Flesh and Stone

"If you open your eyes now for more than a second you will die."

Writer: Steven Moffat

Format: TV

Broadcast: 01 May 2010

Series: 5.05

Featuring: Eleventh Doctor, Amy, River

Synopsis

There's no way back, no way up and no way out. Trapped by an army of Weeping Angels and an ever-growing mysterious crack, the Eleventh Doctor and his friends try to escape through the wreckage of a crashed space liner. Meanwhile, surrounded by Angels, Amy faces an even more deadly attack, as she's forced to find her way through the forest vault, eyes closed.

Verdict

Flesh and Stone was another excellent episode to conclude the story already started with The Time of Angels. A Weeping Angel two-parter at this point in the run is brilliant and I think the Eleventh Doctor really comes into his own here with the way he interacts with River. For an incarnation that is renowned as being a bit awkward and having vibes akin to Trougton’s second incarnation, he doesn’t half pull off the serious aspect of the Doctor! It’s a phenomenal performance when Amy is in danger in a clear evidence of the Weeping Angels getting to him as they hoped. They more than made him angry in telling him that Amy was counting down to invoke fear in her. And it was all for fun. That didn’t go down well with the Doctor at all which was tremendous to see. I think the idea of an image of an Angel becoming an Angel is stretched a little far here with Amy and the visual cortex within the mind meaning Amy would soon become one, but I did really enjoy the tense atmosphere. Amy having to trust the Doctor in that moment was great although I’m not entirely convinced by the notion of her walking like she could see. That didn’t seem right and I don’t think Amy pulled it off all that impressively, and the Angel instincts kicked in was strange considering that they usually react when there’s a blink! I’ll let that slide though as the design of the regenerated Angels was excellent and the creepy factor of the lighting was superb. The directing for the episode was fantastic. I thought the moment the Doctor had to tell everyone he was turning off the light was magnificent. The statues becoming more like Angels was very good and I loved the imagery of them crawling along the walls. The Angels moving was tremendous as well and it was intriguing to encounter a batch of them that weren’t trying to send people back in time. They were intent on killing. The use of the crack in time from Amy’s bedroom wall was really strong and the use of the gravity again to send them packing and no longer exist was a fitting end! It tied things up nicely. The dynamic between Octavian and River was outstanding and I enjoyed how River put all of her trust in the Doctor. The hints towards the future of the Pandorica and River killing the Doctor were great stuff and I love that kind of thing now watching in hindsight. It’s a new appreciation. I thought the moment at the end of the episode with Amy wanting to come home was good to tie back with when she left on the eve of her wedding day, but after a near death trauma she was in a raunchy mood to say the least! I couldn’t believe how sexual this was and the way it was played between Gillan and Smith was incredible. It had me and my girlfriend in hysterics as the Doctor failed to grasp what and who Amy was insinuating. He didn’t seem wholly against it either which was fun, and why would he be? It must have been a while indeed. Amy’s reaction to being told it was all about her was fun and she was only after a quick fling. That wouldn’t be awkward at all moving forward! All signs pointed towards Amy and that makes the Doctor very interested indeed. Overall, an excellent episode! 

Rating: 9/10