In various ways I've found nearly all of the Series 7 episodes difficult to review so far, and The Angels Take Manhattan is possibly the most difficult; it gets the effect it wants, but on reflection it takes some liberties along the way.
The episode sets out to tug at the heart strings, if not snap them entirely, giving us some of Matt Smith's, Arthur Darvill's & Karen Gillan's finest moments in the series - and the most intense, emotional character exit since 2006's Doomsday. My viewing experience was that this was a wonderful piece of television, pitched perfectly and delivered with aplomb.
The cherubs were easily the most disconcerting of the Weeping Angels on offer and the fact that the Doctor, Amy, Rory and River found themselves unwittingly caught in a trap where events were spiralling out of their control was very reminiscent of some of the best tragic stories from the Classic series - such as Logopolis, Earthshock and The Caves of Androzani. This wasn't an episode with a strong story driving through it, into which the Doctor et al enter and sort things out for other people. It didn't need to be. Instead this was a scenario into which our heroes enter, and then have to try to get out of without disaster - the story was theirs and theirs alone.
I loved that Amy & Rory were allowed to take their own decisions, make their own choices without having to check with or defer to the Doctor. They've not always been used in the best way so far this series and it was heartening to see them go out on such a high note from a character as well as a performance perspective. The roof-edge scene in particular was very powerful, if not a nightmare for viewers with vertigo (nice angles, Mr Director!) and the sheer overflowing emotion evident in Karen Gillan and Matt Smith as Amy made her final 'choice' was enough to tip even the hardest heart over the edge. It's scenes like this that take the show beyond the purely sensational, and really make the viewer challenge what they themselves would do in that situation.
There was a real portent of doom throughout. The viewer often knew more than the characters themselves and so we were left watching events fall into line with the certainty of disaster - whether we had heard that Amy and Rory were leaving or not. The episode was skillfully directed by Nick Hurran with a gorgeous use of light and shadow (which is what any Weeping Angels episodes need) and no unnecessary heavy-handedness or unsubtle lingering. Having also done a great job with Asylum of The Daleks, Hurran is the director setting the bar this season, in my opinion.
It's a bit trite to say that this was an episode about decisions, and committment, and living with consequences. Most Doctor Who stories are about those things; most stories full stop are about those things. But because this story was so entirely about our heroes, these aspects appeared much more heightened. There was no gallery of guest characters to hide behind, no one inconsequential, just the Doctor's group and the Weeping Angels. And there were no winners. Everyone lost in some way, but thankfully Amy's last gambit played off giving her something of a pyrrhic victory in the end.
As I said, my viewing experience was that this was a powerful and emotive piece of television drama and for that it should be praised. But I can't help being analytical too, and I don't like to judge things at face value.
We've had two full seasons of Amy, and then Rory as well, travelling with the Doctor, then this season it's been more fragmentary. They've been taxied from home to adventure to back home again a few times. We've met Brian, Rory's dad, and got to like him. We've not really had a chance to appreciate the Doctor and the Ponds back on proper TARDIS travelling terms again yet when this happens. I think we either needed to swap A Town Called Mercy and The Power of Three or to have another episode of them adventuring normally again before this one. The series hasn't allowed us or them to get comfortable. It was the build up of the comfort zone that made Rose's leaving in 2006 all the more powerful.
The Doctor reminds us that New York is known as 'The City That Never Sleeps'. Since the Angels are hampered by being watched, a city that doesn't sleep may not be the best place for them to operate! Perhaps they could have focussed on it being a city where people don't take an interest in anything but themselves (like much of London) suggesting that no one notices that these statues move because they're not interested in anything outside their immediate self-centredness?
The Weeping Angels: so now they can take over any statue, regardless of whether it's stone or not? Hmmm... I think this was shoe-horned in just so the production could use the Statue of Liberty (insert gag on taking liberties here...) In the grand scheme of things this isn't a massive problem, but I don't think the Statue worked as well as it might since we never saw it in all it's glory from ground level. There were various instances of Angels trapped looking at each other down a corridor or being looked at and still acting (which is bending the rules, folks!) - and can anyone believe that the Statue of Liberty could move without somebody seeing it at some point and thinking 'what the hell?!' (see my previous point about 'the City that never sleeps'!)
I enjoyed the pre-titles section with the private detective, but it was unclear if the mafia boss character understood the Angels and if he was working for them or whether he was accidentally sending people to their deaths at Winter Quay. His demise was rather thrown away too, leaving the viewer feeling a bit 'so what' about him. I wanted to know him better so I could like him or hate him properly.
Finally, if the Doctor couldn't go back to 1938 New York could he not have arranged to pick up Amy and Rory somewhere else in the USA in 1939 or even a few years later for example, by leaving them a message? Would that have also counted as one paradox too many and blown the world apart? I know the gravestone makes their deaths a fixed event (like the Doctor's in series 6, ahem...) but rules are broken and plots are schemed often enough by the Doctor to get them out of this, I feel.
But this is really me nit-picking and looking too closely into something which was actually a great piece of television. Now roll on Christmas and the return of Jenna-Louise Coleman!
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