Mark Watches ‘Doctor Who’: S05E13 – The Big Bang

In the thirteenth and final episode of the fifth series of Doctor Who, the impossible has happened: The universe has ceased to exist. In it’s place, a strange and slightly altered parallel universe has grown from the TARDIS exploding. A young Amelia Pond, who still believes in stars, becomes in involved in an increasingly complicated plot to restore the world that disappeared. Intrigued? Then it’s time for Mark to watch Doctor Who.

Steven Moffat, this show is unmistakably yours.

As I am now at the end of series five and one special away from reaching a real-time Doctor Who reality, I’ve largely lived in the world of Russell T Davies. He certainly deserves the credit for bringING this series back to the public at large and doing so in a way that respects where Doctor Who came from. It’s a daunting task and there’s no denying that.

At the same time, with the level of popularity that the show had reached by the end of series 4, thanks largely in part to Davies, Tennant, Piper, Agyeman, and Tate, I sense that Steven Moffat had a gigantic set of shoes to step into. He’d had a good run writing for the show anyway, and that definitely helped. But how do you make a show your own after four years of intensely complex mythology? All of the old characters and companions were gone and Davies tenure was definitely over by the finale of “The End of Time.”

I commented during my review of “The Eleventh Hour” that it was pretty obvious that there were a few things incredibly “new” about the Eleventh Doctor and his brand new companion. (Actually, one of those things, in regards to cinematography, I can’t actually talk about until…Wednesday. Teehee.) Still, the character of the Doctor wasn’t invented by Moffat, nor was it created by Matt Smith. What’s so beautiful is that none of this matters. Over the course of thirteen episodes of the fifth series, we’ve been given one of the best Doctors of the entire series’s run, a companion who is just as important (and sometimes more so) than the Doctor, and a cast of side characters who only accentuate how well-written this new chapter of the story is.

And what a story it is. I’m reminded of a certain twist during LOST, which I’ll avoid talking about because I wouldn’t dream of spoiling it, where everything we’d seen before was now re-contextualized in a new light that gave the story a brand new meaning. With “The Pandorica Opens,” I think this may have been the most original and fascinating use of the “It’s-All-In-Your-Head” trope that I have ever seen. It helps that it’s not precisely that trope, as Moffat definitely twists it to be this fucked up, series-long con on the audience. But even aside from that, I don’t think I’ve ever seen such a harrowing and awful cliffhanger in my whole life! (Awful meaning REALLY FUCKED UP, not BAD QUALITY) The sheer finality of the last couple minutes of “The Pandorica Opens” help to shape “The Big Bang” in ways that allow this finale to take us to places we would have never seen.

I mean….Amy died! The Doctor is trapped in the Pandorica! River Song exploded in the TARDIS! And how can the Doctor merely undo these things? It’s the end. We have watched the universe EXPLODE OUT OF EXISTENCE. !!!!!!!!!! “The Pandorica Opens” could have easily ended before the Pandorica closed, before Auton Rory shot Amy, before River song opened the door to stone. However, by giving these characters such definite endings long before the whole story is told, Moffat can now explore a completely separate world and universe. Literally.

SO YEAH. AN ENTIRE NEW WORLD. The universe collapses and disappears and a new earth grows into existence instead. In this alternate world, there are no stars, no planets, no other galaxies. Earth is a solitary thing, and Moffat takes us directly back to where we began: the house of young Amelia Pond. Even without the Doctor, in this strange world grown in a lonely universe, Amy still can’t help but gaze into the sky, waiting for someone to come. Does she subconsciously miss the Doctor? Does she still remember him deep inside of her mind? I really love that this starts off with Amy, because while the negative aspect of the series-long con was built on Amy’s memories, now we get to see creation due to her imagination.

I don’t want to turn this review into a giant summary because I’d rather spend time talking about what the first half of “The Big Bang” does. Much like “Blink,” a large part of this episode involves the creation and execution of multiple ontological paradoxes, stemmed from the Doctor’s desire not only to get himself out of the Pandorica, but to save Amy in the process. Feeding on the same curious desire that caused the “new” Amelia Pond to draw stars in the sky, the Doctor leads Amelia to the National Museum, where we learn of the alternate world that’s cropped up in place of what used to exist. The Pandorica is there, and when Amelia finally touches it, she activates it and….she steps out. Well, the older version of her. Which…WHAT. HOW CAN SHE BE INSIDE THE PANDORICA. ISN’T SHE DEAD.

What transpires after this can best be described in two words: entertaining and brilliant. As we watch the complex method in which time travel allows the Doctor to escape the Pandorica, get Amy inside of it, and visit his own time stream to save his life is one of the more gripping collections of scenes on this entire show. It’s just plain fun to try and piece the time line together, especially while one happens chronologically and for the Doctor happens out of order. Well….one Doctor. Both? Bah, I’m already getting confused.

But I don’t call this brilliant because it’s complex. Working out a complex plot in a way to avoid plot holes dealing with time travel is certainly a feat in and of itself, but that’s not what I’m complimenting here. As the Doctor uses River’s time vortex manipulator to pop back in time to give himself the crucial information or physical objects he and others need to get where they are (ONTOLOGICAL PARADOXES, I LOVE YOU SO), I couldn’t ignore the growing sense of dread I was feeling. I don’t think that the first half of this episode was particularly whimsical or anything, but it was fairly impossible not to watch these scenes with a grin on my face. You feel hope. You feel like the Doctor will actually make it out alive and find a way to reverse time and everything will be ok and there will be hugs and Jammy Dodgers for all. So, in this sense, Steven Moffat uses joy to build dread. WHO DOES THAT. SERIOUSLY WHAT IS GOING ON IN HIS BRAIN.

Before we discuss what that dread leads to, it is important to acknowledge Rory. Beautiful, brilliant Rory. The Girl Who Waited now has The Boy Who Waited. I know my black heart is frozen with hate, but I could not deny how romantic and amazing it is that Rory, even as an Auton, waits TWO THOUSAND YEARS by Amy’s side to protect her. No, let it sink in, and try to conceive of the idea. Two. Thousand. Years. Rory, you are seriously brilliant.

Annnnnnnddddddddd that’s when everything starts to fall apart. Well, in an ordered way, I suppose, since we learn that the Doctor intended for things to end up this way. When the Doctor shows up in front of all them and dies, just before whispering something key to himself, and the universe further begins to collapse. Young Amelia disappears, the future Doctor is dead, and they have just twelve minutes until whatever happens that kills the Doctor happens. (Wow, that sentence is a mouthful.) And that…phew, there is a lot going on here, isn’t there? Thankfully, Moffat’s script never seems bogged down by the weight of the plot, which is incredibly complicated at this point. But I think that the emotion that gives this all a specific context is what saves it.

Plottiness aside, as we come to realize the “sun” is actually the exploding TARDIS, that River is not actually dead, and that the Doctor also did not die from the Dalek attack, this episode jettisons into UNBELIEVABLY FANTASTIC pretty much immediately. In a way, it felt like the ending of this series almost could have been the ending of the entire show, or at least the end of this specific Doctor. The Doctor’s regeneration or actual death could have been placed on screen and I would have believed it. Willing to sacrifice his entire existence to save the universe, the Doctor straps himself into the Pandorica, planning to put himself directly into the explosion of the TARDIS so that the universe can be restored throughout time. In the process, he’ll have to seal himself on the other side of the Time Crack. Never existed. Ever.

How fucked is it that Amy always had parents, but the Time Crack erased them from her memory? As the Doctor moves back over the current series, revisiting crucial scenes, I was shocked at how much series five was re-contextualized with this moment. Moffat had easily planned this all along. Amy Pond literally made no sense, and it was due to the crack in her wall. Ugh, ok, my throat is getting all funny and weird, just thinking about that scene in 1996 where the Doctor puts The Girl Who Waited to bed. THIS IS SERIOUSLY SO SAD.

And this is also why I love the definitive nature of the cliffhanger in “The Pandorica Opens.” Without it, would we have seen Amy wake up on June 26, 2010, her timeline restored, to watch her wedding to Rory? To see her “meet” her parents again, to see her slowly remember pieces of the Doctor, the bow tie, the suspenders, the image of River Song delivering her wedding gift…that speech she gives at her wedding is MONUMENTAL.

“Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue…”

Amy remembers the Doctor. And that small act restores him, and I know it’s really cheesy, but it is such a goddamn beautiful moment. I DON’T CARE. Ugh, this episode. The Doctor has returned, Amy and Rory are married, and more adventures in the TARDIS await. I am perfectly fine with a series ending without loss for once. It finally feels right.

THOUGHTS

• Be forewarned, I have A LOT OF THESE.
• OK SO RIVER IS MARRIED. AND TO THE DOCTOR? Or someone else? And what the fuck is up with River Song? WHO IS SHE? Ugh. Well, I do like that there are still unanswered questions at the end of series five. Gives the show a much grander scope and feel.
• Who are the Silence? Why didn’t we find out who they are?
• I was genuinely surprised there was no Captain Jack Harkness in this episode. But the fifth Doctor seems to have completely moved on from all his old companions, yes?
• That scene during “Forest of the Dead” that was shown to be the Doctor rewinding through time and begging Amy to remember was strange at the time, but I thought nothing of it. FUCKING AMAZING.
• I want to go to Space Florida. 🙁
• “I dated a Nestene duplicate once. Swappable heads. Do keep things fresh.”
• “It’s a fez. I wear a fez now. Fezzes are cool.” PLEASE WEAR THIS AGAIN IN THE FUTURE. Fuck the haters.
• “I don’t trust that Richard Dawkins.”
• I didn’t notice this until the second time around, but in the Lone Universe Earth, there are penguins. In the Nile.
• Watching Rory punch the Doctor in the face = joy. Never thought I’d type that.
• “Raggedy Man, I remember you, and you are LATE FOR MY WEDDING!”
• “Oh, it’s all mouths today, isn’t it?”
• MUST QUOTE THIS: “It’s funny, I thought if you could hear me, I could hang on somehow. Silly me. Silly Doctor. When you wake up, you’ll have a mum and dad, and you won’t even remember me. Well, you’ll remember me a little. I’ll be a story in your head. But that’s ok. We’re all stories, in the end. Just make it a good one, eh? Because it was, you know, it was the best: a daft old man who stole a magic box and ran away. Did I ever tell you I stole it? Well, I borrowed it; I was always going to take it back. Oh, that box, Amy, you’ll dream about that box. It’ll never leave you. Big and little at the same time, brand-new and ancient, and the bluest blue, ever. And the times we had, eh? Would’ve had. Never had. In your dreams, they’ll still be there. The Doctor and Amy Pond…and the days that never came. The cracks are closing. But they can’t close properly ’til I’m on the other side. I don’t belong here anymore. I think I’ll skip the rest of the rewind. I hate repeats. Live well. Love Rory. Bye-bye, Pond.” OH MY CREYS.
• UGH I LOVE DOCTOR WHO. “A Christmas Carol” is tomorrow, new series starts on Wednesday, and then DW liveblogging series 6 begins on April 23!!!!!