Doctor Who - The Angels Take Manhattan

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It’s the end of an era in this week’s episode of Doctor Who as we see the famous Doctor and Amy partnership come to an end in the even more famous setting of New York.

The Doctor (Matt Smith) and Amy (Karen Gillan) are reading and relaxing in the park while Rory goes to buy coffee, until the book they are reading turns into a tale of their life. Rory is followed by the Weeping Angels before they take him back to 1938 where he bumps into his daughter River Song (Alex Kingston).

The Doctor and Amy find this out through the book, which was actually written by River under the pseudonym of Melody Malone – her cover name in 1938 – and make their way back in time in the TARDIS to find him. River and Rory are taken to a man called Grayle (Mike McShane) who has heard of River’s knowledge of the Angels and wants to know all about them himself. Meanwhile Rory (Arthur Darvill) is sent to a building called Winter Quay by cherub versions of the Angels.

In Winter Quay, Rory is led to a room with his name on as the Angels close in behind him. The Doctor and Amy reunite with River and find Rory in the room. Here they see an old dying man in a bed. This man is actually Rory from the future. The Angels feed off “time energy” and plan to send the current Rory back in time where he will live out the rest of his life alone in this room while they feed off him.

The only chance, albeit incredibly slim, to change his fate is to escape the building which will hopefully cause a paradox to kill all the Angels. But he would have to run for the rest of his life as the Angles would follow him forever.

They end up having to run up onto the roof of the building, where an Angel Statue of Liberty (fangs and all) stomps over to send Rory back in time. Rory decides his only choice is to jump off the roof because him dying would cause the paradox. Amy pleads with him not to but he won’t change his mind – plus there is a chance he will come back to life anyway as the building will never have existed so he will never have jumped off it. Amy decides to jump with him as she can’t live without him. The Doctor tries to stop them but is too late.

They all wake up alive in a graveyard back in 2012 New York. As they are about to head for a celebratory dinner, Rory sees a grave with his name on. Just as he calls Amy over, he disappears. Where he had been standing is one Angel which has survived. It has sent Rory back to Winter Quay. Amy cries and reasons with the Doctor that she needs to let the Angel get her too so she can be with Rory. The Doctor won’t have it and wants her to get back in the TARDIS but Amy spins round to face him “Raggedy man...goodbye.” and with that she too is gone. Her name appears on the same gravestone as Rory’s.

River tells the Doctor, who looks utterly lost, not to travel alone now that Amy and Rory are gone, and goes to send her book to a past Amy so she can write an afterword dedicated to the Doctor. In this she tells him to “not be alone” and to go and see the lonely little girl and tell her about the adventures she will have.

What did you think of Amy and Rory’s exit? How will the Doctor cope? 

Amy's Last Episode