In a sense – Moffat kind of gave us the finger this past saturday, and on the other hand – he was brilliant. But he did an unforgivable thing – he portrayed River (Alex Kingston) in a way that takes away everything that made us love her in the first place. Brace yourselves for my River rant.

He reduces a rouge space and time Indiana Jones into someone who forces the Doctor (Matt Smith) into matrimony by holding the entire universe hostage. And the look of distain and the Doctor’s tone during the entire scene shows us how he really feels about this, giving River what she ultimately wants – to be the woman who marries the Doctor. The biggest reason for having fallen for the Doctor in the first place is – as she tells Kavorian – because she was raised to become a psychopath. Nice touch.

So; to recap: River falls in love with the Doctor because of some warped version of the Stockholm Syndrome, becomes a Doctor of archaeology so she can keep track of him more easily, takes the fall for his murder and is imprisoned in the storm cage, only to be let out and sacrifice herself again (add that to the number of regenerations she gave up to save his life) only to die – pardon; kind of die – and live forever pining after him in digital form.

As for the legality of getting married in an alternate timestream that never was … We’ll just have to see how that holds up in court.

Also, Amy (Karen Gillian) finally adresses her feelings about losing baby Melody – in a damned unfulfilling way. Sure, she intentionally leaves the woman responsible for the whole thing to her death, but also gives us the impression that yes, she was angry about it but got over it and moved on.

Now, everything was indeed explained – no stone was left unturned, no threads left dangling – so that was a huge improvement from last year’s season finale, and some fun touches were added (the chock-chess match, the amazingly awesome Area 52 pyramid etc). Rory (Arthur Darvill) continued to kick butt and I truly believe that the reason I’ve come to like Rory so much is partly because of the simple fact that the Doctor likes him too. Compare how the Doctor interacts with Rory and contrast it with how he acted towards Mickey. The Doctor genuinely likes Rory. Mickey – not so much. And because of this, he suggests stuff to both Rory and Amy to enable their future together, be it in the actual time stream or in an alternate one.  And yes, Amy saves Rory this time. It’s always nice when that happens instead of him dying like he usually does.

And then there was the painfully obvious death-dodging. The moment the Doctor sought out the Teselecta we knew. I always felt their presence in Let’s Kill Hitler (S06E08) felt a bit random, and lo and behold – it’s because they essentially were a plot device. Which is a bit of a shame because, heck – as a standalone sci-fi show; the premiss of the Teselecta is as good as any ship-based series, I reckon.

And of course, the question hidden in plain sight, that will be the fall of the Silence when asked – Doctor Who? I can’t decide on whether or not it’s just really cheesy or really bold. I mean, sure the 50th anniversary of the show’s coming up, but that’ll be in 2013. The new series is about a year away… Well, come to think about it, they could drag it out to make it fit with the anniversary. Let’s keep our finger’s crossed for a massive reunion like the one in Time Crash (the mini episode with Peter Davidson and David Tennant) – only bigger.

Also; this must be said. Matt Smith. Brilliant actor. Brilliant. That man’s attention to detail and nuance… Best Doctor ever.

Regardless, being the eternal optimist I can’t help getting my hopes up about next season. They sell it to me real nice, with this ancient question, and this big secret that causes the Doctor to consider actually dying over letting people know it. Yeah, Moffat, you might have given me the finger a little but being a sappy fangirl, I kind of don’t mind.

How did you like Doctor Who – The Wedding of River Song – Series 6, Episode 13?