‘THE ANGELS TAKE MANHATTAN’
Please feel free to comment on my review.
Pond Season – Angels
This episode by Steven Moffat is the last adventure with Amy and Rory travelling with the Doctor. I felt emotionally saddened by Amy and Rory’s departure and the cast’s performances are well done.
‘The Angels Take Manhattan’ also features the return of the Weeping Angels taking over New York in 1938. This is a terrifying episode with the Angels, including the Statue of Liberty who is also an Angel.
The Doctor, Amy and Rory find themselves in a death-chilling confrontation with the Angels. It also features one of the most heart-breaking departures I have seen in ‘Doctor Who’ with Amy and Rory.
Alex Kingston returns as River Song, who is now a Professor. This story, in terms of River’s continuity, is set between ‘The Time of Angels’/’Flesh and Stone’ and ‘Silence in the Library’/’Forest of the Dead’.
River is there to see her parents Amy and Rory before they leave. Disguised as Melody Malone, she writes a thriller novel for the Doctor to read in Manhattan 2012, before coming back in time to 1938.
Mike McShane guest stars as crime boss Grayle. He’s initially concerned with the statues in 1938 Manhattan, before it transpires he has been keeping one Weeping Angel in his office as a ‘girlfriend’.
Rob David guest stars as P.I. Sam Garner. He meets a future older version of himself at the Winter Quay apartments that becomes his resting place of death, as he gets sent back in time by the Angels.
The Winter Quay also becomes the death place for Rory Williams, as he sees a future version of himself dying in bed. This was a shock for me, as this was the beginning of the end for Amy and Rory.
Being chased by Angels, Rory attempts to change his death by committing suicide and fall off the top of the Winter Quay to break the paradox. A really emotional scene ensues between Rory and Amy.
Amy, who is trembling with emotion, joins Rory as they both fall off the building, much to the Doctor’s horror. But the paradox is broken and Amy and Rory are alive, much to the Doctor’s delight.
They all return to the cemetery where the Doctor had left the TARDIS in 2012. Rory sees his own gravestone before he is sent back in time by a surviving Weeping Angel, which was a shock to watch.
What follows is a gut-wrenching, heart-breaking goodbye between Amy and the Doctor. She looks away and gets zapped back in time to join Rory and live the rest of her life with him before they die.
The Doctor sees Amy and Rory’s names on their gravestone and becomes immensely heartbroken before he and River leave in the TARDIS. I felt sad after watching how Amy and Rory leave the series.
The Doctor eventually manages to find an afterword written by Amy in River’s ‘Melody Malone’ novel. This was a sweet, final farewell from Amy and Rory to the Doctor since they clearly loved him.
‘The Angels Take Manhattan’ is one of the most heart-wrenching episodes I’ve seen. It’s a fitting farewell for two well-loved companions of the Eleventh Doctor who I’ve grown to like over the years.
Certainly in this first half of Series 7, Amy and Rory have become better characters compared to the previous seasons they’ve been in. I wish I could have appreciated them more in the other episodes.
The DVD special features on this episode are as follows. On Disc 2 of ‘The Complete Series 7’ of ‘Doctor Who’, there is the ‘A Fall with Grace’ behind-the-scenes featurette.
At the end of ‘The Angels Take Manhattan’, there is a trailer for the 2012 Christmas Special called ‘The Snowmen’. I was really looking forward to seeing Jenna Coleman appear properly in this season.
On Disc 2 of ‘The Complete Series 7’ of ‘Doctor Who’, there’s the ‘Doctor Who at Comic Con’ featurette and ‘The Last Days of the Ponds’ featurette with behind-the-scenes interviews with Matt Smith, Karen Gillan and Arthur Darvill.
‘Series 7 – Part 1’ is a fairly good collection of episodes marking the end of Amy and Rory’s travels in the TARDIS with the Eleventh Doctor. The first five episodes of Series 7 clearly depict the Eleventh Doctor TARDIS trio in a better light and there are more compelling stories to enjoy from this season.
Matt Smith, Karen Gillian and Arthur Darvill are very good as the Doctor; Amy and Rory in these first five stories of Series 7 of ‘Doctor Who’. It marked the end of a chapter in the Eleventh Doctor’s life. I was so looking forward to seeing how his era continued with meeting Jenna Coleman as Clara next.
‘The Angels Take Manhattan’ rating – 8/10
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For the Eleventh Doctor was
For Amy was
For Rory was
For River Song was
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The next story
For the Eleventh Doctor is
For Amy is For Rory is For River Song is
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| Return to The Eleventh Doctor’s Timeline | |
| Return to Amy’s Timeline | |
| Return to Rory’s Timeline | |
| Return to River Song’s Timeline | |
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Bradley's Basement 
Not a bad episode but i felt the Doctor needed to do more & something i just felt was missing from this story?
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Hi Simon.
I felt the emotional departure of Amy and Rory was well done in this episode. Not a classic episode by any means, but I found it decent enough to warrant a fitting departure to two Eleventh Doctor companions who I’ve become fond of in later years.
Thanks for your comments about this episode.
Tim. 🙂
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