The Big Who

The episode starts out with a very tragic moment as Vincent Van Gogh goes through a nightmarish cry over his latest painting he's created from his own stark imagination. And they are using the very same actor to reprise his role.

He’s shouting and wailing in the middle of the night. It is a painting of the Doctor's time traveling machine exploding done in Van Gogh's typical style with wavy lines. However, it sets the tone for the rest of the two-parter Doctor Who finale. And then you see a sting of scenes with other important historical figures who appeared throughout the series this year. They are passing on a message to the Doctor.

Steven Moffat wrote the very first episode "The Eleventh Hour" of this year. So it is only fair game that he wraps everything else in the final show. And what a beautiful finale it is, like a space opera, only better. This is what you call pulling together all the loose strings of the series to round off Doctor Who. I wasn't disappointed.

The episode “Pandorica Opens” is like a festival of many characters thrown into a party. There are many players pushing the story forward and we finally learn about what the Pandorica is from the many mentions made in “Flesh and Blood” episode.

The Prisoner Zero mentions it in the first episode of this year. Then River Song talks about it. However the Doctor claims that it is nothing more than a fairy tale.

But it's real enough in this episode. The Pandorica rests beneath the crowded nest of Stongehenge which is one of the greatest wonders of the world.

Moffat is going out at all stops to bring everything together into a very wonderful story that surrounds the Pandorica. Many viewers, including myself, thought a greater threat would come out of this strange box. That's when it really throws us off.

Ultimately, it's something you put inside the box. The Pandorica box is a trap by a number of hated creatures who form a temporary truce to put away the most dangerous being in the universe.

Who is this threatening man?

The Doctor.

And who comes to the party to get their last laugh on the Doctor? It's a pretty big party. They are the Daleks (who wouldn't miss this chance), Cybermen, Sontarans, Nestene, Drahvins, Sycorax, Zygons, Atraxi, Draconians, and a bunch of others with a grudge. Some of not seen since the old days of Doctor Who.

It's a brilliant mix that you would not have expected. But the cliffhanger of this episode leads to the next part which builds up with a very momentous pace. It's a brilliant show from start to finish.

The second part of the story, “The Big Bang,” maintains a complex layering of ideas. But it's Moffat. What else did you expect? It starts off with one of the best lines in the finale when it is Amy who comes out of the box to meet her younger self. She says, “Kid, this is when things start getting really complicated.”

There's so much packed into this episode that it needs to be slightly longer. And it's one of the perks of the BBC that allows for shows to run a little longer than the usual 45 minutes. I was impressed that it became a “smaller” story on a grand scale. And I love how the time travel plot device is used to tell the story. The Doctor is all over the place in this story going back and forth in time... and he uses time itself to cheat his way out of death several times. Such time travel device was well used in the “Back to the Future” movies and also “Slaughterhouse Five” written by Kurt Vonnegut. Here, time travel becomes a useful way for Moffat to tell a story.

There’s a nice bit with Capt. Jack’s time traveling wrist band that the Doctor uses throughout to make his way around and making short jumps to keep the story going at a frantic pace.

Yes, it's a very complicated story.

You'll have to get used to it.

Many people will probably criticize it because it's not the explosive conclusion that will go out with a bang. (And it does sort of go out with a bang with the reset that recreates the universe). Many critics will complain that it is too complex. But I have no problems with the episode.

It really comes down to the Doctor saving the relationship between Amy and Rory so they can get married on the very important date of June 26. It becomes a love story that spans the cosmos. It's a very lovely romance story that is shrouded by the fate of the universe hanging in threads. And the Doctor ties up all the loose ends to make sure it runs smoothly. The universe becomes the engines. And the Doctor becomes the engineer.

There's a lot of great humor in the story. So much that it feels like old Doctor Who once again. There is a funny bit with the Doctor picking up all sorts of crazy stuff during his time traveling jumps. He gets an Egyptian hat that he wears on his head throughout a portion of the episode. Then River Song finally says in the middle of a conversation to the Doctor: “Where in the name of insanity did you get that hat?” Amy rips the fez off the Doctor's head to throw it in the air while River blasts it out of the sky. The death of a hat. Truly, a loss. I'm sure the Doctor feels bad.

This is a great ending to a very special season indeed. It has been one of the most consistently good seasons with a number of very strong stories. I believe this is the very best season to come out in Doctor Who since Tom Baker's departure season in 1981. Matt Smith, Karen Gillan and Steven Moffat has really come through for us to deliver an excellent series.

Not everything is explained in these episodes. In fact, some of it will be revealed in the following series for us. But isn't it what Doctor Who is all about? It's always been something of a mystery. And that is the driving force being Doctor Who. Along with the changing creativity in the series.

Who is River Song? What is she doing here? What are her connections to the Doctor? How should I know? Perhaps you’ll need to stay tune for the next series of episodes.

Doctor Who has done it again. I'm thrilled to see that it'll return much stronger next year. It'll be a long wait. Damn.

Oh yes, the Doctor dances like a super geek at the wedding in the end. I'm glad he's such a geek. I think it'll be the rage for children now who'll dance at weddings in England.