Fourteen years ago, Doctor Who delivered an episode that, despite its narrative complexities, stands as a profoundly emotional conclusion to the story of Amy Pond and Rory Williams. "The Angels Take Manhattan" uses the menacing Weeping Angels to craft a story that is both a pulpy noir adventure set in Manhattan and a deeply personal exploration of love, sacrifice, and the pain of permanent separation.
The Peril of Manhattan
The episode begins with the 11th Doctor, Amy, and Rory enjoying a seemingly peaceful afternoon, which is quickly disrupted when Rory is sent back to 1938 by a new variant of Weeping Angel, the Cherub. There, he encounters River Song, operating under the alias Melody Malone, and learns that Manhattan has become a hunting ground for the Angels. They have established a base at an apartment building called Winter Quay, where they trap victims and feed on the temporal energy generated by their displacement.
Back in the present, the Doctor discovers that a detective novel he's reading was written by River, recounting the unfolding events. This novel serves as both a guide and a trap, with the narrative playing out across two timelines. The Doctor warns Amy that while they can learn from the book, knowing the future makes it difficult to change. However, to have any hope of saving Rory, they must continue to read.
Their efforts lead to a devastating discovery: a room within Winter Quay contains an elderly version of Rory, who has spent decades trapped and waiting to die. This isn't a potential future but a fixed point in time. Faced with this grim reality, Rory decides the only way to break the cycle is to jump from the roof of the building. Amy rushes to stop him, but in a pivotal moment, she chooses to join him. "Together, or not at all," she says, before they leap to their deaths. This act, witnessed by a distraught Doctor, solidifies their bond and Amy's ultimate choice.
The episode deftly handles Amy's long-standing internal conflict between her childhood attachment to the Doctor and her love for Rory. For years, Rory has been in a secondary role in his own marriage, often tolerating Amy's obsession with the Doctor. Yet, he consistently demonstrates a deep commitment to her, choosing her above all else. "The Angels Take Manhattan" finally presents Amy unequivocally choosing Rory, offering a satisfying counterpoint to the narrative inconsistencies of the earlier episodes in Series 7.
An Irreversible Goodbye
Following their apparent deaths, Winter Quay is erased from existence, and Amy and Rory find themselves alive in a graveyard with the Doctor and River. However, this reprieve is short-lived. Rory sees his name on a gravestone, a grim indication that a past version of himself has been sent back to 1938 by a Weeping Angel, making his death at an advanced age a fixed point. Due to the scrambled timelines in New York, the TARDIS cannot retrieve him, and travel to New York at any point becomes problematic.
Amy is then faced with an impossible choice: blink and risk being sent to the same time as Rory, unsure if they will be together, or leave with the Doctor. The Doctor, his usual exuberance replaced by raw vulnerability, pleads with her not to go. Ultimately, Amy chooses to be with Rory and asks River to look after the Doctor.
Matt Smith's performance as the Doctor in this scene is particularly poignant, stripping away his manic persona to reveal a deeply lonely man grappling with profound loss. Amy leaves the Doctor a final message in River's novel, assuring him of her happiness with Rory and urging him not to travel alone. This plea underscores the Doctor's reliance on companions to keep his complex nature from becoming something darker, a lesson reinforced by the Tenth Doctor's isolation.
The Weeping Angels serve as the perfect antagonists for this conclusion, as they don't just kill but permanently separate individuals from their loved ones. The episode masterfully engineers circumstances that prevent the time-traveling Doctor from reuniting with Amy and Rory, cementing their story's tragic finality. "The Angels Take Manhattan" may be a messy time-travel narrative, but it remains a near-perfect farewell.