In which the Doctor and River have a very awkward first date

I do find it funny that when the title was revealed for the latest episode of Doctor Who all those months back, people freaked. I mean, "Let's Kill Hitler" will do that.

Needless to say, I was pleasantly surprised when this episode had little to nothing to do with Hitler. Really it was about family and awkward first dates.

So let's start at the beginning. I loved that Rory and Amy get the Doctor's attention via crop circle. Kinda brilliant. Not 5 minutes into the episode and I realize yet again why I love this little trio. Yeah, maybe I'm in the minority, but I love Rory and Amy as the Companions. The Doctor has a nice chemistry with them both and you can tell that all three of them would give their lives for the other and they have at one point or another really.

But then things got really interesting. I suspected something was off with this Mels character because she's Amy and Rory's BFF, yet, we've never seen her before. I guess you could have played it off that it was a development of Amy's newly created present. And I really enjoyed the flashbacks. Oh little baby, Rory, you really are a hopeless romantic when it comes to Amy. I won't lie, I cracked up when Amy thought Rory was gay because she just couldn't see that he was in love with her and only her.

Then the title kicked in. Mels is about two short of a baker's dozen and wants to take the Doctor and kill Hitler. Here is where it gets interesting. In the matter of minutes, we discover that a group of miniature bounty hunters are after Hitler, that the gang unintentionally saved Hitler's life, Rory is a bad ass, oh and there's the little thing of Mels actually being the grown up regeneration of Melody Pond.

So we finally get to see how the Doctor and River Song/Melody Pond originally met. And I really like that THIS is the basis of the episode...not Hitler....but what is essentially the Doctor and River's very first "date." So we discover that, no, The Doctor couldn't find kidnapped baby Melody and we're seeing the version of her that was raised as an assassin whose only goal is to murder the Doctor. While the Doctor and Pre-River Song's interactions are great, it's just as entertaining watching Amy and Rory deal with trying to chase down their now grown daughter, who in a roundabout way, they did raise.

The miniature bounty hunters aren't that important so I'll skip over that. What is important is the continuity that is kept in this episode. Here we discover how River Song became the woman who the Doctor will eventually fall in love with. Hell, it's because of the Doctor that she gets her name...and her book of spoilers. I like that the throw away line from forever ago about the Doctor being too busy to teach River to fly the Tardis is shown to be only partially true. Yes, he was busy...busy dying that is. And I loved that it's the Doctor's determination to save Amy and Rory that basically turn River into the woman we saw in those early episode. And most importantly, we are finally given the reason why River Song in the Library episodes did not regenerate. Moffat covered all the bases with this one it would seem. He tried to neatly wrap up all those lose ends....although some were still left for me. How the hell did Amy and Rory get back to their time? Was it River and if so, where did she go? Again, who is the "good man" that River Song killed that landed her in prison. I know we're to assume it's the Doctor, but we know now how the Doctor supposedly dies...so yeah...who is it?

So, while this is probably a jumbled mess, I'll summarize it. I want to be River Song when I grow up.....the Tardis knows the Doctor so well.....Amy and Rory OTP....and that awkward moment when Amelia Pond thinks her future husband is stuck in the closet...when we all know it's Hitler...because that's where Rory put him.

Next week...CREEPYWTFARETHOSEDOLLFACEDPEOPLE?!