So, here we are. It’s the end of the road for now. It’s a massive battle, a harried birth, a horrible deception and a shocking revelation. The Doctor fights the Battle of Demon’s Run, Madame Kovarian plans to use Amy’s child against him and River Song’s identity is revealed at last. The first six episodes have all been leading here, so get ready for all of the clues to come together. Has Steven Moffat managed to tie-up the loose ends? Is it the masterpiece we hoped for. Find out in my review.

SPOILER WARNING: THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS INCLUDING A FULL PLOT SUMMARY. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!

As with previous reviews, the plot summary will be in normal type and my comments will be in bold.

REVIEW: Doctor Who, Series 6, Episode 7: A Good Man Goes to War

Amy (Karen Gillan)  picks up her newborn daughter, Melody, as a group of guards – including Lorna Bucket – watch on. She tells them about her father who is coming for them, and has lived for hundreds of years though he looks young: the Last Centurion. Bit of a swerve there, huh. Good job, Steven!

On the ship of the 12th Cyber Legion, a group of Cybermen detect an intruder who is steadily working his way up the levels. The intruder is revealed as Rory, dressed in his CENTURION COSTUME! I wonder if Amy still has her poilcewoman getup. , who tells the Cyberleader he has “a message from the Doctor and a question from him.”  His question is very simply “Where is my wife?” The Cybermen ask what the Doctor’s message is, and suddenly the rest of the ships around them explode. I think that’s a pretty clear request for information, don’t you?

On Demon’s Run, the Fat Man and the Thin Man, a MARRIED, GAY COUPLE! Russel T Davies’ legacy lives on!,  discuss the Doctor and pass Lorna Bucket, who is spending her break sewing. Lorna, the Thin Man and the Fat Man discuss the Headless Monks,  a new alien species who believe that doubt lies in the head and faith lies in the heart. The Fat Man leaves with the monks for ‘conversion counselling.’ That doesn’t sound good! The Thin Man deduces that Lorna has met the Doctor and she confirms that she saw him as a child in the Gamma Forests.

The Fat Man enters a room where the Monks are gathered. A voice tells him that he has been selected to be converted to ‘their faith’ and told to make a donation. All religion has a price. But, I think I would prefer to submit an envelope with a few bucks in it. The Monks advance on him carrying an empty box. “Whatever could that be for?”, the Fat man thought, just before the guillotine.

In Victorian London, a hooded figure arrives home. She is greeted by a maid and tells her that she has killed and eaten Jack the Ripper. Note, they don’t tell you who he was. She reveals herself as a Silurian named Madame Vastra.  Which apparently, no one blinks an eye at in Victorian London. The maid (named Jenny), which I’m sure Moffat did just to tease us, leads her to the drawing room; the TARDIS stands on the rug. “A very old debt is to be repaid.”

In the middle of the Battle of Zaruthstra, 4037, a man searches for a nurse for a boy who is clearly unwell. A Sontaran nurse enters. Yep, I was shocked too. A few minutes later, the boy is awake, and the nurse reveals himself as Commander Strax. He says that he is trying to restore honor to his clone batch and that being a nurse is his penance.  Now who would come up with being a nurse as a penance? Maybe…a Doctor? The TARDIS is heard, and Strax says that his penance is about to end.

In Stormcage, the most MINIMUM Security prison in the world, River Song returns from a birthday outing with the Doctor, accidentally setting off an alarm. She deactivates it. “Oh, Turn it off. I’m breaking in not out.” She also orders her supper at the usual time. Rory appears and River seems stunned at the sight of him. Exactly why becomes clear at the end. Rory asks that she comes with him, but she says that she can’t come until the ‘very end’, as it is the day when the Doctor will rise so high, and then fall further than ever before. This also becomes clear at the end. It is also the day he finds out who she is. And, so do we.

Dorium, the blue skinned alien from “the Pandorica Opens”, appears to be leaving a bar of some kind, The Maldovarium, before he is interrupted by the Eye Patch Lady, whom he names as Madame Kovarian. Finally, she has a name. He says that the reason the Doctor hasn’t attackwed yet is because he’s raising an army of people who owe him. Which, it turns out is quite a few people Dorium also mentions that the Headless Monks are customers of his, and he therefore knows the location of their base. After Madame Kovarian leaves, the TARDIS arrives for Dorium.

At Demon’s Run, one of the Colonels gives a speech about the Doctor, saying that he is only a man. That man can speak. Amy watches from above, but is interrupted by Lorna. Lorna offers her a prayer leaf with Melody’s name on it in the language of her people. Amy ignores the offer of kindness, but turns when she realises that Lorna met the Doctor. She accepts the prayer leaf, and warns Lorna to be ‘on the right side’ for her own sake.

Lorna hurries to the speech, where the Colonel removes the hoods of the monks, to reveal knots of skin where the bases of their necks should be. Behind Curtain Number One, a knot of flesh. Behind Curtain Number Two, a knot of flesh. The third monk removes his own hood; it is the Doctor in disguise. Behind Curtain Number Three: The Doctor! The Monks raise their swords and the marines except Lorna raise their guns. At the same time, Madame Vastra and Jenny hold the men in the control room at sword point. There’s also a bit of  romantic banter between the two of them, as a guard gets a tongue lashing. In the main room, the Doctor puts up his hood as the lights go out. The lights come back on and the Doctor is nowhere to be seen. “Which way did he go? Which way did he go?” He reveals that he is disguised as one of the Monks; as his voice echoes his location cannot be pinpointed. A marine shoots a hooded figure who turns out to be a real Monk.  OOPS! The Monks begin to kill the marines in retaliation until the Colonel tells everyone not to fire. Lorna sees a Monk with the sonic screwdriver and follows him out of the room as the rest of the marines disarm themselves. Who thought this was a GOOD IDEA? Did they miss the fact that the Doctor was there? An army of Silurians and Judoon suddenly appear with their guns pointed at the marines. Commander Strax holds the Colonel at gunpoint, claiming the base.

The Doctor has a group of Spitfires attack the base, “Doctor to Danny Boy”,  disabling communications, and Kovarian orders that the child be brought to her. Time to go. Melody is brought in a portable cot, and Kovarian says that the Doctor must think he is winning until the trap closes. She obviously hasn’t quite figured out what a bad idea it is to tick off the Doctor. Unknown to her, Lorna is listening, and runs off. Ooh, Someone’s gonna tattle. Rory suddenly appears and holds Kovarian at sword point. It’s Rory the Roman to the rescue! Try saying that five times fast. Henry and Toby Avery, looking much better than we last saw him, exit Kovarian’s private ship with a crewmember tied up. She and Colonel Manton are both brought to the control room where the Doctor is sitting. Someone’s in trouble! The Doctor tells the Colonel to tell the marines to “run away.” He taunts Manton that he will be known for the rest of his life as “Colonel Run Away” – a warning to those who would try to use the Doctor’s friends to get to him.

Amy hears Rory at the door with the sonic screwdriver and tells him that they took Melody; he enters with the baby in his arms. The Doctor walks in and calls their daughter ‘Melody Pond,’ much to Rory’s annoyance. GET OVER IT RORY, YOU GOT THE GIRL IN THE END! He also comments that he speaks baby. Well, of course he does! Madame Vastra enters and says that the marines are leaving, and that the Doctor has never risen so high. Rory remembers River’s words and looks concerned. UH OH!

Amy leaves the TARDIS with a crying Melody, saying she doesn’t like the TARDIS noise. The others all suggest what she’d crying about until the Doctor emerges with a cot, where did he get a?…oh, never mind, let’s just go with it, before hurrying back to the control room, saying that the cot is his. WHAT? Dorium is going through the computers and discovers scans of Melody. They reveal that her DNA contains traces of Time Lord. WHAT? Vastra asks when Melody was conceived, as she knows that the Time Lords became what they were through exposure to the time vortex. The Doctor realises that the first time Amy and Rory were together on the TARDIS was their wedding night, and that Kovarian might want Melody for a weapon having seen what the Doctor can do. WHAT?! Vastra and Dorium leave as the Doctor remembers the little girl from America. Kovarian suddenly appears on a view screen and says that the girl is hope in the war against the Doctor. Oh, now I will REALLY be happy to see this woman get hers

Lorna is brought to Rory and Amy at gunpoint, as she had been listening. She insists that they’re in a trap, and that she only joined the clerics to meet the Doctor as he is ‘a great warrior’. The lights go out, but Strax says that there are no life forms in the base excluding them; Lorna says that the Headless Monks aren’t alive. UH OH, Part Deux.

Elsewhere in the base, the Monks begin to attack the Silurians. Vastra joins the others; the TARDIS is suddenly surrounded by a force field and the doors are locked. Dorium identifies the Monks’ chant as the attack prayer. ATTACK PRAYER? Just what kind of monastic order is this? Amy goes to hide with Melody. Dorium goes into the darkness to try to reason with the Monks, but is beheaded; his body joins the Monks who are advancing on the group. Rory, Vastra, Jenny, Strax and Lorna rally to protect Amy and Melody, and the battle begins.

Back in the control room, the Doctor angrily tells Kovarian that a child is not a weapon. Kovarian smugly tells him that she will become one. When the Doctor vows not to let her recapture the child, Kovarian says that fooling the Doctor once was a joy, but fooling him again the same way is a privilege. He realises what Kovarian has done and runs off to find Amy. Hopefully , all of you have caught on by this point too, unless you skipped the last two episodes and came straight here. Melody, looking over Amy’s shoulder, sees a hatch appear in the air, through which Kovarian is watching them.  I wonder how much those instant hatches cost? Kovarian tells Melody to “wake up.” Melody collapses into flesh, and Amy screams for Rory. The Doctor runs onto the scene where the battle took place moments before, yelling that Melody is flesh; he is greeted by a sullen Rory who tells him that they know. A little late to that party, the Doctor was. The Headless Monks have all been defeated, but Strax and Lorna have both been badly wounded. Rory goes to help a wounded Strax, who says that he always dreamed of dying in battle before dying.

The Doctor tries to comfort Amy, but she only backs away. Instead, he goes to talk to a wounded Lorna. When she mentions that she met him, he remembers her before she dies. Vastra tells him she was very brave. “Thery’re always brave” the Doctor replies.  This is a very poignant scene. River Song appears in a flash of light. The Doctor angrily confronts her, saying that he has always been there for her but she didn’t come when he needed her. She says that Amy will be all right, and that the battle is exactly what the Doctor is. She says that, though the word ‘doctor’ often means healer or wise man, in the Gamma Forests it means warrior (explaining Lorna’s decision to join the army to meet him). The Doctor finally asks her who she is; she only runs towards the cot before he grabs her. She tells him to read the Gallifreyan on the side of the cot. Immediately following this is a hilarious scene, where the Doctor tries to process the information he now has with his past experiences with River. He has a realization and goes to save Melody alone.

Amy holds River at gunpoint demanding to know what she told the Doctor. Amy is at her wits end at this point. River tells her that she needs to focus on the written word as the TARDIS has more difficulty translating it; Amy tries and fails to read the writing on the cot. River hands Amy the prayer leaf and tells her to read it. River says it is her daughter’s name. OK Everybody. Get Ready. Here it comes. Amy says that she knows her daughter’s name, but River tells her that they don’t have a word for ‘Pond’, because ‘the only water in the forest is the river.’  Let this be a lesson to you kiddies: NO LINE WRITTEN BY NEIL GAIMAN IS EVER A THROWAWAY. You recognize this line if you watched “The Doctor’s Wife” and paid attention. As Amy and Rory read the leaf, the writing changes to read the words ‘River Song.’ River confirms that she is the couple’s child. OH MY GOD! By the way, in case you haven’t figured it out, Melody (River) is also the girl in the Astronaut suit and the girl who regenerates in Day of the Moon. Oh Boy, where do we go from here.

The Final Words: THE DOCTOR WILL RETURN IN LET’S KILL HITLER!

The Verdict: What can I say? The mid-series finale was a rip-roaring roller coaster ride that took my breath away. The amount of explanation and revelation in this episode makes it even more impressive that it was the same length as all of the others in the series thus far. It was a great payoff to finally get some answers about the enigma that is River Song. However, more questions remain. I also think Madame Kovarian is destined to become an extraordinary villainess and I think it will be really enjoyable to see the Doctor give her the comeuppance she has waiting. It was great to see all of the threads from the first half of the series come together. Steven Moffat should be congratulated for a huge home run of a mid-series finale. So, now, knowing the title of the second half of the series premiere, the main question on my mind is: Where does Hitler fit into the story? We’ll all find out together in the fall.