The Wedding of River Song

The Wedding of River Song
by Steven Moffat
Originally Broadcasted: October 1st, 2011

The Doctor is at the end of his life, and yet time has suddenly stopped. Charles Dickens is alive, Dinosaurs roam the earth, and William Churchill is the Holy Roman Emperor. The Doctor must find Amy and Rory and somehow but time back on track. But will he have to die in the process?

The Wedding of River Song starts off by showing a strange future earth, with futuristic cities placed right alongside dinosaurs, romans, and other things from the past. In fact, even Charles Dickens is shown, played by the same actor (Simon Callow) who played him in 2005's The Unquiet Dead. Time has frozen at an exact point: 5:02pm on April 22nd, 2011. Aka, the time and date that the Doctor is supposed to die. This alternate reality is caused by River Song not killing the Doctor like she's supposed to (as shown in The Impossible Astronaut), and then it's cleverly fixed by having the Teselecta from Let's Kill Hitler impersonate the Doctor and that's who is shot. Finally all of the previous events of the season make sense. I love when season finales use elements from previous episodes and the events all link up. It takes a really clever writer to deliver such great, thought-provoking drama such as this. Aside from that though, not too much happens. It's a rather minimal season finale. Although we do get a bit of door breaking action from the Silence, who remain as creepy as ever. Although I'm still not sure why they wear suits... For many prior episodes, characters have mentioned the question the Doctor has been running from all his life. That question is finally revealed at the very end of this episode, and you can probably guess what it is. Doctor Who? A clever way to throw in the shows title in the storyline. The Wedding of River Song is not my favorite season finale, but it does neatly wrap up the season in a fun and pretty thrilling manner.

Luke's Rating: 7/10