The Impossible Astronaut / Day of the Moon [TV/2011.4.23 ~ 4.30]

★★★☆☆

  Straight off the bat, there's a confidence to the entire production in the opening two-parter of Series 6. The gamble of the previous series had paid off, there was a new popular Doctor in the form of Matt Smith, and Steven Moffat's vision for the show was clever, novel and exciting. The logical continuation, then, was to show more of Moffat's cards while hiding even more in an enigmatic epic set (and partly filmed) in the United States. For about 60% of the two-parter, that confidence is very welcome and lends itself nicely to the production. As for the rest, a couple of stumbles and awkward dialogue moments betray a gaping wound in the entire adventure (particularly in the first half, The Impossible Astronaut). There's an odd sense of urgency, as if Moffat wanted that one epic moment of the Eleventh Doctor confronting the Silence with an old television set, and many scenes breeze by in a flash. Only a few moments were given for characters to be more expressive, Rory in particular, and I found myself cherishing those moments whenever they came on.

  Day of the Moon is the more confident of the duo, while The Impossible Astronaut tries desperately to make sense out of all the disparate elements pointing the way to not only this story's climax, but the results of the entire series arc as well. What helps these rough spots immensely are the performances by the leads, as well as Mark Sheppard's turn as Canton Everett Delaware III. He melds with the TARDIS crew nicely, pulls off his role with flying colors and is instantly memorable — I wouldn't mind if he comes back in the future and, as Sheppard said, embodies the Brigadier role in all of Doctor Who's American affairs. Special mention has to go to director Toby Haynes as well, who turns the admittedly bloated script into something sleek and visually appealing. Those Dutch angles were honey to my eyes, I tell you. 

*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ  

  While I wouldn't call this a great opener to a series, it certainly holds its own ground and presents interesting tidbits that hint to the future. Steven Moffat was obviously still enjoying his time as showrunner here (something that would apparently change in the years between 2013 and 2014 before starting anew, figuratively speaking), delivering rapid-fire dialogue that veers from brilliant to maddeningly inept. Despite all its flaws, it still manages to be a memorable adventure with its iconic locations (the Oval Office, Area 51). Plus, Matt Smith, Karen Gillan, Arthur Darvill and Alex Kingston rarely phone in a performance. Brilliantly competent is my final verdict on this two-parter.