Review of The Impossible Astronaut
Warning: This review contains episode-specific spoilers and wild speculation about future episodes.
Wow. Where do I start?
Maybe it’s best to back up and explain that in the lead-up to Series Six, especially in the last couple of weeks, I’ve been doing my desperate best to avoid seeing any spoilers for the series – I’ve even avoided some of the official BBC news items. Hopefully this attempt at isolationism will allow me to come to the series with a suitable sense of surprise as new plot points are revealed to the Doctor and his Companions. (If you’ve already read all the spoilers, you’ll probably be able to tell me exactly where I’m going wrong in my analysis and speculations, but please don’t. I really want to find out in my own time, by watching the episodes.) I have to say, I found plenty of surprises, but even more tantalizing tidbits that could be either clues or red herrings (with Moffat you never know).
From the moment in the prequel when Nixon assures his caller that “there are no monsters in the Oval Office” (a beautiful political double entendre that you can apply to your administration of choice), it’s clear that we’re in for a doozy. And the action really is pretty much non-stop from the rapid strides of an irate monarch right through to the moment we hear the sting into the credits.
As I understand it, one of Moffat’s goals was to make the season opener feel more like the finale in scope and drama. For my money, he’s done it. Surely there has never yet been a single episode so crammed full of quotable (and quite possibly notable, in terms of story arc) quotes. Some are just plain hilarious (like the exchange when the Doctor’s asserts that River’s wearing her “‘he’s hot when he’s clever’ face”), some are poignant (“We do what the Doctor’s friends always do: what we’re told.”), and some set off little alarm bells (“You lot. Thought I’d never get done saving you…”).
