Doctor Who Review: The Girl Who Waited.

Right well… This is a complicated one. It’s very different. Like Lets Kill Hitler this is a story that only really involves the main cast and some under-developed villains. Unlike that episode though, this actually has an interesting story to tell. It’s far too complex to explain in a couple of sentences, so I’m not going to try. Really if you’re reading this, you should have watched the episode because otherwise I will probably spoil it for you. Oh yeah, spoiler alert by the way.

One thing that I really enjoyed about this episode is it centered on the companions Amy and Rory. That’s not to say I haven’t liked the previous stories looking at the Doctor, but the couple haven’t been given a lot to do lately, so it’s good to see them take centre stage. Karen Gillian is brilliant as the two Amys, showing how the years have ruined the older Amy’s life, but still keeping hints of the woman she used to be. I’d say that her two performances were the high point of the episode, but the best part has to be the relationship between Amy and Rory. The scenes where they are together are just brilliant, and it’s great to see that old Amy still loves Rory even after 36 years apart, especially when they started the series on such rocky ground. The visual design, something I don’t comment on a lot, is very striking. When the Tardis doors open to the white room, it’s a shock to the system and the giant magnifying glass communicator looks brilliantly retro as do Rory’s specs.

It isn’t a perfect episode. The mechanics behind the two Amy’s getting to the same time and place aren’t explained at all and the of hundreds of people possibly being trapped like Amy aren’t explored but really that’s nitpicking. Theres only one major problem and that was the robots. I don’t know what it was about them, maybe it was how they were defeated so easily, maybe it was their bland design, but something just really didn’t sit right with me, and I think they brought the episode down a bit.

But let’s end on a cheery note. Something properly introduced in this episode and hinted at before. The Doctor lies and manipulates people. More and more we’re seeing a dark side to him, but it’s in this episode where he tricks old Amy into helping him then refuses to save her, that really brings it to the forefront. The scene where he locks her out of the Tardis is really moving and finally starts to open Rory’s eyes about who the Doctor really is. I definitely hoping for more of this to come, maybe even this is why they part their ways? Who knows? We’ll just have to wait and see. Another very good episode of Doctor Who, and I hope next week keeps up the trend.

4/5