You may remember I showed much dislike regarding the previous episode of the Doctor Who finale. Well I'm happy to announce that the second part of the two-parter was significantly better. Not to say that it was perfect, but it was definatley an improvement and much more enjoyable.
We start out with the opening of the season, with young Amelia Pond praying to Santa (on Easter, so she's extra polite) for someone to help her out with the ominous crack in her wall. However, unlike that episode, the Doctor dosn't show up. Poor Amy, nobody is going to eat all the food in her fridge and break several plates before scarring her for life and then leaving for about a decade.
She is then visited by a therapist who worries about the fact that she keeps drawing night skies full of stars. This would be odd normally, but due to the events of the previous episode, all the stars around the Earth have been extinguished.
One day someone pops a brochure to the mueseum, where the Pandorica from the previous episode is being held for all to see. She goes there and touches it, opening it up to reveal herself from the future. Yay!
Okay, I'm not going to review every single aspect of the episode like that. Basically, The Doctor travels back in time to tell Centurion Rory, who has recently fatally shot Amy, to use his sonic screwdriver to open the Pandorica and set things up so that he can reclaim it in the future. In the future, The Pandorica opens as stated above and the Doctor arrives. The funniest part of the episode is the inclusion of a Dalek as a fossilised creature. Which is then promptly revived by the light of the Pandorica, and fixes the main problem with the previous episode by have a constant threat. Yes, we had the imminent destruction of the universe and a half dead Cyberman, but the Dalek had then running, giving us an actual sense of 'We aren't stretching this episode out.' Rory appears, having gained a level of immortality via being an Auton, and briefly wards off the Dalek.
This episode finally cemented Rory as a good character. He is still sort of Mickey.2, and even though he is technically a clone, the series pretty much stated he had the real Rory's soul, so I'm just happy to see him back. The story of him defending the Pandorica over the course of two thousand years was actually done pretty well, and I was actually able to see Rory with a certain level of badass.
The Doctor appears via Vortex Manipulator (the same way he's travelling through time so quickly) and dies. The Doctor then realises the plot has some Fridge Logic in that if there are no stars, what's keeping the planet illuminated? As it turns out, the crashing TARDIS is illuminating the planet while the universe is being ripped apart. He is shot by the Dalek and teleports. River kills the Dalek in a moment that should be awesome, but just had me facepalming because Daleks aren't cry babies, and this one was screaming for mercy.
We then learn that the Doctor did not die, with untangles the Fridge Logic as to why he didn't regenerate shortly after, when we've clearly seen him do so in the Series 4 Finale. No, this was just a lie so he could strap himself into the Pandorica and launch it into the crashing TARDIS's, which would then illuminate the entire universe with it's restoring light and fix everything. He does this even though he will be stuck inside The Void for the rest of eternity...along with all those Daleks from Series 2 (yes, there WERE Cybermen, but chances are they've all been Exterminated by now). The Doctor then explains to Amy that the Crack in her wall (the cracks with can absorb objects and people and make them never have existed) had apparently been eating away at her life for years, erasing her memories of alien invasions and causing the disappearance of her parents.
The Doctor uses the Vortex Manipulator to launch the box (it's too complicated for normal teleporting) and sends River one last message on her Technodoohickey, "Geronimo," say what you will, I personally would expect nothing less from any incarnation of the Doctor. It works, and everyone wakes up where their lives should be, Amy has her parents again and she and Rory (who I am assuming is no longer an Auton) are preparing to wed later in the day.
But first, The Doctor has to slowly trudge back through his life, and returns to Amelia on the night where she met him and waited for him to take her on adventures through time, before deciding he'll skip the rest of his past to avoid needing to bring back David Tennant. So basically...
After the Wedding, Amy notices River walking by, and starts to feel strange. Rory gives her a Wedding Present apparently left by River, and opens it to find it is an empty book. She then realises that someone is missing from her Wedding, her good friend The Doctor. And then all the viewers at home clapped their hands and chanted, 'We believe in Doctor Who, we believe in Doctor Who,' and the TARDIS materialised right the at the Wedding, and suddenly everyone remember all the amazing adventures, and those who didn't know about them aren't too concerned about the Police Box that just teleported into the room from nowhere.
At the wedding party, the Doctor Dances...Oh, I see what you did there...and eventually decides it's time for him to leave and meets River outside, revealing the book is now full again (this has to do with Silence in the Library, but I missed that episode, so I don't fully understand). Rory and Amy then enter the TARDIS and ask if he's leaving. This is affirmative. They ask if this is good bye. This is affirmative. So then, Amy heads out of the miraculous Blue Box...and promptly yells goodbye to everyone outside as the TARDIS dematerialises and sends the trio on another adventure, and finally gives us another multiple season companion! Thank You!
And that's the second half of Series Finale. Is it better than the previous episode? Hell yes. I especially liked how they got out of the silly Legion of Doom concept by having the strange universe causing event erase them from time, though it was pretty predictable that if any were to get revived and chase the team around, it'd be a Dalek. Unfortunatley this also brings up how very wasted the idea of bringing in all the Doctors enemies truly was.
Second, I may have missed something, but what exactly was causing the whole universe collapsing event, anyway? I'm assuming the idea is the crashing TARDIS's, but that really came across as more of a steroid for situation as opposed to the castalyst. But I don't really mind, this episode did not feel as stretched out and was much better.
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