The Girl Who Waited

"I'm going to pull time apart for you."

Writer: Tom Macrae

Format: TV

Broadcast: 10th September 2011

Series: 6.10

Featuring: Eleventh Doctor, Amy, Rory

Synopsis 

The Doctor, Amy and Rory land on a paradise planet... in the middle of the one day plague. Amy is left behind and for her time is running at a different speed. Can the Doctor break through the walls of time to prevent her ageing before their very eyes?

Verdict 

The Girl Who Waited is a quite stunning episode of Doctor Who. It's an incredibly emotional episode and it really highlights the loving relationship Amy and Rory have in such a great way. It really is an emotional roller coaster. The episode started off humorously with the TARDIS trio struggling to pronounce the planet they were about to visit. I'm not even going to attempt to try and spell it! Upon arrival, the Doctor & Rory and Amy were soon split up in such an avoidable way. The Doctor had told Amy of the incredible sights she'd see so she wanted to take photos on her phone. Just while she went back into the TARDIS to retrieve it, the Doctor and Rory entered the green anchor room. Amy, of course, pressed the red waterfall button and was separated from her husband and her raggedy man. The time glass was a super little tool and I loved the concept of time advancing at different speeds depending which side of the glass you were on. Within minutes Amy had been waiting for a week on the other side! The Doctor's rescue mission was soon clear as he took the time glass and fixed it up to the TARDIS to track Amy and smash down the time walls. It didn't sound the best of ideas and the result soon proved that there may have been an alternative, or searching for one would have at least been worthwhile. Amy was wondering around endlessly and she chose the garden as her waiting point. But the Handbots were after her, hoping to put out the unregistered bacteria on her. That would result in her death however due to the difference of species from what the planet inhabited. The threat of the disease that only affected two-hearted races was good as it gave Rory a bigger role in the episode whilst the Doctor was stuck inside the TARDIS and his own little quarantine. The glasses being an eye camera for the Doctor was great but once Rory had tracked Amy, what we saw was rather shocking. The moment Rory stared into his wife's eyes, now 36 years older, was heartbreaking. Amy was no longer the drop dead gorgeous red head that we know and adore whilst travelling in the TARDIS. She was now aged and withered and must be well into her fifties. That's not the Amy Pond I've found incredibly attractive during her time in the TARDIS. She'd built herself a sonic probe, got herself a nice pet Handbot called Rory and knew how to evade the Handbots perfectly. If they came constantly, or consistently at least, I did wonder how she'd manage to sleep but when it comes to a Doctor Who story I can't be too harsh on things such as sleep! She was now spawning a sword and wasn't afraid to smash the Handbots into bits. I was intrigued though by her statement saying how once she entered this paradise she died. If life had been so horrific and a living hell, then why not let the Handbots just get you? I'll answer my own question there as I like to think that despite her admittance of hating the Doctor more than anyone, she still had the hope that one day he'd come back and rescue her. That day was today. 36 years too late. Amy had changed considerably but Rory could still see it was her and it was clear the love and affection he felt for her. The moment she laughed was quite emotional I thought. The Doctor remained hopeful of fixing things but it seemed all was too late. The time glass though showed Amy, as we knew her, waiting. She saw her future self and after a heartfelt conversation about Rory, the older version decided to change time. She would help save the past Amy which would therefore erase older Amy from history. That was his justification for his lying. If time was rewritten she'd never have existed. Erasure was not dying it seemed was his policy, and I would be inclined to agree. After his stunning observation at the time glass shout watching loved ones die or live, this was quite something. Rule number one - the Doctor lies. And that's what he did here. He'd given older Amy false hope to save younger Amy. I liked the reference to regeneration not being able to be used for the disease though after reading the Guide to the 50th Anniversary DWM Special, I believe Steven Moffat has gotten extremely lucky with mentions surrounding regeneration in this episode and in Let's Kill Hitler a few weeks prior. Amazingly, it just about manages to tie in with The Time of the Doctor fantastically. Rory's determination to save Amy was incredible but that soon turned to despair as he watched the Doctor close the TARDIS doors on older Amy. The conversation at the TARDIS doors was even more amazing than the one the two Amys had through the time glass. An emotional ending to a stunning episode! 

Rating: 9/10