The Husbands of River Song

"This is where genocide comes to kick back and relax."

Writer: Steven Moffat 

Format: TV

Broadcast: 25th December 2015

Series: 2015 Christmas Special

Featuring: Twelfth Doctor, River

Synopsis 

When a crashed spaceship calls upon the Doctor for help, he finds himself recruited into River Song's squad and hurled into a chase across the galaxy...

Verdict 

The Husbands of River Song was an excellent Christmas special episode and it was certainly an improvement on last year's disappointing Last Christmas. That's all I was really after this year after the mixed quality we got last year and with the return of River Song being announced back in September, I felt confident that things would be a lot better this time around because I just think she's brilliant. Alex Kingston finally got her name highlighted in the opening titles (something I think was long overdue!) and it's fitting that it happened in what has to be her final episode. I'll be very surprised if she makes a future TV appearance alongside the Twelfth Doctor again after what went on here. It was simply stunning and just tied what has been her incredible seven year long story up beautifully. I'm going to get straight into the ending because it was just done so well. I've been waiting so long for that sonic screwdriver that we see used in Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead to show up and finally here it is! The references to that story were just astounding to be frank and I really do think Steven Moffat is a genius. How he brought Darillium and the Singing Towers into this and having the Doctor finally end his journey with River was just brilliant. After his recent events on Gallifrey, the Doctor seems to be enlightened by what and what can't happen and even he is now accepting that not everything can go on forever, something I liked but was also quire surprised by. River's reaction to the Doctor revealing that a night on Darillium lasted 24 years was fantastic and the Doctor revealing it the way he did was just oh so typical of the great man. Peter Capaldi was superb and he's really rising up those favourite Doctor rankings of mine. He has been and will continue to be sublime. The reason for River being given the screwdriver by the Doctor was a nice comedic inclusion due to the fact that she had a sonic trowel! A lovely reference to her being an archaeologist. Right, I'll backtrack now and mention that I thought this started very well and I loved the idea of River not recognising the latest and unprecedented incarnation of the Doctor. It made sense and I loved some of the comments made about this being what River was like when the Doctor wasn't around. I'd expect nothing less from her and I loved it. The marriages of the Doctor to Elizabeth I and Marilyn Monroe were great references to The Day of the Doctor and A Christmas Carol. The references didn't end there though! It was said how River had just experienced the events of The Angels Take Manhattan and there were also nice references to The Pandorica Opens/The Big Bang and The Time of Angels/Flesh and Stone. The story was described as a romp in the DWM previews and that's precisely what it was. Apart from the final ten minutes or so there wasn't a lot to shout about but the story was certainly a lot of fun. Seeing the Doctor's reaction to River revealing not one but two husbands in King Hydroflax and Ramon was excellent. River's speech about the Doctor not loving her back was incredible but it's one I wholeheartedly disagree with. I was sceptical prior to The Name of the Doctor but after that story I was convinced that the love was mutual and even after regeneration I believe that has stayed. The Doctor getting his own 'bigger on the inside' was something so wonderful and I loved how excited he was at getting the opportunity to do it properly. It was a lot of fun. Flemming was a good enemy and I loved the idea of a place for genocide committers. I am sure the Doctor wouldn't lose much sleep over that spaceship crashing. Overall though, after the amount of praise I've wrote the rating may come as a little surprise but it's for the episode as a whole where this blog entry is more focused on River. I think this was goodbye and if it was, what a way to go. She's been superb. Will she come back? Spoilers. 

Rating: 8/10