Doctor Who: "The Pandorica Opens" Review

After eleven weeks then, Season 5 of Doctor Who hits the final straight. We've had vampires and Van Gogh, Silurians and stone statues and now, as is now customary for the show's final two-parter, it's time to roll out the apocalypse.

Thanks to some subtle and some not-so-subtle foreshadowing throughout this series, we all already had a pretty good idea where things were heading with 'The Pandorica Opens'. And, with the build up out the way, lead writer Steven Moffat had plenty of space to send us on a grand old tour of his perpetually confounding imagination.

It didn't take long for Moffat to work his magic either, kicking the episode off in style with a lengthy prologue that brought back half this season's key cast for some typical timey-wimey shenanigans. A bit self-indulgent, maybe, but it perfectly set the tone for a truly epic adventure on an eye-popping scale.

- BBC

From there on in, 'The Pandorica Opens' barely let up the pace as Amy and the Doctor touched down in Ancient Britain, with a Roman encampment and River Song awaiting their arrival. It didn't take long to work out where this season's budget went either with an audaciously cinematic sweep that felt more like Indiana Jones than Doctor Who at times. We got Stonehenge, Cyber-tentacles, and so many classic Who creatures, it made Season 2's 'Army of Ghosts' two-parter look positively restrained.

This season's story arc mightn't have been particularly graceful but finally those continuity shoe-ins started coming together. We got returning characters and major revelations all over the place but, impressively, 'The Pandorica Opens' managed to keep answers to the series' bigger conundrums tantilisingly out of reach. Sure, Season 5's love-conquers-all motif is starting to pay off but there's still something suspicious about Miss Pond. As the Doctor teased: "Does it ever bother you, Amy, that your life doesn't make any sense?"

- BBC

Skirting around the episode's bigger reveals - and there were plenty - 'The Pandorica Opens' managed to pack in an absurd number of standout moments. From River's message, to the truth about the Pandorica - not to mention Matt Smith's show-stopping speech to the oncoming alien horde - it was all beautifully delivered, if not quite as satisfying as other two-part openers thanks to its wilful evasiveness. And true, the extended slo-mo denouement dipped a little too violently into melodrama but it's hard to fault that bravado downbeat cliffhanger.

Indeed, in a season that's largely struggled to spark much emotional investment in its frequently two-dimensional characters, 'The Pandorica Opens' really went for the heartstrings. Even among the relentless gobsmacking spectacle, both Karen Gillan and the always-stunning Alex Kingston gave proceedings real soul as their predicaments became increasingly catastrophic.

We've got a sneaky suspicion next week's season finale isn't going to take the easy way out either - and wouldn't be surprised if we find ourselves in very different territory when the story resumes. Whatever happens, it looks like we're in for the mother of all Who finales.