It seems somehow fitting that, for a story about a foe who disappears from your memory as soon as you don't see them, it would be the very first time in the history of this ridiculous project that I have taken two full days to remember to write up the blog post. Well, I mean, it's not so much that I didn't remember and more that I have been wrapped up in a software release for the last two days and haven't had a spare moment to write. The good news is, my code finally made it to production late last night (or very early this morning, depending on your perspective) so now I have time to get this done.

So let's talk about astronauts, death, treasonous presidents, and Stetsons.

The Impossible Astronaut

(TARDIS Data Core recap)

Writer / show runner Steven Moffat has always been all about the timey-wimeyness of life with the Doctor, but in Matt Smith's second season he goes all-in on a year-long journey of twists and turns. This story opens with a series of wacky vignettes of the Doctor's exploits throughout human history, while Amy and Rory are at home being all domestic and stuff while Amy reads history books. Then the postman delivers a numbered invitation in a TARDIS-blue envelope with a date and coordinates. This then leads to the Doctor, Amy, Rory, and River Song all meeting up in the Utah desert for a picnic at Lake Silencio.

And that's where things get weird.

The Doctor makes a point about saying he is 1,103 years old during the picnic, and then a NASA astronaut comes striding out of the lake. And then kills the Doctor dead in front of everyone, which he clearly expects. Boom, dead Doctor just a few minutes into the season. After which, he is given a flaming Viking funeral on the lake by the three survivors plus a mysterious old man who shows up with a gas can and claiming the Doctor sent him.

They all wind up back at a diner, where a 909 year old Doctor shows up and confounds everyone. And thus kicks off this season's plot arc.

Then there is a whole thing about a trip to the White House in 1969, hanging out with President Nixon, a mystery about a young girl who keeps phoning the President directly begging for help, and -- oh yeah  -- these guys:

Steven Moffat excels at creating wonderfully creepy and original monsters, and with the Silent he has completely outdone himself. The Silent are, by their very nature, unable to be remembered once they are out of sight. You see them, you scream, you turn around to run, and you don't even remember that they were there. They have been present for all of human history, guiding technology and development, and nobody (not even the Doctor) knows it. They are weird and terrifying and absolutely brilliant.

The story climaxes as our heroes try to find the mysterious little girl, who shows up in an abandoned warehouse trapped inside the titular Impossible Astronaut suit just as Amy is telling the Doctor that she (Amy) is pregnant. Oops.

There is just so much complexity going on in this episode, including many things that won't be apparent until much, much later. Doctor Who has done season-long story arcs before, but never this complex or tightly plotted. Usually it's just something like Bad Wolf or the cracks in Amy's wall, a McGuffin that threads through the entire season pointing to the finale. Here, though, there is a tightly woven convoluted storyline that weaves in and around itself for the entire season even as each story stands on its own merits. It is a bravura bit of storytelling, with Steven Moffat at his most powerful.

Some other cool things about this story: The old man at the beginning, an aged Canton Everett Delaware, is played by William Morgan Sheppard. This is cool because the younger version of the character that runs through this story (plus an other later) is played by his son Mark Sheppard. It's just  a great bit of casting on both ends.

Also, the diner that figures prominently in the early part of the story? My wife and I have totally been there. Several years ago we took a trip to the U.K. and stayed two nights in Cardiff. On one of those evenings we went into a local American 50's-themed diner for a burger without recognizing it at first. Then the realization set in, and it was a pretty nifty surprise.

So yeah, love this episode a lot. I'd say I'm looking forward to tomorrow's conclusion except that as I am writing this it is actually yesterday's conclusion. So I guess I'd best be getting to writing that post too.

STATS:

Doctor(s): Eleventh
Companion(s): Amy Pond, Rory Williams, River Song
Episode(s): The Impossible Astronaut
Steps Walked: 7,460 today, 3,108,646 total
Distance Walked: 4.00 miles today, 1,622.35 miles total
Push-ups Completed: 100 today, 4,664 total
Sit-ups Completed: 0 today, 929 total
How Many Times has Rory Died?: 2
How Many Times has Amy Died?: 1
Is Anything Cool?: Stetsons are cool (until they get shot off your head), and 1960's NASA technology is cool
Weight: 249.60 lbs (five day moving average), net change -57.70 lbs