Doctor Who: The Snowmen

I feel it's time to finally write my long delayed thoughts about 'The Snowmen', Doctor Who's 2012 Xmas special. My expectations for this episode weren't threw the roof this time as 2011's effort 'The Doctor, The Widow And The Wardrobe' was easily one of the worst episodes of Doctor Who I have ever seen, to the point where it's the only NuWho episode that I've only watched once. 2010's Christmas treat 'A Christmas Carol' however was amazing, so I didn't know if this episode was going to be complete garbage or brilliant telly. It certainly had a lot going for it beforehand, boasting a cast that features talents like Sir Ian Mckellen and Richard E Grant, a few fan favourites from Series 6, the promise of a completely redesigned TARDIS and title sequence and let's not forget a new companion! It's almost like Steven Moffat is trying make up for last years terrible effort, no? 

So there definitely seems to be a lot going on here (typical Moffat), but what did I think of the actual episode?

Well....yeah I liked it a lot! It was witty, fast, funny and entertaining. It had all the hallmarks of a good Moffat script, complete with all of his weaknesses of course but I'll get into that in a minute.

For starters, the opening title sequence has been revamped and it looks a damn sight better than the previous one. If you remember the titles of the first five eps of Series 7 were basically a bunch of crappy murky-ass filters put over the normal version, it was like they wanted to change it up a bit but didn't have the budget to do so. This new one is much more vibrant with lots of sparks and colour not to mention very energetic, THE essential element of any DW title sequence as it blasts into the episode. The shot of Matt Smiths face in the clouds is another nice touch nice touch, harking back to old Who.

Wonderfully DW, shame they were never used.

Speaking of harking back to old Who, have you seen that new TARDIS? They've gone back to basics with this new one. It seems a lot more functional as a time machine now, having got rid of all the team-punky junk plastered onto it and resemble some of the earlier versions. This seems to be an effort by the production team to go back to the shows roots, and this being the 50th anniversary year I can't think of a better time to do it. I do miss the size/multilevel's of the old one though, it seems a lot smaller now.

Now going back to the actual episode, what's it actually about? Well I'll give an abbreviated version of the Episode as a refresher but essentially after Amy and Rory's sudden departure the Doctor's been kinda grumpy since then. Why he would go to Victorian London and live in the clouds for a while is a bit beyond me but hey even a Timelord has his bad days. His three friends from 'A Good Man Goes To War' are there to help him get over this Scrooge mentality and back onto his feet but he's having none of it so they've started investigating local mysteries to pass the time. One of those mysteries focuses on Dr Simeon played by Richard E Grant, a rather cold fellow (both inside AND outside as we find out by the end of the ep) who wants to take over the world with an army or unmeltable ice people...remember, this is Doctor Who we're watching. The Doctor investigates but refuses to give a damn and the only thing that can bring him out of this mood is a barmaid/governess called Clara, the kinda-sorta new companion for this year. So impossible Clara is of course caught up in this adventure when she first meets the Doctor in an alley outside of her bar. The 'Snowmen', a prototype version of Simeon's army that can be influenced telepathically (or something) try to attack them and having survived that ordeal she goes back to her second job, being a 'Governess' in a house owned by a retired sea Captain who had to take care of his kids after his late wife drowned in a pond outside his house.  Dr Simeon's template for his unstoppable ice army is being created in the pond (again something to do with memories of the previous Governess something something) and Clara has to go to The Doctor for help. This leads to a wonderful scene, the 'one word' game with Madame Vastra where of course the only word that can get the Doctor riled up and back into action is 'Pond'. Hijinxs ensue, with the Ice lady coming out of the pond and chasing Clara and the Doctor out of the house and into the clouds while Simeon and his Snowmen patiently wait outside....for some reason. After being introduced to the new TARDIS (gorgeous camera shot) and being given the TARDIS key (so officially given 'companion' status) Clara is unfortunately grabbed by the Ice Lady and falls off the cloud to her doom. Well okay, for SOME reason she isn't splattered to a pulp and is still alive (albeit critically ill?) and the Doctor meets with Simeon at The Great Intelligence Institute *HINT HINT* and defeats him with a memory worm (The Intelligence controlling the Snowmen is essentially Simeons cold and spiteful personality being reflected by the snow, a twisted imaginary friend of his own creation, so the logic is that by erasing his memories the GI can't possibly exist). Of cource the Intelligence uses Simeon's empty mind to possess his body, outliving and overcoming his creator. He was about to freeze the Doctor to death before collapsing into a crumpled pile, due to the snow somehow being turned into tears (the snow was concentrated around the Captain's house, so the family crying had an impact on it or something). Clara dies but not before uttering the same last words that Oswin muttered 'Run, you clever boy, and remember' leading the Doctor to believe that a version of Clara Oswin Oswald still exists out there in time and space just like the two previous versions. He rushes back to his TARDIS to find another 'her' again and that's the end of the episode, it's not an easy one to recap. 

I'm probably retreading ground by saying that Matt Smith is again fantastic as the Doctor in this, but he does such an excellent job in each episode that you stop noticing just HOW good he is in some of these scenes (the scene with him talking to Clara on her deathbed comes to mind). Saying 'Matt Smith was great in this episode' is just like describing the sky as being 'blue' at this point, and I could happily watch him be the Doctor for another few years (LONG MAY HE REIGN!).

NOTE: This review was written AGES ago, long before the announcement of Matt Smiths departure this Xmas. So unfortunately he won't be staying on as the Doctor for a few more years :( Consider this fan heartbroken.  

Jenna-Louise Coleman is fantastic in the part, and while the character (intentionally) shares most of Oswin's traits from 'Asylum Of The Daleks' they got rid of her cocky remarks that really grated with me from that episode. It's like she's the same character but isn't the same character at the same time, almost like Oswin Oswald reincarnated. It's a great twist to proceedings and the chemistry she has with Matt Smith is top-notch, they clearly light the screen with glee. I'm not going to say she's the BEST COMPANION EVER! or anything just yet but as far as first impressions go I think we're in for a winner here. The duality of her character (acting posh and cockney) was a nice touch and she even reminded me of Mary Poppins in one scene with the two kids!

Aside from the new companion the thing I was most excited about was the return of Vastra, Strax and Jenny, who are quite simply some of the most entertaining side characters I've seen on Doctor Who. The comedy trio are gold on the silver screen, aided by the punchy dialogue that Moffat always executes so well. Neve McIntosh's Lady Detective/Lizard woman from the dawn of time Madame Vastra gets the lions share of the material here, you can add the 'one word' interview scene onto my list of favourite Doctor Who moments (might do that some day), and lets not forget the constant Sherlock references being littered around the episode. The fact that this episode hints at Madame Vastra being an inspiration for Sherlock Holmes has caused some fan outcry it seems, because now that they've established Sherlock Holmes as being a fictional entity in the DW universe we'll never get that Doctor Who/Sherlock crossover we so desperately need! To this I say: it's Doctor Who. If they want to do it, they'll find a way to do it. Then we have Vastra's wife Jenny, played by Catrin Stewart, who is probably the weakest out the three returning characters, simply because her only joke is the fact that...well....she's married to a lesbian lizard lady. And last but not least is Dan Starkey's Strax. The 'potato head' was great comic relief as in 'A Good Man Goes To War', although it's a shame Sontaran's are being portrayed in a much more comedic light recently, I would like to go back to those mean thuggish potato headed brutes we saw in Series 4 and not have them as a subject of parody. I'll make an exception for Strax though, simply because he's awesome. 

The episode does have a few other supporting characters such as Tom Ward's Captain Latimer and his kids, but aside from a small arc about the Captain having a crush on Clara and wanting to connect with his children they were basically there to serve the plot, much like Collector Grayle from 'The Angels Take Manhattan'. I thought he would have a bigger part to be honest, a lot of the publicity beforehand was focused on his character and he was only in it for three minutes! It seems odd to have wasted a good actor on such a small role. And speaking of wasted potential...

Just f*cking kiss already! You're not a companion til' you snog the Doctor, apparently.

Let's talk about the villains in this episode! What a pedigree, Richard E Grant AND Sir Ian Mckellen? Talk about perfect casting for Doctor Who villains! It's a shame when you actually look at the completed episode then, because not only are they underused they're not really good villains to begin with:

Let's start with Richard E Grant's character, the 'main' villain for the episode. Dr Simeon isn't given any recognisable traits other than being a 'cool headed' character that rarely expresses any emotion or surprise to anything and wants to fill the world with his emptiness by turning the whole world into an 'everlasting winter'. This type of villain might work in a fairy tale setting but here he comes out as being  bare-bones at best and aside from ruthlessly killing a group of workers at the very start of the ep he doesn't do much other than walk around and look sulky all the time. I would call his plan for world domination silly, but this is Doctor Who we're talking about here so I suppose by DW standards it's not the worst invasion plan imaginable. I mean we've already had killer satnav's, black cubes, giant robots, farting aliens and mannequins so why not a few killer snowmen here and there? It could work, and DW has had a history of making the seemingly mundane and silly into deadly monsters, while still being just a tad silly. But the killer Snowmen in this episode, Simeon's privately controlled monster army aren't the most threatening of villains are they? They look creepy enough with their toothy grins and menacing look but again, THEY JUST STAND THERE AND DO NOTHING. FOR THE ENTIRE EPISODE!! This is the same problem that 'The Angels Take Manhattan' had, where the Weeping Angels didn't do anything outright evil or menacing in any way, they mostly just looked the part. Actually come to think of it, what did the Daleks do in 'Asylum Of The Daleks'? They didn't even exterminate anyone! DW is getting increasingly child friendly under Moffat's reign and his villains are suffering for it because aside from killing one bloke off-screen they appear harmless and are far too easy to defeat nowadays. At least in TATM the Angel's appear quite frequently, here the Snowmen barely feature and THEIR NAME IS IN THE TITLE! It's seriously slim pickings for villains this year...

Dr Simeon's 'imaginary friend' The Intelligence (and the baddie that controls the Snowmen) is severely underused as well, and apart from Sir Ian Mckellen's voice just feels completely unnecessary. It's a weak origin story to an old Doctor Who villain. And even then, the origin makes no sense. In the classic DW stories that featured this monster like 'The Web Of Fear' The Intelligence is depicted as being a ridiculously powerful disembodied entity in another universe trying to claim physical form in ours by possessing people and controlling an army of robot Yeti's. It's a cool idea, but 'The Snowmen' discards this idea in favour of it being an unsociable child's imaginary friend that was imprinted onto imaginary telepathic snow to make an actual sentient being. So is the GI still this all powerful disembodied intelligence from another realm of existence or a figment of some child's imagination? Cos' I prefer the first one, don't you? And what exactly happened to it at the end, after it was turned INTO FUCKING TEARS?! (WTF STEVEN MOFFAT?) I kinda-sorta get the reason why this happened but it's basically another excuse for a conclusion where the villain gets defeated by emotion. You know what? I'm sick to death of these lazy ass villains with their stupid ass plots and their equally lazy ass way of being motherfuckin' defeated! Nowadays it's all about 'love' and sonicscrewdriving your way to victory (I'm looking at you 'Power Of Three'), I mean granted it's always been that way but Moffat's reign as of late has been increasingly blatant in it's use of these resolutions. A bit of variety please? Actually no, variety isn't the problem, it's called lazy over-sentimental writing that's banking on the fact that you're to swept up in the story to care. AND YOU DON'T GET IAN MCKELLEN AS A VILLAIN AND ONLY HAVE HIM SHOW UP FOR A FEW LINES OF VOICE OVER!

I probably should mention the Ice governess as well. Unlike the three others in our rogues gallery the Governess didn't bother me as much, if anything she's the only villain in the episode to actually accomplish anything in this episode and that's taking into account the fact that she's as thick as Punch & Judy. I wonder why Dr Simeon and Co just waited outside the house for her to come outside rather than just go INTO the house and pick her up? This could have been an opportunity to showcase how menacing the villains are by having them siege the house with Vastra, Strax and Jenny fighting them off while the Doctor and Clara were escaping to the clouds. It would have added a bit of action to proceedings and would have made the episode  a bit more climatic than just 'woops we turned into tears and Clara died THE END'.  

I think there's a very good reason for why the baddies for this episode are so underdeveloped and underutilised (even if we take out the fact that they're not menacing in any way), it's simply because TOO MUCH SH*T IS GOING ON!

The fact that the rest of the episode is so good just highlights the flaws that the individual villains have. Moffat is good at writing witty dialogue, endearing characters and convoluted plots but he's not giving the villains or the 'threat/monster' aspect of Doctor Who any thought anymore and it's bringing the show down a bit. And remember, this is the guy who gave us the Vashta Nerada, Gas Mask Zombies, Clockwork Robots, Weeping Angels AND the Silence, all of which are fantastically realised and some of the best monsters DW has ever seen. 

Now that's a TARDIS! Very classic Who.

So it's a good thing that the villains aren't really the sole focus of the episode. A lot of it spent building the relationship between the Doctor and Clara and having fun with the Pattenoster gang (Strax, Jenny and Vastra), which are the GOOD aspects of the episode so overall yes, I enjoyed it for about 80% of the episode, which means 'The Snowmen' probably deserves an 8/10:

Positives:

+ Stellar cast, great ensemble
+ Witty, fast paced script
+ Strax, Vastra
+ Fantastic visuals (TARDIS in the clouds, ect...)
+ The 'one word' scene
+ Redesigned TARDIS, title sequence

Negatives:

- Poor villains
- Weak central plot
- Lack of threat
- Telepathic snow? REALLY?

Overall score: 8/10

Doctor Who: The Rings Of Akhenaten

'The Rings Of Akhaten', one of my favourite episodes of Series 7. And it's also one of the most divisive, if internet comments are to be believed. Some people think it's the worst episode since 'Fear Her', others (like me) applaud it. So what is it about this episode that has really divided the fans?

Well let's start by talking about the production design, which whether you're a fan of the episode or not, is undeniably one of the highlights of the episode. Steven Moffat promised us that this episode would treat us to 'the best alien world DW has done' and I'd have to agree. The alien world of Akhaten IS the best alien world DW has done so far. It's full of so, so, so many new aliens that you'd be mistaken for thinking that we were back in the Star Wars cantina! I was in awe at the creatures on display here, the costume and make-up department clearly outdid themselves and yes while some of the props (if you look closely enough) are reused from previous monster designs just the sheer amount of new alien races on display here is certainly refreshing and a welcome addition to the episode. It's definitely worth freezeframing at some points just to see a few cool looking aliens in the background (and speaking of the background, despite having only three set's in the episode the director did well to hide that, I didn't feel like the show was constrained at all). Design wise, The Vigil were the best monsters, they were very good at being that particular type of DW creepy, so it's a shame they were nothing more than simple henchmen to the main baddie. The mummy 'alarm clock' was another great design, although I was thankful that he wasn't the big bad, I find it hard to believe a creature of that size (that can't even break a glass box!) could consume an entire solar system on it's own. The CGI was for the most part impressive, bar the few scenes on the hover bike which looked like a rather awful green screen background. But the shot of the Doctor in front of the sun god bathed in silhouette was practically movie quality, proving just how inconsistent the CGI in DW can be at times. To be honest I wouldn't be surprised if this was the most expensive episode of the season, just the amount of CGI and make-up/costumes involved was enormous, truly giving us that movie blockbuster feel that this series has been trying to achieve. Overall I think they succeeded in creating a rather immersive alien world, it's just a shame we couldn't have seen more of it in the episode.    

The story (penned by newcomer Neil Cross) at first appears like a rather simple tale set on an alien planet but there is a lot of subtext about religion and faith if you look closely. The Doctors speech about the solar systems beliefs ('Well, it's a nice story') felt oddly atheistic, and at the end during his big speech he outright rejecting this society's “god” as a parasite living off fear. And coupled with an innocent child being brought up to essentially be sacrificed to a god...it's not exactly showing religion in the best of light is it? Hmm perhaps I'm reading into it too much...

I love these guys, so creepy...

I also liked how the stakes kept rising, to the point where it was suitably epic at the end (prepare to see that word tossed around a lot in this review). You weren't sure if The Vigil were the bad guys at first, and then we were introduced to the mummy which in any other DW episode is where they would have drawn the line but NOPE the 'god' in question is in fact the very gas giant that Akhaten orbits around, making it (size wise) the biggest baddie The Doctor has ever faced to the point, and even he has to question his ability to beat this thing!  

Now this story is getting a LOT of hate because it's another one of those 'we solved it with lurve' endings in which Clara quite literally beats a giant parasite (the size of a gas giant!) with a leaf at the end, and yeah on paper it does sound mightily silly and BULLSH*T...but it's important to know that it doesn't come out of nowhere, even IF it doesn't hold well to scrutiny (but let's be honest here, when has anything EVER held up to scrutiny on DW?). Emotion and memories are a big part of this episodes story, which why I like it so much. The opening scenes were rather sweet giving us that much needed back-story for Clara that 'The Bells Of Saint John' so sorely needed, seeing something as simple as seeing how her parents hooked up and the tragic death of her mother (did they ever explain how she died?) finally made me invest in the character on an emotional level. In fact the entire episode had a few rather touching moments for Clara, I liked the way she talked to the scared girl (she is a nanny so no wonder she's good with kids), I loved the fact that she had to give away her mothers ring as payment for the hover-bike (neat little idea that, objects with sentimental value as currency) and later on the leaf that was so important to her parent's lives. I think the thing that separates Clara from someone like Amy who would moan and let's face it, be a bit of a bitch at times in her first series is that she is genuinely a good person, a nice, well rounded character who is just as selfless as the Doctor. It's just a shame that other episodes of this Season haven't highlighted those qualities as much as this one. So when the time comes and she has to sacrifice the leaf, boldly stating that days that should have been or could have been (like the days that she could have spent with her mum, had she not have been.....you know, dead) are much more powerful than what has been, i.e her memories, it comes off as being extremely arresting for the viewer. 

And this is of course without Matt Smiths EPIC speech just before Clara's equally impactful one, which is, hands down, my favourite 11th Doctor moment from here on. It was quite simply stunning and is probably one of the reasons why I like DW so much. I mean, just read it! 

E.P.I.C

And again that's without Matt Smith's excellent performance, proving once again just how outstanding he is at being The Doctor. Again you could say that they basically talked the villain to death, but it works because of how much weight is given to those words by the actors and how much it means to their respective characters. I'm fine with non-sensical conclusions as long as it ties into the themes of the story and there is real emotional impact with them, and this episode had it in spades.

One other element of the episode I'd like to recommend is the fantastic score by Murry Gold, as music is another big part of the episode. The singing was so prevalent that some people are calling this episode a musical, which is a complete exaggeration and even if it seemed like it was a musical, so what? DW is a very flexible show and if the creators decided to do a musical episode then what's wrong with that? If anything it adds more variety, (as long as they do it well) and guess what? In this episode it was handled well and wasn't murder to your earwaves like some have been saying. Child actress Emilia Jones is great as Merry Galel and while her singing can be a tad to much at points, she did fine overall and the chant at the end overlapping The Doctor's speech coupled with the bombastic score is another reason why it's a fantastic scene. So critizising the episode because it's different is not a valid complaint, if anything it should be a positive! 

Even I have to admit that the episode has it flaws though. For starters, the sonic screwdriver is used WAY to much to the point where it might as well be a magic wand. This, coupled with the hand-wavey resolution to 'The Power Of Three' earlier in the season makes me just want to pluck the F*CKING thing out of the Doctor's hand and smash it to pieces because as a plot device, IT IS BULLSH*T ON THE HIGHEST SCALE AND MUSTN'T BE ALLOWED TO LIVE. 
...but in all seriousness, whoever is in charge of the show right now should just outright ban over excessive uses of the sonic screwdriver in future episodes because it's just getting ridiculous now! CUT.IT.OUT.

AHHHH! IT'S A GIANT PUMPKIN, RUN AWAY!!!! Nice CG though

Another thing that didn't seem to be explained was what the parasite actually did to The Doctor, supposedly it consumed his memories without a hitch but he seemed perfectly fine afterwords so it mustn't have taken them away then....and if that's the case then what's the point of stopping it? If consuming peoples memories doesn't harm them or take away their memories then The Doctor might as well just let that happen because nobody's in danger here! The things harmless! And what happened to it exactly? I mean it had it's fill of memories and then just....disappeared? WTF?! EXPLAIN! I've watched the episode again and it's quite literally nowhere to be found. So despite me loving the episode, technically that is still bad writing right? 
And how would singing 'Wake up' to the monster instead of 'Go to sleep' help things if the monster was awake anyway? And I know I've said this before but HOW CAN THEY BREATH IN SPACE? AND HOW CAN THE DOCTOR HEAR THEM IF SOUND CAN'T TRAVEL THROUGH SPACE? EXPLAIN! EXPLAIN! EXPLAAAAAIN!!!!!
....but apart from that, I loved the episode!

So why has this episode divided fans? I think it's the sentimentality of the plot coupled with the rather large amount of singing not to mention some serious plot holes. I mean in some ways it's a very odd episode isn't it? It's another one of those plots that involve saving the world with the power of lurve. I shouldn't like it, and yet the marvellous production design, music and emotion of it all won me over along with Matt Smith's speech at the end which HAS TO BE one of my favourite moments in DW ever. So despite a few flaws, this is another case of the positives FAR outweighing the negatives in value: 9/10.

Positives:

+ Epic score
+ Fantastic performances
+ Often times superb visuals and production design
+ LOTS of new aliens!
+ THAT SPEECH
+ Really emotional script

Negatives:

- The script does have a few rather large plot holes
- MASSIVE overuse of the sonic

This is where the Doctor basically goes 'Oh sh*t, he's BIG'.

The Walking Dead Episode 5: No Time Left

You know, out of the forty-odd games I've played in my lifetime few have been as emotionally involving as 'The Walking Dead' has. There are exceptions of course: the finale to 'Red Dead Redemption', pretty much the entire 'Mass Effect' series and maybe the odd cut scene here and there in the Assassins Creed games but apart from that I can't exactly call gaming sentimental. Most of us play video-games to pass the time and be entertained for a few hours, to get that kick after an awesome 'epic-win' or simply to relax. But when a video game actually taps into the same region of the brain that controls emotions such as pain, loss, heartbreak, sadness, despair etc..... now that's special. Sure T.V and Film do it all the time, even Music, but video games? Nah. When a video-game, an interactive form of entertainment that (let's face it) exists to satiate your primal need for violence and bloodlust, actually hits those same dramatic highs as static experiences, that's considered GROUND-BREAKING. 'The Walking Dead', while not necessarily the first or last game to do this, proves once more that video-games, if given more attention in their script department, can meet or even exceed some of your best entertainment experiences. The fact that it is the first game to focus solely on the story and not rely on any tangible gameplay mechanics like shooting to increase the experience further puts it in the spotlight. Oh, and guess what? Having played all five episodes over an eight month period I can now say that it succeeds in doing what it set out to do: It's a story driven adventure game that tailors it's experience to the choices you make. No more, no less. But the fact that it's really, really f*cking good at investing you into the story and the characters makes 'The Walking Dead' one of the best games this year.

Lee doesn't really know what to do with a walkie-talky...

Oh and one more thing: if you read on and haven't played 'The Walking Dead' yet then I advise you to buy and play the game NOW. It's on every available platform imaginable (Xbox Live/PSN/PC/Mac/iphone 4/ipad 2 etc....) and at £3 or 5 euros for one episode episode that last's around 3-4 hours, it really is a bargain. Whether you like zombies, play video-games, or prefer to stay away from this kind of stuff then don't worry, it couldn't be more easier to play. But you do need to have a high tolerance towards drama and gore, so prepare to be stressed as hell but in a way that will have you crawling back for more. With all that in mind, read on. But beware, I can't talk about this episode without spoiling it so *SPOILERS WILL FOLLOW*!

God-dammit! Gotta keep those nasty spoilers out!

The episode starts exactly where Episode 4 'Around Every Corner' left off. Lee Everett (the player) has been bitten by a zombie, and he has at best a few hours to live. Clementine, his nine-year-old protege has been kidnapped by an unknown stranger and to make matters worse Savannah has been overrun by the several thousand strong zombie horde from Episode 3. Your sole objective is to get Clementine back in time before finally succumbing to the zombie virus that's in your veins. Right from the bat the stakes feel high, which is apt considering this the finale to the series. Lee's bite is a ticking time-bomb that permeates throughout the episode, he really does have 'No Time Left'. I'm still amazed that the writers had the balls to kill off their main character in what has been one of the most successful series for Telltale. As an avid watcher of The Walking Dead T.V show and with a considerable amount of knowledge on the comic book I knew from the end of episode 4 that Lee was doomed. The writers love to pull the rug from under your feet at the worst possible moment and they adore false hope, so of course they gave you the option to lop off your infected arm at the start. (NOTE: For the uneducated in the WD universe if you get bit by a zombie you can survive the ordeal by amputating the infected limb, but if have to do it IMMEDIATELY after you get bit. The T.V show just pulled that trick off with Hershel and he survived but only because they cut off his leg fast enough to stop the infection from spreading. But with Lee it had been at least an hour before they decided to cut his arm off so it was inevitable that he would eventually die and transform into a zombie). Shockingly, most players did indeed cut their arm off, still clinging to that last ounce of hope. Not me though, I knew that at this point there was no coming out of this. Cruelly, if Lee is armless throughout the rest of the episode then the signs of zombification taking it's toll will only happen at the very end of the episode (further inspiring hope into players) whereas if you're like me and considered the loss of an arm an detriment then you'll be blacking out all the time and in the worst possible circumstances. To be honest, whatever you pick will have a lasting impact on the story.

They're not going to keep it together...

After the amputation scene in the morgue the Episode is pretty much touch and go until the very end. Lee's time is limited so the first thing he does (after having escaped the hospital with a short but sweet puzzle) is go back to the house and pick up anyone that was left behind at the end of Ep 4 to find Clementine. We're treated to a rather great action scene beforehand though where the zombie horde swarms the house (I cheered when zombie Brie came in through the window) and the group has a last stand on the second floor before retreating up into the attic. The scene in the attic is a great change of pace, it simply involves the survivors sitting in a chair and discussing previous events in the series...it's just a great moment of reflection and instil's  a sense of finality into everything. I'm amazed at how they finally made me care about Omid and Christa as well, in Ep's 3 & 4 as characters I thought they were pretty milk-toast but in Ep 5? Wow, I went from not caring about them to loving them in ten minutes! Omid in particular had some great things to say ('DUDE! You ruined that guy's face!') and insight into Christa's parents T.V habits ('They watch Kung-Fu movies') all added that little extra ounce of likeability to them that was missing in Episode 4. In a way, the sequence in the house encapsulates what's so perfect about Episode 5: you get the balls to the wall tension of Episode 4 and yet straight after it's nothing but people talking inside a room reflecting on their life and situation. It's like Episode 4 but without any of it's shortcomings. The talking doesn't last long though and we're soon thrust out into the zombie filled streets of Savannah using the rooftops as a way to get by unscathed. Of course Ben has to f*ck everything up though, that guy is a magnet for disaster. As the group is jumping from a balcony to the roof of another building the metal girders give way and Ben falls onto the street below. Kenny, having just had sense knocked back into him (Ben grew some balls! YAY!) decides to go down and inspect the damage along with Lee. Unfortunately, Ben has a spike sticking out of his stomach and with the zombies fast approaching Kenny suddenly decides to sacrifice himself and uses his last bullet to put Ben out of his misery. Why he did that I don't know, you could argue that after Katjaa and Duck died he was suicidal but why now, especially when he seemed so intent on saving Clementine? Still I don't know, to be honest Kenny's death was the only moment that felt forced (well that, and Vernon suddenly and inexplicably stealing our boat). I'd rather have this version than the alternative though. If you kill Ben in Episode 4 then Kenny dies a little later saving Christa, who was in turn trying to get the walkie-talkie. A bit more heroic than my scenario yes, but Kenny going out with Ben (for whatever contrived reasons) is much more poetic than 'died because of that blasted walkie-talkie'. HOWEVER, seen as we didn't actually see Kenny die on screen or hear him scream to death as the zombies munched on him then I have reason to believe that he is still alive. In fact, if we don't see your death on The Walking Dead then you're pretty much confirmed to still be alive! The writers have more than enough leeway to bring him back in Season 2 if they want to.

Lee's finest moment in the entire game.

We then see the departure of Omid and Christa and thankfully they don't die horribly like the other characters tend to do. They're separated from Lee as he tries to cross a dilapidated sign (which breaks), and there's no way they can get to him. I advised them to get out of the city and to meet me back at the train (by the way Christa's pregger's, in one of the most blindingly obvious yet surprisingly low-key reveals ever), while exclaiming that they'd be great guardians for Clementine if she get's out of this mess. As Christa and Omid leave it's clear that there is no way to get to The Marsh House (Clementine's supposed location) without first fighting your way through the gigantic zombie horde in front of it. Lee (who at this point is looking extremely pale) being the badass he is climbs down and attacks the horde dead on, in one of the most ludicrously insane yet bad ass moments I've ever experienced in a video-game. Armed with a cleaver and a shard of broken glass cutting into his hand (can't have my left arm unresponsive) the player epically slays a gazillion zombies while the music is swelling to one hell of a crescendo. I can only imagine how more awesome it gets if Lee only has one arm, his sheer drive to save Clementine (and as a result of you inhabiting Lee and Clementine being one of the nicest child characters in fiction, YOUR drive as well) and balls is tremendous. So you fight through the zombies and enter The Marsh House hotel, full of creepy corridors and ready to confront whatever bastard has kidnapped Clementine. Naturally, what follows is not what you expect. In another ballsy move, the writers of The Walking Dead have decided to base the climax of the Finale around two isolated conversations with two people. There's no blaze of glory, no last hurrah, no action climax. Once again, it goes to the core of what makes this game great, the choices and the conversations, not to mention the excellent screen writing. The stranger (the game gives us no name, no doubt to rub in the symbolic nature of the character) turns out to be just another poor soul who has lost everything to the zombie apocalypse and as a result has gone a bit crazy because of it (oh, and he does sound a lot like Tom Cruise). It's all because of that abandoned car you found at the end of Episode 2, I KNEW that was coming back to bit me in the ass. While Clementine is locked up in an adjacent room the stranger forces me to sit and tells his tragic tale to me while at gunpoint. In short, by stealing food from that car he lost both his wife and daughter to the zombies and wants revenge. BUT when hearing of all the horrible things I've done thanks to Clementine (it's a great way of bringing past choices and decisions to the forefront) he decided to kidnap her and 'start a new family'. He also has a habit of talking to the decapitated zombie head of his wife in a bag, which proves to be his downfall when Clem manages to sneak out and distract him while he's talking to the head. Then a rather violent confrontation ensues which either results in the guy dying by Lee strangling him to death or shot in the head by Clementine. I like how the stranger was just like Kenny and Lee but without Clementine to ground him in reality so as a result he kinda lost it. He even makes a point about the fact that he's not just some cannibal or monster in the woods but is in fact just a....Dad. One of the main themes in The Walking Dead is how the zombie apocalypse affects you both mentally and physically, in a way the zombies are perfect as the vice that permits the radical evolution of characters in such a short span of time. This is a world where everyone (alive and dead) are monsters, it shows both the best and worst of humanity and often these two sides switch places. Just look at our main protagonist, Lee. Before the apocalypse he was just some random guy, an ex-history Teacher being sent to jail for murder. Protecting Clementine is almost like his redemption for all that, and the player can even bring it up during the convo with the stranger. Now who you were before doesn't matter, it's all about clinging onto hope and survival. Clementine is Lee's hope. She's all he really cares about now, the old Lee Everett has gone. And the stranger? Before this whole ordeal he had a wife. And a son. AND a daughter. He had a nice life. Now he's got none of that, he has no hope left, and it breaks him, so he's not the guy he was before either. And most of it is because that one small decision that you made at the end of Ep 2 had lasting consequences, and it's repercussions have ultimately cost Lee his life. 

Yeah, crossing that sign MIGHT not be a good idea!

So Lee is finally reunited with Clementine (who is really traumatised about what she's done) but they've still got to get past the horde outside. Lee discovers that if you coat yourself in zombie guts then the zombies will just consider you to be another zombie and leave you alone....so the first thing he does is kill a zombie, scoop out it's intestines and smear it all over Clementine! Lovely...this leads to a tense scene outside where you're surrounded by zombies and have to walk as quietly as possible so as not to draw attention to yourself. Normally this would go without a hitch, but seen as this The Walking Dead then you'd be forgiven for expecting the worst: Clementine spots her zombified parents in the zombie crowd, JUST as Lee passes out again! Lee wakes a bit later, the distraught Clementine having pulled him into an abandoned jewellery store. This is the end of the game. You've got Clementine trapped in a room with a Lee, who at this point can't even move, and he literally has only minutes left. There is an exit, but it's in another room with a zombie security guard/cop. The only thing he can do now is to get Clementine out of this store and offer a few pro-tips on surviving the zombie apocalypse. It's extremely emotional, the voice acting for Clementine in particular had me welling up, especially when she came to the realisation that I was bitten. The way she reacted to everything was exactly how a little girl would react in this situation, and I felt more sorry for her than Lee to be honest! The last half an hour of 'No Time Left' is essentially Lee passing the mantle over to Clementine, as we get to (indirectly) control her by giving her orders on what to do. Clementine has now become the main character, as Lee is slowly fading away. Her arc in this series has mainly been about teaching her how to survive in the ZA, while at the same time making sure she doesn't lose her humanity and stop her becoming a little girl in the process. You've been trying to stop Clementine from becoming like everyone else basically, which is why I asked Omid and Christa to be her guardians as they're the only people who have stayed the same throughout this journey. Point being, we still have to give her hope. 

Dem' zomby's, always trying to grab our attention!

Clementine smashes the glass window and retrieves the handcuffs inside. At this point you can either handcuff the zombie (who's stuck in a chair) or Lee. I chose Lee, just in case he dies while she's still trapped inside. Unfortunately as she goes to get the keys for the door (which are on the zombie cop) he get's loose and with Lee powerless to do anything he basically tells her to grab the cricket bat and smash it's head in, showering her in blood. And just when you think things couldn't get even more bleak the game then gives you the option to either have Clementine shoot you (stopping you becoming a zombie) or to just leave you. Me, not wanting to put Clementine through anything else just asked her to leave me and her response was heartbreaking. I mean she's nine-years-old, caked in blood, crying, heck she's just outright murdered someone AND she's found out that her parents have in fact been dead this whole time....yeah I think I should easy on her. I mean it's one thing to shoot your kidnapper, but Lee??? Nah, that's far to upsetting. Well okay, everything is upsetting at this point. So depending on your ending Clementine either holds your hand while you say a few last words (of your choice, I personally picked 'I'll miss you...' and 'Stay out of the cities' as my last piece of advice) before leaving only to look back and see you die hunched up against the radiator OR picks up the zombie cop's gun crying her eyes out and puts a bullet in your head. Suffice to say, the music swells and 'The Walking Dead' font appears over black shortly afterwards, which basically means that now Lee (the main character and protagonist) is dead and that's the end of his story. As a bit of added symbolism, Lee happens to die handcuffed AND near a zombie cop, just like the beginning of Episode 1 (but sans the dying bit). Clementine though? Well after the credits (during which plays a VERY suitable song) we're treated to a short cut-scene with Clementine holding the gun and sitting a log in the middle of some field looking very sad. She then sees two strangers walking in the distance (Christa and Omid? New Characters? Someone from the comics?) and...they stop, having clearly just noticed Clementine. The game once again cuts to black on Clementine's horrified face and that's it. No more Walking Dead til' Season 2!

NUTTER ALERT! Also, don't look in the bag....WHAT'S IN THE BAG?!!!

So what did I think of 'No Time Left'? Well as you can tell it's mostly praise, but the quietness of the last half is what really caught me off guard, just the abrupt change in tone and pace really. Oh, and I was expecting a better confrontation with Clementine's kidnapper, who they had been building up to since Ep 3 but in the end turned out to be just 'another guy'. I get what they were going for, I really do, but the game went out on a quiet note rather than the epic bang we've been trained to expect from Finale's these days, which you could see as being a positive or a negative. I hate to say it, but I prefer an epic bang. This is also the shortest episode yet (although Ep 4 was the longest Ep) and barely clocks in at an hour and a half. Don't get me wrong none of it feels rushed but I still thought we could have spent some more time with that kidnapper and maybe added in a few climatic action scenes at the end. The only other complaint I can possibly muster (apart from the bugs, which continue to be a constant in this game) is that there are a LOT of loose ends. We have no idea what happened to Molly (I thought she would show up at the end to rescue Lee), Kenny's fate was left ambiguous, Vernon just outright stole our boat and left for seemingly no reason and Omid and Christa just disappeared from the narrative. Not to mention Clementine, who's fate now seems even more uncertain. The only real closure we got was with Ben and Lee, the rest of it just sort of went nowhere. So while they're clearly setting up Season 2 (which has been confirmed) I would have liked to have gotten more finality out of things. Unfortunately, the only real finality you can get in the zombie apocalypse is a bullet through the brain, because if any characters live then they're still in immediate danger. 'No Time Left' is a great finale to the series, although it's hardly perfect: 8/10. Overall though? I think Episode 3 was the best, or more precisely the end of Ep 2 and the start of Ep 3 simply because of the shock value and it was at that moment that we knew just how FAR Telltale was willing to go with it's dark subject matter. That one-two punch of Carley being shot, Lilly leaving, duck getting bit and Clementine (seemingly) becoming a zombie cannot be matched in terms of sheer balls or shock value. The entire Series is fantastic though, and is definitely more than the sum of it's parts. Goodbye Lee Everett, it's been one hell of a traumatising experience! 

Clementine, you crack me up. Seriously, I can't stop crying!

The Walking Dead Overall: 9/10

Positives:

+ Great Dialogue, Voice acting, Story, Characters etc...
+ Brilliant art-style, really captures the feel of the comic-book. 
+ Great sound design, music
+ Truly haunting
+ Really depressing
+ Shocking, unexpected twists
+ Clementine, Lee, Kenny
+ Choices, consequences
+ Really tense action
+ Easy controls

Negatives:

- It's very buggy, can detract from experience
- Episode 4 is a little dull
- Chuck's death
- Last episode is really short
- Point and click gameplay is boring
- Lot's of loose threads
- Puzzles too easy

P.S Thank you Telltale for introducing episodic games back into our mainstream culture, it fits so well, not to mention bringing back the old adventure games in style. Ah yes, and thanks for giving us a great story....BUT IN A VIDEO GAME! 

A sad end, but a fitting one.

The Walking Dead Episode 4: Around Every Corner

So with Episode 5's release date immanently approaching I thought it was best to play catch-up and finally review Episode 4 'Around Every Corner'. After the sensationally tense and emotionally wrecking Episode 3 that killed off half the cast and then introduced several new characters I naturally started the episode with my expectations through the roof in more ways than one. I couldn't wait to find out who the walkie-talkie guy was and why he was so interested in Clementine and Lee. I was interested to see where Kenny's character would go next and I was ready for several jaw-dropping moments. Sadly while Episode 4 is packed with these moments, it's middle half feels like filler and the story doesn't quite hit those emotional highpoints you were expecting until the end. So while it's in no way bad or even mediocre (in fact, most of it is rather good) you can't help but compare it to previous episodes and see it as a bit of a disappointment, especially when you have to wait a whole month for the next episode!

Clementine is the sweetest character in gaming, PERIOD. So sweet that this zombie wants to gobble her up!

Episode 4 starts about an hour after where Ep 3 left off, with the group having just abandoned the train and entering Savannah to look for a boat. Naturally things go awry immediately and they get ambushed by a horde of zombies and have to hide in the garden of an abandoned house. In the midst of all this chaos one of the new characters bites the dust in a rather abrupt fashion with little to no fanfare at all. We don't even see the death on-screen (although you do see 'the remains' later) and I wonder why the writers introduced a character late into Ep 3 only to kill him/her (not saying because of spoilers) immediately afterwards at the beginning of Ep 4? I mean it's almost like they introduced him/her only to give a bit of exposition to Lee and then swiftly got rid of him for shock value? Hmmmm.... Now while I understand WHY they did it, I didn't feel anything because I had only just met his/her character and hadn't had time to connect to him/her in the slightest. Episode 3 had one shocking death after the other and it mattered because I had grown to love the characters over the previous Episodes, killing him/her off here robbed the moment of any emotional value or weight. In fact the lack of fanfare suggest's the writers didn't even care about his/her character either, and it felt out of place with the rest of the episode. I hate to call it lazy script writing, but that's what it is. Thankfully what follows is classic WD, with plenty of unpleasant situations being thrown onto the player. At the realisation that I had to dig up a dead dog in order to get into the house I audibly sighed 'Oh god...' before doing the dirty work and then having to kill a starved kid zombie in the attic just felt wrong, afterwords I had to bury the poor soul next to his dead dog in the garden! After the house is properly searched and cleared of any threats Lee and Kenny go to the harbour to find a boat...only to find it utterly deserted and ransacked of anything worthwhile. They're also greeted with a giant barricade made out of zombie corpses, some of whom are still undead having been pierced on spikes to act as scarecrows to warn off any survivors hoping to get past the barrier. What's past the barrier? Well it's very spoilerific but let's just say it's not pretty...In fact anything after this point is serious spoiler territory so let's just say there are a few new characters introduced (honestly the cast of survivors are on a revolving door at this point, it's almost like the writers said 'CRAP! WE'RE RUNNING OUT OF CHARACTERS TO KILL OFF! WE NEED MORE CHARACTERS TO SATISIFY OUR BLOOD LUST!!!'), several new locales to be explored and lots AND lots of tense action moments. As a penultimate episode this is clearly setting up things for Ep 5 (aka the finale) so I will not criticize the Ep for not paying off on a lot of it's many dangling threads but let's just say that your questions at the end of Ep 3 will not by answered in Ep 4, much to my disappointment. They're saving everything for the last Ep and most of this episode feels like filler. Entertaining filler sure, but filler nonetheless. There are a few good moments here and there but you're essentially on a damn fetch quest the whole time with no real juicy plot moments to satisfy my need for intense drama. The last 15 minutes though......ohhhhh boy!

This is a really unnerving moment, poor kid.

As far as gameplay goes Episode 4 is the most action packed entry of the series to date, and with the exception of a few small puzzles here and there most of it is Lee becoming a full on zombie badass, with the zombie death counter hitting record highs at the Ep's climax in particular. Of course the satisfaction in terms of gameplay goes up a bit (when is killing zombies NOT fun?) but I should stress that this is still a point and click adventure game, all you're doing is pressing a button that is labelled 'kill zombie' a few times. Which is probably another reason why this Episode feels slightly underwhelming seen as most of it is action and it therefore the game relies on it's almost non-existent gameplay mechanics and it feels dull compared to, say, having meaningful conversations with the great cast. That's not to say there aren't any difficult choices to make or really nice convo's in the Ep, it just means that they take a back-seat to the some of the action taking place. And that's why the episodes conclusion is fantastic, because it's like they packed all the shocking moments, consequences and tense reveals til' the last 15 minutes and gave us a few filler action tasks to do beforehand. Again that's not to say I didn't LIKE those filler action tasks, it's just that it can't compare to the more dialogue focused aspects of the game that featured prominently in the previous eps. 

Even THEY can't believe the twist at the end!

I can't spoil the last 15 minutes but let's just say the Episode did it's job of making me hyped for the finale! And in true Walking Dead fashion it is SHOCKING and you'll never see it coming! But as it stands I'll give Episode 4 'Around Every Corner' an 8/10. Not quite as good as previous instalments, but that's only because it set's the stage for what is surely going to be an amazing pay-off to an amazing entertainment experience. The characters are still amazing (Clementine in particular), the voice acting is still stellar and the narrative continues to be one of the most compelling stories in gaming. I must stress to anyone that hasn't got it yet (again), BUY AND PLAY THIS NOW!

Doctor Who: The Angel's Take Manhattan

Well this is it, the episode we was all looking forward to (and dreading at the same time) 'The Angel's Take Manhattan'. I must admit that before watching the episode for the first time I was a tad skeptical. I mean, how on earth are they going to re-introduce River Song and The Weeping Angels and STILL have time left to give the Pond's a proper send-off in the time space of just 45 minutes? Thankfully, Amy & Rory's exit was absolutely fantastic and while the episode does suffer from Steven Moffat's trademarked mile-a-minute approach to storytelling and The Weeping Angel's slightly lacklustre appearance, this was definitely Doctor Who on top form. And yes, I am sad to see Amy & Rory go (especially Rory). 

Ahhh....happy memories...

The episode starts with a rather lengthy intro-sequence that takes up a good 10 minutes of the story. While it doesn't really need to be there it perfectly recreates a Noire atmosphere and re-introduces the Weeping Angel's with style. The reveal at the end was gobsmakingly brilliant but because the rest of the episode fails to dwell on it or even acknowledge it later on it's effect quickly diminishes. If viewed as a self-contained short movie featuring the Weeping Angel's or even as a prequel to the episode I would understand why they filmed it, but does it really need to take up a full ten minutes worth of screen time? If you take the entire segment out the episode what does it add exactly? If you ask me the whole reason this episode was set in 1930's New York was because Steven Moffat wrote this segment beforehand and wanted to include it in an episode of the show. If you take out the New York setting from the episode and changed it to...ooooh I dunno London 2012 then nothing in the story changes. NOTHING AT ALL. Well okay, visually the episode would be worse. New York look's fantastic, both in the past and present and once again demonstrates New Who's panache for trying to diversify the setting and locales as much as possible. 
So with the out-of-place intro aside, what about the rest of the episode? Well we're treated to a few nice views of modern day New York, some nice banter between the three leads (the last time we'll see any of them together just chilling out) and then all of a sudden Rory is sent back in time by a Weeping Angel to 1930's New York, appearing conveniently right next to his daughter Melody/River Song. I love the way the book is used to convey exposition, even if it is a trick often deployed by Moffat in his timey-wimey stories. What makes it even cooler is the fact that the book is ACTUALLY going to be published in the UK as a tie-in to the episode, so we will ACTUALLY be able read the book! Oh, I do love the Doctor Who merchandising team sometimes. Anyway the book is used to great effect in the episode, and reading the chapter titles to find Rory was genius.  

This isn't going to last...

The collector Mr. Grayle is the plot device used to bring all of the characters into (roughly) the same time and place. It's a shame we didn't get more of him, his character is quite literally thrown out of the story half-way through along with his menacing bodyguards. He's immediately forgotten about however, as we're greeting to quite a chilling scene with Rory in the cellar with The Weeping Babies, complete with giggling cherub voices. The one thing I didn't like however was how they just deplaced him in space, not time. Um....why? The Weeping Angel's kind of lost their menace here, because their method of displacing people back in time can only really be seen as an annoyance, especially seen as the Doctor can time-travel. The Weeping Angel's in Series 5 two parter snapped peoples necks (rather gruesomely too, may I add) and were so seemingly unstoppable that Moffat had to literally write in a Deus Ex Machina (the crack in time) in order to get rid of them. Here, they seem a bit weak in comparison and they feel less scary because....well...they don't really do a lot for most of the episode do they? Just stand around and look scary. In fact the characters blink several times in a scene and they don't move an inch. For the next ten minutes the episode is mainly River-Doctor focused, and it was nice to see Alex Kingston just being River Song rather than the more cartoony psychopathic version of the character we saw in Let's Kill Hitler/The Wedding Of River Song. The scene on the stairway where we actually see her bloodied roken wrist was unpleasant, (I think it's the first time we've seen blood on this show in a while)  and her speech to Amy about 'never let him see you damaged' was a nice moment. I would have liked to see more of a mother-daughter interaction between the two though, especially since the events of the last series has once again been discarded and put under the rug with the exception of the Doctor being 'dead/erased from the universe'. The problem is that things happen so fast in Moffat's stories that the characters barely have time to react or consider what on earth is going on and it's implications. Some more 'quiet' scenes like this one please? In the last 20 minutes Rory enters the Weeping Angel controlled building 'Winter Quay' only to find a much older version of himself (in a scene very reminiscent of Blink). Amy and the gang arrive just in time to witness the death of old Rory, and young Rory is left feeling bewildered. From this point on the episode really hit's it stride, and the realisation that Rory is destined to be stuck in that bed forever without Amy really added peril to the whole thing. The ensuing chase to the rooftops was vintage Weeping Angel's and the second appearance of the Statue of Liberty was the icing on the cake...or was it? For something that was hyped throughout the whole episode the Angel Of Liberty was barely a cameo appearance, not to mention the fact that it's EXTREMELY implausible for the people of New York to not notice a massive BRONZE statue (I thought the Weeping Angel's were made out of stone? And how did it become a Weeping Angel in the first place? EXPLAIN MOFFAT. EXPLAAAAAIN!) stomping around the place? It appeared for three seconds, was referenced once by Rory and then forgotten about. Not even the Doctor batted an eyelid when he saw it. HELLO? It's a giant FREAKING WEEPING ANGEL!! THIS SHOULD BE HUGE!!! Ok maybe I was expecting too much (I really thought those teeth would come down and chomp on Rory) but to have such a big, grandiose idea appearing at the climax of Amy & Rory's swansong episode you'd think they would have done more with the idea? But in the grand scheme of things I suppose it didn't really matter, what DID matter was the small issue of The Ponds making a suicide pact in order to create a paradox that would destroy the Weeping Angel's. The rooftop scene is one of the best moments in NuWho, and Karen Gillian and Arthur Darvill act their asses off in it. Arthur Darvill in particular was fantastic, his character Rory started out a geeky nerd vying for Amy's attention but has truly evolved into something more over the past few years, in some ways I'd argue he's more heroic than the Doctor. While some fans felt cheated that Rory never got a proper send-off in the episode (i.e he never got to say goodbye) I disagree, because this entire scene was in a way his send-off, even though he still features for a bit after this. His love for Amy shines through, the fact that he would rather risk his life than live without her is evidence enough and later on Amy does the same thing, this time risking her life to live with Rory, so this was Rory's last moment in the spotlight, he just came first. So if you do class this as Rory's exit (which I do) then it's definitely the best out of the two. His line about constantly dying (a popular joke among DW fans: 'They KEEP killing Rory!') and asking Amy to push him was frightfully emotional. Then when Amy joins him I could barely stop breathing.

Fantastic scene. Simply brilliant.

So they both jump of the ledge, the Doctor screams 'AMMMMMY!!!!!!' (no 'ROOOORY as well? Damn Doctor, that's cold!), the music swells, you see them falling epically in slow-motion and....cut to white. Ok, I admit it, I was doing my best to hold back the tears, but this next scene was the closest I've ever been to crying at an episode Doctor Who. As it turn's out, the Paradox worked and everything is back to normal again (except we all know there's something else coming up) and the four leads all get swooped back to that graveyard in 2012 New York. The Doctor rejoices, they hug, there's some merry banter with River and then just as they are about to leave Rory spots a gravestone with his name on it. Before Amy can react Rory suddenly gets whisked back in time (again?) by a 'lone survivor' Weeping Angel, his last second of screen time was looking at Amy with a puzzled expression (THAT'S IT?) and Amy shouts for the Doctor. The Doctor notices the gravestone and does his best to convince Amy to come back into the TARDIS so they can 'figure it all out' but nope, Amy has made her mind up. Convinced it would send her back to the same time that it sent Rory to she says a hasty goodbye to her daughter, bursts into tears, faces the Doctor and says one last goodbye before being zapped back into the past by the Angel, once again reunited with her beloved, supposedly living happily ever after with Rory in 1930's New York and dying of natural causes aged 87. WOW. That was a lot to take in! Suffice to say, I was emotionally obliterated. Just the suddenness of it all coupled with the acting from all three leads made what could have been a bitter-sweet ending into something that rivalled even Rose's exit in 2006! Just hearing Matt Smith scream and pour his eyes out, unable to do anything for pretty much the entire episode sent chills down my spine. And Karen Gillian, JESUS CHRIST! She definitely saved the best to last! While none of it quite matched the leap from the building in slo-mo (it was the music that made it) it was still powerful stuff and it was the first time where Steven Moffat actually stopped trying to cram all his grandiose idea's into every second of the thing and just pulled back, allowing the characters to properly emote and give it their all in the last few seconds of screen time. The only issue I have with the last ten minutes is the reason for their permanent exit doesn't seen justified at all.
*WARNING* MAJOR RANT ALERT! *WARNING*
The Doctor says that by being zapped back in time by the Weeping Angel would mean him never being able to see them again, because it would be a 'fixed' point in time. I'm sorry, but wasn't your death last series (a considerably bigger event) a fixed point in time as well? You seemed to get out of that pretty easily! Just what is a 'fixed' point in time anyway? And if causing another paradox would rip New York apart (New York has already been too badly fracturing by the Weeping Angel's time energy) then why not come and get them a few years later when the time energy subsides a bit more? Or how about they just move location? Surely Amy and Rory wouldn't live in New York for the rest of their lives and never leave the city? Even worse, apparently River's vortex manipulator can get there just fine (so basically River can visit them, just not the Doctor?) because she has to deliver the book to Amy to get it published! Why can't River just take them back with her when she goes to see them? Why can't the Doctor go with River? And hey, wasn't young Melody/Mels/River Song still in New York at this point? Do you think they met up with her and actually raised her up properly before sending her off to past Amy and Rory (well technically future Amy & Rory but you get it) from Let's Kill Hitler? Speaking of last series, what about those photo's of Amy and baby Melody found in the orphanage? Where did they come from? Why were the Silence so interested in Amy and Rory? They seemed to hint at the couple being integral to their plans and even had foreknowledge of certain events: 'RORY WILLIAMS, THE MAN THAT DIES AGAIN AND AGAIN...DIE ONE LAST TIME AND KNOOOW SHE WILL NEVER COME BACK TO YOU!!!!!' In fact, the whole Silence Will Fall arc and  the TARDIS mysteriously exploding STILL hasn't been explained yet or even referenced to by the show and for something that seemed so integral to Amy & Rory now that they're both gone does that mean that these questions will NEVER be answered? ARRRRRRRRRRRGHHHHHH!!!!!!!! SO MANY QUESTIONS!!!! SO FEW ANSWERS!!!!!!!! WHY, MOFFAT, WHY????? WHY DO YOU TEASE ME US SO MUCH YET NEVER ANSWER ANYTHING!!!!!!!!!!!?

....So in short I didn't really understand why their exit was so permanent, it's almost like the writer is leaving the back door open for a return.....

The episode end's with the Doctor running in slo-mo towards the final page in Melody's book, an epilogue written by Amy. He reads it teary-eyed and proceeds to re-visit young Amelia Pond (who's still waiting) in a nice callback to 'The Eleventh Hour'. The screen fades to black after a still image of young Amelia's face smiling, essentially the most fitting way to end it ever. One small niggle is the fact that we never saw Brian again, you would think the Doctor would go back to him and tell him what happened wouldn't you? It really felt like a loose-end but luckily they fixed it Mass Effect-style by releasing a touching short storyboard scene narrated by Arthur Darvill:  

Overall I thought this was a great send-off to some of NuWho's best companions, even though there were a few niggles along the way: 9,5/10. I suppose in a way their exit was the most tragic out of the new batch of companions, and it's nice to know that for once a monster was the one that ended up separating the couple from the Doctor rather than some over random element being thrown in last minute. Technically their gravestone should have read 'Killed nicely by Weeping Angel'. Well done Moffat, when it counts you truly deliver, although please stop with these overarching story lines that lead to nothing, I don't want to be let down again.

Great imagery, but makes NO sense in the context of the episode.

So what do I think of The Pond Era as a whole? Well it took me a while to warm up to them and Matt Smith, it was one of those cases where they grew on me the more time went on. Rory became the dark horse of the series, by the second half of Series Six I was convinced he was the best of the two. Amy felt a bit dodgy for most of Series Five, but her character improved over time. Series Five as a whole was a bit uneven to me, but 'Vincent And The Doctor', 'Time Of Angels/Flesh And Stone', 'Amy's Choice' and 'The Pandorica Opens' are some of the best episodes of Moffat's run. Their chemistry as a group dynamic is unmatched, I could watch the characters interacting all day to be honest. It's a shame we didn't get more Doctor-Rory combos, 'Dinosaurs On A Spaceship' showed just well Arthur Darvill and Matt Smith worked off each other to brilliant comedic effect. The era hit it's highpoint with the second half of Series Six, there was just so many fun episodes and 'The Girl Who Waited' is still an instant classic. As for Series Seven Part 1 the episodes have been the most ambitious yet but with the exception of 'Dinosaurs' (which wasn't striving to be Shakespeare or anything) they all had script problems. Simply put, the writers got a bit lazy and crammed to much stuff into an already ambitious undertaking. Still, the variety in the last five eps have been incredible and the Doctor Who production Team deserves all the praise it can get. Just re-read a few of those scripts next time, OK? Oh god....that divorce plot still makes me shudder....Well I think it's finally time to the close the door on Amy & Rory (but keep it unlocked just in case), the first married couple in the TARDIS. The Girl who waited and Rory the roman lived happily ever after. THE END.