Day 782: Closing Time

Over the new series of Doctor Who, there's been a habit of generally having a nice, simple, low key story before the big and amazing series finale. Stories like Boom Town or The Lodger have been like the calm before the storm, one last chance to have fun with the characters before the traumatic events of the next week will take hold. And Closing Time fits squarely into that mould, providing something that's a basic comedy with Cybermen, a baby, and the return of Craig from last series' The Lodger. On the whole, I don't mind it. Gareth Roberts' script, whilst not as amazingly funny and heart-warming as The Lodger, still provides some very nice moments such as the Doctor's monologue to Alfie, or the scene where Craig discovers the Doctor in a toy shop, which is excellently played by both Matt Smith and James Corden.

But there's one moment that sticks out for me in this whole piece. Just after the Doctor explains to Craig that aliens attacking when they met again was a coincidence, out of nowhere we get a cameo from Amy and Rory. Amy and Rory left the TARDIS in The God Complex, and it's pretty much stated in this episode that it's been 200 years since the Doctor last saw them. But he sees them again and sees how their life turned out, before he goes off to face the astronaut at the bottom of Lake Silencio. I actually love this moment because of two very big reasons. One is that Matt Smith chooses to underplay the scene, quietly standing back as we look from afar at his two old friends. It gives the scene a sense of quiet dignity, as if the Doctor is recognising all the time that they spent together and he's recognising that they need to stay apart. Similarly, the story chooses to underplay the moment as well. Aside from the fact that the Doctor doesn't interact with Amy and Rory, he also never refers to the moment throughout the rest of the story. It reinforces the quiet dignity of the moment, representing that the Doctor has recognised that he needed to move on and that he did so, even if for a fleeting moment he was attracted towards them again.

That sense of moving on is also what drives the Doctor to the TARDIS at the end of the episode. He's a man who's ready to face his fate, as we'll find out in The Wedding of River Song.