History Recap / DoctorWhoS32E10TheGirlWhoWaited

* BadassGrandma: Older Amy has to be reaching her 60s and can still kick robo-doc ass.

As soon as Rory crosses the TARDIS threshold with his wife, the Doctor slams shut the TARDIS door behind him. As the older Amy pounds on the door, the Doctor explains that he had to lie to get her to work with them. There's no way of allowing both Amys to exist; if they both entered the TARDIS, the paradox would be too great to withstand (that, and [[StatusQuoIsGod it'd ruin the storylines following this one]]). The Doctor forces Rory to make a choice of which Amy to rescue, but the older Amy ends up making that choice for him, telling Rory to stay true to his wife. They both cling to their own side of the TARDIS door as they're separated forever. As the TARDIS disappears, the older Amy asks Interface to show her Earth one last time as she's surrounded by Handbots and sedated. The screen fades to white, and older Amy vanishes slowly from existence.

* ActionSurvivor: Older Amy; it's a necessity when you're trapped in an empty facility and hunted non-stop by robots that will unintentionally kill you for 36 years.

** Again when told to think of the most powerful/important moment of their life, both Amys instantly think of the Macarena. Because that was their first kiss with Rory.

* BottleEpisode: There are many white rooms, Karen Gillan [[ActingForTwo Acts for Two]] and the TARDIS fizzes a bit, plus there are robots and a quick shot of a garden, but there is nothing beyond that.

** Chekhov's Handbag: Amy has a lot of different items usually found in a woman's purse, among them lipstick, eyeliner (which is used to draw Rory the Handbot's face) and plasters.

** The Doctor gives Rory a pair of tricked-out NerdGlasses that bear a strong resemblance to the Tenth Doctor's PurelyAestheticGlasses. The Doctor think they're cool, Amy and Rory disagree.

* CruelMercy: Unfortunate and unintended; the Apalapucians' mercy traps Amy in a time-shifted paradise. Not to mention that any aliens who happen to visit the facility and are immune to Chen-7 will be killed by the medicine, as the designers did not see fit to program their automated doctors to be able to recognise someone with different biology to the native species, or even recognise "I'm an alien and your medicine will kill me" as a valid response.

* GettingCrapPastTheRadar:
** Tom [=MacRae=] had a ''lot'' of fun with this one.

* HopeSpot: After both Amys are in the same time stream, there's a few moments of awkwardness, but soon Rory starts making jokes about the benefits of having two of his wife. Maybe this can work after all, the audience thinks... and then Old Amy and the Doctor lock eyes across the gallery...

As soon as Rory crosses the TARDIS threshold with his wife, the Doctor slams shut the TARDIS door behind him. As the older Amy pounds on the door, the Doctor explains that he had to lie to get her to work with them. There's no way of allowing both Amys to exist; if they both entered the TARDIS, the paradox would be too great to withstand. The Doctor forces Rory to make a choice of which Amy to rescue, but the older Amy ends up making that choice for him, telling Rory to stay true to his wife. They both cling to their own side of the TARDIS door as they're separated forever. As the TARDIS disappears, the older Amy asks Interface to show her Earth one last time as she's surrounded by Handbots and sedated. The screen fades to white, and older Amy vanishes slowly from existence.

* VasquezAlwaysDies Older Amy doesn't just die, she gets erased from existence. This is likely intentional on the Doctor's part, as he seems to think younger Amy is a better person. He doesn't like inadvertently turning his Companions into soldiers.

* DualWielding: Older Army with a katana and a quarterstaff.

The two groups can't find each other, causing everyone to freak out. The Doctor observes a strange lens in the middle of the room and on activation, it allows them to see Amy. They try to get Amy leave the room, but there is no button on her side, and when Rory tries to leave and enter via the second button, Amy's not to be found. The Doctor and Rory are surprised by the appearance of a white, faceless robot with human hands. The Doctor asks the Handbot about the situation and discovers that Apalapucia is in quarantine. It's facing the Chen-7 plague that affects beings with two hearts. They're in the Two Streams treatment facility for plague victims and their loved ones. Through the lens, Amy is yelling at them -- because she's been there for a week now. She doesn't need food or sleep or water. She's just very, very scared.

Rory follows the older Amy into the bowels of the facility, discovering where she has hidden herself from detection. There, her own companion is a (literally) disarmed Handbot, on which she's drawn a dorky face and called "Rory". She also built herself a sonic screwdriver (which she calls a "probe", because to hell with the Doctor's terms), which the Doctor is pretty damn impressed with. Again, the Doctor tries to gain Amy's help, but she flatly refuses. He's the one who left her there. He's the one who abandoned her for 36 years. He's the one who didn't check if the planet would be dangerous before landing. "That's not how I travel," he tries to protest, which earns him an extremely painful WhatTheHellHero from Rory.

Rory uses the lens to discover younger Amy, in the same room but 36 years prior, sobbing to herself. Rory tries to convince the older Amy to say something to her younger self, but the older Amy can only remain pessimistic, remembering herself on the other end of this conversation and being told there would be no hope. Older Amy just doesn't want to die and when the time comes for younger Amy to be on the other end of this talk, 36 years from now, she'll say the same thing.[[ArcWords Time can be rewritten]]. Younger Amy finally convinces her older self to help, not for herself, but for Rory's sake. The revelation sparks a change in the older Amy and she agrees, but only on one condition: the Doctor must rescue ''both'' Amys. Older Amy can live her own life. She can visit the Ponds at Christmas, she can be distant, she can be independent, she'll think of a way to make it work. The Doctor frets, worried about that being too much stress on the TARDIS, but ultimately agrees.

That's right- [[NotMeThisTime it's not Rory this time.]] [[RoleReversal It's the other spouse.]]

That's right- [[NotMeThisTime it's not Rory this time.]]

That's right, [[NotMeThisTime it's not Rory this time.]]

The one where Amy dies. And gets better. That's right, [[NotMeThisTime it's not Rory this time.]]

The one where Amy dies. And gets better. Yup- [[NotMeThisTime it's not Rory this time.]]

The one where Amy dies. And gets better. That's right- [[NotMeThisTime not Rory this time.]]

The one where Amy dies. And gets better. That's right- [[NotMeThisTime it's Rory this time.]]

The one where Amy takes TheSlowPath all because of one wrong button push.

[[caption-width-right:350:[[YearInsideHourOutside Amy's not exactly in the same place right now . . .]]]]

After a brief tussle with the TARDIS controls, the Doctor provides Rory with his sonic screwdriver, the lens, and a pair of glasses. The glasses are a camera, wired to relay what Rory sees and hears back to the TARDIS, since the Doctor (having two hearts) can't go inside the facility proper without becoming infected himself. Rory tries to follow Amy's footsteps, but he's soon surrounded by Handbots, ready to sedate him . . .

. . . until they're attacked by someone wielding a katana and some very raggedy armour, and get deactivated. It's Amy. Specifically, it's a much older and much angrier Amy. When she realises that the Doctor can hear her, she reveals that it's been 36 years. The Doctor immediately warns Rory that if they choose to save the older Amy, they'll be unable to go back to rescue the younger version without creating a time paradox. Rory tries to convince Amy to help find her younger self, but she adamantly refuses. She no longer wants to be rescued. She wants to be left the hell alone.

The Doctor sets the plan in motion, requiring Rory to disable a time engine safeguard while both Amys share the same thought: something extremely powerful that can rip open the fabric of time. This thought is . . . doing the Macarena, because that was her first kiss with Rory. The plan works, and both Amys are present in the same timeline. Older Amy is shocked and very distraught when she realises they're still just the same person, with the same thoughts and the same mind, because they keep saying the same thing at the same time.

-->'''The Doctor:''' Maybe; if I shunted the reality compensators on the TARDIS, recalibrated the [[DoomyDoomsOfDoom doomsday bumpers]] and jettisoned the karaoke bar, yes . . . maybe, yes.

* CallBack: In [[Recap/DoctorWhoS32E4TheDoctorsWife "The Doctor's Wife"]], the Doctor accuses Sexy (the TARDIS) of not always going where he wanted; she counters that she always brought him where he ''needed'' to go. In this episode, she brings him to the quarantine area of Apalapucia, instead of the resort area. If she had brought him to the resort area, he would have died from the plague without any chance.

** The reception area looks [[Recap/DoctorWhoS28E1NewEarth familiar]] . . . so familiar, in fact, that there's an ''identical'' shot to one from "New Earth" in which the RecycledSet is especially noticeable.

** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS32E8LetsKillHitler "I come in peace! Peace! Peace! Peace! Peace . . ."]] ([[HypocriticalHumour Coming from a guy who claimed it would never work.]])

** Older Amy and Rory's conversation as they lean on each side of the TARDIS' door seems to be a parallel to the wall scene in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS28E13Doomsday "Doomsday"]], especially given Rory's earlier line, ''"This isn't fair. You're turning me into you!"''. Older Amy's line ''"Amy Pond in the TARDIS with Rory Williams"'' also echoes Mickey's ''"That's the Doctor, in the TARDIS, with Rose Tyler"'' from [[Recap/DoctorWhoS28E6TheAgeOfSteel "The Age of Steel"]] (a line itself later reprised in a deleted scene from [[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E13JourneysEnd "Journey's End"]]).
*** It also forms a rough parallel with the First Doctor serial [[Recap/DoctorWhoS3E5TheMassacre "The Massacre"]]. Male companion has[=/=]forms emotional attachment to woman who is going to die in her current circumstances, and wants to take her with them to save her life. The Doctor can't allow this due to timey-wimey stuff, tricks the woman into thinking she'll be safe then abandons her. Male companion is furious. Rory calls the Doctor out much as Steven did 45 years earlier.

* FailedAttemptAtDrama: The Doctor, raving about the beauty of Apalapucia, opens the TARDIS door to reveal . . . a WhiteVoidRoom with a door.

-->'''Rory:''' Two Amys, together, c-can that work?\\
'''The Doctor:''' I don't know . . . It's your marriage.

-->'''Older Amy:''' Tell Amy . . . Your Amy . . . I'm giving her the days. The days with you. Days to come . . . Days I can't have. Take them, please . . . I'm giving you my days.

* HopeSpot: After both Amys are in the same time stream, there's a few moments of awkwardness, but soon Rory starts making jokes about the benefits of having two of his wife. Maybe this can work after all, the audience thinks . . . and then Old Amy and the Doctor lock eyes across the gallery . . .

** For older Amy -- Old Amy and the Doctor lock eyes across the gallery and suddenly everyone knows what the Doctor's [[ShootTheDog going to do . . .]]

* SadisticChoice: Rory can only choose to save one of his wives; the young, cheerful Amy he set out to protect, or the older, bitter Amy who is desperate to not be abandoned again. In the end, he chooses the younger one, at Older Amy's behest. For bonus points, Older Amy could understand what he went through as the Last Centurion, or he could spare younger Amy that fate. He rejected the selfish choice, but only with help. "If you love me, don't let me in." This episode is effectively [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E7AmysChoice "Rory's Choice"]].

* SkewedPriorities: The Doctor has just brought his companions to the second-best planet in the universe . . . and Amy's primary concern is her phone. The Doctor complains that she's trying to update Website/{{Twitter}}, but Amy explains that she wants to take pictures.

* TakeAThirdOption: In order to avoid a TemporalParadox, only one Amy can be saved . . . until the Doctor says to hell with paradoxes and that he'll save them both with temporal trickery. In the end, it's a subversion. The Doctor lied about it so that Older Amy would help them. There was never a third option.

* TheTriple: Rory admires the collected art from across the galaxy. "Bit of Earth, bit of alien, bit of . . . whatever the hell that is."

'''The Doctor:''' I dunno . . . it's your marriage.

->'''Older Amy:''' [[FamousLastWords Show me Earth. Show me home . . . Did I ever tell you about this boy I met there?]] [[TearJerker He pretended to be in a band . . .]]

The one with the killer hands.

The Doctor lands the TARDIS, telling Amy and Rory that they've arrived at Apalapucia, a beautiful resort planet, but on opening the door, they find themselves in a clinically white room. There's no spires or anything, just a single door in front of them. Amy returns to the TARDIS to retrieve her phone, while the Doctor and Rory step ahead and examine the door, which has a panel with two buttons. Rory hits the green top one, revealing yet another clinically white waiting room behind it. They enter it, the door closing behind them. Amy, by now, has left the TARDIS, and, figuring them to have gone through the door, hits the red lower button and enters the room.

The two groups can't find each other, causing everyone to freak out. The Doctor observes a strange lens in the middle of the room and on activation, it allows them to see Amy. They try to get Amy leave the room, but there is no button on her side, and when Rory tries to leave and enter via the second button, Amy's not to be found. The Doctor and Rory are surprised by the appearance of a white, faceless robot with human hands. The Doctor asks the Handbot about the situation and discovers that Apalapucia is in quarantine. It's facing the Chen-7 plague that affects beings with two hearts. They're in the Two Streams treatment facility for plague victims and their loved ones. Through the lens, Amy is yelling at them -- because she's been there for a week now. She doesn't need food or sleep or water. She's just very, very scared.

The Doctor, in a panic, realizes that Amy has found herself in an accelerated time stream. It allows an infected being to live out their full life within the very short period that it takes for the plague to kill them. Their loved ones can see that full life unfolding rapidly from the observation rooms though a time lens. When the Handbot fails to recognize them as alien and tries to administer a vaccine, the Doctor warns Rory to stay away, knowing that the dose would be fatal.

The Doctor quickly tells Amy, through the lens, to stay away from the Handbots, because their medicine would seriously harm her human biology. He sonics the lens off the stand and tells her to wait for them, as they'll be there soon. The Doctor and Rory race back to the TARDIS, and the Doctor fiddles with the lens mechanism to use it to lock onto Amy's time stream out of thousands occurring simultaneously in the facility.

Amy, taking the Doctor's advice, steps through into the Two Streams facility proper, and is introduced to Interface, the computer system that operates the facilities. The place is beautiful: there are lush alien gardens, unlimited films and entertainment, a pool, and many adventures to be had. However, the Handbots still want to sedate and disinfect her, which could be lethal to her. Encountering a group of Handbots, she leaves a message for the Doctor and Rory with her lipstick on a door, and then escapes into the bowels of the facility, where the emissions from the time drives interfere with the Handbots' ability to detect her. She finds a quiet cache behind an engine and waits.

The Doctor sets the plan in motion, requiring Rory to disable a time engine safeguard while both Amys share the same thought: something extremely powerful that can rip open the fabric of time. This thought is . . . doing the Macarena, because that was her first kiss with Rory. The plan works, and both Amys are present in the same time-line. Older Amy is shocked and very distraught when she realises they're still just the same person, with the same thoughts and the same mind, because they keep saying the same thing at the same time.

The plan worked but the overload on the time engines causes the glasses to overload, leaving Rory and his wives on their own. They race through the facility, the older Amy using her swordsmanship to defeat the patrols of Handbots converging on their location. As they race through the last hallway to the TARDIS, older Amy steps back to cover their backs. The younger Amy runs smack into a Handbot and is quickly sedated. Older Amy tells Rory to get her younger self into the TARDIS while she clears out the remaining Handbots.

* BottleEpisode: There are many white rooms, Karen Gillan [[ActingForTwo Acts For Two]] and the TARDIS fizzes a bit, plus there are robots and a quick shot of a garden, but there is nothing beyond that.

** Amy's phone. It's what caused Amy to press the wrong button. Later Amy turns it into a sonic "probe".

* CruelToBeKind: The Apalapucian mercy that separates a person from their loved ones and makes them live a lifetime in a day is the inverse of what it first appears to be. It gives victims of a twenty-four hour death plague a full life to live and lets their loved ones see it all in a day. (Green Anchor for visitors and Red Waterfall for victims, in case you were wondering.)

* DistractedByTheSexy: When Rory enters the Waterfall stream, there is a collection of various cultural icons from various worlds. He sees "Venus de Milo" and the Doctor, seeing through the glasses Rory is wearing, has to tell him, "Eyes front, solider!"

* GenreBlind: Leaving Amy in the TARDIS to enter another room, which closes, and then neglecting to tell her ''which'' button to press? [[IdiotBall Nice going, boys.]] Amy also qualifies. Normally you would ask which button to press.

* ILied: The Doctor knew from the beginning that having two Amys on-board wouldn't work because the paradox would be too great for the TARDIS to handle. [[IDidWhatIHadToDo He made them believe it would until they were forced to choose]]. [[ContinuityNod It's rule one.]]

* JustFollowingOrders: The handbots aren't ''trying'' to hurt anyone, it's just that their medicine isn't made for humans and would be lethal to Amy. This is the second time this season [[Recap/DoctorWhoS32E3TheCurseoftheBlackSpot a literal-minded medical program has unintentionally caused problems.]]

* HenpeckedHusband: Rory, again. It becomes even more apparent with the Rory-bot. He's considered a pet by Amy, completely "disarmed" and follows Amy's every command instantly. When Older Amy says "Rory, sit down," both of them immediately do.

-->'''Both Amy's:''' Rory's the love of my life.

-->'''Older Amy:''' Tell Amy . . . Your Amy . . . I'm giving her the days. The days with you. Days to come . . . Days I can't have. Take them, please... I'm giving you my days.

* HaveANiceDeath: "This is a kindness. Do not be alarmed."

** Older Amy and Rory's conversation as they lean on each side of the TARDIS's door seems to be a parallel to the wall scene in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS28E13Doomsday "Doomsday"]], especially given Rory's earlier line, ''"This isn't fair. You're turning me into you!"''. Older Amy's line ''"Amy Pond in the TARDIS with Rory Williams"'' also echoes Mickey's ''"That's the Doctor, in the TARDIS, with Rose Tyler"'' from [[Recap/DoctorWhoS28E6TheAgeOfSteel "The Age of Steel"]] (a line itself later reprised in a deleted scene from [[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E13JourneysEnd "Journey's End"]]).

[[caption-width-right:350:[[YearInsideHourOutside Amy's not exactly in the same place right now...]]]]

The Doctor lands the TARDIS, telling Amy and Rory that they've arrived at Apalapucia, a futurist holiday resort, but on opening the door, they find themselves in a clinically white room. There's no spires or anything, just a single door in front of them. Amy returns to the TARDIS to retrieve her phone, while the Doctor and Rory step ahead and examine the door, which has a panel with two buttons. Rory hits the green top one, revealing yet another clinically white waiting room behind it. They enter it, the door closing behind them. Amy, by now, has left the TARDIS, and, figuring them to have gone through the door, hits the second red button and enters the room.

The Doctor quickly tells Amy, through the lens, to stay away from the Handbots, because their disinfectant might seriously harm her human biology. He sonics the lens off the stand and tells her to wait for them, as they'll be there soon. The Doctor and Rory race back to the TARDIS, and the Doctor fiddles with the lens mechanism to use it to lock onto Amy's time stream out of thousands occurring simultaneously in the facility.

Amy, taking the Doctor's advice, steps through into the Two Streams facility proper, and is introduced to Interface, the vocal system that operates the facilities. The place is beautiful: there are lush alien gardens, unlimited films and entertainment, a pool, and many adventures to be had. However, the Handbots still want to sedate and disinfect her, which could be lethal to her. Encountering a group of Handbots, she leaves a message for the Doctor and Rory with her lipstick on a door, and then escapes into the bowels of the facility, where the emissions from the time drives interfere with the Handbots' ability to detect her. She finds a quiet cache behind an engine and waits.

After a brief tussle with the TARDIS controls, the Doctor provides Rory with his sonic screwdriver, the lens, and a pair of glasses. The glasses are a camera, wired to relay what Rory sees and hears back to the TARDIS, since the Doctor (having two hearts) can't go inside the facility proper without becoming infected himself. Rory tries to follow Amy's footsteps, but he's soon surrounded by Handbots, ready to sedate him...

...until they're attacked by someone wielding a katana and some very raggedy armour, and get deactivated. It's Amy. Specifically, it's a much older and much angrier Amy. When she realises that the Doctor can hear her, she reveals that it's been 36 years. The Doctor immediately warns Rory that if they choose to save the older Amy, they'll be unable to go back to rescue the younger version without creating a time paradox. Rory tries to convince Amy to help find her younger self, but she adamantly refuses. She no longer wants to be rescued. She wants to be left the hell alone.

The Doctor sets the plan in motion, requiring Rory to disable a time engine safeguard while both Amys share the same thought: something extremely powerful that can rip open the fabric of time. This thought is... doing the Macarena, because that was her first kiss with Rory. The plan works, and both Amys are present in the same time-line. Older Amy is shocked and very distraught when she realises they're still just the same person, with the same thoughts and the same mind, because they keep saying the same thing at the same time.

-->'''The Doctor:''' Maybe; if I shunted the reality compensators on the TARDIS, recalibrated the [[DoomyDoomsOfDoom doomsday bumpers]] and jettisoned the Karaoke Bar, yes... maybe, yes.
* AsceticAesthetic: The hospital is extremely bare. There's just a door in a WhiteVoidRoom with two buttons.

* BadassAdorable: As always, Rory, who hits a Handbot with a copy of The Mona Lisa.

* CallBack: In the last episode, the Doctor accuses Sexy (the TARDIS) of not always going where he wanted; she counters that she always brought him where he ''needed'' to go.. In this episode, she brings him to the quarantine area of Apalapucia, instead of the resort area. If she had brought him to the resort area, he would have died from the plague without any chance.

** Chekhov's Handbag: Amy has a lot of different items usually found in a girl's handbag, among them lipstick, eyeliner (which is used to draw Rory the Handbot's face) and plasters.

* ColdEquation: The Doctor shuts the door on Older Amy, as the TARDIS can't cope with the temporal paradox of two Amy's.

** This isn't the first time the Doctor and companion(s) have [[Recap/DoctorWhoS29E3Gridlock landed on a quarantined planet unawares in the wrong area]].

** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS32E8LetsKillHitler "I come in peace! Peace! Peace! Peace! Peace..."]] ([[HypocriticalHumour Coming from a guy who claimed it would never work.]])

** Older Amy and Rory's conversation as they lean on each side of the TARDIS's door seems to be a parallel to the wall scene in "Doomsday", especially given Rory's earlier line, ''"This isn't fair. You're turning me into you!"''. Older Amy's line ''"Amy Pond in the TARDIS with Rory Williams"'' also echoes Mickey's ''"That's the Doctor, in the TARDIS, with Rose Tyler"'' from "The Age of Steel" (a line itself later reprised in a deleted scene from "Journey's End").
*** It also forms a rough parallel with the First Doctor serial [[Recap/DoctorWhoS3E5TheMassacre "The Massacre"]]. Male companion has / forms emotional attachment to woman who is going to die in her current circumstances, and wants to take her with them to save her life. The Doctor can't allow this due to timey-wimey stuff, tricks the woman into thinking she'll be safe then abandons her. Male companion is furious. Rory calls the Doctor out much as Steven did 45 years earlier.

* CruelMercy: Unfortunate and unintended; the Apalapucians' mercy traps Amy in a time-shifted paradise. Not to mention that any aliens who happen to visit the facility and are immune to Chen-7 will be killed by the vaccine, as the designers did not see fit to program their automated doctors to be able to recognise someone with different biology to the native species, or even recognise "I'm an alien and your vaccine will kill me" as a valid response.

* FailedAttemptAtDrama: The Doctor, raving about the beauty of Apalapucia, opens the TARDIS door to reveal... a WhiteVoidRoom with a door.

** Older Amy can be seen reflected in the Eyeglass sneaking up on Rory, shortly before she makes her presence known.

'''The Doctor:''' I don't know... It's your marriage.

* GogglesDoSomethingUnusual: The NerdGlasses are a camera / two-way radio.

* GrandmaWhatMassiveHotnessYouHave: Even after thirty-six years, Rory thinks Amy is ''hot'' [[note]][[IronicEcho Eyes front, soldier.]][[/note]]. "You look great."

-->'''Older Amy:''' Tell Amy... Your Amy... I'm giving her the days. The days with you. Days to come... Days I can't have. Take them, please... I'm giving you my days.

* ImprovisedWeapon: The Mona Lisa picture as a club.
* InherentlyFunnyWords:
** Apalapucia. The episode opens with the Doctor saying it over and over again.

* TheNounWhoVerbed: The Girl Who Waited.

** For older Amy -- Old Amy and the Doctor lock eyes across the gallery and suddenly everyone knows what the Doctor's [[ShootTheDog going to do...]]

'''Doctor:''' That is not how I travel--\\

* SadisticChoice: Rory can only choose to save one of his wives; the young, cheerful Amy he set out to protect, or the older, bitter Amy who is desperate to not be abandoned again. In the end, he chooses the younger one, at Older Amy's behest. For bonus points, Older Amy could understand what he went through as the Last Centurion, or he could spare younger Amy that fate. He rejected the selfish choice, but only with help. "If you love me, don't let me in." This episode is effectively "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E7AmysChoice Rory's Choice]]".
* SceneryPorn: Brief, but it's there. That garden is beautiful.
* SeparatedByTheWall: Separated by the TARDIS door, with a little WindowLove thrown in, Rory and Older Amy say goodbye.

* SkewedPriorities: The Doctor has just brought his companions to the second-best planet in the universe... and Amy's primary concern is her phone. The Doctor complains that she's trying to update Website/{{Twitter}}, but Amy explains that she wants to take pictures.

* TakeAThirdOption: In order to avoid a TemporalParadox, only one Amy can be saved... until the Doctor says to hell with paradoxes and that he'll save them both with temporal trickery. In the end, it's a subversion. The Doctor lied about it so that Older Amy would help them. There was never a third option.

* TheTriple: Rory admires the collected art from across the galaxy. "Bit of Earth, bit of alien, bit of... whatever the hell that is."

'''The Doctor:''' I dunno... it's your marriage.
* VaderBreath: Older Amy's first appearance has this sound effect due to her mask.
* VasquezAlwaysDies Older Amy doesn't just die, she gets erased from existence. This is likely intentional on the Doctor's part, as he seems to think younger Amy is a better person. He doesn't like inadvertently turning his Companions into soldiers.

->'''Older Amy:''' [[FamousLastWords Show me Earth. Show me home.... Did I ever tell you about this boy I met there?]] [[TearJerker He pretended to be in a band...]]

** Older Amy and Rory's conversation as they lean on each side of the TARDIS's door seems to be a parallel to the wall scene in "Doomsday", especially given Rory's earlier line, ''"This isn't fair. You're turning me into you!"''. Older Amy's line ''"Amy Pond in the TARDIS with Rory Williams"'' also echoes Mickey's ''"That's the Doctor, in the TARDIS, with Rose Tyler"'' from "The Age of Steel" (a line itself later reprised in a deleted scene from "Journey's End").
*** It also forms a rough parallel with the First Doctor serial [[Recap/DoctorWhoS3E5TheMassacre "The Massacre"]]. Male companion has / forms emotional attachment to woman who is going to die in her current circumstances, and wants to take her with them to save her life. The Doctor can't allow this due to timey-wimey stuff, tricks the woman into thinking she'll be safe then abandons her. Male companion is furious. Rory calls the Doctor out much as Steven did 45 years earlier.

The two groups can't find each other, causing everyone to freak out. The Doctor observes a strange lens in the middle of the room and on activation, it allows them to see Amy. They try to get Amy leave the room, but the button on her side doesn't work, and when Rory tries to leave and enter via the second button, Amy's not to be found. The Doctor and Rory are surprised by the appearance of a white, faceless robot with human hands. The Doctor asks the Handbot about the situation and discovers that Apalapucia is in quarantine. It's facing the Chen-7 plague that affects beings with two hearts. They're in the Two Streams treatment facility for plague victims and their loved ones. Through the lens, Amy is yelling at them -- because she's been there for a week now. She doesn't need food or sleep or water. She's just very, very scared.

...until they're attacked by someone wielding a katana and some very raggedy armor, and get deactivated. It's Amy. Specifically, it's a much older and much angrier Amy. When she realises that the Doctor can hear her, she reveals that it's been 36 years. The Doctor immediately warns Rory that if they choose to save the older Amy, they'll be unable to go back to rescue the younger version without creating a time paradox. Rory tries to convince Amy to help find her younger self, but she adamantly refuses. She no longer wants to be rescued. She wants to be left the hell alone.

Rory follows the older Amy into the bowels of the facility, discovering where she has hidden herself from detection. There, her own companion is a (literally) disarmed Handbot, on which she's drawn a dorky face and called "Rory". She also built herself a sonic screwdriver (which she calls a "probe", because to hell with the Doctor's terms), which the Doctor is pretty damn impressed with. Again, the Doctor tries to gain Amy's help, but she flatly refuses. He's the one who left her there. He's the one who abandoned her for 36 years. He's the one who didn't check if the planet would be dangerous before landing. "That's not how I travel", he tries to protest, which earns him an extremely painful WhatTheHellHero from Rory.

* ArmorPiercingQuestion: After Older Amy refuses to help and keeps up her bitterness and cynicism until Young Amy says this:

-->'''The Doctor:''' Maybe; if I shunted the reality compensators on the TARDIS, recalibrated the [[DoomyDoomsOfDoom doomsday pumpers]] and jettisoned the Karaoke Bar, yes... maybe, yes.

** It also forms a rough parallel with the First Doctor serial [[Recap/DoctorWhoS3E5TheMassacre "The Massacre"]]. Male companion has / forms emotional attachment to woman who is going to die in her current circumstances, and wants to take her with them to save her life. The Doctor can't allow this due to timey-wimey stuff, tricks the woman into thinking she'll be safe then abandons her. Male companion is furious. Rory calls the Doctor out much as Steven did 45 years earlier.

** Amy [[Recap/DoctorWhoS32E6TheAlmostPeople still has issues about]] [[Recap/DoctorWhoS32E5TheRebelFlesh how real or valid a person is under weird circumstances,]] though the similar themes aren't mentioned by anyone.

** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E13TheBigBang Rule One-The Doctor Lies]]

* CruelMercy: Unfortunate and unintended; the Apalapucian mercy traps Amy in a time-shifted paradise. Not to mention that any aliens who happen to visit the facility and are immune to Chen-7 will be killed by the vaccine, as the designers did not see fit to program their automated doctors to be able to recognise someone with different biology to the native species, or even recognise "I'm an alien and your vaccine will kill me" as a valid response.

* FailedAttemptAtDrama: The Doctor is raving about the beauty of Apalapucia, opens the TARDIS door to reveal... a WhiteVoidRoom with a door.

* GeniusBruiser: Older Amy who is not only a total badass, but has managed to create a sonic screwdriver ([[InsistentTerminology probe!]]) out of her cell phone and has hacked most of the systems in the hospital.

* {{Hipster}}: The Doctor is an age-old hipster, taking Rory and Amy to the ''second'' most popular tourist destination because the first is over-run by coffee shops.
* HopeSpot: After both Amys are in the same time stream, there's a few moments of awkwardness, but soon Rory starts making jokes about the benefits of having two of his wife. Maybe this can work after all, the audience thinks... and then Old Amy and the Doctor lock eyes across the gallery....

** Clom gets a mention. Apparently there's a Disneyland there.

* MasterSwordsman: [[FutureBadass Older Amy]] has had 3.5 decades of practice with that katana.
* MedicalHorror: The Chen-7 plague had led to Handbots aggressively administering medicine to anyone in their facility, even those it would be lethal to.

* NoodleIncident: Older Amy's [[TheSlowPath alternate life]] appears to have been a series of impressive and unexplained events. The list is: building a sonic ''probe'', disarming the Rory bot, finding a katana, building that armor and reprograming Interface.

* TheOner: It's easy to miss, but Rory leaves the Green Anchor room (with the Doctor still in it), goes back into the hallway, enters the Red Waterfall room (which is empty, has different signs on the wall, and chairs on the other side of the table) via the same elevator door, then BACK to the hallway, then BACK into the Green Anchor room (where the Doctor is still waiting on his side of the table) all in one shot. Presumably, Matt Smith and the crew were scrambling like mad as soon as the elevator doors closed each time.

** Rory points out that picking up a history book and looking up disasters before the TARDIS lands would help avoid going into harm's way. The Doctor flippantly responds that he doesn't travel that way. To be fair, there are explicit times when the Doctor has read the history and still doesn't know what specifically happened (Pompeii, the first colony on Mars, etc.), but this is one he could have avoided with a little research.

->'''Older Amy:''' [[FamousLastWords Show me Earth. Show me home.... Did I ever tell you about this boy I met there?]] [[TearJerker He pretended to be in a band...]]

* ImprovisedWeapon: The Mona Lisa picture.

* RetGone: This happens to Older Amy, and was the main reason she originally didn't want Rory to rescue Younger Amy.

* CouldHaveAvoidedThisPlot:
** Rory notes that using a history book would have kept Amy safe.
** If Amy never went back for her phone or if he'd specified what button to press, none of this would have happened. It makes Rory having to choose and the hell she went through all the more heartbreaking.
** If the inhabitants of a major tourist planet had thought to incorporate more judgement and biological scanning equipment than God gave a mosquito into their beyond-state-of-the-art quarantine facility and its robots, they might check to see if a given alien is even capable of carrying the plague, never mind what medications work on it.
** If the quarantine facility had anything resembling a live staff, or even any kind of means of communicating with some kind of live support staff outside (far away from the infected area), with whom Old Amy could have engaged in useful dialogue and explained the situation to -- that she was a time traveller who became stranded within by mistake and their robot's programming was lethal to her as she was of a monocardiac species -- and who thus could have determined was not a possible plague host and escorted from the facility -- or escorted her back to the TARDIS.
** If the facility had made it possible for people who entered the red anteroom by mistake to leave again, rather than giving them two options: be admitted as a patient, or stay in the anteroom forever.
** In all, staggeringly monumental levels of incompetence went into designing the facility, which is doubly impressive considering it's a facility full of complex temporal interactions and personal time-frames for each patient and which evidently has a self-replicating supply of robotic medical staff. Either they slapped it together in the shortest time imaginable and thus skipped all imaginable safeguards, or everyone involved in the designing and planning stage except the architects really phoned it in, or their medicine failed to stop the plague and everyone died.