History Recap / DoctorWhoS33E5TheAngelsTakeManhattan

Written by Creator/StevenMoffat.

...and the Art/StatueOfLiberty is a Weeping Angel... and so is a statue in Central Park... and we learn that Weeping Angel tykes are just as nasty as the grown-ups.

And the Art/StatueOfLiberty is a Weeping Angel. And so is a statue in Central Park. And we learn Weeping Angels tykes are just as nasty as the grown-ups.

JustForFun/{{The one w|ith}}here The Ponds [[KilledOffForReal meet their maker for good]]. [[WhamEpisode Right in front of the Doctor and their daughter]].

The one where The Ponds [[KilledOffForReal meet their maker for good.]] [[WhamEpisode Right in front of the Doctor and their daughter.]]

** When they almost got divorced in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS33E1AsylumOfTheDaleks the premiere]], Amy [[FreezeFrameBonus signs her last name as "Williams"]], indicating that she ''always'' had taken Rory's surname but still went by "Pond" when she felt like it or the Doctor used it.

** River asks the Doctor if [[Recap/DoctorWhoS32E17PondLife the bulb on top of the TARDIS needs changing]].

* AssholeVictim: Grayle chains an Angel and cuts up its face just to see if it can feel pain... causing its screams to attract the other Angels, who stalk him in revenge. He also has Rory dumped in the dark basement with a number of Angels and only a box of matches to keep them at bay, seemingly just for the evulz. And also turns off the light so the chained Angel can grab River's wrist.
* AttackOfTheFiftyFootWhatever: The Art/StatueOfLiberty Weeping Angel, naturally, is gigantic. Oddly, since the Angels use stealth as their greatest strength, it isn't as threatening compared to the other Angels and is just background. It's also portrayed a lot smaller than the real thing.

* BitchSlap: River slaps the Doctor when he [[CastFromLifespan uses his regenerative energy to heal her wrist]].

* CastFromLifespan: The Doctor gives up some of his regeneration energy to fix River's broken wrist. She's unimpressed. In fact, she's pissed.

** The chapter titles in the Melody Malone book are spoilers.

* CollectorOfTheStrange: Grayle, the art collector who wants to add an Angel to his collection. River says he has a fetish.

** This week's logo is textured like the Art/StatueOfLiberty, which appears as an alien in this episode.

* CreepyChild: Weeping Cherubs are ''more'' terrifying than the adult Angels based on how it was done. The giggling in the darkness; you can't see them but they're hunting you.
* DiabolusExMachina: One Angel somehow survived. Goodbye, Rory and Amy.
* DidYouGetANewHaircut: The Doctor to Amy near the beginning. Actually, she's got reading glasses (and wrinkles).

* DyingMomentOfAwesome: Amy and Rory jump off a roof to defeat the Weeping Angels.

* EvilIsNotAToy: Chaining up a living statue in your study for your collection? No number of locks is going to keep you safe.

** River teases an arc about the Doctor being forgotten.
** [[BlatantLies River claims]] to have escaped the Angel without needing to break her wrist, but she is holding both her book and her computer in one hand, while her "unbroken" wrist hangs limply at her side.

%% * GettingCrapPastThe Radar: Due to overwhelming and persistent misuse, GCPTR is on-page examples only until 01 June 2021. If you are reading this in the future, please check the trope page to make sure your example fits the current definition.

** Mrs. Williams and Mr. Pond stick together through Angel attacks and being trapped in the past. Amy declares that their marriage is powerful enough to create a paradox, change the future, and kill the Angels.
** This is the first episode where the Doctor has been aware that River is his wife, and it shows with his "final checks" and her calling him "husband".

* HeroicBSOD: When the Doctor read the ominous final chapter title "Amelia's Last Farewell" and realizes that [[Recap/DoctorWhoS33E4ThePowerOfThree the first face he saw will be fading from him a lot sooner than he thought.]] He does not take it well and in a raging fit of denial demands that River change the future. He doesn't care how she does it as long as she [[ScrewDestiny Gets. It. Done.]]

* HeroicSuicide: Rory's plan to create a paradox and kill the Angels is to kill himself.

* ICannotSelfTerminate: Rory asks Amy to push him off the roof because he can't quite bring himself to jump. She comes up with a different solution.

* KilledOffForReal: Amy and Rory are confirmed dead by their tombstones. However, they lived a full life in the past, and Amy's final note assures the Doctor that they lived HappilyEverAfter there. Due to the TimeyWimeyBall in play, the Doctor can never go back in time to rescue them or even directly contact them (though River, apparently, can) so as far as he's concerned it's no different than the two dropping dead in the graveyard. Despite Rory dying ''three times'' in this episode alone and multiple times beforehand, his last one sticks and he and Amy are both gone for good.

** When they almost got divorced in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS33E1AsylumOfTheDaleks the premiere]], Amy [[FreezeFrameBonus signs her last name as "Williams"]], indicating that she always ''had'' taken Rory's name but still went by "Pond" when she felt like it or the Doctor used it.
* MeaningfulName: The building the Angels are using as a battery farm is right on Battery Park (so named for gun batteries there in the city's early years).

* NotQuiteSavedEnough: Rory is found and returned to the present/future, but then a single surviving Angel gets a hold of him and sends him right back.

** River's wrist is trapped in a Weeping Angel's hand. The Doctor is about to break her wrist to get her free, because it was written in the book when Amy skipped ahead, then changes his mind and tells her to get free without breaking any bones. Cut to a bit later, it seems like she's managed just that ... and then the Doctor grabs her hand to run off and she cries out in pain.

** They all get one when River notices that one of the Angels is ''smiling'', and it then escalates when they look into Rory's room, and realise just how screwed they are.

* PlotHole: Are we seriously supposed to believe that, in a city of over 8 million people that prides itself on being the "city that doesn't sleep", ''no one'' ever looked at the Angel Statue of Liberty?

* {{Putto}}: It is revealed that Weeping Angels are portrayed as cherubs.

** The mobster/collector's last name is [[Film/FarewellMyLovely Grayle]]. It might double as a MythologyGag, as the villain in the ''AudioPlay/BigFinishDoctorWho'' audio adventure "[[Recap/BigFinishDoctorWho030SeasonsOfFear Seasons of Fear]]" was also named Grayle.

* StableTimeLoop: Discussed and ultimately zig-zagged. The Doctor starts panicking when Amy skips ahead in the book, as once you've seen your own future it becomes ''almost'' impossible to avoid.

** This episode marks Rory's seventh, eighth and ninth deaths of the series. Which ties him with the ''Doctor'', whose second incarnation was executed by the Time Lords.

** From the publicity photo at the top, the Doctor ''is'' a "weeping angel".

* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: So what happened to the Angel that took Amy and Rory at the end of the episode? The Doctor and River head back into the TARDIS as if it's not an issue.
* WriteBackToTheFuture: The detective novel the Doctor is reading turns out to have been written by Amy in the past. She included an afterword to assure the Doctor that she and Rory lived long happy lives. She also puts it on the last page, knowing The Doctor would rip it out and set it aside, as he hates endings.

* YouHaveGotToBeKiddingMe: The P.I. from the cold opening when he sees the Art/StatueOfLiberty Weeping Angel.

* KillEmAll: Everyone except the Doctor and River are taken by the Angels.

** The Art/StatueOfLiberty being an Angel may be a reference to an AprilFoolsDay gag pulled by Wiki/SCPFoundation, where established SCP-[[http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-173 173]], another murderous statue that can only move when not observed, was changed into the Statue of Liberty.

* ArmourPiercingSlap: River slaps the Doctor when he [[CastFromLifespan uses his regenerative energy to heal her wrist]].

** When they almost got divorced in [[DoctorWhoS33E1AsylumOfTheDaleks the premiere]], Amy [[FreezeFrameBonus signs her last name as "Williams"]], indicating that she always ''had'' taken Rory's name but still went by "Pond" when she felt like it or the Doctor used it.

* PlotHole: Are we seriously supposed to believe ''no one'' ever looked at the Angel Statue of Liberty?

** When The Doctor greets River Song, she says, "... and that's [[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E8SilenceInTheLibrary Professor Song]] to you."

* {{Meganekko}}: Amy sports a pair of Music/JohnLennon-style reading glasses during the episode.

* ContemptibleCover: The cover of the book features a cleavage-baring picture of Melody Malone (the Doctor loves it, River hates it). It's his wife, he's allowed.

Written by Steven Moffat.

Do we need to tell you who ''this'' one is written by?

Do we need to tell you who ''this'' one is written by? Three guesses... No, RTD and Chris Chibnall don't count.

They actually do survive, and end up in the graveyard where the story started, although the web of time is stretched to the point where the TARDIS should really stay out of Manhattan for the rest of her life. However, Rory notices his name on a gravestone right before a surviving Weeping Angel zaps him back in time again. Amy decides that the very small possibility of a life with Rory is better than a secure life without him, and despite the Doctor begging her to stay, she turns away from the Weeping Angel and lets herself be dragged back in time as well. Her name appears below Rory's on the gravestone, both having lived a full life together and died of old age.

Do we need to tell you who this is written by? Three guesses... No, RTD and Chris Chibnall don't count.

Written by Creator/StevenMoffat.

* TropeOverdosed: The episode itself is slightly less than 45 minutes, and its page is already this long.

* FinalDeath: Despite Rory dying ''three times'' in this episode alone and multiple times beforehand, his last one sticks and he and Amy are both gone for good.

* KilledOffForReal: Amy and Rory are confirmed dead by their tombstones. However, they lived a full life in the past, and Amy's final note assures the Doctor that they lived HappilyEverAfter there. Due to the TimeyWimeyBall in play, the Doctor can never go back in time to rescue them or even directly contact them (though River, apparently, can) so as far as he's concerned it's no different than the two dropping dead in the graveyard.

* GettingCrapPastTheRadar:
** The Doctor fancies Melody Malone, who has "[[BuxomIsBetter cleavage that could fell oxen at twenty feet]]." Melody Malone turns out to be [[Creator/AlexKingston River Song]], his wife. Yowza, indeed.
** Once the Doctor finds River in 1930s New York, he keeps [[MaleGaze looking down at her behind]] while trying to save her from the Angel holding her captive.

* CityOfWeirdos: New York is ''full'' of Weeping Angels and ''no one'' notices. They don't even notice the Statue of Liberty! It's {{lampshade|hanging}}d:
-->'''Amy:''' He went to get coffee and turned up in a book. How does that happen?\\
'''The Doctor:''' I don't know! We're in New York.

* UnusuallyUninterestingSight: The Art/StatueOfLiberty walks into the heart of Manhattan and no, ''no one'' in New York seems to notice this ''at all''. Maybe it's just a ''[[CityOfWeirdos normal]]'' [[ButForMeItWasTuesday Tuesday]]!