Doctor Who Series 6 Episode 13: The Wedding Of River Song

Doctor who? Tick tock goes the clock, as River kills the doctor. Leave it to Steven Moffat to deliver a grand finale that totally outdoes our expectations. We last left the doctor leaving for his own death at Lake Silencio. When we pick up, pterodactyls are flying aside helium-filled air balloon cars, and the emperor of the roman empire, Winston Churchill, is conversing with a "soothsayer" who looks so much like the doctor of days past. What happened?

It turns out River was able to control the suit after all. Her inability to kill the doctor fractured time, and all of time started to exist at once. Some of the doctor's closest friends, namely Amy and River, were able to create a way to save him through area 52. The purpose of which was somewhat sketchy; this episode requires a re-viewing or three to understand more. Apparently River did not want the doctor to know he died alone, so she summoned the universe to tell him. And the doctor then decided he needed to marry her, and thus he told her his name. Afterwards, the doctor died.... yet as suspected, he had a plan, and that plan was the teselecta. I guess the living flesh didn't play a role in the end.

So time passed on as the doctor died, unbeknownst to his companions. River meets her mother after the crash at the byzantium. So, at that point, she knows they're married, right? And didn't River just become a doctor when she killed him? So then, why did she seem to now know at the start of "The Time of Angels"? I guess because of rule #1: the doctor lies, and so does River Song.

So let's get this straight. River Song's story starts out as she's conceived in the TARDIS, and is born on a spaceship under the eye of Madame Kovarian. Kovarian sends the young River to an orphanage, to be raised under the eye of the silence. One day, young River gets sick, and regenerated into Mel, who hangs with Amy and Rory for a long time, until her death in WWII Germany, and subsequent regeneration into the River Song we know. River is still programmed to kill the doctor, but that is eventually bypassed as she saves him with her regenerations. She goes on to study archeology, eventually becoming a doctor. Kovarian finds her, imprisons her in a astronaut suit, and makes her kill the doctor. After that, River goes on many trips with the doctor throughout time, from the pandorica, to the byzantium, and finally ending up in the library.

So, River knows the entire time that she's married to the doctor, at least for most of what we have seen. Why did the doctor need to marry her? And why tell her his name?

Madame Kovarian feels the doctor needs to die, because of what is supposed to happen at the fields of trenzelor, the fall of the eleventh, and the question that must never be answered. The fall of the eleventh? Sounds like Moffat may have a plan for the eleventh's doctor's demise. I like that, despite answering so many questions, we have more to look forward to.

Moffat penned a wild episode of DW here. I'm not sure what to make of it. It was a finale that answered many questions, but there's so much left to know. And the end was not what I expected. Here, I was expecting Amy, Rory, the doctor, and maybe River in the TARDIS off to explore somewhere. Instead, we were told the question that can never be answered: doctor who?

And with that, we're off until next time. And next time cannot come soon enough!

Next time: The doctor returns to WWII!