Doctor Who, "Cold Blood"

Doctor, to Ambrose: \”You are so much less than the best of humanity!\”

While I enjoyed \”Cold Blood\” much more than part one, \”The Hungry Earth,\” I don\’t have much to say about it save for the final scene. After Ambrose kills Alaya, negotiations between the Silurians and the humans fall apart. The Doctor forces the Silurians to go back into hibernation for another 1,000 years and hopes that when they wake, the humans will be ready to make peace. The Doctor, Amy, and Rory rush back to the surface to escape in the TARDIS, but when they arrive, the mysterious crack in the universe is there as well. The Doctor puts his hand into it (of course he does) and pulls out something wrapped in his handkerchief. Before he can look at it, though, Restac (Alaya\’s equally angry twin sister) arrives seeking revenge.

She aims her gun at the Doctor, but Rory pushes him aside and takes the hit. He falls to the ground, apologizes to Amy, tells her she\’s beautiful, and dies. Oh, Rory. I loved you so. Earlier in the episode, he told Ambrose that he\’d trust the Doctor with his life, and about one minute before this, Amy called him an idiot. I was hoping that Amy would be kinder to him after the events of \”Amy\’s Choice,\” but alas. The light from the crack touches Rory\’s body and begins to absorb him, so the Doctor drags Amy into the TARDIS. Amy is desperate to go back for him, but the Doctor begs her to keep Rory in her thoughts, to not let anything distract her. \”Tell me about Rory. Fantastic Rory, funny Rory, gorgeous Rory!\” he says. Because Rory is part of Amy\’s personal timeline, if she fails to hold onto his memory, she\’ll forget him once he gets absorbed. Matt Smith and Karen Gillan are wonderful, yet again, in this scene.

The TARDIS lurches, knocking Amy and the Doctor to the ground, and she loses Rory. \”What were you saying?\” Amy asks brightly as she sits up, while the Doctor quickly pockets her engagement ring. When they step outside to wrap things up, Amy sees her future self again. She\’s alone; the timeline has been altered. \”I thought I saw someone else there for a second,\” she says sadly. The Doctor ushers her back into the TARDIS and then pauses to look at the debris he pulled out of the crack in the universe. It\’s a piece of the TARDIS, battered and scorched.

I have no doubt that Rory will somehow play a part in the season finale (if he\’s really dead, I will shake my tiny fist of fury at the television ) and I can\’t wait to see how this all plays out. The final scene clearly overshadowed the rest of this episode for me, as I suspect it did for many others.

JUNE 26: The Doctor and Amy meet Vincent van Gogh in \”Vincent and the Doctor.\”

Screencaps from Sonic Biro.