The Doctor's Wife
EPISODE: 216
AIRDATE: May 14,2011
COMPANIONS: Amy Pond, Rory Williams
VILLANS/ALIENS/MONSTERS: House, Nephew(the ood)
OTHER CHARACTERS: Idris/The TARDIS, Uncle, Auntie
LOCATION: Bubble Universe, TARDIS
PLOT:
In another universe, a woman named Idris is scared of something that's about to happen, but is told that everything will be all right as she is serving a greater pupose by being drained of her mind and soul in preparation for the arrival of a Time Lord. A green-eyed Ood does this.
Meanwhile, in the main universe, 2011, the TARDIS is in flight and there's a knock on the door; when opened, a cube of light is seen that, when beckoned, hits the Doctor in the chest, whizzes about and then actually comes to him. The Doctor sees something on the box and announces he's "got mail!".
The object is revealed to be a hypercube, a form of communication for Time Lords. This one has come from one of the Doctor's old aquaintances, the Corsair. The message originates from "outside the Universe", but they follow the signal, deleting some of the useless rooms for fuel. As soon as they land, the TARDIS loses power - the Doctor seems perplexed at the concept in general; it's actually due to a different cause than before. The matrix, the soul of the TARDIS, has vanished. The planetoid they've landed on seems to be a junkyard.
The travellers are spotted by Idris, who starts kissing (later biting) the Doctor, calling him 'her thief', and speaking madly. Among one of the things she says is "the little boxes will make you mad." She is closely followed by Auntie, Uncle and Nephew, the green-eyed Ood. They appologize for Idris, saying she is insane, and Nephew takes her to get some rest. Idris asks if there's an 'off switch' and instantly falls asleep before being carried away by Nephew.
They are led deep into a carven to meet House, and learn the planetoid is accreted matter around an asteroid. The Doctor wants to find and help any living Time Lords; he also tells House that he is the Last of the Time Lords and that his TARDIS is the last one. He sends Rory and Amy back to the TARDIS on a fool's errand to find his sonic screwdriver in his spare coat and locks them in with the sonic screwdriver he already had with him before heading towards the distress signals.
He discovers a cupboard full of hypercubes that keep repeating emergency messages from a number of Time Lords. The Doctor, now distraught, notices that Auntie and Uncle are behind him. He tells them that losing hope is enough to drive anyone mad, but it could be worse with him. He then discovers House has been "repairing" them: they've been jigsawed together from bits and pieces of other unfortunate Time Lords that found their way to the planet. The Doctor comments that they remind him of his Sixth incarnation's umbrella, and tells them both to run.
Back in the TARDIS, Amy and Rory have realised that a green glow is suffusing the TARDIS. As the Cloister Bell rings, the Doctor runs to the TARDIS, trying to stop its departure, but fails as it starts to dematerialize and hurtle off in the direction of the bigger, energy-rich universe, breaking connection with the Doctor. House announces he now has control of the TARDIS and threatens to kill the inhabitants if they don't give a reason not to. Rory claims that House needs entertainment, and killing them quickly wouldn't be fun, buying them time. They head for the TARDIS' corridors. House separates Amy and Rory. Amy is sent into a number of mind-games involving a fake Rory aging, trying to attack Amy and eventually dying, before the real Rory finds her.
The Doctor finds Idris, who tells him that she houses the TARDIS' soul. They talk (and flirt) until their non-linear flow of conversation begins to make sense and the Doctor lets her out of her cage. They once again meet Auntie and Uncle, who drop dead, unable to live without House to repair them and the Doctor realises Idris has little time to live. They agree to rebuild a TARDIS console from all the junk, while they bond. Idris infuses the mechanical bits with a part of her inherent energy (matrix/soul) to allow them to follow House. Meanwhile, Idris reveals that she allowed the Doctor to steal her from the Time Lords all those years ago. She wanted to escape from Gallifrey and see the universe, so she "stole" the only Time Lord mad enough to travel with her.
In the meantime, House has raised the shields of the TARDIS to prevent anyone from entering. They need to be lowered so the Doctor and Idris can enter. The Doctor has Idris send a telepathic message to 'the pretty one' with details on how to get to a backup control-room; Idris sends the message to Rory instead of Amy. They arrive outside a door which opens upon Amy mentally visualising four words Idris sent Rory. They enter the old control room used by the Ninth and Tenth Doctors, lowering the shields as they are followed by Nephew (revealed to be House's most obedient servant). The junk TARDIS lands on Nephew, blasting him into atoms. The Doctor quickly introduces Amy and Rory to Idris and engages in conversation with House, offering help to him as he is having trouble landing in the main universe. The Doctor suggests that House delete 30% of the rooms for power. House agrees - and deletes the previous control room the group are in.
The group are suddenly standing in the main control room, as all living things in deleted rooms are transported there. House doesn't care, though, since the TARDIS has now reached the normal universe. The Doctor pretends to congratulate House for defeating them, while Idris, about to die, whispers something into Rory's ear. The Doctor reveals that House's plan was to trap the matrix in a mortal body, then allow it to die and be released a long way from the TARDIS. Instead, the matrix has been released inside the control room and merges back with the TARDIS. It proceeds to purge House from the TARDIS. The matrix has one last conversation with the Doctor from Idris' body, saying the word she never got to say to him: "Hello."
The Doctor starts putting a firewall around the matrix as he works under the console platform. Rory says that before she died, Idris told him 'the only water in the forest is the River', and that they'll need to know that some day. Thinking Amy and Rory need some time to rest, the Doctor suggests that he take them to the Eye of Orion for the peaceful atmosphere and quickly remakes Amy and Rory's room (without bunk beds per their request), sending them off to bed. Though Rory stalls to ask the Doctor if he has a bedroom of his own, Amy quickly grabs his arm and takes him into the corridor. The Doctor tries to talk to the matrix again, wondering if it agrees with going to the Eye of Orion and is rewarded when the speed lever pulls itself, making him laugh happily.
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