Farewell, Ponds--The Angels Take Manhattan---SPOILERS

There's a little girl waiting in a garden. She's going to wait a long while, so she's going to need a lot of hope. Go to her, tell her a story. Tell her that if she’s patient, the days are coming which she’ll never forget. Tell her she’ll go to sea and fight pirates, she’ll fall in love with a man who’ll wait two thousand years to keep her safe. Tell her she’ll give hope to the greatest painter who ever lived, and save a whale in outer space. Tell her 

this is the story of Amelia Pond, 

and this is how it ends.

Pardon the occasional sob of PONDS! in this review. Because it's not so much a review as an attempt to catgorize these squeezings and heaviness in my chest. Amy Pond was the first companion I ever saw--A Christmas Carol was the first episode I watched as broadcast. So this is the first time I saw a companion leave without having another episode to watch. More than that, the Doctor had a FAMILY. For the first time since leaving Susan in 22nd-century London, he has another Time Lord to take on adventures. He has a wife who will do anything for him. He has a wonderful couple who cares about about him and will take him to task when he steps out of line. People who will wait for him, even when he tries to shake them off. They're a family, Amy and Rory, River and the Doctor. Mum and dad, daughter and son-in-law. And that fact that he's his mum's imaginary friend just makes it more fun.

And the Angels are back--oye, are they ever back. I'm NEVER going to NYC now, no matter what they offer me. It was bad enough when Ten encountered the Daleks, but this time not everyone got out alive. Not that it was that bad to start out with. The Doctor and Ponds were hanging out in Central Park, having a picnic while Amy teased him about fancying someone in a book.  Who says you can't fancy fictional people? Not me, that's for sure. Then Rory pops off for a snack and ends up in the book.

Not literally--I think things would have ended up better for them if he had gotten stuck in fiction land. Instead, he ends up in 1938 and is met by River Song. The two of them are dragged off by a mob boss who throws Rory  to the cherubs--yes, Weeping Angels CAN be even creeper now--while River gets caught by the wrist. 

I'm a River/Doctor shipper--surprise, surprise-- and I just loved all their little interactions in this episode. Especially his reaction when he realizes that she had to break her wrist to get away from the angel. It's not just that she's hurt--it's what that means, it's one tiny strand threatening to tie him in a web of fixed points. She tried to hid it from him, but she can't, not really. So he fixes it, because he owes her so much. But she doesn't want it...

The Doctor: Why did you lie to me?River: When one's in love with an ageless god who insists on the face of a twelve-year-old, one does one's best to hide the damage.The Doctor: It must hurt. Come here.River: Yes. The wrist is pretty bad too. {The Doctor uses his energy to heal her} No no. No, stop that! Stop that! Stop it! The Doctor: There you go. How's that? River: Well. Let's see shall we? {she slaps him} That was a stupid waste of regeneration energy! Nothing is gained by you being a sentimental idiot.

Even though we never see it after Let's Kill Hitler, she still must have that pyscopathic training from Kovarian--a mistrust of feelings and wariness of compassion.

River: Never let him see the damage. And never ever let him see you age. He doesn't like endings.

Oh River--so old now, so very close to Darillium and the Library,  Because you're pardoned and a professor now, and he knows that that means. And yet you still don't trust him enough to be so vulnerable with him. I saw one Tumblr post suggesting that she plays the Doctor-role in their relationship, the one protecting him from the harsh truth. There's definately some truth in it. She's the one with the gun, the one who isn't afraid to do questionable things to protect him. 

That hotel---ewe, so very creepy. I knew there was going to to be an old Rory in it, I just knew that. And Rory's solution.

Amy: You think you'll just come back to life?
Rory: When don't  I?

And they jump together, because that's how much they love each other. I have to admit, the Angel should have caught them by then, but that would have broken the paradox too, because they would have been together, not just Rory on his own.

But then at the graveyard...a beautiful hope spot, and then Rory turns back to look--RORY, STUPIDFACE!  But that whole scene was terrible....and the worst part? I GUESSED IT!

The New York cemetery was ominously quiet for the middle of the afternoon. Amy pushed on ahead, leading River and the Doctor through the crumbling headstones. Near a marble wall, the Weeping Angel reached with outstretched arms, as if to embrace the mourners. "Don't look away. Don't look at its eyes, and don't look away," the Doctor warned River.
Amy rubbed the back of her hand across her face, but her cheeks remained dry. She paused for a moment, glancing down at a memorial by her foot. The name seared her vision like a camera flash. Then she looked over her shoulder at the Doctor, smiled, and kept walking.
"No, no, don't do this, please!" The Doctor ran forward, but River grabbed his arm.
"There's nothing we can do!" Tears dripped down her face. "This has already happened."
Amy closed her eyes. All it took was a blink, and she was gone.
"Amy, Amy! No." The Doctor ran forward, trying to pull her away. Instead, he tripped over the tombstone. "Amy…Amy."
"Doctor." River pointed at the writing. "You need to read this."
"Rory Williams, 1980-1969; yes, I know." He yanked away a clump of grass, revealing more words. "Amelia Pond, 1983-1971. Fish fingers and custard."

--Bait and Switch, by me 

Click the link and look at the date stamp if you don't believe me. I read a filming report of this scene and this what I thought would happen. That doesn't make me feel any better, believe me.  Amy choose to leave, she chooses Rory over everything else. And her last words to them:

Amy: Melody. You look after him. And you be a good girl and you look after him.The Doctor: You are creating fixed time. I will never be able to see you again. Amy: I'll be fine. I'll be with him.The Doctor: Amy. Please. Just come back into the TARDIS, Come along, Pond. Please.Amy: Raggedy Man, goodbye.

She calls River Melody! Her last words to the daughter she never got to raise. And the Doctor's last words to her are "Come along Pond. Please." River has to write the story of her parents' farewell to stabilize the loop and the Ponds fade away....fade away.

Yes, that concludes it. The Doctor's done at least one of this season backwards. Will he ever tell Brian what happened to his son and daughter-in-law? Or will Brian just water the plants forever? And how Amy begs him not to be alone...pleads, because she knows what happens when he travels alone too long. Oh, my hearts. I think Moffat has permantly killed one of them.

Metafiction and Reader Interaction: The World of Thursday Next

On one of my recent trips to the libary, I rediscoved Jasper  Fforde’s Thursday Next series. The first book, The Eyre Affair,  is set in an alternate-history England circa 1980, occurs in a world where cheese smugglers run the line between Wales and Britain,  Bacon apologists go from door to door, and the main character is a veteran of the Russian-English conflict in the Crimera.  But the story really gets going once Thursday’s uncle Mycroft opens a portal into the Bookworld…

Generally, I would recommend British authors any day for their wit, brief yet clear detail, and skill in sci-fi and fantasy. Fforde is no exception. Frequent shoutouts for stories from Kipling to Doctor Who fill the story, and the first novel revolves extensively around an alternate ending for Jane Eyre. The story involves several levels of metafiction—story that is actively aware of itself as a story.  By the sixth or seventh book, One of Our Thursdays is Missing, a fictional version of the main character goes to search for the main character and ends up rewriting her series to contain the truth of the Bookworld.  There are also frequent references to Jurisfiction, the internal law system of the Bookworld. 

Many discussions in Jurisfiction mirror real-world ideas.

“For many readers books are too much of a one-sided conduict of information, and a new form of novel that allows the reader to choose where the story goes is the way forward.
“Isn’t that the point of books?” asked Black Beauty, stampling his hoof angrily on the table and upsetting an inkwell. “The pleasure lies in the unfolding of the plots. Even if we know what must happen, how one arrives there is still entertaining.”
”(…)create a new form of book—an interactive book that begins blank except for ten or so basic characters. Then, as it is written, chapter by chapter, the readers are polled on whom they want to keep and whom they want to exclude. As soon as we know, we write the new section, and at the end of the new chapter we poll the readers again (…)we want to make books hip and appealing to the youth market. Society is moving on, and if we don’t move with it, books—and we—will vanish.”
—-First Among Sequels, a Thursday Next novel

Another example of this creeping phenomena is the existance of sites like Book By You. Clients simply fill in name, physical attributes, and minor charactertics, and then pay for the product. If that’s what people read, I’d rather they watch a well-scripted TV show with character development, such as Doctor Who. Another discussion of changes in book formats can be found here. As an author, I prefer plain, ordinary paperbacks, a reliable format that doesn’t need batteries or have breakable screens. 

As for metafiction, it can be overdone very easily, but when done well, I absolutely adore it.

Power of Three--SPOILERS

This post is NOT spoiler-free. Go watch Power of Three, THEN come back and comment on my flood of feels.

The Doctor: One day—soon maybe—you'll stop. I've known for awhile.

Amy: Then why do you keep coming back for us?

The Doctor: Because you were the first. The first face this face saw. And you were seared onto my hearts, Amelia Pond. You always will be. I'm running to you, and Rory, before you fade from me. 

First of all, a confession. I haven't enjoyed this season as much as season six. The first episode was wonderful; brilliant acting, terrifying monsters, emotional intensity, and that infuriating twist at the end. Though I enjoyed Dinosaurs on a Spaceship and A Town Called Mercy, I didn't feel emotionally engaged in the outcome.  This episode reversed all that. The Doctor had some wonderfully vulnerable lines, balanced with good-natured humor.
And we got more of Brian! I love that man, I really do. He is one of my imaginary uncles now. (Yes, I have an imaginary family. It's mostly composed of Doctor Who characters--Sarah Jane Smith as grandma and Wilf as Grandpa and so on...) He is a grounded, reasonable older character who isn't afraid to ask the Doctor just what might happen to his son and daughter-in-law.
If I had any lingering doubt that the Doctor is experiencing season seven in reverse--Angels Take Manhattan and then Asylum, Mercy, Power, and Dinosaurs---this episode clinches it. Such statements as

Brian: What happen to the other people who travelled with you?

The Doctor: Some left me. Some got left behind. And some... not many, but... some died. Not them, not them, Brian. Never them.

The Doctor: Can I stay here? With you. And Rory, for a bit. Keep an eye on the cubes. However long that takes

.Amy: I thought it would drive you mad.

The Doctor: No. No no. I mean I'll be better at it this time. I... miss you.

Whatever you are, this planet, these people are precious to me. And I will defend them to my last breath.  

But this is one corner of one country on one continent on one planet that's a corner of a galaxy that's a corner of a universe that is forever growing and shrinking and creating and growing and never remaining the same for a single millisecond, and there is so much—so much to see, Amy. Because it goes so fast. I'm not running away from things, I am running to them. Before they flare and fade forever. 

  Not to mention the top quote in his conversation with Amy--by the Tower of London, where I HAVE BEEN! (Sorry, got a bit carried away there.) But he already knows that's going to happen to them--and this is his farewell. Maybe he got the idea from what happened with River--maybe she hinted at it: he has a time machine. Say goodbye to them before it's too late. Go back and have more adventures, because you know how it will end. Let them know how much you love them. Cause these are his parents, after all. Yes, the timing is a bit wibbly, but they love him that much. Amy knows what happens when he travels alone, Rory has the sword if anything happens to River, and  they will always be there for him.

 Amy and Rory. The Last Centurion and The Girl Who Waited. However dark it got, I'd turn around and there they'd be. If it's time to go, remember what you're leaving. Remember the best. My friends have always been the best of me.

---The Wedding of River Song 

I also loved the appearance of Kate Stewart, daughter of the Brig. She's previously appeared in the novel "Scales of Injustice" and the direct-to-video productions "Downtime" and "Daemos Rising." I've read the novel, but the videos are harder to locate. The actress in this episode apparently resembles the original video star.Might have to seek them out, at some point.

Let's see, what else....The Doctor on domestic...wow, he's even more productive than an Ood. And even more trouble. He's just so...hilarious playing his Wii or whatever that is. And I love the idea of Amy as a journalist--shame she can't meet up with Sarah Jane Smith to discuss aliens.

Bullet Time

The Doctor.
It was a name Sarah hadn't heard in a long time, but never forgot. His shadow remained on her no matter what. Wherever she went, sooner or later she would meet someone who knew him, or had met him, or had heard of him and wanted to know what he was really like.
Images rose unbidden in her mind. Other places and other times; creatures of wonder, creatures of horror. Freedom and terror. Half-remembered joys, and half-forgotten nightmares; the gaps filled by appropriate obfuscation and illusion, all hung on just enough truth to be the past of a life.

--Bullet Time

The other night, one of my Tumblr followers posted a link to the Eighth Doctor Adventure Novels.  By  going up a level, I found more novels, including Bullet Time, featuring Sarah Jane Smith and the Seventh Doctor.  I'd seen enough references to it in fanfiction that I knew the final plot twist, but most of it was a surprise to me. Set shortly before the British turnover of Hong Kong to China (1997), Sarah Jane's investigation o f a business sets her up with some dangerous enemies, including a man known as Pendragon...

SPOILERS: Seven is not my favorite Doctor, but his actions in this novel shove him way down the list. While serving as a drug lord, he accidentally sets Sarah up to be raped--but manages to fight off her invaders--discredits her journalist career, and puts her in a position where she is shot.  If this is how he protects his friends, I'd rather be an enemy, thank you. To be fair, Seven is pragmatic to other companions as well, especially Ace in "Curse of Fenric," but this just seems too fair out of character for him. 

With the EU, I have varying degrees of what I consider canon; this one is going under the happened-once-but-Time-War-erased-it. Especially since there's a strong implication that Sarah died.

A Town Called Mercy

In my culture, we believe that when you die your spirit has to climb a mountain, carrying the souls of everyone you wronged in your lifetime. Imagine the weight I will have to lift. The monsters I created, the people they killed. Isaac. He was my friend. Now his soul will be in my arms too. Can you see now why I fear death? You want to hand me over, there's no shame in that. But you won't we all carry our prisons with us. Mine is my past. Yours is your morality.

--Kahler-Jex

While Western films aren't my thing, I really enjoyed A Town Called Mercy for the hints it offers about the Doctor's character. If, as I suspect, he has been experiencing season seven backwards, he has already seen the Ponds' fate and is bearing the guilt of however that plays out, as well as the compounded issues from his past. Kahler-Jex just reminds the Doctor of his own attempts at atonement--a quest for forgiveness he can never have. I am looking forward to Angels Take Manhattan, but dread seeing what it does to the Doctor

Touched by an Angel

Well, the Weeping Angels are up to their old tricks. Early in the book, we learn about different 'types' of the Lonely Assassin, a partial explanation for the differences between "Blink" and "Time of the Angels/Flesh and Stone." Another intriguing aspect of this story involves much shorter time displacement--within one's own time stream, which adds the potential for paradox as well as time energy

Dead of Winter

When an accident leaves the TARDIS trio injuries, they end up at a turn-of-the century sanitarium. The creepy atmosphere is increased by the epistolary format, giving many people's views of events. While some of the novels I would love to see filmed, the events of this one are best seen in one's imagination. One benefit of books is that they can create uncertainty in a way images can't, and that skill is used to full extent here.

The Way through the Woods

This novel, by the same author as The King's Dragon, is another brilliant exploration of myths that turn out to be true. It felt like a tale of Faerie, a kingdom that no one could escape. Rory is left waiting again, with the acknowledgement that he's good at that. I don't want to say much more, or I'd give it away. 5/5

The Ghosts of India

In this novel, the Doctor and Donna end up in India during the end of the colonial period and investigate a mysterious plague. One clue may be found in a nearby temple where the Hindu goddess Shiva has been seen.

While this is not one of the best novels, it is still an enjoyable read. Donna's personality clashes brilliantly with the mores of colonial India, and the introduction of Gandhi as a character is an inspired touch, leading to a great resolution to the story. Some of his conversations with the Doctor are intriguing, touching because of the Doctor's background.

Three of five stars

Dinosaurs on a Spaceship (with spoilers)

Brian: Of course. What sort of a man doesn't carry a trowel? Put it on your Christmas list.

Rory: Dad, I'm 31. I don't have a Christmas list anymore.

Doctor: [From afar] I do!

After last week's intense, emotional episode, it was wonderful to reunite with the Ponds for a madcap frolic. And due to a materialization mistiming, we got to bring along Rory's dad Brian too! Just let me gush about him for a bit. The picture is from the end, where Brian is sitting in the doorway, looking down at Earth and eating a sandwich. He is just absolutely adorkable and I wish he'd meet up with Wilf. Even better if Wilf comes back--but that would be great.

As for the adventure itself, a great frolic, nice break from the intensive plot arc of last season. It reminds of some of the classic episodes--Third Doctor, perhaps-- in the best possible ways. You have one small ship and an enemy, that's all.

As for the moment at the end, with Solomon's fate, I think it will tie in with what Amy says in the trailer--"This is what happens when you travel alone too long." What is known as "Time Lord Victorious" will grow and become impossible to suppress, until something very big happens to snap him out of it.

Liberator

The fourth book in Bryan Davis's Dragons of Starlight series, Liberator continues the quest to free the slaves and restore the star known as Exodus.

Because this book is so closely connected to its predecessors, I would not recommend reading it until the previous three--and possibly the companion novels of Masters and Slayers by the same author--have been read. Even though I had read the books before, it had been a while, and I had difficulty remembering some points.

As the stakes grow higher, everyone has difficult choices to make. Multiple heroes, all with one goal--freedom for the slaves of Darksphere--must chose what path to follow to that goal.

One aspect of this book I admire is how complex the characters are. While many fantasy novels have simple heroes and leave the complex motivations for the villains, Davis manages to create believable, honorable characters who wish to do the right thing, but are uncertain which path to take. Koren and Cassabrie are especially strong examples of this trait, leaving the reader guessing.

This Scarlet Cord

It's been a while since I've posted a Booksneeze review, but I thought I should start up again. This Scarlet Cord, a fictional retelling of Rahab's story, is well-written, with historical details and vivid characters.

The most unique element is the concept that Rahab may not have been a prostitute. Instead, the author draws from Canaanite rituals to provide a plausible alternative. While I find this explanation intriguing, I wondered what motivated the author to do so. She mentions it briefly in the discussion questions, but does not go into much detail.

The book does mention some Canaanite rituals and include an attempted rape scene, but the details are kept to a minimum. I would recommend this book for high school and above.

I was given a free copy of this book by the Booksneeze program but was not required to write a positive review.

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Flesh, Stone and River

Okay, so I haven't been shy about my feelings for River Song, and since I'm rewatching Flesh and Stone, I decided to blog some of my thoughts as I watched it. This two-parter is the first episode with River Song I saw, so it's special for me.

Random fact: First time I saw this, I thought River might be a Time Lord because she was called Doctor. Then cue season six, and

Doctor. The word for healer and wise man throughout the universe. We get that word from you, you know, but if you carry on the way you are, what might that word come to mean?

So I was right, in a way. And now that we know the truth of Amy and River's relationship, I love their scenes even more than before. River is so motherly and caring towards her, when it is actually the other way around. I'm a sucker for hurt/comfort and woobies, so I just get little heart pangs seeing the Angel come for Amy and that moment where the Angels almost grab her makes me gasp in relief.

A Note on Healthy Relationships.

I was replying to a comment on my post I don't hate Rose Tyler....but Sarah Jane Smith trumps everyone, ever! and decided to make it into a new post.

While I'm not a psychologist, I think the Doctor has some codependent tendencies with Rose, as well as what TV Tropes would call Morality Chain or Living Emotional Crutch. That's not her fault--but in simple terms, I believe a romance should be between two emotional stable, mature people. The Doctor may be mature, but emotionally stable? Hardly. But I don't want to get into the characterizations of Ten.

--me

If we're going there, River and Eleven are hardly emotionally stable either. I don't hold that against them or the ship (I've come to board that ship as well, thank you madis hartte). The Doctor is a damaged man. I wouldn't deny him love because of that, although I would say I don't think any of his relationships are totally healthy

-Lostarial

She has a point, but....Eleven/River doesn't feel as mismatched as Rose/Ten. Let's see if I can sort out why I feel this way. Or this could just turn into a mass of Doctor/River feels. Either way, it should be interesting.

First of all, River's life has been intertwined with the Doctor's since birth. I feel a bithypocritical saying this when I brought up the age difference either, but in one sense, one of his big difficulties with a human relationship isn't there for River.

I don't age, I regenerate. But humans decay. You wither and you die. Imagine watching that happen to someone you--

Tenth Doctor, School Reunion

Granted, he's already seen River's fate, which is equally horrible, but he won't see her grow old. Even with just the one life, she could have centuries of adventures with him. And because they don't experience a linear adventure, it's harder to define a beginning or end.

Secondly, they are certain bits of life that each of them "get" in a way very few others do. The Doctor committed genocide and has to live with that guilt every day, while River is imprisoned as his murder. (Side note: that's why I find his line in TWORS so heartwarming: "You are forgiven. Always and completely forgiven." Because what did he say when Amy said he wanted to be forgiven: "Don't we all?") They know about meeting people out of order, fixed points and the temptation to break them.

It's not that they're emotionally stable people. But the deep parts, the things they try to hide from others--those wounds match. And because of that, they understand each other in a way no one else can. As much as I love his companions, none of them can understand what it means to be the last and the only, someone utterly alien and so close to humanity. They may see some of his masks, and catch glimpses underneath, but it would take much longer than any of the new series companions have to start understanding. Maybe that's why Amy's increasingly accurate in her statements on him

"What if you were really old, and really kind and alone? Your whole race dead, no future. What couldn't you do then? If you were that old, and that kind, and the very last of your kind.... you couldn't just stand there and watch children cry."

Beast Below, season five

Amy:You want to be forgiven

Doctor: Don't we all?

--The Doctor's Wife, season six

The Doctor: Today, I honor victims first; his, The Master's, the Daleks', all the people who died because of my mercy!

Amy: See, this is what happens when you travel alone for too long.

--A Town Called Mercy, season seven*

*from trailer

The Harbringer by Jonathan Cahn

When I was at the public library the other day, I picked up four pens, one eraser, and a free book as prizes from their adult reading program. Passing over suspense and romance, I picked up The Harbringer by Jonathan Cohn. Even though Christian prophecy/political novels aren't my thing, at least it's a clean read.

The structure is awkward and doesn't flow well,. The story begins with a man walking into a reporter's office with a printed manuscript of his encounters with a strange man. For the rest of the book, we receive occasional interjections by the reporter. The distance this creates detracts from the story line. Further more, the plot is unnecessarily tedious.

It begins with the main character receiving a Middle-Eastern seal in the mail. Through chance encounters with a self-deemed prophets, he learns the connection between the fall of Israel and the collapse of modern America. By the very nature of the topic, this makes the book rather pedantic. The character receives a seal, puzzles out the meaning, meets the prophet, hears the actual meaning, and receives another seal. While it could be inferred that the prophet did this so the narrator would investigate for himself, it stilts the story flow. If the author truly believed these principals, he should have written nonfiction, instead of creating characters who are merely mouthpieces for doctrine.

The doctrine is also peculiar. It is a specific use of convenient theology--the belief that America occupies the same place in the modern era as Israel did in ancient days. While some of the connections were fascinating, the author confuses similarity with correspondence. While I agree that 9-11 and the 2008 financial crisis were consequent of sinful behavior, I hesitate to label them judgments.

The author does include his sources, for those who wish to investigate further.

A Church Thought

During the sermon today, the pastor mentioned how we tend to focus on the characters of a story--David was brave, Abraham was trusting--to the exclusion of the main point, which is Christ. While I can see where he was coming from, I respectfully disagree. What he referred to is oversimplification, not a matter of characters.

In fact, I think we tend to ignore the characters in favor of the lessons we are trying to learn. But they were real people, just like we are. James and John had tempers and nicknames to match, Joseph was an annoying little brother, and the man born blind had parents who were shocked when he could see. If we could see them as real people, it just makes the Bible even more amazing.

Yes, it's the greatest of books, but it is also a book. A story.

Asylum of the Daleks response...with spoilers

So, for my faithful friends who have not yet seen Asylum of the Daleks, you might want to skip this post, because I will attempt to record my feels without flailing, in a dignified manner.

First of all, I got to watch this one LEGALLY! My roommate has BBCA at her house, so eight or so of us went over and had supper there and played a round of Apples to Apples before the episode. Then we went downstairs and watched the end of the BBCA marathon (Doctor, Widow, Wardrobe). Incidentally, they cut out the whole "awkward bit" at the end and went straight to Amy/Doctor hugs, as well as cutting that lovely line about why the Doctor can't fly them home.

But then Asylum of the Daleks...and first of all...Skaro. Wow. So it wasn't time-locked after all, further proof that the Doctor wasn't aiming for the Daleks at all. The woman was referring to the Doctor as a legend, tying back to the end of season six. But when the eyestalk came out of her forehead, I was like Drats! Terrifying Daleks.

Then Amy and Rory--no, I couldn't believe that their marriage was that bad. Pond Life was terrible, but I still was shocked at the divorce papers. But then, *posh* back with the Doctor. And shoved into an Asylum of insane Daleks. But that line about "Daleks have an idea of beauty; maybe that is why we have never destroyed you--" makes so much sense. Because without the Doctor to hate, the Daleks diminished...which comes into play at the end of the episode. The conversion of dead humans was pretty creepy too, as was the possibility of Amy becoming a Dalek.

Oswin was clever, a bit too flirtly for the situation in my mind, but I really thought she was funny, especially with the souffle. I have already seen her tagged as "Souffle Girl" on Tumblr, so she obviously was a hit. Clever, clever Moffat, to tell us we wouldn't see Jenna-Louise Coleman until Christmas; if he hadn't told us a date, we'd be looking everywhere; instead, we're surprised. And then...Amy's revelation. Oh, sweet sonic screwdriver, poor Amy. First you get Rory trying to be heroic and brave and then she tells him that. Oh. Amy. Demon's Run just got even worse for me. I suspected they weren't gonna have another child because of what happened to River; I never dreamed that they can't. I'm gonna write a fic for that. And then work on my one where they adopt Sky Smith after Sarah Jane dies. Then when I went on TV tropes, I learned that she signed the divorce papers Amy Williams. Oh, Amy.

As for Oswin. I never even imagined...oh, Oswin. And what does this mean about Clara? Because is this Clara Oswin or a relative of Clara Oswin or...MOFFAT! MOFFAT! WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO US?