That’s One Small Step for Man…

Last time on Doctor Who: Blew. Our. Minds. Within the first fifteen minutes, the Doctor was reunited with Amy, Rory and River in America. He was then shot by an astronaut and died. Then the Doctor—a younger version—comes back. They all go to 1969, where they meet Nixon and former FBI agent Canton. As Amy encounters the Silence, Canton joins the gang in saving the world.

Oh, and Amy’s pregnant.

We can proceed:

Day of the Moon or “This is a Revolution Dammit!”

The Moon Landing was revolutionary. No, really. A revolution against the Silence.

Amy runs through the desert, being pursued by a car. We are told it is three months later in the Valley of the Gods, Utah. And Amy’s pregnancy isn’t too advanced it would seem. Shouldn’t she be showing by now? Canton catches up with her and threatens to kill her. She asks if he remembers the warehouse. We get flashes and then a gunshot. Amy falls down. Her arm has some tattoos.

Canton goes to Area 51 to ask the Doctor about them. He is tied up and sporting some serious scruff. Looks…good. I like the beard. Beards are cool now.

In New York, River has the same markings. She hides in an unfinished building. If they pan out to show one of the Twin Towers…Two Area 51 Escapees present themselves to River, but the Feds are right behind her. Canton corners her as we get a lovely shot of the Chrysler Building. They argue about America being invaded before River jumps.

At Area 51, the Doctor realizes they are building him a prison with alien materials. He calls it perfect but then says it won’t be enough.

On the Hoover Dam, Rory gets shot. Two bags are dragged into the prison. Once Canton seals everyone inside, the Doctor releases himself and the Ponds, who are still alive. Must’ve been tranquilizer darts, then. They escape in the TARDIS, which has been in Stealth Mode, and go rescue River—allowing her to fall into the TARDIS pool. I thought a running joke was that they never knew where the pool would be? Anyway, the gang rushes to Cape Canaveral as the Doctor says he has a secret weapon. “Apollo 11? That’s your secret weapon?” River asks, drying her hair. The Doctor scoffs; his secret weapon is Neil Armstrong’s foot.

Glad to see that the Amy beginning was probably just a one-off thing. But what does Alex Kingston have to do to get into the opening credits? They’ve included people who’ve only made an episode or two appearance—John Barrowman (Utopia/The Sound of Drums/Last of the Time Lords/The Stolen Earth/Journey’s End) and Elisabeth Sladen (School Reunion/The Stolen Earth/Journey’s End).

Anyway, we arrive at The Stephen King Home for Orphans. Canton and Amy pull up and check their hands. The Doctor gives each a shot. He asks Amy how she’s feeling and she replies she’s “better.” Turns out the pregnancy was a false alarm. Since they would forget the Escapees, they would mark their humans. He’s been planting a nano recorder in their skins. It would be triggered and they could record a description of the Escapees. Canton already has a message. Doctor puts up a hologram but they forget. The Doctor realizes they’ll forget everything mentioned around the Escapees, such as his suggestion for Canton to straighten his bowtie. Canton does it anyway, and Amy compares it to post-hypnotic suggestion.

The Doctor says they have to find the little girl as he’s going to NASA. He suggests children’s homes as we go to…

COMMERCIALS!

We come back to the Stephen King Orphanage. Canton asks for them to come in about a missing child. The curator lets them in and reveals there are messages on the wall. In blood. Seriously, if this place was in Maine and not Florida, Stephen King would totally write about it. The curator is a bit confused—he thinks it’s earlier than it really is. Canton keeps insisting it’s July 1969, but the curator is shocked. Canton stays with him while Amy investigates. She calls the Doctor, who is messing around with Apollo 11. The door closes and Amy is stuck inside. She realizes she has a message. She tells herself to get out. Amy tries, but the markings return. She spots the Escapees hanging from the ceilings like bats. She raises her hand and the door opens. She leaves as an Escapee watches him.

Meanwhile, NASA wants to know why the Doctor was fiddling with the command module. He tells them that he’s on a secret mission for the president. And Nixon walks in, charming the officials. They release the Doctor as Rory, dressed as a nerd, messes with some models. He leaves and the official is like “Did that REALLY just happen?”

COMMERCIALS!

Back at the Stephen King Orphanage, Canton questions the Curator. He tells Canton that the child must be cared for—according to “them.” Amy finds a door, with a woman behind it. She says “she’s just dreaming” and Amy goes through the door. It is a child’s room, complete with mobile. Amy finds pictures of a little girl strewn about. In the back, there is a picture of Amy holding a baby. The astronaut returns and Amy asks who it is. Amy apologizes for shooting her, even though she missed. The girl asks for help as two Escapees come in. The Curator opens the door and talks to someone. Canton asks who the curator saw, but he’s confused—until an Escapee comes in. Canton starts his recording and the Escapee says that they’ve been ruling the world since fire and the wheel. They don’t need weapons. As Amy calls for help, Canton shots it and welcomes it to America.

Hell, yeah!

Back at the Oval Office (? I mean, seriously, did they stick Nixon on the TARDIS?), the Doctor tells Nixon to record everything in the office. So, they’re saying Nixon’s tapes are all due to the Doctor. That seems to be a nice touch, but a more accurate and more kickass thing to do would be to have Nixon respond: “I already do.” Because Nixon was a paranoid control-freak. Seriously. The Doctor tells Nixon to trust him as River says Canton needs them.

Canton finds the mysterious door Amy walked through as the Doctor arrives. He sonics his way in and we see the little girl around the corner. They find an empty astronaut suit and Amy’s nano recorder. She cries that it is so dark and the Doctor reveals it is a live recording. Rory tries to comfort her, but the Doctor says it’s one-way. Rory says Amy always hears him and knows he is coming for her. Always. The Boy Who Waited. Amy asks for the Doctor and Rory swears to do so.

The Curator recalls that the Escapee has been shot. The Doctor rushes to question it and the Escapee reveals what we all figured out last episode: It is the Silence. We get clips from last season of the multiple references to the Silence. “Silence falls,” he hisses as we go to…

OHMIGOD, THERE ARE DOCTOR WHO ACTION FIGURES!

We come back to the impenetrable prison as Canton leaves. A soldier reveals that he’s been inside for days. Canton asks to speak to Dr. Shepherd, but the soldier says he has to talk to General Jefferson. Canton says he doesn’t need to as “Hail to the Chief” strikes up. Nixon exits the Impenetrable Prison as the soldiers’ salutes. He thanks them all for their hard work as we cut to the Doctor and River inspecting the suit. It’s been enhanced with alien technology so that if you wore it, everything would be sustained—it would even feed you by process of photosynthesis. River says the suit contacts the most powerful person on the earth—the President. The Doctor is still caught up on the envelope. River brings him back to reveal that whoever was in the suit was human, but very strong.

The Doctor wonders why the Silence wanted a spacesuit. He reveals that the Silence has been on the fringe of human history, pushing man’s development. So why would man decide to go to the moon? Because it represents the impossible? Oh, wait, sorry, the in-show reason: Because the Silence wants that suit.

Apollo 11 has lift off.

At the Impenetrable Prison, Dr. Shepherd tends to the Silent, though he keeps forgetting he is. The Escapee talks to Canton, revealing they control humanity. Canton records it on Amy’s video phone (“Whatever a video phone is”) and sends it to the Doctor. River realizes the suit is repairing itself and wonders if it could function independently. After all, the little girl kept telling Nixon that the space man was going to eat her. What if it did? As they ponder this, Rory hears more of Amy’s transmission, where she admits to being in love with the Doctor. I thought we settled this! Bravo, Darvill, for Rory’s heartbroken face. The Doctor says Amy will be safe as Rory asks if he can save Amy. The Doctor reveals he can’t—this is the Escapees’ empire. It would be like kicking the Romans out of Rome. “Rome fell,” Rory reminds him. The Doctor says he knows—he was there. So was Rory. The Doctor asks if Rory remembers his vigil. He lies, kinda. He sometimes remembers it, sometimes he doesn’t. He says there’s a door that he can keep locked up.

Moffat must love putting in references to his past episodes. So far, we’ve had references to Silence in the Library/Forests of the Dead—not just River’s comment about “(Doctor’s) first, my last” but the live transmissions. Also refers the Weeping Angel two-parter. And now, doors in the mind? Reference to The Girl in the Fireplace, when the Doctor probed Reinette’s mind.

As Apollo 11 journeys to the moon and the country watches, Amy awakes near the console from “The Lodger.” The Escapees reveal she has been a prisoner for many days, which Amy protests. As they try to put her back to sleep, the TARDIS appears. He sets up a TV, says hi to Amy and flirts with River. Amy reminds him of his purpose. The Doctor offers forgiveness but when they remain silent. Ha! Sorry. Anyway, he says no forgiveness, it’s not Christmas. He reveals that a half-billion people are watching the Moonshot and that as the human race spreads across the universe, for years to come, they will watch the Moon Landing and never forget it.

On the TV, Neil Armstrong leaves the Lunar Module. The Doctor says they’ll forget one bit—he contacts Canton. As Neil Armstrong lands on the moon, Canton plays the video of the Escapee saying to kill them on sight. And the human race spots them, ready to shoot. They’ve ordered their own execution. Electricity starts to zap the Escapees as Rory tries to save Amy. She tells him to get his stupid face out of there, realizing Amy had always been referring to him over the transmission. River is absolutely awesome as she shoots down a bunch of the Escapees and insults the Sonic Screwdriver. Really, this was a great scene. She dispatches them as Rory asks her what she is a doctor of. “Archeology” she responds.

In the TARDIS, Rory reveals he thought Amy had been talking about the Doctor. She calls him a moron and kisses him.

COMMERCIALS.

Nixon shakes Doctor’s hand. He says they are safe again, but the Doctor replies that they are never safe. The Doctor says that Canton wants to be married—no reason to be kicked out of the FBI. Nixon agrees and then says that he heard the Doctor was from the future. He wants to know if he’ll be remembered. I laughed aloud as the Doctor smiles. He tells “Tricky Dick” that they’ll never forget him. And we won’t. As the Doctor leaves, he asks Nixon to say hello to David Frost for him—the British journalist who will get the exclusive with the former president, which will be turned into a critically acclaimed play and then a critically acclaimed movie. Nixon asks Canton about his lover. Now, there had been a debate on the Television Without Pity boards over whether Canton’s lover was black (it IS 1969 after all) or male (it IS 1969 after all). Turns out, Canton is in love with an African-American male. Nixon is all smiles, but makes a face when he turns to camera.

At the Penetrable Prison, the Doctor returns River though he offers to let her come with them. She refuses and then guesses the Doctor. Oh, good lord! Look, I admit I was a bit star struck by Rose and the Doctor. Then Martha came along and took the clingy possessive girlfriend angle. Then we had Donna, who had no romantic feelings for the Doctor whatsoever and it was a breath of fresh air. Then Amy, despite a period of questionable feelings, is head over heels in love with her Centurion. Now we have River macking on the Doctor. Oi. The Doctor is incredibly awkward and River says he’s acting like they never did that before. And to the Doctor, they haven’t. He says there’s a first time for everything though and, as he leaves, River says a last.

Moffat is really heavy-handing the fact that this adventure must take place right before Silence in the Library/Forests of the Dead.

The Doctor sends Rory on an errand. The Doctor asks about the supposed pregnancy. He asks her why she told him. She replies that he is her best friend. He asks her why she didn’t tell Rory. She says that she spent so much time in the TARDIS, she didn’t want to tell Rory that they were having a three-headed kid or something. Rory breathes a sigh of relief as Amy threatens to take the communicator away. Rory tells her she should’ve told him—he is a nurse after all—and they hug. The Doctor asks if they want to go find the little girl or adventure. They all vote for adventure as you only live once. As Amy smiles at the Doctor, he runs a scan on her—specifically for pregnancy. The results are left unknown as we cut to…

New York, six months later. A homeless guy finds the little girl wandering the streets. She says she’s dying but she can fix it. She then regenerates.

…

MOFFAT, STAY AWAY FROM THE GODDAMN FANFICTION!

While the girl is intriguing, if the clues that she’s Amy’s child and can regenerate, it’s going to be just as annoying as when the Doctor got a clone that got to leave happily ever after with Rose. Anyway, I hope we see more of River this season as she is always awesome. Even if she’s making out with the Doctor. I liked the resolution of the story, though I have a feeling this isn’t the last we’ll see of the Silent. What do you think?

Next time: Yo ho, yo ho, a pirate’s life for me.

Quote of the Episode

“This is my friend River. Nice hair and clever. And has her own gun.” –Doctor about River to the Escapees.