Flesh and Stone

A sequel for the Weeping Angels has to have been high up on the shopping list for Steven Moffat’s first series. Given the simple, ingeniously limited nature of their first, seminal outing against The Doctor, it makes sense that in this 90 minute story they get to seriously up the ante. They are so well explored within their first story that the trick is to find new situations to put them in and discover new ways of looking at them as an enemy without overwriting or diminishing what came before. Moffat achieves this.

One episode leads into another but the complete change of setting keeps things moving - you don’t get a chance to get bored. You definitely could not tell that this is the first story Matt Smith and co had recorded together, given the confidence it’s pulled off with and beautifully directed it is. What a crying shame that Andrew Smith only ever directed 3 episodes.

It’s great to have River Song back even if I did not enjoy her character quite as much as I had in Silence in the Library. They initially upped the sexuality of her character a bit too much, making it a bit hammy. Luckily this settles down significantly in Flesh and Stone and she becomes a more realistic, natural well rounded character. It’s not that I want her to be sexless, because that’s a key part of her character, but there is a tiring element to Moffat’s writing to make everything she says a double entendre. Which is part of a broader flaw he has with writing women. That said, the concept of her character is SO CLEVER and actually touchingly sentimental. Two lovers meeting backwards in life.

River’s return is one of the neat links with the previous era, but there is also a clever explanation as to why people cannot remember the incredible, world ending events of that RTD built into his finales. The crack in time provides a natural way to refresh the universe.

In a family show it was a shame to see Amy Pond, our hero, trying to cheat on her fiancé at the end of the episode. It’s an uncomfortable scene. I found it funny in 2010, in 2023 I find it less funny. It’s a shame. It’s tacked on at the end, and while it does lead you into Vampires in Venice, it is a weird character moment. I can see the rationale for why Amy feels that way in this situation and I’m glad The Doctor doesn’t accept her advances… but it’s a weird thing to do in episode 5. It is at least an interesting character moment.

The Weeping Angels are a genius creation and this story only further confirms that. Moffat knocked out another incredible story which has solidified series 5 as being a force to be reckoned with. I don’t think this is a story that could have been properly realised in any previous era, it totally belongs to this new version of the show.