Doctor Who: Every Modern Companion's DEFINITIVE Episode

7. Amy and Rory - The Girl Who Waited

I've decided to group Amy and Rory together for this. They come as a pair, and their arcs are so intertwined that any episode that's quintessential for one is likely quintessential for the other. There were a couple in contention here: The Big Bang, A Good Man Goes To War, The God Complex and The Angels Take Manhattan were all in contention, but I've landed fairly confidently on series six's The Girl Who Waited. At first glance, this seems like Amy's story - a companion trapped in isolation, ageing alone, forced to survive in a hostile environment while the Doctor and Rory try to fix what has gone wrong. But the episode is doing a lot more than that. In my opinion, this story is about the difference in Rory and the Doctor's perspective of Amy. 

The central crux of the story revolves around 'Old Amy', who has wasted her life away waiting to be rescued and has grown bitter, resentful and distant, but the point at which the story really gets going is when 'Young Amy' is recovered. This is an Amy who hasn't aged, and hasn't suffered the same isolation, and the kicker is that it's impossible to save both. 

The Doctor sees this problem in black and white. To him, Amy is an idea - she's as much his imaginary friend as he is hers. She is still the girl in her back garden, the one he first met. He's attached to the youthful, optimistic Amy because that's the mask he wants to wear himself, and when he's with her, he can pretend that he isn't approaching the end of his life. Old, bitter Amy is difficult for him to look at or accept, both because he doesn't want to be reminded of her mortality, and because he is losing his dreamy-eyed, adventuring 'imaginary friend'. 

Rory, however, just sees Amy. He can't possibly choose young Amy or old Amy, because they are both the woman he loves. This, of course, sets them on a collision course, and of all his confrontations with the Doctor, this is the argument that draws the starkest contrast between them. It shows us, in many respects, why Rory is the better man, and why, beyond a doubt, he is better for Amy than the Doctor. 

Amy herself is the emotional heart of the story. The episode shows, quite clearly, what happens when her trust in the Doctor is broken. She has spent much of her life placing her faith in him, despite her feeling abandoned by him as a child, and here, though again through no fault of his own, he does it again. Amy's survival for so many years in this hostile facility show us how far her character has come, and the resentment and deep regret with which Karen Gillan plays this alternate Amy almost have you forgetting that they're the same actor. It's undoubtedly her best performance on the show, and you could make a pretty solid case for it being Darvill's too. 

This episode, after a series and a half of irritating love triangle drama, reinforces once and for all that Rory is Amy's anchor. After some initial tension between the two Amys, it's ultimately their love of Rory that brings them together and bridges the gap between them, and it's his love of her that persists, refusing to make a choice between these two versions of his wife until The Doctor ultimately does so for him.