The Big Bang

The Big Bang is pretty great, overall. I had a lot of fun with the creative writing used to resolve all the big, sweeping content of the Pandorica Opens. When all seems lost and everything is up against the Doctor, it feels right that the Doctor solves it with some clever time travel. The use of the Fez to help illustrate to the audience the disjointed nature of this story telling was a lot of fun. There are a ton of great moments to the episode and some really memorable stuff that make this a pretty successful finale for Series Five.

I love the scene with Amy bringing the Doctor back. It's an excellent example of a companion playing a special role in the story while still being true to the nature of the companion's character. This felt earned compared to a lot of similar moments we would go on to see with Clara.

Fun stuff with River and Rory, too, while it feels like everyone is just trying their best, and giving excellent performances, while the crew really just threw everything at Big Bang to make it feel big and special. Some of the effects work better than others, but I can appreciate the clear sense of focus and energy put into this episode. The crew should be proud of the work they did. This was a new era with a new Doctor, new companions, new ideas and a new showrunner, yet I think everyone by and large did a great job. Sure, there are plenty of missteps in Series Five, but stuff like Big Bang, Eleventh Hour, and Pandorica Opens show off some of the better traits of Moffat's era - ambition, energy, and creativity.

The Big Bang is a perfect closing episode. Perhaps unrivaled by any other. Tightly plotted, satisfying to rewatch and timey-wimey without being tiring. It ties up all of series five perfectly, with young Amelia’s scenes being potent reminders of the beauty of The Eleventh Hour. It’s been a brilliant series. The best since Christopher Eccleston’s, it will be quite some time until something better comes along.

I was confident that this was a story I knew well, and while I recognised much of what was in The Pandorica Opens, it came largely as a surprise to me. My memory of The Big Bang overrode my memory of the full story, so the set up came pretty fresh.

The sense of scale and scope is exciting. I loved revisiting Vincent van Gough, not sure I needed Liz X and Winston Churchill, but they don’t outstay their welcome. The editing could be a little snappier in parts, some shots holding for a little longer than I would have liked.

The first part comes into its own when the realisation of how the Pandorica and the Romans are connected. How everything leads back to Amy. The drama of Rory the Auton killing his fiancé at the exact moment her memory of him is restored. It is high drama that outshines the whimsy of the rest of the episode.

For me, it’s the more intimate journey of part 2 where things really sing. The old house, the museum, the wedding. I’m a sentimental, nostalgic person, who loves the concept of hopping through time so it hits all the right notes for me.

If I had one quibble it would be that lovely Rory, who waits 2,000 years, is quite mistreated by an unappreciated Amy. Told to shut up, etc. How quickly she forgets.

I hope I don’t sound too down on the first episode, but in my head it was a flawless 10/10, so I was a bit taken aback that it wasn’t. But then again it’s setting the second half which is exactly as good as I remember it.