13 Darkest Doctor Who Endings Ever

13. Cold Blood

In this episode, Rory dies.

"Big woop", I hear you say. "He dies in every episode."

And while, absolutely, Rory’s deaths become less and less convincing with each passing fake-out, this one felt saddeningly real (in spite of him having also died in the previous story, Amy’s Choice).

This death is the one that stuck though (for a few episodes at least). In the closing moments, out of absolutely nowhere, Rory takes a laser shot to the chest for the Doctor. He’s clearly in a huge amount of pain, and the show doesn’t play down the realistic panic and fear of death like it normally does. It’s quite a harrowing sequence, with Rory, despite his heroic sacrifice, not going out with a lot of dignity – it feels like he’s gone too soon, like this shouldn’t be his end.

And then to add insult to injury, he begins to be eaten up by the crack in time, erasing him from existence. Arguably the darkest part of this sequence is the Doctor forcibly dragging a sobbing Amy to safety, practically throwing her into the TARDIS so she can’t get back out to say goodbye to her dead fiancé. He doesn’t allow Amy to save his body, ensuring that Rory, along with his sacrifice, will be forgotten, which happens moments later as Amy springs back to normal as if nothing has happened.

The Doctor, who is still aware of what has happened, chooses to keep this from Amy, who is oblivious to the fact that her husband-to-be has just been killed.

Eleven really doesn’t mess around, does he?