"I've got really dry eyes!"
IN THIS ONE... The Weeping Angels take an English village out of the collapsing universe.
REVIEW: For my money, this is the best Weeping Angels episode since Blink. Yes, it's built on the bones of Time of the Angels/Flesh and Stone and The Angels Take Manhattan, but it's creepier, looks cooler, and avoids the silliness of the latter. And it's not just a retread/explanation of those earlier episodes, it also adds to the lore. Images like the drawing projecting an Angel that gets bunched together and burned, the Angels coming out of the television and the walls, the renegade living on a mirrored beach that goes from sand to rocks in Claire's mind, and that incredible final shot are all stand-outs. Further, we get an Angel ship (of sorts), learn what happens when you're hit with a second touch of their power, and perk up at revelation that these at least work for the mysterious Division (see Theories). While at first, you think taking a village out of space-time is their way to shelter from the Flux, but then "quantum extraction" turns out to be a way to isolate and trap their prey, not just the inhabitants (who are food), but the renegade Angel, and then the Doctor as it gets betrayed by it (scorpions B scorpions, yo). This is possibly what they were going to do with Manhattan, given time.
So the village is presented in two time frames - 1967 and 1901 - though it's November 21st (the date on which the episode was first broadcast - a lot of that in Flux). Claire Brown shows up again, after her meeting an Angel in 2021 (Flux Part 1), her psychic powers investigated by Professor Jericho who, I understand, made quite an impression on the audience. Well perhaps it's due to his continuing part in the story, but I took him as another of these gentlemen scientists Doctor Who is peppered with. He gets some good lines and action moments, stiff upper lip, wot, but y'know, he's just THAT type to me. Another engaging character is Peggy, the girl lost in '67 who's been fending for herself in '01 and grows up to be the old woman we see in '67. She's wise and relaxed for her years and I like her as Yaz and Dan's guide through this part of the episode. Unbeknownst to us at the time, this was really the start of the companions' long journey together without the Doctor. They indeed find that while they can talk to the Doctor across the veil, they can't cross the line and anyway, the Doctor is "recalled" by Division (brr). I will say that while the various time zones might have made this a complicated episode requiring a lot of exposition, you don't feel it. I love the Doctor's line when she breaks into Jericho's house, "Let's not get bogged down in the order of things", which is the theme here. (Heck, even the aside with Bel out in beautifully-rendered destroyed space connects to the main story by being the Passenger's "extraction" of the Flux's refugees.)
Obviously, it's part of the Flux storyline, so it's a great stand-alone episode only missing a resolution. Love the shocker ending (only slightly undone by the mid-credit scene with Vinder - couldn't it have waited for Part 5?), but it seems the action of the episode was to escape the Angels and the Doctor fails at that (though the companions and guest stars are saved). Still, this chapter is so well-directed - the tight focus on paper, the camera lurking behind shelves or TARDIS machinery, etc. - I'm going to give it a pass. After all, I wasn't expecting complete stories per episode back when I was reviewing the classic series!
THEORIES: In The End of Time, Rassilon says the dissenting voices of the Council would be punished like the Weeping Angels of old, and we see them take those positions. From the Angels' role in Flux and as part of Division, it would seem to say that Angels are (ironically) fallen Time Lords, "quantum locked" into these forms. At least during Division's heyday, from which point they might have become a "race" capable of reproducing (the cherubs in The Angels Take Manhattan) and losing their Time Lord identity over time, becoming the monstrous Angels we see earlier in the series. And yet, the first ones we see are after a TARDIS, so some of them must remember. (A quick aside to Class fans: Since the Angels were shown controlling Coal Hill Academy, we could take it to actually be Division working behind the scenes of that show as well.)
REWATCHABILITY: High - I didn't think I ever needed another Weeping Angel episode, but Flux proved me wrong!
Comments
This was easily my favorite episode of the season. Big '70s Who vibes with the alien invasion of a quiet English village.
This episode has AMAZING strong visual touches and atmosphere... but I struggle to really feel much in regards to the actual characters it happens to; Jericho, the girl and Claire are all more ciphers to me than anything. Obviously to an extent every story (espically in something as trope-laden as Who) is just going to be a bunch of remixed tropes, but this era has really struggled with making me forget about it as I watch.
I'd argue that the cliffhanger in this one is easily the strongest moment (in terms of combining shock value, emotional resonance and strong visuals) in the Chibnall era, made only more era-defining by how it immediately goes nowhere.
That end-credits scene was unintentionally hilarious: the sudden nature of it made me excited;y jump in my seat and pay attention, only for it to just be another scene from the side plot that could have really fit anywhere.