The seventh season of Doctor Who, the British sci-fi television show that has touched the hearts of people in  nearly every country the world, from teenagers to adults, premiered on Sept. 1 2012, after an 11 month  hiatus. On Saturday, Sept. 29, it had its mid-season finale after airing five episodes.

Doctor Who is about an alien from the planet Gallifrey, which has been destroyed. He is the lone survivor of  the Time Lord race, the oldest race in all of time. Even though the Doctor appears to be human, he has two  hearts and has the ability to regenerate his entire body when dying. The show began in 1963, in  which the first Doctor appeared. As the years went by, the Doctor under went many regenerations, which led  to the actor being changed. Since season five, the Doctor has been in his 11th body, played by actor Matt Smith.

When Smith debuted as the 11th Doctor, whovians (what fans of Doctor Who call themselves) fell in love with him. He was absolutely adorable at points, but at the same time he was menacing and the “oncoming storm”. His quirky attitude and random bursts of excitement really made him one of the most lovable Doctors ever. Yet, what made his adventures even more exhilarating were his two good-looking companions, the married couple Amy and Rory Pond (Williams). Amy Pond joined the eleventh Doctor during his first days in a new body. Later on, Rory Williams became a companion as well, when the two got married. They were eleven’s first companions, the first people he became friends with in his new body.

The mid-season finale “Angels Take Manhattan” marked the end of the Amy-Rory-Doctor companionship, and it terminated in a way that nobody deemed possible, in a way that no Whovian could have imagined.

The episode marked a come back for the dangerous and extremely frightening Weeping Angels, statues made of complete stone, but only when it is being looked at. Once someone looks away, or even blinks, the Weeping Angel comes to life, and can wreak havoc within a matter of milliseconds. These scary creatures can either kill a person, or transport the person to a different time period, in which the person must live out his/her entire life, alone. The first time the angels were seen was in the episode “Blink” and then later on in episodes “Time of Angels” and “Flesh and Stone”. When the Weeping Angels were said to be appearing again in the mid-season finale, in which we knew Amy and Rory were leaving, we were sure that it was going to be a brutal episode.

In this particular episode, Manhattan Island in New York was shown to be invaded by Angels. There were stone statues everywhere, in every corner, and apparently Manhattan was full of them, waiting to take people and transport them to a world they didn’t know. The Doctor, Amy, and Rory were simply spending some time in present-day Manhattan together, when Rory is suddenly transported to another time period, back in 1938. Amy and The Doctor rush to find Rory in 1938, using his blue-box time machine, the TARDIS (Time and Relative Dimension in Space). 

In the race to find Rory alive, thrilling scenes take place and the action packed moments are absolutely remarkable. Another character is reintroduced, and there is a surprising twist towards the middle. Once Rory is found, they find another Rory — a Rory who is 82 years old and dying in a lonely room in a building in 1938. As the young Rory watches the old Rory die, the Doctor realizes that Rory is going to be transported back in time by the angels. The only way to stop it would be to create a paradox — young Rory would have to die in the same year, and that would also get rid of the Weeping Angels.

This moment was absolutely heart wrenching. Whovians were at the edge of their seat, wondering if Rory really would kill himself. As he stood on the ledge of a tall building in Manhattan, our hearts were beating faster and faster, hoping that he wouldn’t jump. Of course, nothing we ever want ever takes place in this show. Not only does Rory jump, but Amy jumps with him, refusing to live without him, and hoping that they would come back to life if the angels were destroyed and the paradox created. The Doctor cries to them to stop, but they jump anyway.

And they reappear, in present day Manhattan, in a graveyard. All is well. It’s okay, everything will be alright. They were back, they would keep going with the Doctor. But Rory notices a tombstone, with his name written on it, saying that he died at the age of 82, and suddenly a survivor of the Weeping Angels takes him away.

I screamed at this moment. I actually screamed. And my urge to cry came back as soon as Amy decided to let the angel take her too. The Doctor begged and pleaded, requesting for her to stay, but she refused to live a life without her husband. She knew she would be transported to the same time, and her last words to the Doctor were “Raggedy man, good-bye”. Barely seconds later, a second name appeared on the tombstone along with Rory’s: Amelia Williams. That was the end of Amy and Rory.

The worst part wasn’t that Amy and Rory were gone, and that the Doctor would never see them again. It was the fact that the Doctor wanted them to stay so bad, he needed them. He yearned for them. And once again, he was left alone without his best friends. His anger and heartbroken feeling that emanated to the people watching this television show was enough to bring tears. The phenomenal acting is simply enough to portray what an amazing television show Doctor Who really has become.

The filming, the background music, the acting, and the entire storyline was the absolute perfect ending to a lovely companionship. It hurt us to the core, and many whovians feel that they will need years of therapy to get over it, but the entire episode was just beautiful. The mid-season finale was probably one of the best episodes that the eleventh Doctor has been in. It made us laugh, made us cry, made us smile, and made us angry. It tugged at our emotions, and the perfect story does just that.

Now, it’s time for a new beginning. Next episode of Doctor Who will be a Christmas special, in which he will be introduced to a new companion.