I’ll just get this tidbit out of the way: I’ve never been a fan of River Song. That’s not to say I’ve never enjoyed episodes with her. Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead is one of my favorite episodes of the Fourth Series. That said though, I’ve never found myself entirely at home with the way she’s written. At first glance she always seemed like a female Captain Jack Harkness to me: omnisexual, good with a gun, a trickster type who is attracted to the Doctor. Which isn’t necessarily a bad thing even since Jack ran off into his own show with Torchwood, but that sense of importance Moffat has always tried to instill into River’s character has always felt hollow. Up until now that is. While the first three quarters of the episode are goofy and borderline slapstick, they serve a very necessary purpose in relieving the stress and tension that characterized the last three episodes, but more importantly are useful in defining who River is without the Doctor around.

I would never knock Alex Kingston’s performance as River, but the problem with starting off a character on one that’s their final adventure, is that every story is essentially a prequel that lacks any real tension. While I know that’s a bit of a reductive assessment of River’s character, what I’m ultimately attempting to drive at is that there’s been no story starring River that really could measure up to the tragic promise that her original appearance gave us, and where The Husbands of River Song succeeds is in defining not just the events of River and the Doctor’s penultimate adventure together, but in showing just how she perceives their relationship. While the Doctor is a very well-meaning man, he’s never been content to settle down, and even for his own wife is simply a passing presence. One of the big question marks of the episode heading in was just how Peter Capaldi’s Doctor would fit into River’s story, given that the majority of her relationship was built with Matt Smith’s Eleventh Doctor, and her final adventure was meeting the Tenth Doctor who simply didn’t know her yet. The answer is that he simply does slide right in, and it makes sense, while previous episodes have had the Doctor struggling with his grief till he has to be forced into an adventure again, here the Doctor just hops right to it. However, that does make sense given that Clara’s dying wish was for him not to slide back into grieving, and doubled down on that promise with her final message to him, so seeing River again is as much a necessary bit of fun for him as the audience.

The plot itself is as fairly broad as most Moffat-era Christmas specials. It doesn’t really reach the heights of Last Christmas till the last 15 minutes, but again an uncomplicated episode may well be for the best after how emotionally draining Heaven Sent and Hell Bent were. I can’t say I’m really any more fond of giant angry robots than anyone was in The Caretaker, but it serves its purpose along with King Hydroflax in being the large unyielding threat that keeps the Doctor and River running. That said, while the episode does resolve a lot of the more problematic aspects of the Doctor and River’s marriage, it also hits upon a weirder vein. While it’s never been any secret that River has relationships outside of her marriage and vice versa with the Doctor himself, the story makes a point of having the Doctor be jealous at River clearly having romantic relationships. Which hits an uncomfortable note when you had the Doctor be very much in love with Clara to the very bitter end of their time together, and yet is grumpy over River having other relationships, while she’s under the impression that he’s dead and gone. While the episode doesn’t concern itself with these ideas in that greater examination of the Doctor and River’s relationship, it does strike one of those uncomfortable notes Moffat tends to hit with women, but in light of the greater episode itself it’s hard not to digress.

That being said though, River’s speech about the Doctor not coming there to save her, and the following “Hello Sweetie.” are one of the most poignant bits the two have ever had. And the finale with the Singing Towers, River naturally being too curious for her own good with regard to their historical relationship, and the Doctor finally giving River the marriage she deserves go a long way towards redeeming the episode of its faults. While they only have one last night together before she goes to her long awaited trip to the library with David Tennant, that night can stretch 24 years. While the Doctor can’t fix history, he can at least give River what she deserves, which is that relationship that she clearly has longed for their entire marriage. It also ultimately distinguishes Capaldi from his predecessor, this episode wouldn’t have worked quite as well with Matt Smith’s bouncy, flirty Doctor. But under the auspices of Capaldi’s opening episode, and his vague promise of wanting to fix his mistakes, we have a Doctor who while very regretful of his mistakes, is also very much in the mode of aiming to fix them instead of lingering upon them. While this special isn’t perfect, it goes a long way towards righting an in-universe wrong, closes the loop on a story that’s been running since Silence in the Library, and brings the Doctor firmly back into his adulthood.

P.S:

• Game points go to Alex Kingston and Peter Capaldi. While this is their first episode together, they pick up on the chemistry built during Matt Smith’s tenure almost immediately. While Matt Smith is a great Doctor, his “face of an eleven year old” take didn’t quite suit the melancholy that pervades this episode, it’s one that only Capaldi could really pull off.
• When did River meet the War Doctor exactly? The whole point of his incarnation was that he’s a secret, no?
• I have to say, this would’ve been a great place for Moffat to pick up his hat and leave. Especially given that he’s said this was originally supposed to be the case. But given that Capaldi may be up to his regeneration if his thoughts on what he wants for Season 10, maybe it’s best that he stay.
• See you… someday in time, perhaps even The End of Time for Season 10 folks. Happy New Year!

3.5 out of 5 Disembodied Heads

Review by Slewo