REVIEW: Dr Who - Amy's Choice (5.7)

Firstly, let me apologise for not having posted anything here for a week or so, I have been significantly lacking in free time!

And now, on with the meat and substance of this post.

DOCTOR WHO: AMY'S CHOICE

In Which: The Doctor visits Rory and Amy five years after they've left the TARDIS, and Amy's pregnant. But then all three of them wake up on the TARDIS...

What did I think: Well, this was new. An episode of Dr Who that managed to take the standard Dr Who formula and feel significantly different. And to me, it highlighted the biggest (and I would say best) difference between this era and the David Tennant era. It took the Doctor most of the episode to figure out what was going on. So rather than feel we were along for a ride with a man who knew what to do, we were all on a sort of creepy wander through a strange and curious adventure.

And, more to the point, it managed to give us a resolution on the Amy/Rory/Doctor triangle much quicker than I thought we would get one (I thought it'd go on for the whole series), which I wholeheartedly embrace.

Speaking of Rory, he continues to grow and slowly become the companion that he is capable of being, much like Mickey did in Series 1/2, and I like that - one of the many reasons I like multi-companion teams is that there is room for growth and banter and all that good stuff...

The Dream Lord was fantastic, his flickering in and out, his jumping around, and his extremely creepy edge he gave to the dialogue. And, while we're on that subject, the dialogue was pretty damn impressive too. Full marks to Simon Nye, who managed to write a self-contained, well thought out, witty, banter-fuelled and scary episode.

My biggest complaint, in a way, was the two stories - because as fun and a shock it was to see Amy pregnant and Rory with a ponytail, the fact that the earth-based half of the story was set five years hence did kind of tell me that one wouldn't be real. (Although the reveal that both were dreams was fun, but at the same time, perfectly logical). However, I LOVED the nasty old people, as well as the idea of the TARDIS drifting into a 'cold star'.

But the best thing about this episode was the fact we finally got some development of Amy. This is an area a lot of people (and yes, I'm talking about those weird online forum-goers like me again) have been moaning about for ages - that she's one-dimensional. Which has, to my mind, made sense. She's rushed from adventure to adventure trying (as Rory said in the last episode) to impress the Doctor. This is the first time an adventure has had a major impact on her, and to see her have such a human reaction to that was heartwarming.

And the ending, where we have a "it was a dream" explanation. I should hate it, but I really didn't. :)

So now we have a happy, excitable, three person TARDIS team! It's great, but I have a feeling it'll be like an Eastenders marriage, it won't last long and will end in either death, drugs, jail or someone getting an a taxi and leaving forever....

I hope I'm wrong...

(But I bet I'm not!)

The Good: Performances across the board. The balancing of the Rory/Amy/Doctor story with the life-threatening stories. Toby Jones was brilliant as the Dream Lord.

The Bad: I never believed that the Leadworth-world was real, which kind of diminished the threat slightly...

Conclusion: 9/10 - Still very high quality!