River’s end for a new set of caps for Silence in the Library.
Silence and the back half are one of those mini-mid-season close quarters epics that the Tennant era dallied and excelled in. These were the last stories Steven Moffat penned before taking the reins and while it’s essentially a BUS story, the character of River, someone from the Doctor’s future who knows more about upcoming events than the Doctor, is such an intriguing and original concept that it’s a wonder it hadn’t been done before.
This is a different form of timey-wimey, and Moffat would be sure to mine it for all it’s worth in the years to come.