Was "The Angels Take Manhattan" A Good Farewell?

and before this video begins i'd like to give a special shout out to my as bantium level patron fallon cortez [Music] the departure of a dochu companion is always an important event the characters need to be written out in a way that feels suitably climactic and fit in for their personalities and their character journeys well unless you're dodo who just got thrown into the bin off screen usually the big guns are brought out for the departures like the daleks the cybermen or the time lords since they represent that kind of notable blockbuster story worthy of a cast change like this when it came to the married couple amy and rory both actors wanted to make sure their departures were permanent and completely shut the door on potential returns undercutting the emotion of their farewell which is ironic considering series 7a itself undercut their initial departure in the gold complex funny that isn't it knowing the importance of this climactic goodbye adventure showrunner steven moffa initially settled on the daleks until he understandably decided the weeping angels would be a better fit for his new york setting the story would become known as the angels hate manhattan and yes that is a reference to the muppets in classic moffat style this would be a very chaotic and timely why me episode also seeing the return of popular recurring character river song it's no secret that i don't like this episode but why what's so bad about it considering its popularity and acclaimed status within the doctor fanbase well take a bite out of the big apple and try not to wreck the fragile web of time because we're going to review the angels take manhattan this is the story of emilia pond and this is how it ends to make a companions departure truly break hearts and traumatize the audience you first need to remind them of just how close the companion is to the doctor their best friend and the person they take a bullet for the angels take manhattan waste no time highlighting the strong family unit of the doctor amy and rory we're introduced to them simply relaxing in central park new york and having their usual fun banter it's always nice to see the small domestic side the trio spending time together and doing the same things any normal friend group would do series 7a makes sure to repeatedly emphasize this with episodes like the power of three by taking a step back and zooming out to show us these simple non-dramatic moments the show allows us as a viewer to appreciate the relationship and the dynamics between the main characters the true of the doctor amy and rory have been part of the show since the 11th hour they have shared so many wonderful adventures and it's been proven in the episode before they simply cannot let each other go they all need this friendship so having a specific emphasis on these interactions is the perfect direction to begin the end of the road it's like that opening of the army of ghosts that last glimpse at peace and happiness before it all gets ripped away in one climactic adventure it's kind of like the calm before the storm so to speak indeed as rory heads off to buy coffee it turns out the doctor's crime novel is written by none other than riversong herself and it's about the exact events they're experiencing so it's off to the races hello dad thanks to an unfortunate encounter with some cherub weeping angels rory finds himself back in 1938 new york with his own daughter river where they're immediately taken at gunpoint to the house of crime boss julius grail and for some reason he has an extreme fetish for weeping angels whatever rocks your boat i guess i do kind of like this idea it's very similar to henry van slatten and dalek this absolutely detestable and psychotic person who prides himself on a collection he doesn't even understand van statten just liked all the shiny alien artifacts he didn't know what they actually did or the danger is so called metal tron posed he's one of the worst possible people to own such powerful items and grail is very much the same he has no idea what the weeping angels are capable of apart from them moving and this leads from keeping one hostage and basically torturing it again just like van statten with the dalek it almost makes you feel bad for the angel in a way although it's pretty much impossible to truly sympathize with such an inherently evil and selfish monster but they still don't deserve this kind of treatment so it leads to a nice moment of comeuppance as grail himself is taken by an angel as purposeful revenge this particular one clearly haven't been stalking him for a while and if it did only send him back in time i'd say got off lightly i mean just look at what they were doing in their last proper outing okay so if we're talking about the angels let's address the big french oxidized elephant in the room the statue of liberty the cold open of the angels tate manhattan is punctuated with a reveal that old lady liberty herself has been converted into a big green weeping angel now first of all i want to say i do understand the thought process here this is an iconic and famous american landmark so to twist it into a doctor who villain is a creative idea it's like making the london eye a nesting transmitter or stonehenge the location of a super secure prison perverting these kinds of recognizable landscapes is a delightful staple of doctor who so on paper it's a fun idea to do the same to the statue of liberty i'm just not sure i'd go so far as to make it a weeping angel despite it serving as a striking visual it makes absolutely no logical sense in a number of ways how does it even move across the winter key that's a pretty long distance to cover without ever being seen even once in a city nicknamed the city that never sleeps literally the main fundamental characteristic of the weeping angels is how they can't move while being seen so it's ridiculous to make arguably the most famous statue in the entire world a weeping angel and that's not even taken into account the whole every image of an angel is an angel lore introduced in the time of angels how many images of the statue of liberty exist in this episode alone if every image is itself an angel then you'd better hope it turned back after this episode otherwise that's nearly 90 years of new angels being created because of constant media including the statue of liberty yeah it's a disaster and it's not even worth all this logistical chaos and goal post moving because it barely even plays a role in the episode surely it could have just been explained away as some sort of projection that's all it needed to be and then it would work but without that we just get a completely nonsensical trailer baiting plot point that makes no sense in the slightest it actively detracts from the quality of the episode because the whole time you're scratching your head trying to work out why there's a specter of confusion hanging over the entire narrative even though the statue of liberty itself sucks i personally do really like the idea of the angels infecting existing statues i think it's very inventive obviously due to their nature as a recurring doctor villain they need one main physical form to make them recognizable and iconic you need people to be able to instantly identify them but the roots of different angel forms had been planted as far back as blink an episode which made children across the country terrified of statues for years thanks to that ending montage suggesting that any statue could be an angel in disguise i know it's similar to that not every shadow but any shadow premise of the vashta narada but i think it's a great direction for the weeping angels adding more unpredictability to them as a threat how many angels in new york it's like they've taken over every statue in the city you never know where the danger might come from there are so many statues throughout the world so a development like this is simply perfect and really well handled i also think the battery farm premise is very unique and an interesting use of the angels it's this creepy hotel california style setup where you can enter but never leave the angels luring you in and trapping you for eternity as you live your life purely to feed them it's deeply chilling and could be a full-blown psychological horror movie all on its own a lot of people misconstrue this plot element as the angels constantly zapping the same prisoners back in time over and over but that's not necessarily the case here the victims get lured to winter key once they're then zapped back in time to the same spot where they're kept for the rest of their life with the angels able to feed off the entire energy rather than the quick hit and run shot they usually get it's a brilliantly evil and sinister plan adding a new layer of sadistic organization to the angels i just wish it was expanded upon a bit more this place is a farm a battery farm in the episode writing out amy and rory it would only make sense to include their daughter melody pond also known as river song this is one of river's less annoying episodes adopting the persona of melody malone a femme fatale detective who helps personify the noir vibe of it all and adds to the mysterious and surreal tone it's at this point in the show where the chronological timeline of river doesn't really matter anymore so she's just this recurring flirty and wise-cracking side character like captain jack who comes and goes as she pleases to add a recognizable face to important stories but i do find it weird that the episode basically forgets her parents are amy and rory apart from a brief mention at the end of the episode it never really comes up and that just feels weird since it should probably be a central focus in their departure story by far the worst part of river's involvement is when she's grabbed by an angel and has no way to escape without breaking her wrist which the doctor has read in the book making it inevitable so she has to break her wrist to free herself and naturally this upsets the doctor since it's both his wife hurting herself and concrete proof that his book fueled fixed points cannot be changed therefore the doctor decides to help heal the woman he loves by using a little bit of regeneration energy to heal her after all he's in his last incarnation and can't fully regenerate again so he can't do too much damage right he knows what he's doing oh wait river immediately flips out for no reason and literally physically abuses him that's definitely the response this warranted i genuinely don't understand this moment she acts so unbelievably childish he healed her so her getting so angry is really weird and out of character especially because she did the exact same to him back in let's go hitler using all her regenerations on him to save his life so it's ridiculously hypocritical and annoying you embarrass me even amy backs her up for some reason and i don't understand the issues in this scene there's also that stupidly poetic thing about hiding the damage which also sucks therefore i genuinely think this is one of the worst scenes in the entire moffat era it's irredeemable and absurdly toxic for no reason we all know how much moffatt likes meddling with the rules of time travel and creating paradoxes so the angels say manhattan is no exception this episode sees plenty of shenanigans but it ultimately ends up tying itself into a very disruptive knot and then tripping over a large part of this storyline focuses on the melody malone book which basically recounts the adventure as they're having it this is admittedly a pretty cool idea but it quickly becomes a disaster because of how inconsistent it is time can apparently be rewritten unless you read it in a book i guess obviously the show has established fixed points before moments in time that cannot be changed just look at episodes like fires upon pay but the idea that you can't change what's going to happen to you if you've read about it in a random book is so weird that didn't happen in the waters of mars the doctor saw the death of adelaide's crew written online but by the end it changes anyway so it makes no sense that that rule suddenly doesn't apply here angel tape manhattan itself contradicts this arbitrary rule the episode is desperate to establish it as an important part of the plot something that cannot be fought but it's never justified enough outside of being covered by the rule of cool a christmas carol can get away with such crazy time travel stuff because it's just a fun christmas adventure it makes no effort to really hammer home how these things cannot be changed but angels hate manhattan changes so many rules just to fit the plot whilst also treating it completely seriously and like it's a permanent change it doesn't do anything to help the plot it just gets crowbared in to allow the plot to happen which feels really weird and needlessly complicated the rule change just doesn't work and feels like a roundabout way to ensure amy and rory can't return no we can just go and get him in the tardis one more paradox would rip new york apart yes let's finally get to the meat of the episode amy and rory's departure since rory was sent back to 1938 the angels refused to let him escape and are determined to squeeze him dry indeed when the doctor amy and river arrive at winterkey they come across a much older rory who has been trapped there for an entire lifetime this is super messed up imagine being in rory's position for something like 50 years he's trapped in this singular room there's no escape and probably no food either the only contact with the outside world is one singular window where you can see a steady flow of new victims walking into the hotel like lambs to the slaughter this is your life now as you slowly wither over the decades your body worn down until all you can do is lay in bed and wait for your younger self to walk in it's horrifying to realize this is everything rory has been forced to go through it reminds me a lot of the girl who waited being abandoned and growing old without the ones you love it's heartbreaking when the present day amy meets the older rory and the doctor notes that this is the first time he's seen her again since being taken because he was so pleased to see you again episodes like the girl he waited and amy's choice established the theme of amy being forced to choose between the doctor and rory a decision which comes up again in this episode two and a half series of joint character development culminate perfectly as the couple jump off the roof together in the hopes of changing their future and out paradoxing the paradox to destroy the angels despite this frankly terrible shot of them falling this is such an emotional moment of solidarity and love they don't know if it will work but they're gonna do it together after everything they've done for each other over the years this is the biggest proof of their willingness to go through anything so it's the perfect way to write these two characters out of the show forever dying together wait what do you mean that's not the end yeah after the day is seemingly saved and the whole group is ready to move on rory is suddenly caught by the angels again with no way for the doctor to save them wow what a great ending for rory brilliant definitely not insulting to him at all and then amy is forced to make a choice again that definitely isn't at all repetitive or unnecessary we didn't just see that happen definitely not but yes due to the whole fixed point thing amy has to say goodbye at some point this is the only part of the episode anyone ever talks about and it's understandable why because it's the final farewell of the ponds and it's a pretty decent scene as amy desperately hopes she might be able to one day find rory again if she gets taken by the same angel thanks to the doctor amy and rory became closer than ever no matter what they went through their adventures in the tardis led them to grow together truly understanding the bond they share and how much they care about each other so naturally when confronted with a choice of either never seeing the doctor again or never seeing rory again she chooses to be with her husband her time on the show began with her running from her life with rory so it's really fitting that her departure comes in the form of embracing and choosing him instead because she's now realized that's where she wants to be and the doctor knows it's the right choice because he's aware of how much the pawns need each other the power of three went to great lengths to show this him trying to let go of them but now he's confronted with a reality and it's almost too final for him he can't deal with it and that does a good job setting up his character in the snowman since moffat wanted to address the old sentimental and dangerous characterization of the doctor oh i always rip out the last page of a book and it doesn't have to end i hate endings i think my main criticism with this departure scene is how unnecessary it was first of all you have that perfect ending on the rooftop they're together or not at all moment underlining the character journeys and perfectly capping off their time on the show but then the other issue is that the final scene doesn't really work with what series 7a was teasing as their exit the loose story was the doctor occasionally dropping in for adventures of amy and rory who were living their lives and growing old we've shown how they're changing and becoming less and less reliant on the doctor they have lives and responsibilities now no longer able to just hop in the tardis without a carrying the world actually we think home for us could we believe it oh well our friends are going to start noticing that we're aging faster than them and at the time no worries everything seemed to be heading towards the point where they would simply put their foot down and tell the doctor we just can't do this anymore they would outgrow the doctor and leave on their own terms it doesn't have to be some big convoluted time travel adventure with weeping angels and paradoxes the doctor would instead lose his companions to something as simple as aging something he can't really do having the pawns asked to stay in the past or to just leave like martha would be a lot more thematic and heartbreaking fitting with their time on the show it would complete their arc and allow us as a viewer to actually relate to them since we all understand the difficult emotions of moving on and leaving loved ones behind it would just work but the episode majorly overcomplicates it for no reason and that really works against the departure in my opinion another problem with the exit is how it relates to the whole melody malone book everything river writes in the book seemingly has to come true so the characters reading the novel seals certain events into happening but why can't she just write helpful lies to guide their future simply seeing amy and rory's gravestones shouldn't immediately mean they have to die anyone could be buried under there it could easily be faked which is what the doctor himself did in series 6. he created an elaborate scenario to convince the entire universe that he was dead despite you know not actually dying so why do amy and rory have to be dead why can't the same thing happen there the doctor has already proven that he's willing to break rules for amy and rory they're literally his mother and father-in-law he has such a tight bond with them so it's strange how he immediately accepts it as concrete and inescapable fixed points have been changed before and again there is nothing to indicate that this is even an actual fixed point the only reason the doctor can't save them is because of all the paradox stuff preventing him from landing in 1938 new york so could he not just stop over somewhere nearby and use conventional transport to collect them or he could even attempt that only to find them settled and happy unwilling to let him save them because they've got everything they want now that would be a very powerful and touching note to end things on focusing on their characters rather than moffat doubling down on the whole fixed point stuff with amy's afterward meant as the smoking gun for the doctor to never see them again you are creating fixed time i will never be able to see you again yes when it comes the finality of the ponds there are two epilogues exploring their departure first of all there's the final page of the book which is written as a direct message to the doctor amy reassuring him that she did find rory and that they lived happily ever after it's a touching moment and moffatt wanted to bring things full circle calling back to amelia waiting all night for the doctor to come back for her the showrunner thought that their bittersweet ending would encapsulate the optimism of a media's way and the journey of amy and rory so it works well and provides a good look at the aftermath of them leaving and its effect on the doctor although it once again shows the moffat simply can't let characters die i also have to criticize the complete lack of a focus on rory's exit his character was developed so much since series 5 and series 7a even introduced his father brian so for rory to be used as nothing more than a plot device for amy leaving is really disappointing this wasn't necessarily always the case though it was originally planned for angels hey manhattan to have a fully filmed epilogue released since moffat couldn't find a way to include it at the end of the episode itself chris chimnell had introduced and developed rory's dad brian williams so he and the production team wanted to wrap up his story given that his son had you know just vanished into nothingness sadly it couldn't be filmed so it ended up being relegated to a mere storyboard animatic released on youtube like sure it's great to know that brian was made aware of amy roy's fate and their adoption of a boy named anthony but it really needed to be addressed in the actual episode it being shunted to youtube without even a place on the box set is such a letdown what's the point in emphasizing brian so much for two episodes just to ignore him when his existence is most important steven moffat wanted series 7a to be filled with epic blockbuster episodes and angel tape manhattan definitely achieves that purpose it's a cool cinematic noir story with a nice setting and it does a good job re-establishing the weeping angels as a credible threat since the battery farm concept is a great use of their powers the episode is very stylish and intense since there's an immediate sense of extreme danger from the moment rory is sent back into the past moffat went into the script knowing the audience would be aware that this is the end of the line for amy and rory so he pumps it full of foreboding urgency however it's an episode that just has too many ideas moffatt tries too hard to fill it with these grand concepts like weeping angel battery farms tiny whimey communication and paradoxical storytelling but none of them feel particularly fleshed out it's overstuffed and these ideas get overshadowed by the companion departure which is all anyone ever talks about which pretty much papers over all the cracks it's not even the best possible send off for the characters since the series was seemingly building towards the ideal exit and that wasn't paid off i would give the angels take manhattan a d grade which i know is weird because of how many things i've complimented in this review but hear me out large parts of the episode simply do not work the departure could have been better and it also just distracts from the gaping plot holes and narrative issues rory gets completely shafted the whole book element of the story is wildly inconsistent and contradictory and some of the writing is absolutely abysmal such as river acting like a petulant child it's a compelling and emotional tale with some truly incredible performances but the vibes are just all off for me and i can never properly gel with it it's way too messy and there's too much going on people only seem to care about it because of how well it makes them cry otherwise it would be a lot less popular but now that we're almost done with series 7a i guess you could say we're almost out of the dark a big thank you to my as bantium level patron fallon cortes my platinum level patron helene gillespie and all my gold level patrons calvin daniel shillito franz horne ak-line vortex hernan verzug and luke underscore sy thank you so much for your support

Channel: Harbo Wholmes

Views: 53,065

Keywords: doctor who, harbo wholmes, doctor who series 7, matt smith, dr who, doctor who review, doctor who series 7 review, steven moffat, amy pond, harbor wholmes, harbo wholmes doctor who, weeping angels, doctor who monsters, doctor who worst series, doctor who worst episode, doctor who amy and rory, doctor who angels, Angels Take Manhattan review, doctor who angels take manhattan, doctor who america, doctor who new york, doctor who amy leaves, doctor who rory leaves

Id: gvnHt9LmyT4

Length: 22min 33sec (1353 seconds)

Published: Thu Jul 07 2022