Im sorry for this again, if you enjoyed the episode then I would skip this post.

Im not going to give an indepth description why this episode was good or bad this week. I'll just say that whilst I have been dissapointed with the show before, this is the first time I have been angry with it. From pointless, hilarious deaths to a really condescending doctor, cliffhangers left last episode reduced to absolutely nothing to a storyline which made absolutely no sense at all - "we talked for hours and then suddenly, we decided to talk about what we could offer the other species and then it was good."

It wasn't as bad as the Dalek episode. Ill give it that, but in a way it's worse simply because the first part was so good and lead me at least to believe that we were going to get something semi decent tonight. They built it up and they let us down. It might be that I was watching with my flatmates again (usually I like episodes more when I watch alone) but about 15 minutes in I went "this is ridiculous" and even the one who loves doctor who agreed but even so, a lot of what went on was completely random.

I don't like hating on this show but when they make you feel like there having a laugh at the viewers expense, as it did tonight, it makes me very angry with the show. It was like one of those star trek, next generation episodes where where worf and picard have to attend peace talks between Klingons and Humans and it just gets really dull. It was like the writer didnt get what others were trying to do with the doctor, there were moments when he was like a really condescending old teacher and at other times he seemed like an overtly gay man.

Shame. I wanted this to be as fantastic as the first but I knew it would be hard to do so. Now I just feel Im going to the end of the series at most and I hope they stop dropping the ball so frequently. They have 2 amazing actors here that they could do so much with and they have the general outline for stories which could be fantastic. But the writing is of such a poor quality at the moment its just a huge waste.

Karen Gillams acting at the end of the episode however was spectacular.

No. No, no, no, no no, no, NO! I will not have it. I will not hear of it. Rory does not die and get sucked into the frickin' time crack, no. And Amy does not forget him. And this season is a two-companion season. No. This was not necessary. I loved this episode up until then, and now I'm just left asking why in hell they decided to do that. Dramatic effect? Good freakin' luck with any curve to the season after that much drama in this ep. Or are we just trying to clear the way for a nice romance between Amy and the Doctor? Right. I can't think of any better way to suck all the life out of this show than for those two to be romantically involved. Having sexual tension between the two main characters of a series is a great dramatic device, but actually having them become romantically involved is a classic way to kill a show. Unless, of course, you still have some conflict in the story...dare I say it...a love triangle. And who was the third point of that triangle? Oh yeah, the dead guy who point number two doesn't even freakin' remember!!! If there's a romantic relationship between Amy and the Doctor, particularly after this has happened, then I guarantee we'll be meeting up here ten or fifteen years from now to discuss the guy they've decided to have play the Twelfth Doctor in the third iteration of the show, because this show is over.

Or did they do it so that now the Doctor can be all depressed about his failure to save Rory. Great. Now he can trudge around being all maudlin, all dark and downtrodden for the rest of whatever. That will be scintillating.

Okay, so maybe at best, these days, I'm...emotionally sensitive...but fifteen of the last twenty minutes of this episode had me almost in tears. And before that, the twists and turns were captivating. The seemingly inexorable outcome that war couldn't be averted, given that one species involved was too weak to restrain themselves, and the other too bellicose and clear-minded. The stories of love and family. Meera Syal, who I now love and want to see in everything she's ever done. The only great line in the show, because all of the other great lines paled in comparison...
The Doctor: "A thousand years to sort the planet out. Pass it on.
As legend or prophecy or religion.
Make it known.
This planet is to be shared."
Eliot: "Yeah, I get you."Put all that together, and I felt this was one of the great episodes. But the ending just left me angry. Why they hell did they build up this whole story arc of Amy running away on her wedding night, then bring us back to that looking to reinforce it, just to kill the groom and wipe him from Amy's memory? It seems senseless. I only hope they make sense of it. Dare I say it, I hope they have a plan.

Ed, the Doctor found the wedding ring within the TARDIS, so Im guessing it's not over... also he pulled a bit of TARDIS out the crack, which suggests he could pull out anything else that got sucked in? Im guessing we might get some more Rory before the season ends...

Hmmm... I think I should watch both episodes together as one because I still see this episode as a major let down.

Chaz, I was gonna suggest, like you said, that you should re-watch the ep alone!

Put all that together, and I felt this was one of the great episodes. But the ending just left me angry. Why they hell did they build up this whole story arc of Amy running away on her wedding night, then bring us back to that looking to reinforce it, just to kill the groom and wipe him from Amy's memory? It seems senseless. I only hope they make sense of it. Dare I say it, I hope they have a plan.

Ed, I think you just answered your own questions.

Why did they build up this whole story arc?

Because we're still in the middle of the season which means the story arc is not over.

"Wait, watch and see" as our dear Gregg Nations would say. ;)

For the record: I absofrikkinlutely loved that episode. ESPECIALLY the last 20mins or so. And I made some observations in one of the past episodes that convinced me that SM really IS the absolute genius that I thought he was. I'll get into more detail in a seperate thread in the spoiler forum. ;)

Spoiler forum? Now that's not playing fair. :149: ;)

Just finished watching the episode and I'm struggling to gather my thoughts. Fabulous episode, though I'm shocked by what happened to Rory. Like Ed, I've wanted this to be a two-companion season, but now I'm excited to see where they're going with this. I can't remember the last time I was this excited by an episode of Who. Ecclestone's first episode perhaps, but that was more to do with the fact that I'd been waiting for the character to return for years. This was different. It took me back to McCoy. Loved it.

I think I enjoyed Cold Blood more than The Hungry Earth, but that's not difficult. Some of the middle of the episode was great, but the tacked-on ending was the worst bit of 'oh yeah, and there's a crack btw, did I mention?' so far.

Since The Eleventh Hour, I'd been impatient for Rory to come back, and his input has been one of the only redeeming features these past few weeks, and to have him killed as an afterthought, and then hastily swept under the carpet in the space of about 5 minutes just ruined it for me. Not just because I was so fond of the character (although it's the partly same feeling as when Jack was briefly killed in Series 1, and when Mickey stayed in the Cybus universe in series 2. Let's hope there's a similar return on the cards for Rory), but also because all of these 'crooked smile' appearances have just seemed bolted on to the episodes, sometimes intruding quite heavily on the story.

Ed, the Doctor found the wedding ring within the TARDIS, so Im guessing it's not over...If Rory never existed, how did he give Amy an engagement ring? By rights, the ring shouldn't be there.

also he pulled a bit of TARDIS out the crack, which suggests he could pull out anything else that got sucked in? Im guessing we might get some more Rory before the season ends... Yeah, well that's the thing -- he pulled a piece of the TARDIS out of the crack. Is he going to pull pieces of Rory out of the crack, too?

Ed, I think you just answered your own questions.

Why did they build up this whole story arc?

Because we're still in the middle of the season which means the story arc is not over.

"Wait, watch and see" as our dear Gregg Nations would say. ;)I hope you're right, because it felt very much to me like they just did Rory in because they had to do something really shocking. And I really want to be wrong about that. It seems to me at this point, though, that the overarching story concerns Amy, the Doctor and the crack, and that Rory's death only served to bring that to the fore.

But, as the Doctor said at the end of "Flesh and Stone", "Time can be rewritten."

I have a theory.

It could be bunnies.

Erm... oups... wrong fandom. ;) No but I do have a theory. It's not based on spoilers, only what happened in the episodes but I'm going to put it behind spoiler tags, just to be on the safe side.

I think Amy is pregnant. With Rory's child, of course.

When Amy was captured by the Silurians and kept in that glass coffin thing, it was like something was scanning her. It moved up and down her body and then stopped at her belly for a moment and that was when we started to hear a heart beat. A normal heartbear, mind you, not a baby heartbeat but still.

Amy was pregnant in the "parallel universe" too. Maybe there was a reason for that. Maybe it was because she is also pregnant in the real word, just not as visible yet?

It's just a theory but

I'm pretty sure she'll have a hard time forgetting the man who fathered her child. ;)

Ok, so the cracks show up everywhere and are pointed out.... remember Bad Wolf anyone?? There must be a reason why they are showing it to us again and again and again... and remember... this is a family show.. if they want EVERYONE to catch it, they will need to point it out a few times.. Also I have a feeling it'll feature more and more heavily in the episodes to come, leading up to a giant "THE CRACK" episode :71:

After six years of Lost I've settled into thinking that the writers are usually talented and know what they are doing, and whether I like it or not it's too late to complain when the episode has aired...

For the record... I liked it.

No but I do have a theory. It's not based on spoilers, only what happened in the episodes but I'm going to put it behind spoiler tags, just to be on the safe side.

I think Amy is pregnant. With Rory's child, of course.

When Amy was captured by the Silurians and kept in that glass coffin thing, it was like something was scanning her. It moved up and down her body and then stopped at her belly for a moment and that was when we started to hear a heart beat. A normal heartbear, mind you, not a baby heartbeat but still.

Amy was pregnant in the "parallel universe" too. Maybe there was a reason for that. Maybe it was because she is also pregnant in the real word, just not as visible yet?

It's just a theory but

I'm pretty sure she'll have a hard time forgetting the man who fathered her child. ;)Oh, that would be an absolutely brilliant twist!!

Ok, so the cracks show up everywhere and are pointed out.... remember Bad Wolf anyone?? There must be a reason why they are showing it to us again and again and again... and remember... this is a family show.. if they want EVERYONE to catch it, they will need to point it out a few times.. Also I have a feeling it'll feature more and more heavily in the episodes to come, leading up to a giant "THE CRACK" episode :71:I've been thinking "Bad Wolf" since the first time I saw the crack. But I think, as you seem to, that this goes beyond that. Bad Wolf seemed to me to be a vague unifying motif. The crack, though, seems to be a full-fledged serial plot device.

Now we just have to decide on an epithet..."Doctor Who on Crack", or "The Doctor's Great Big Crack". I'm sure there are all sorts of great off-color jokes that can be made, but I just can't think of any at the moment.... :rolleyes:

After six years of Lost I've settled into thinking that the writers are usually talented and know what they are doingYes, true, but even the most talented writers can err sometimes. Sometimes they're too close to their subject matter, in a way, for instance, or they might have conflicting motivations that they try to compromise. I'm sure we could find examples in all the great shows, but since you mention LOST, I'd mention "Stranger in a Strange Land". Doesn't make it any less great of a show, nor does it make the writers any less great. But even they admitted it was not up to par.

and whether I like it or not it's too late to complain when the episode has aired...Oh, I don't know about that. I would agree with you if I harbored the misconception that complaining was actually going to effect change in the show, or even that it should. But to express displeasure with a show occasionally, I think, is natural. For instance, I didn't like the candy-coated Daleks, either, and I still don't. The mere fact that the ep has aired doesn't change that, just as my displeasure doesn't change the ep. Just as all the things I've liked don't change anything, either, but I'm still going to talk about them.

Just watched the ep and, until the last ten minutes of the show, I was going to open my post with "Super Squeaky Bum Time!" However, that just seems disrespectful to Rory who seemed to finally come into his own in these last two episode. As much as I like Amy, I was ready for the Doctor to ditch her and drag Nazreen (is that name right??) onboard the TARDIS but I do like her staying below.
Like some of you, I don't understand why we had to go through Amy's choice and then have Rory not only dead and unremembered - presumably by even his parents! Majandra, I hope your theory is what happens. That would save the whole thing for me.
I am now eaten up with curiosity about why the crack is following the Doctor and Amy around. It's like it wants to negate something they've done together, don't ya think??
No romance for this Doctor and Amy. I don't get that vibe from him and she's just young and stupid in the way young women can be at that age. At least that's my vote!

Ok I've made it this far. Really bummed about Rory but I'm thinking when the time comes to fixing what ever made the crack (which seems to be the Tardis exploding) Amy will be the one that has to do the fixing. With that in mind I figure her not remembering will help her make the "right" decision "this time."

Ok I've made it this far. Really bummed about Rory but I'm thinking when the time comes to fixing what ever made the crack (which seems to be the Tardis exploding) Amy will be the one that has to do the fixing. With that in mind I figure her not remembering will help her make the "right" decision "this time."

I like that idea, wanders! I don't think she's completely forgotten Rory since she seemed to sense something or someone was missing when she was waving at herself at the end of the episode.
I sure hope we find out why the crack is following them around this season. First, I think it has to do with the Doctor and then I think it has to do with Amy and now I'm wondering if the crack is trying to suck them in so something important doesn't happen. I dunno. :shrug:

I liked the episode enough, can't say I loved it but I certainly didn't hate it. Poor Rory. How come the boyfriends seems to get a raw deal on this show?
Funny though, my husband hated Rory and couldn't wait for him to go away. Once he was taken and forgotten, my husband was kind of sad. Big baby!

I can't see a romance between the Doctor and Amy but I did like seeing her try. I like Amy, she may be my favorite companion.

Yeah, I didn't care for him much at first but he grew on me. Hopefully, the Doctor can grab him out of the crack in one piece. Otherwise, ew...

Sensitive, pony-tailed Rory must be remembered! :)

Indeed, Madge. Especially since he had just discovered that the life he thought he wanted wasn't the life he really wanted and changed his priorities.

Well they have to find the ring right? I'm guessing that will happen soon.

You're right, Madge. For some reason, I thought the Doctor had seen it after they returned to the TARDIS and hidden it but that might have been my imagination now that I think about it. If I hadn't just accidentally erased everything on my DVR tonight, I might have been able to go back and look. :doh:

You're right, Madge. For some reason, I thought the Doctor had seen it after they returned to the TARDIS and hidden it but that might have been my imagination now that I think about it. If I hadn't just accidentally erased everything on my DVR tonight, I might have been able to go back and look. :doh:

No, I think you are right Guin. I think the Dr picked it up and put it in his pocket.

You're right, Madge. For some reason, I thought the Doctor had seen it after they returned to the TARDIS and hidden it but that might have been my imagination now that I think about it. If I hadn't just accidentally erased everything on my DVR tonight, I might have been able to go back and look. :doh:

Oh no! My condolences! I know that has to hurt. Maybe Hulu or something can help with that. Maybe On Demand.
100%
No, I think you are right Guin. I think the Dr picked it up and put it in his pocket.

Really? Dang, I didn't see that. I've been waiting for the discovery.

I checked Hulu and no dice. Oh well...I'm sure they'll run it again fairly soon and I record it then.