"he's spending more time trying to juke you off the plot then he is trying to create a logical/emotional throughline that make sense."

Agreed! the storybook/detective framing was so aggressively Moffat saying LOOK AT ME TELLING A STORY, but then once Amy and Rory went back in time.. the Doctor couldn't just like, meet them in Pittsburgh? I did like that the viewer was implicated in Rory's death—by reading his gravestone—from the very beginning, that was kind of a nice touch. I totally agree with Erik, though, that sending 'em back in time to get old and die is pretty anticlimactic, after all that they've been through. A wacky montage of their old-timey adventures would've made me feel a lot better about it.

All of that said, I totally cried a ton at the end of this. Bye Ponds!

I thought of something else.

WHAT ABOUT RORY'S DAD

:((((((((((((((

Seriously, Erik. WHAT ABOUT RORY'S DAD?

Anyway. PONDS.

PONDS.

The second paradox is total bullshit - the only actual thing that's set in stone, literally - is that Rory dies when he is 82 and he dies in New York. Everything else is up in the air. Perhaps the Doctor can't take them away, but never see them again? And River can still contact them, but not in person? But, you know, the Doctor can "see the curve of the entire universe" or something, therefore he can just "tell" when things are "fixed points" or whatever bullshit excuse you need to justify the kindest sendoff for companions possible. That excuse really allows the angels to exist as dangerous "predators" anyway.

I agree that episode moved too quickly and the ending was wonky. The lack of lasting drama seemed like a definite choice that was made to distinguish this ending from the endings we've had previously. Of course, it worked because I am (we are?) invested in Rory and Amy. The degree to which I love these characters and the actors that play them pulled me right through the recent non-plots of late.

On the other hand, I never quite know how I feel about how Matt Smith is playing the Doctor when it comes to the emotional stuff and he will have to move mountains to make me ever believe that the Doctor is actually in love with River.

I have dorky/asshole NY-local things:
The first thing that bugged me was that the building that served as the Winter Quay (Tudor City) is in midtown near the Chrysler Building which appears very large more than once near the location. It's nowhere near Battery Park or the Statue of Liberty. It's not only waaaay up town but also on the east side of the city, near the East River. The statue is in the Hudson River. It's more just annoying because they could have used the same buildings and modified their exterior shots (being as they did several times, ie. GIGANTIC EVIL STATUE OF LIBERTY) and being that they came to NY to shoot it, they must have looked at a map at some point and decided that most people wouldn't give a shit. So much for details, Moffat. Or geography.

It also will forever depress me that Rory was attacked by an angel in my favorite spot in the park. But forever amuse me how hilariously quick for Amy and the Doctor to get from Central Park to Times Square to a beach in Brooklyn. And the awkward cut-aways between on-location shoots without River and studio shoots with River.

And the most dorky NY-local thing is that I went to see them film at Tudor City and it was fucking awesome.