Opening Pandorica
As was hinted in the trailer, Flesh and Stone brought some fairly big developments to Series Five’s story arcs. On the flip side, it also posed a lot more questions.
Cracks in time
There was another crack in the wall on the Byzantium ship. After investigating, The Doctor concluded that the crack is the end of the universe. We learn the crack will erase everything from time so that it never existed in the first place. The Doctor speculates that this is why nobody remembered the Cyber-King invading Victorian London in The Next Doctor. Ditto with Amy and the Daleks.
River: “How can a crack in the wall be the end of the universe?”
Doctor: “Dunno, but here’s what I think. One day there’s going to be a very big bang. So big every moment in history, past and future, will crack.”
River Song: Murderer
River Song confirms she has killed a man and was in prison. So who did she kill? Or perhaps the question is ‘Did she kill Who?’ It is heavily hinted that she has killed the Doctor in her time-line. It’s surely the most obvious choice, but with Moffat, it could be some clever misdirection. We can’t rule out something else. Here’s the dialogue.
Doctor: “Octavian said you killed a man.”
River: “Yes I did.”
Doctor: “A good man.”
River: “A very good man…the best man i’ve ever known.”
Doctor: “Who?”
River: “It’s a long story Doctor. Can’t be told. Has to be lived. No sneak previews, well, except for this one…You’ll see me again quite soon, when the Pandorica opens.”
Doctor: “Pandorica hah. That’s a fairy tale.”
River: “Aren’t we all? I’ll see you there”
Doctor: “I look forward to it”
River: “I remember it well.”
26/06/2010
What is the significance of this date? First, the Doctor tells River that this is “the date of the explosion where the crack begins”. Then at the end of the episode, Amy’s alarm clock changes over to reveal it is the same day of her wedding. Perhaps more importantly, it might also be the date the Pandorica opens. Lastly, Saturday 26th June 2010 just happens to be the date the final episode of Series Five would air on TV provided Eurovision doesn’t cause a one week break. Even it does, the penultimate episode will air instead and the rumoured title for that is…The Pandorica Opens.
Future Doctor
Could there actually be two Doctor’s in this episode? One from the present and one from the future. There was a suspiciously jarring scene after the Doctor leaves a blinded Amy in the woods. Seconds later the Doctor suddenly reappears to tell Amy a cryptic message, but this time he has his tweed jacket on, even though the Angels took it. So could this be a Doctor from the future? Let’s look over the scenes in more detail.
The Angels take the Doctors jacket.
The Doctor reappears after, minus jacket.
The Doctor leaves, “Amy later”, he says brusquely, and pats her on the head.
A few seconds later, whose hands are these?
It’s the Doctor! Now with his tweed jacket on and his sleeves rolled up. This Doctor’s demeanor is different and he is much gentler towards Amy this time.
Doctor: “Amy, I need you to start trusting me. It’s important.”
Amy: “But you don’t always tell me the truth.”
Doctor: “If I always told you the truth, I wouldn’t need you to trust me.”
Amy: “Doctor, the crack in my wall. How can it be here?”
Doctor: “I don’t know yet but I’m working it out…Remember what I told you when you were seven?”
Amy: “What did you tell me?”
Doctor: “No. That’s not the point…You have to remember…”
And the Doctor leaves again. There is no mention of this again in the episode, so what was the point of the scene? Yes, the jacket could be ruled out as a really bad continuity error but it could actually be something far more significant. A future Doctor could be visiting his own time-line to leave a very important message to Amy. What did he tell her when she was seven? That’s the key.
