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.