Review – The Impossible Astronaut
It's become something of a tradition in the media to look for any sign that the returned Doctor Who is going off the boil. So the online reporting following the first episode of the new series (Series six of 21st Century Who or series 2 of Matt Smith depending on how you're counting) pounced on lower overnight ratings than last year and announced that this will 'probably be the least watched series opener since the return'. And probably even once time-shifted viewing is taken into account it will be, but it's still out-performing practically everything that's not a soap. And in other news this week, the first episode broke BBC America's previous record audience and Matt Smith was nominated for a BAFTA. I think any effort to suggest that the bloom is off the rose is a little premature.
So what about that episode? Well, it's hard to review without giving a major plot point away, but the gist of it is that Amy, Rory, River and apreviously unseen old man are summoned to the middle of nowhere in the USA by The Doctor, where something unimaginable happens. The rest of the episode's running time is given over to the fallout and an effort to understand what the hell is going on.
This two-part season opener has all the feel of a two-part season finale, which is at least partly its stated aim. It feels epic in scope, dramatic and emotional in content, and strangely climactic for the start of a thirteen episode run. The epic feel is helped by the filming in Utah, and judging by the trailer for part two that gets even more use there, and the very direct involvement of President Nixon lends a sense of import to the proceedings. The dramatic and emotional is covered well by reactions to the unimaginable thing, by some major news from Amy, by the increasing mystery around River, and by the cliffhanger, which falls just the right side of overwrought. Add to that a truly creepy new set of villains, the return of something unexpected from last year's episode The Lodger, and some sterling interplay among the regulars (and Mark Sheppard, who frankly feels like a regular after half an episode) and honestly it's hard to find major fault.
Minor faults are that River's big scene about her worry arising from the temporal weirdness of her relationship with The Doctor managed to confuse even me, and I thought I was pretty clear on at least the mechanics if not the detail, so god knows what less well dug-in viewers thought; and there's some terrible acting among the Secret Service agents in evidence.
Highlights are most of the interplay between River and The Doctor, including a slap that looks like it should have taken Matt Smith's head off, the brilliant creepiness of the Silents, the opening scenes of The Doctor having fun in history, and the development of the TARDIS family that having everyone around represented.
The Impossible Astronaut got the series off to a rousing start, managed the odd juxtaposition of being both epic and a romp, and set up what could be the darkest, most complex season arc so far. I'm prepared for each series to throw up at least one clunker, but fortunately, this wasn't it for this year.