April 28: "Flesh and Stone"

So the resolution of the cliffhanger (where the Doctor shoots the gravity globe) allows not only our heroes to gain a new perspective on things but also the audience, as we move from the stony Maze of the Dead to the forested oxygen factory aboard the Byzantium.  Thus this story really is a game of two parts, and not only does the setting change but so does the emphasis.  Before it was a relatively straightforward thriller about being surrounded by Weeping Angels, but now they've added the extra element of the Crack in Time, which distorts the second half of the story around it.

The Doctor faces the Weeping Angels. ("Flesh and Stone") ©BBC

As such, Steven Moffat cleverly balances both the Weeping Angels and this new threat in this episode -- it gives the Angels a motivation to take over the Byzantium and a reason as to why they're getting stronger and stronger.  It's a big idea that works very well, and as we see the power and effects of the Crack, how it can unwrite people from time and make it so they never existed, it becomes just as much of a danger as the Angels -- perhaps even more so, as even the Angels become terrified of its power.  And if the Weeping Angels are scared of something, it must be something very worrying indeed.

But the best thing that Moffat manages is to have two equally dangerous threats menacing the Doctor and company and still have time for quiet, creepy moments.  Amy slowly counting down is very effective -- particularly if you don't notice it right away -- and the matter-of-fact way in which Church soldiers are wiped from existence (with the remaining soldiers confused by Amy's insistence that used to be more of them) is well handled.  There's also something wonderfully magical and smart about the idea of trees enhanced with technology being used to create oxygen for a spaceship.  And then, just to show how much he's thought things through, Moffat also includes the goof-that-isn't, as the scene of the Doctor talking to Amy while wearing the jacket (despite having just lost it to the Weeping Angels) is actually clever foreshadowing for the series 5 finale.

That last moment there might sum up "The Time of Angels" / "Flesh and Stone" -- it's a supremely confident move, to hide a piece of foreshadowing in such a way as to make everyone think for eight weeks that they just screwed up the continuity rather than its genuine purpose.  But that's the general attitude that pervades this story, one of deftly juggling the various pieces and resolving them in a way that not only feels perfectly clever and appropriate (dropping all the Angels into the Crack, which causes it to seal itself up) but also highlights the larger arc of the series in a way we haven't quite seen yet -- and it does it in a way that doesn't necessarily require you to have paid attention.  If you don't care about series 5's overarching plot, there's still more than enough here to maintain interest, with loads of creepiness and tense moments on display, and it's all done with skill and care in a way that makes something that was surely reasonably difficult to pull off look easy.  It doesn't have quite the same impact as its predecessor "Blink", but "The Time of Angels" / "Flesh and Stone" is possibly the better story -- it's certainly the more sophisticated of the pair, and it frequently feels more satisfying.