Yes I’m a week late, but I didn’t feel comfortable reviewing only the first part of a two-part episode. After last season with a new showrunner with a new doctor and cast, the season started good, slowed down in the middle and then ended with some of the best TV science fiction I’ve ever seen, I was excited for Dr. Who to come back. The first two weeks were a two part set in America with time travel, Richard Nixon, the moon landing, aliens and a young girl’s voice in a space suit. So, let’s see how it was.

After some well deserved, post-marriage alone time with Rory, Amy gets a invitation from the Dr to meet him in America. They go there and meet the Dr and River Song and an ex-FBI agent and then the Dr gets shot and dies in front of them. It’s an interesting twist and shock to the viewer and cast. They regroup and find that the numbered invitations are missing invitation #1. Then the Dr comes in saying that he has invitation #1. It was a future version of the Dr who was killed in front of them and they must find out what is going on.

It turns out there are aliens who have lived on Earth for millenia and have built tunnels all over underneath the Earth. They also have a neat visual trick where as soon as you stop looking at them, you forget all about them*. Needless to say that makes talking about them difficult and conspiring against them all but impossible. We go down several alternate time paths with various members of the doctor’s friends on the run and a well-bearded doctor being held by the FBI (including the agent who was there for his death) in 1969. This ties into Nixon and the FBI and recordings (neatly tying into Watergate). And the Dr has a great and wonderful idea to tie in the moon landings with defeating the aliens (who go by the name of The Silence). The Silence and the fight against them look to be the ongoing storyline for this season, much like the crack in the universe was last season’s storyline.

Overall it was a good pair of episodes, but it was a little confusing and disjointed at times when there were big jumps in timelines and characters. The overall effect was a made it a little hard to follow at times. Last season I found the stand alone episodes (such as the Van Gogh one) much better than the season long storyline episodes. So I’m looking forward to seeing what else Moffat has in store for the Dr and crew this season, even though I though these episodes were a little sub-par.

*Check out West of Serenity for a list of moments from last season where characters might have seen The Silence.