It's good that Shakespeare didn't know about the (im)possibility of timetravell, otherwise, 'The Angels Take Manhattan' is pretty close to what his Romeo and Juliet would have looked like, and, it would have also made about as much sense.
But let's start with the praising. It is needless to say that if you were not touched to tears by this telematic masterpiece, then you should take care because you may be made of a material which might come in handy for the Weeping Angels. What worked with the Statue of Liberty, might work with you as well. Even though, to be fair, Moffat failed to tick off every emotional scene possible of his to do list, after all, after promising to take care of the Ponds last week, the Doctor has yet to tell Mr. Williams the sad news, namely, that he is never going to see his son and daughter-in-law again*. Except if the Doctor gives him a lift, even though I guess that this idea was dismissed for obvious drama-lessening (and not science-fictional) reasons.
Now, back to this season's mid-season final, which is, among other things, an homage to Rory's two main abilities, namely, waiting and dying. Here he got to do it (sometimes) even simultaneously: he was waiting for his death. Besides, he made sure that nobody will ever die more often in a single episode.
On a more serious level, the plot displayed one of the reasons why Moffat would win any script-writing competition over RTD, he made clear that he is not taking things too seriously. Only the Mighy Moff can come up with the idea to include several jokes into what would be Romeo's and Juliet's dying scene in Shakespeare's equivalent (the moment where Rory realises that he has to jump off the building) without ruining the moment. First, he makes Rory claim that the Statue of Liberty got impatient waiting for him visiting, and secondly, he, the Big Rory Pond cannot jump off the wall. I love him, well Moffat, for that scene alone, and then the following dialogue in which Amy persuades him not to jump without her is the cherry on the top. Actually, those few minutes are maybe the best written and acted moments in Who. Give Darvill an Oscar, you know what, give both guys, or even better, all three of them, one of those shiny statues...
Still, as with many of Moffat's twisted storylines, there seems to be a label on it: For Enjoying Only. As soon as you start to think about it, its magic magically disappears. And I'm serious, do not even start asking the question how it should be possible. I'm not sure if Moffat knows, even though he will certainly say otherwise. Like, maybe most importantly, since when has the Doctor not been able to visit, explore, mess with, or even drink tea with a fixed point in time if it serves a purpose. Or is there something terribly important I have been missing since 'The Wedding of River Song'? Well, yes, we all know that it is a rule, but especially Matt Smith's (BTW, again fabulously acted) Doctor is proving not to be too picky about that specific law. The risk of blowing up whole NY seems to be a risk the guy from that other season (who faked his own death, erased his timeline and created a fracture in the space-time-continuum which was big enough to allow dinosaurs to roaming the streets of London, and Dickens giving a live interview on BBC Breakfast) would have taken...
This ties in with the 'Oh my dear, it is written in a book, and you know what's worse, I've already read it' rule. Knowing someone's future does not create a fixed point in time either, well, it kind of does because Moffat says so, but why did that not apply for the Doctor dying at Lake Silencio? (OK, I know, time itself fell, has fallen, falls (?) for the Doctor's Teselecta-trick, but how stupid can time really be?).
Not to mention a few other, seemingly rather minor things. Right, I can just about believe that almost nobody in NY is aware of the fact that the statues are moving, but someone has to notice that the Statue of Liberty has gone for a walk...
Sadly, it is because of such (at times unnecessarily) missing backup-stories that the plot feels a bit hasty, as if Moffat would have been too busy to give it a second thought. Do not get me wrong, I still, think this is the best farwell episode I've ever seen, nevertheless, I cannot help but have the feeling that with a bit more effort he could have got it all right, and not just 95% of it.
But anyway, it seems we have to take such small discontinuity errors (or the pseudo-physical universal and everything overriding rule of 'because Moffat says so') for granted, otherwise, we would have never got into the delight of the Pond's heartbreaking farewell which is on the best way of becoming a memorial of Doctor Who's core message (never be alone) and provides the two of them all in all a tear-y but not completely unhappy ending.
*EDIT: Oh, I see they have taken care of that. Still, I think it should have been the Doctor's job to deliver the message, even though, I have to admit, this way it was almost more heartbreaking.
But let's start with the praising. It is needless to say that if you were not touched to tears by this telematic masterpiece, then you should take care because you may be made of a material which might come in handy for the Weeping Angels. What worked with the Statue of Liberty, might work with you as well. Even though, to be fair, Moffat failed to tick off every emotional scene possible of his to do list, after all, after promising to take care of the Ponds last week, the Doctor has yet to tell Mr. Williams the sad news, namely, that he is never going to see his son and daughter-in-law again*. Except if the Doctor gives him a lift, even though I guess that this idea was dismissed for obvious drama-lessening (and not science-fictional) reasons.
Now, back to this season's mid-season final, which is, among other things, an homage to Rory's two main abilities, namely, waiting and dying. Here he got to do it (sometimes) even simultaneously: he was waiting for his death. Besides, he made sure that nobody will ever die more often in a single episode.
On a more serious level, the plot displayed one of the reasons why Moffat would win any script-writing competition over RTD, he made clear that he is not taking things too seriously. Only the Mighy Moff can come up with the idea to include several jokes into what would be Romeo's and Juliet's dying scene in Shakespeare's equivalent (the moment where Rory realises that he has to jump off the building) without ruining the moment. First, he makes Rory claim that the Statue of Liberty got impatient waiting for him visiting, and secondly, he, the Big Rory Pond cannot jump off the wall. I love him, well Moffat, for that scene alone, and then the following dialogue in which Amy persuades him not to jump without her is the cherry on the top. Actually, those few minutes are maybe the best written and acted moments in Who. Give Darvill an Oscar, you know what, give both guys, or even better, all three of them, one of those shiny statues...
Still, as with many of Moffat's twisted storylines, there seems to be a label on it: For Enjoying Only. As soon as you start to think about it, its magic magically disappears. And I'm serious, do not even start asking the question how it should be possible. I'm not sure if Moffat knows, even though he will certainly say otherwise. Like, maybe most importantly, since when has the Doctor not been able to visit, explore, mess with, or even drink tea with a fixed point in time if it serves a purpose. Or is there something terribly important I have been missing since 'The Wedding of River Song'? Well, yes, we all know that it is a rule, but especially Matt Smith's (BTW, again fabulously acted) Doctor is proving not to be too picky about that specific law. The risk of blowing up whole NY seems to be a risk the guy from that other season (who faked his own death, erased his timeline and created a fracture in the space-time-continuum which was big enough to allow dinosaurs to roaming the streets of London, and Dickens giving a live interview on BBC Breakfast) would have taken...
This ties in with the 'Oh my dear, it is written in a book, and you know what's worse, I've already read it' rule. Knowing someone's future does not create a fixed point in time either, well, it kind of does because Moffat says so, but why did that not apply for the Doctor dying at Lake Silencio? (OK, I know, time itself fell, has fallen, falls (?) for the Doctor's Teselecta-trick, but how stupid can time really be?).
Not to mention a few other, seemingly rather minor things. Right, I can just about believe that almost nobody in NY is aware of the fact that the statues are moving, but someone has to notice that the Statue of Liberty has gone for a walk...
Sadly, it is because of such (at times unnecessarily) missing backup-stories that the plot feels a bit hasty, as if Moffat would have been too busy to give it a second thought. Do not get me wrong, I still, think this is the best farwell episode I've ever seen, nevertheless, I cannot help but have the feeling that with a bit more effort he could have got it all right, and not just 95% of it.
But anyway, it seems we have to take such small discontinuity errors (or the pseudo-physical universal and everything overriding rule of 'because Moffat says so') for granted, otherwise, we would have never got into the delight of the Pond's heartbreaking farewell which is on the best way of becoming a memorial of Doctor Who's core message (never be alone) and provides the two of them all in all a tear-y but not completely unhappy ending.
*EDIT: Oh, I see they have taken care of that. Still, I think it should have been the Doctor's job to deliver the message, even though, I have to admit, this way it was almost more heartbreaking.
