The Best of Matt Smith

Picking my favorite episodes from my favorite doctor is like picking my favorite child but I suppose I could narrow it down to some of my top favorites. We will go season by season.

Season 5

Vincent and the Doctor: This episode is so emotional. The Doctor shows Van Gogh that people love him. That his art matters, that he matters. And though obviously it doesn’t change the outcome of his life it does show us (and Amy) that life is a pile of good things and bad things and both are important. I love this episode so much I have watched it 1000 times and I will watch it 1000 more.

The Pandorica Opens/The Big Bang: Hearing the Doctor talk about what was trapped inside the Pandorica not realizing he was talking about himself is just some top tier writing. We also get Rory back and him being just the most delightful, loveable in the whole of time and space. Matt Smith also delivers one of the best Doctor monologues ever written. The writing and his delivery are just so so good.

Season 6

The Impossible Astronaut/Day of the Moon: Honestly I could put the entirety of season 6 on here because it is really that good. But the whole Doctor’s death storyline is just written so well. Here we get Mark Sheppard as a guest star and he is an excellent addition to 11s little group. This is also really the start of The Silence who are just awesome villains.

The Girl Who Waited: Amy is in an accelerated timeline and Rory and the Doctor are stuck in the TARDIS. This episode is just really emotional. Amy was already the girl who waited but in this episode she is isolated, and aging alone. It's wildly upsetting but seriously such good writing.

The Wedding of River Song: One of my favorite episodes of television ever. The writing is perfect, I literally cry my way through the episode everytime I watch it. River is willing to destroy the universe for her Doctor and I love it.

Season 7

The Power of Three: The Doctor misses Rory and Amy so he visits them at home and he is bored, bored, bored while he waits for something to happen. I love this episode for a lot of reasons, the first being that Amy, Rory, and The Doctor have always been their own little family, but now we bring in Rory’s dad and we see the trio in their home environment. What are these relationships like when we aren’t traveling through time and space? It is such an excellent exploration of family dynamics and I love it.

The Angels Take Manhattan: Our wonderful family episode is immediately followed by the most depressing thing to happen since Donna…In a very well written episode (especially the banter and flirting between the Doctor and River Song), we watch River and the Doctor lose Amy and Rory. It would almost be better if they died, instead they got sucked back in time and stuck. And as a tumblr post very rudely reminded us, there is no possible way to know Amy got sucked back to the same time as Rory and they more then likely died alone without each other. Some of the best acting we have seen from any Doctor Who cast is done in this episode.

Matt Smith was given some of the best writing ever on the show, including the OG seasons. Even Matt Smith’s bad episodes are better than literally anyone else's bad episodes. His writing is well thought out, consistent and emotionally charged. It’s most definitely not for the casual viewer but honestly 5 seasons into a TV show if you are looking for unconnected storylines that just ain't gonna happen.