Enjoy the Silents

Title: Day of the Moon
Season 6 Episode 2
Summary: I don't remember what happened.

Last time: The Doctor Died...

There were these guys.

And Amy was pregnant! Or not! Who knows!

Also, she shot at a spaceman! Which could be a little girl! or Something! Who Knows!

Three months Later and we're back in the middle of nowhere Utah...a place I could have figured out they were shooting by looking online, or watching one of the many behind the scenes programs on the BBC last week instead of looking up the school district on the bus.

But hey, Kudos for them actually getting a bus with the correct school district for a bus in Utah! It's the details, people.

What are we doing in this scenic vista this fine day in the Whoniverse?

Well, Amy is running from a couple of cars. Damn, girl. You are fast. She has come to a dead end though.

Hey, it's Del! (I am still calling him by a third of his last name. I don't care what everybody else says!) Uhh, anyway, he's chasing after Amy? It seems as if in three months time he has gone from persona non grata in the FBI to having his own guys. I'd say, way to go! except he appears to be after the good guys.

He has one of his minions lay out a body bag. An empty body bag, Amy points out nervously.

"How About That," says Del.

Amy wants to know if he even knows what he's doing at all, because, as you may remember...or I dunno, maybe you don't. Memory is a funny thing we'll come to find in this episode.

The big bad creepy aliens wipe out every memory they leave behind once you stop looking at them.

Flashback to Del getting rescued in the warehouse.

As they're running out the Doctor insists he look behind, and Del insist that there's nothing there. He doesn't have to look. We have no indication of how Rory and River escaped from the hole.

I guess we weren't supposed to assume that Rory was about to get zapped out of existence again when we just left them down there at the end of the last episode.

He comes face to face with the alien.

And then, in present times, he shoots Amy.

Let us note the mysterious markings on her arms.

If I sound surprisingly calm about this turn of events it's because I've already watched the episode and cannot recreate my "What in the fuck?" feelings again in word form.

Over in Area 51, Del is marching around like a proper G-man, showing a now captive Doctor photographs of a Amy. He wants to know about the markings.

The Doctor is looking a little bit scruffy. He tells Del to ask Amy what the markings are.

Over in NYC, River is hanging out in an open construction zone on top of a skyscraper. She has her own markings that she's scanning with her little scanner machine, and she's in evening wear again. I guess that's just what River does...attend high class parties all the time.

River is accosted by a couple of creepies, and she makes tic-marks on her arm so that she can remember. So, now we know what the markings mean.

Great, not only is she surrounded by the aliens, but now Del and his G-men are on her case.

River tries to talk some sense into him too by explaining about the Aliens, and he gets all smiley and sarcastic with her then tells her there's no way out.

But there's always a way out for River. She spreads her arms and falls backward off the side of the building. This is a familiar scenario, so I wouldn't worry too hard about her.

Later, Del is telling the Doctor the news of River. He doesn't seem worried either. He's more concerned about these bricks that are made out impenetrable dwarf star materials.

Our government has access to such a thing in 1969? Okay, well...this is Area 51. That's where they keep all the good stuff.

Face Off! Not even the perfect prison that Del is building around him will be enough to stop him! So there! Take that, turncoat!

Meanwhile, in other Dam areas of the States.

Rory has seen a whole lot of aliens while managing to stay alive so far.

But Now he's stuck between two walls of Men In Black, so he's not going anywhere. He wants to know why they don't shoot him already. Del says it's because he's waiting for Rory to run because it will look better if he shoots him then.

He levels his gun at Rory anyway.

"Then Again, Looks Aren't Everything" Quoted because isn't Del just a quip factory tonight? He should totally have his own spinoff with lines like that.

Meanwhile, Rory closes his eyes and waits for the inevitable which comes shortly thereafter.

Later...the body bags now filled with bodies are brought in to the Doctor's cell, and nobody thinks this is the least bit strange? Oh, well, I guess this is the government and they aren't supposed to question authority.

Del is locking himself into the impenetrable by everything prison cell with the prisoner. As soon as he does he looks over at the doctor...

The Doctor tells him good job as he throws off his shackles, and Amy and Rory emerge from the body bags.

It was all a clever ruse! You don't know how happy I was to find out that Del hadn't actually gone all Benedict Arnold on us. They really had me going for a while!

Rory thinks these body bags could use some air holes.

"Never Had Any Complaints Before"

Ba-dum-ching!

I'm tellin' you.

Meanwhile, Amy has questions that are very similar to my earlier one. Won't anybody at all think this is weird that the prisoner, two dead bodies, and a sort-of agent...I'm not really sure if Del has been reinstated or not...are just chillin' in this black box together?

Oh, well, as long as it seems like nobody's coming back out then all is good. The Doctor stumbles into the Stealth!TARDIS.

Good. I don't think I could handle another bottle episode. That's what slowed down the season 4 caps to nothing. Damn you, MIDNIGHT! Bane of my existence!

The Doctor finger-snaps open the TARDIS, and they're off for more adventurin'! Del is worried about River, since apparently she'd rather jump of the side of a building without telling him her plan instead of being captured...even if the capture was only for show.

-Splish-

River dives into the TARDIS swimming pool.

So let us recap all that has been going on and all that has been discovered:

The creepies have been chillin' on Earth for many of years doing god knows what, and god knows why. All the while, the human race has forgotten their existence, because every time they see one their memories get wiped out.

Never fear though, the human race has got a secret weapon.

This rocket!

Oh, but wait. No. That's not the secret weapon. The secret weapon is Neil Armstrong's foot. Say what?

After the credits we step into the Graystark Hall Nightmare Orphanage of doom.

It's Del and Amy pulling up to the place to check things out. The things include their hands for some reason.

And their hands give them the all-clear.

Del is not only a quip factory tonight, he's also the flashback king. Here we are...at some point in the past watching the Doctor inject something into the palm of his hand.

I'm surmising this is taking place shortly after they TARDISed out of the impenetrable black box, because we're recapping what they took three months to learn again.

A. The creepies are everywhere in the world.

River says there's a concentration somewhere as she stares at a screen, but we're unconcerned with that at the moment.

Over in this area of the TARDIS, Amy is acting somewhat out of sorts and the Doctor is looking worried.

She's okay though...she's not pregnant after all! Whew. False alarm! Rory comes over to poke his ample nose into this business, but Amy is careful not to let him know about this non-news.

Meanwhile, River is trying to explain to Del that he has seen the creatures! In the warehouse? Remember?

He does not. Then she explains for the third time that she and the gang have been touring the Earth and seeing them everywhere whilst Del was pretending to hunt them down.

Rory explains about how they erase themselves from the memory once you look away...they don't even know what they look like really, and Amy explains that sometimes you feel sick, but sometimes not...it's a symptom that only affects River and Amy actually.

Del wants to know how long they've been here if they're everywhere. The Doctor approaches and tells him pretty much forever in the most sinister way Time-Lordly possible.

So, since the baddies have been here forever, this is a human revolution! The battle starts here.

He stabs River with his little stabby gun and explains that he has injected everybody with Nano-recorders so that they can record each time they see the bad guys and the exact circumstances surrounding the sighting.

So...why didn't they start with that instead of running around Earth for three months making ticky marks all over themselves?

It's like a handy answering machine. It flashes red when you've left yourself a message.

This cap of the back of Del's head totally has a purpose.

Anyway, he wants to know why the Doctor didn't tell them this before. That's what I said! Then the Doctor explains something about not being able to refresh...and the information about the creepies getting erased through time....

In any case, Del takes a glance behind him.

Then he reaches out and adjusts the Doctor's bow tie. Wait. What is that all about?
It's all kinds of adorable, but still...

Del's all...What's the problem? Dudes adjust each others bow ties all the time! Oh, but it seems he has a message.

Del hears himself panicking as he spots one of the creatures inside the TARDIS, then the Doctor is giving him instructions to adjust the bow tie when he turns around.

Which he did, but he neither remembered seeing the creature, nor the bow-tie suggestion.

He spins back around to see just what in the hell is going on back there that he doesn't remember.

There's a creature right there!

Oh, but it's only a hologram for demonstration purposes.

Nobody can describe the thing even though they just saw it. Not even the Doctor.

In case you didn't get the bow tie demonstration's purpose:

Rory and Amy explain that the creatures could be planting subconscious suggestions and getting people to do stuff without them knowing why they're doing it.

So, what's the plan of action?

For some reason the creepies are keeping this girl and she must be somewhere around the warehouse there in Florida. He sends the gang off to go find her, while he goes on his own mission to NASA.

Aaaand we are back at the creepiest Orphanage in North America.

Hey, it's Dr. Renfrew. If this place wasn't Dracula's castle enough for you already. Del flashes a badge that says he's FBI, but Renfrew doesn't want to let them in. They might wake the children.

Amy promises they'll be quiet and Renfrew grants them access.

Just in case you thought this horror show of an orphanage was going to level off on the creep factor once we made it inside...

Amy wonders if it's the children doing this. Renfrew doesn't really know it seems like, but he decides that it must be the kids. Who else would do that?

GHOSTS. Ghosts would do that.

Yes, the children even write it on this guys wrists when he's asleep or something. Del and Amy exchange glances because they know there's some shit going down in this place.

They head on up the stairs to Renfrew's office...maybe, the poor guy doesn't look like he really knows if he's coming or going, which he demonstrates quite clearly with a "Who's on First?" type conversation with Del.

Del explains that they almost skipped the orphanage of doom because it closed in 67.

Renfrew: That's the plan, Stan!

Del: It's '69.

Renfrew: No! We're closing in '67. You are mistaken.

Del: It's 1969 right this very moment, dude!

Renfrew: Noooo! Why are saying that!

Nevermind that though. Renfrew's had enough of this confusion, so he just leads Del to his office.

Del lets Amy wander off on her own, because that's always a good idea in this kind of situation.

The first room she walks contains another portent of Doom... Child's plaything rocking by its own power.

The Doctor is in the midst of some electrical engineering when he gets a call from Amy.

She explains that they are certainly in the right place.

And what is the Doctor up to, pray tell?

Muckin' around with spaceships of course.

The Door closes and locks on its own. You just knew that was going to happen, right? The more interesting bit is Amy's hand now has ticky marks.

Not only that, but she's got a message.

Her message is that she can see them sleeping, and to get out. The door is locked, so she tries the window and more ticky marks manifest themselves on her hands.

And face.

She looks up...

They're hanging from the ceiling like bats!

She kicks over a metal can waking them all up. Good going, Pond.

Then the door opens, she looks away and has forgotten that she saw an entire troop of them chillin' on the ceiling. She quickly exits as one of them watches her go.

Meanwhile, at NASA, the Doctor is trying to cleverly escape his handcuffs while explaining that he is on a top secret mission for the president.

The Nerds think that entire idea is laughable, but the Doctor doesn't laugh at their suggestion call on the President for confirmation of his mission.

Nixon arrives just in time to clear things up with River and Rory behind him in disguise.

Rory's over here breaking pieces off of models as everybody leaves.

He turns toward the Nerds.

"America Salutes You." He says. Good one. Way to give Del a run for his money, Rory.

As a side note, Rory has my permission to dress wear a suit and glasses for the rest of time please.

Meanwhile, in darker, stormier places, Del is looking through some files and wondering what exactly Renfrew has been doing all alone in this place for two whole years.

He's been taking care of the as yet unseen child.

It's important he says. I really have a feeling that we're are just getting a beat down of epic proportions from the foreshadowing stick, but we aren't even going to feel the bruises until the very end of the season.

Well, hello, extremely creepy lady with a self sticking eye patch that looks decidedly out of place for the sixties. what's up with you?

Amy attempts to attract her attention, but instead the woman looks off to the side and says "I think she's just dreaming." Then she closes the window in the door.

Amy goes ahead and peeps in the room. Predictably it is empty, and looks relatively normal for a room in a disused, mostly abandoned orphanage with ominous messages scrawled all over the walls in some sort of red substance that I won't even assume is paint at this point.

Amy still is attempting to search out the eye patch lady whom doesn't exist and she notices that the portal isn't in the door anymore.

There's photographs of the little girl in the spacesuit all over a dresser in the corner, but there is one of particular interest.

Amy is really freaked out now.

Speaking of spacesuit girl...

Amy apologizes for the attempted murder.

She barely missed. The girl doesn't look too happy with Amy's explanation. (She did it for the Doctor!)

Just like my brain, Amy is begging and pleading for the girl to just tell her who exactly she is and what is going on already. The girl only begs for help in return.

Then the creepies finally make themselves known.

Amy screams bloody murder and the door swings shut.

Meanwhile, there is a knock on Renfrew's door that has Del curious.

Upon return, Renfrew doesn't even remember who was at the door, so I guess we can surmise who it was.

Del turns his hand recorder on and asks the creature to reveal who he is. It won't matter, because he won't remember, right?

He hears Amy's screams, but he's still attempting to extract info from this dude blocking the doorway. He asked if the alien is armed.

The Alien tells Del that they have ruled the Earth since the beginning of man. They are so bad-ass that they don't even need weapons.

Famous last words, Alien dude. Famous last words.

Del whips out his gun and shoots the Creepy, then says...

"Welcome to America."

Still the king of one-liners. Sorry, Rore-ster.

Back in the Oval Office, the Doctor is advising the president to record everything that happens. -chuckle-

And when Nixon asks what exactly he did to the space shuttle, the Doctor just says to trust him. It was a very clever thing.

Pretty soon, River and Rory emerge from the TARDIS to drag the Doctor off on a rescue mission where Del is attempting to blow the lock off this metal door with his hand gun.

The Doctor arrives just in time to use the less explody screwdriver method.

They all run in to see if Amy's okay. They can still hear her after all. The little girl, meanwhile, has escaped the spacesuit somehow, and is looking terribly frightened.

Amy is nowhere to be found, but they can still hear her voice, and she sounds terrified. She doesn't know where she is and she can't see anything in the dark.

Seriously, that look is totally workin' for you, Rory.

We find that Amy's disembodied voice is coming from her implant device. Somehow it is still recording her even though it is no longer attached to her. I don't know how this works, but let's just go with it.

The Doctor gets all freaked out and solemn about this turn of events as he explains that it's not a recording...this is Liiive. It could be sadder...she could be not alive.

Rory tries to talk to her through it, but the Doctor explains that it doesn't work that way. It's one way only.

Yeah, but listen here, Doctor. Rory is the one who does the explainin', okay? He says that Amy can always hear him wherever she is, and she'll always know that he's coming for her.

...and it's just about the sweetest most perfect thing a guy has ever said.

And then Amy calls out for the Doctor, putting an abrupt end to that business.

Rory tells the Amy voice that he will bring the Doctor to her, then he kisses the little implant and then my heart explodes.

Meanwhile, Renfrew doesn't know what the hell is going on. He summons everybody to the office where he thinks someone has been shot.

It's the creepy that Dell shot. When the Doctor asks it what it is we finally get a name to the face.

The are called Silents.

We get a flashback of all the times that the Silents were mentioned in season five.

Back in Area 51, the Americans still have guns, and they're pointing them at the dwarf star prison block.

Del emerges and the soldier is Oh so very confused about what the hell he's been doing in there for days and days.

Del never minds the guy and asks for Doctor Sheppard, but he's a soldier and he only wants to answer to his commanding officer, Colonel Jefferson. Del has a better idea.

Somehow, the POTUS has emerged from the box. I guess nobody is going to question how in the hell this is possible, because they all salute him like this is normal.

Meanwhile, we've hit the two minute warning for the shuttle launch, and the Doctor and Co. are back at the warehouse tinkering with the Spacesuit.

River's got an EMF reader...I told you it was ghosts.

Hehe, the important thing is that this suit is an exoskeleton with life support and ton of alien tech in it. If you wear it you don't even have to eat or anything.

It can even hack into the telephone network! Which is how the girl was calling up Nixon...the suit dials up the man in charge by default.

The Doctor and River are bantering back and forth. He's still trying to figure out who sent them on this mission and she's telling him that she can't give out any spoilers.

they're trying to figure out who this girl is and why the Silents were raising her. River notes that she must be strong because she managed to claw her way out of this suit.

We come to the conclusion that the silents are some kind of "Super Parasites" Convincing the human race to build the things that they need and...go to the moon and stuff...just because the Silents needed a suit.

back in the box, Sheppard is in awe over the Silent.

Del says "It's just an alien" all cool like this is the kind of thing you see every day, and Sheppard notes that someone has been treating it.

He has, as it turns out. It's just been memory wiping him whenever he leaves.

The Silent is in the corner jabbering after the Doc. leaves, and Del whips out his pink video phone (Whatever that is.) so he can make a video of it as it tells him that the human race shouldn't be helping the Silents...they should be murdering them on sight.

Poor choice of words, Silent.

Meanwhile the Spacesuit is twitching and repairing itself, and River hypothesizes that maybe the spacesuit can move on its own, and maybe it DID eat the little girl. The Doctor ponders the possibilities.

Meanwhile, Amy is making I love you confessions to somebody. She's leaving it ambiguous for the time being.

Rory thinks it's the Doctor that she loves, because of her allusions to his "Stupid Face" and Dropping out of the Sky.

The Doctor tries to cheer Rory up by telling him that they probably won't kill her because there's no point in a dead hostage.

That isn't helping.

The Doctor says he could easily find her but then what? What to do with the Silents when they find them? the Human race is their empire, and he compares it to kicking the Romans out of Rome.

Rory reminds him that Rome fell.

The Doctor knows. He was there!

So was Rory.

The Doctor has a personal question, which Rory thinks is a strange and unexpected turn of events. Here it is though.

He wants to know if Rory remembers any of his time waiting for Amy for 2,000 years.

Rory tries to lie his way out of it, but the Doctor knows. He does remember, just not all the time. He compares it to a door in his head that he can't keep shut.

Well, the moon landing is imminent, and the Prez is hanging out in the Oval Office having a watch party.

Pete is there! Hey, Pete!

Amy is strapped down somewhere and surrounded by a bunch of Silents. They call her by name, and she calls them ugly.

They say that she will bring the Silents and then her part will be over, which is ominous to say the least.

But hey, look where they are... They are right under the Doctor's feet. Has she been right under their noses the whole time?

The Silent tells her to go to sleep and gets all up in her personal space.

The Doctor arrives just in time! He emerges from the TARDIS into the all too familiar looking control panel.

The Doctor is waltzing around like he's got the Silent's number. He's brought along his TV...with some awesome reception...down into the underground so they can all have a watch party too!

He explains about River's marksmanship. She doesn't mind shooting things, and will get at least the first five that try to take them on.

She says Seven.

Flirty Banter!

Amy wonders if this is really important flirting. Maybe she should be higher up on the list.

Rory goes to release Amy from her bonds and she asks about the plan. Alas, that is one thing that Rory can't explain.

The Doctor demands their total surrender and in return he'll let them go Scott Free, back to wherever they came from.

Psych. He's not going to let them go that easily. The Silents refuse to answer when he questions them about the girl.

The Doctor gives them a history lesson about the Human race and how we spread ourselves across the galaxy for billions of years like a pesky fungus that will not die...and through all that time, we'll still be looking back on this footage of the moon landing from 1969 at least once in our lives at some point.

Every single one of us, and we'll never forget.

Then he's on the phone to Del in the Box

Who then relays the footage from the video phone to the receiver the Doctor planted in the space shuttle, which then broadcasts the Silent saying "You should kill us all on sight."

This part we all forgot, but we'll still hang on to that suggestion.

The Silents do not like this one bit, now that we've become some kind of less than passive threat to them.

A bunch of dudes see this one in the bar...watch out, Silent!

Over in the Oval Office, Pete takes one down! Get 'em, Pete!

Well, now that the Silents are well pissed off and on the run from the human race... the ones down here decided they need to zap everybody in sight.

So, now the good guys have to do the running. River shoots as many as she can and the Doctor kind of Sonics at them, but I'm not sure that's actually doing anything besides causing some electronics to blow.

Over here, Rory is still working on getting Amy out of that contraption, and she's attempting to be selfless by telling him to go save his own stupid face.

This stops him cold, because he realizes that maybe he's the one with the Stupid Face who's love she was professing earlier.

River wants to know exactly what the Doctor is attempting to accomplish in this firefight.

He says helping.. She tells him to go build a cabinet with that darn screwdriver of his.

No, River. It doesn't work on wood.

River has managed to take out every last one of the Silents in this room.

Rory wants to know what the hell kind of Doctor can handle a gun so well. She explains that she's an archeologist, and she "Loves a Tomb."

Once they're inside, Rory is going on about Amy calling his face stupid, and reveals that he'd been listening in.

Now that that misunderstanding is all cleared up for the moment!

Later, Nixon is congratulating the Doctor on a job well done, while the Doctor is planting the ideas of all the future invasions and dangerous danger the Earth has in store.

Til the Next one, the Doctor says to Del.

I will take this to mean there will be a next one. Let there be a next one! I quite enjoyed the TARDIS five these past couple of weeks!

The Doctor puts in a good word for Del and his marriage situation, and Nixon is all smiles...sure that he can arrange something.

Nixon pulls him off to the side, and expresses disbelief that the Doctor is a time traveler...even though he has traveled around in the Bigger on the Inside box himself from place to place...

In any case he wants to know the future, but the Doctor's not revealing any spoiler. He'll have to settle for knowing if he'll be remembered. The Doctor tells him that he won't ever be forgotten, and say hello to David Frost.

Del and Nixon watch the Doctor take off, and Nixon asks if he person Del wants to marry is black, something that still wasn't very accepted at this time in history. Del says yes, and the Prez acts like he's all down with that and more liberal than you might think.

Clarification: Yes HE is. So, Nixon throws on the brakes real fast, he's not that liberal. He thinks the moon landing is enough progress for one...for several ongoing decades to this very day, except for a handful of places.

Boo! The Doctor needs to take Del with him next time and drop him off in a future where he can have all the interracial gay marriages that he wants!

Later, the Doctor is dropping River off at prison. He offers to let her travel with him, but she's alright where she is. She can escape whenever she wants anyways, also she has a promise to live up to.

The Doctor attempts to leave, but River thinks he forgot something. When he goes back to her, she kisses him.

He's very confused by this turn of events.

It seems as if this is HIS first kiss with River. Things get awkward really fast as she starts to get this devastated look on her face and he glances at his watch, eager to escape.

There's a first time for everything he says.

And a last, because this is the last time SHE will ever kiss him in their mixed up time line, or at least she thinks so anyway.

Inside, the Doctor asks after Amy once he sends Rory off to go fetch some thermocouplings so they can be alone.

She says she's okay, but still a little fuzzy on the memories at the orphanage. We flash back to the picture of her and the baby, and all the Silents she saw on the ceiling, and the little girl in the spacesuit.

Oh, forget about that stuff. That's all Silents business, easily enough explained. What about the whole pregnant thing? He wants to know why she told him.

she says that he's her best friend.

But what about Rory? she hasn't told him.

Oh, wait. Yes she did. Rory is still holding on to her hand implant and he's heard every word of this conversation.

As for the why of the situation...she didn't want to tell Rory that the baby might have been affected by the time travel and adventurin'. What if it came out with a Time-Head.

time Head? That's silly! What is that?

Rory reveals himself from the shadows, and Amy threatens to take away that pesky little device if he's going to keep eavesdropping on her.

He thinks he should have at least told him that she suspected, because he's a nurse and good with pregnancies.

Amy tells him he's not that good with them. Hah. Hah! and Runs over for a hug.

So what will it be? The Doctor asks as he swings over his screen. More Adventurin' or trying to figure out who this mysterious little girl is.

It turns out he's pulled up a pregnancy scan on the handy dandy screen. Amy is both pregnant and not pregnant.

The logical conclusion is that she's pregnant with Schrodinger's baby. What is this about? Some kind of quantum pregnancy? Excuse me while I go read up on my Many Worlds theory while listening to the Eels.

Six Months later in NYC, a bum is hanging out in a back alley filling his pram with things.

It's the little girl! she's made it all the way from Florida and is now dying, but she reassures the bum that it's all going to be okay, because she can fix it.