In which we get genuine characterisation, good storytelling and a puzzle which relies on being clever, rather than hiding clues from the audience. In short, most of the things I've been complaining about over the season.

This was, without a doubt, the best Who so far this season. It's made me very glad indeed, because I was worrying that I was falling out of like with the series. It's given me enough about Rory and Amy to actually give a damn about them, which I really didn't last week.

Before this episode, my impression of Rory was that he was so watery and milquetoast that I couldn't understand why anyone would ever want to hang out with him, let alone want to marry him. His one burst of having a spine, when he told the Doctor off in Venice for making people dangerous, came off as spiteful and petty more than genuinely insightful. He wasn't even interestingly dull, but just... weak.

Now, I like him. He's normal and average and is quite comfortable with that, but still has a little bit of an aspiration to be dangerous, kooky and strange, despite not having any of the personality traits to actually pull it off. He loves the idea of being a doting family man and pillar of the community, but still wants a ponytail because it's almost sort of quite like a rebellion, if that's okay with everyone else. I like the idea of a companion who aspires to be adventurous, despite being very much like boring old you and me.

And considering I was longing for the moment when Amy finally tossed him over for the Doctor and got the annoying streak of custard off the screen, it's quite impressive that this episode made me consider him viable as a companion.

Not nearly as impressive as making me like Amy, of course. I suspect I'm the only person who feels like this, but so far, I've found Amy to be thoroughly unlikeable. So far, she's openly ogled the Doctor in front of her boyfriend, run away from her wedding and given every impression of having 'settled' for a guy she knows loves her, attempted to cheat on her fiancee (without even a hint of guilt), happily positioned herself as in charge of "her two boys," despite how obviously uncomfortable that made Rory, had a hell of an attitude about a lot of things and been generally smug without actually having been that clever. She hasn't struck me as a character so much as SpunkyGirlSidekickNo1 and I hadn't yet found a reason to like her.

This episode, I liked the fact that she didn't make a decision when the DreamLord taunted her. I was fully expecting her to be SpunkyGirlSidekickNo1 and have an answer that obeyed plot, but instead she acted like a real person and dithered until one option was effectively taken away from her. I felt I understood her a bit more this week; instead of having her being boisterous and brazen about everything, we got her admitting to Rory that she really does see this as a temporary retreat from adulthood, rather than a complete rejection of what he and she have together. This was underlined by the fact that she was the one to defend their life together when the Doctor called it dull. Before, I thought she was running from a mistake, cruelly leading the lily-livered Rory on until she makes up her mind, but she actually does care for him and a little bit wants the life that he offers her. Which makes her much more likeable to me.

The story itself was very interesting as well and clever, although the writer obviously is a big Buffy fan. I picked up a big influence from 'Normal Again' in Season 6, as well as just a hint of "Once More With Feeling" in the Big Bad revealing the innermost depths of your psyche and using his power to show the secrets you'd rather keep behind your teeth. The actor who played the DreamLord was excellent: quietly threatening, superior and secure in just how much cleverer than everyone else he was. Perfectly played and perfectly written as the Doctor's alter-ego. Plus, "You die, stupid; that's what reality means," rivals the Jammy Dodger and tea for the line of the series so far.

I didn't pick up the DreamLord reveal or the two dreams reveal until just before they were actually revealed, but they were both clever, neat and, most importantly, all of the clues were there for the audience to see. I hate it when they hide clues just to make the Doctor look extra clever when he figures it out.

All in all, a great hour of television, and one where I feel like I watched it to enjoy myself, rather than watched it in duty to the fact that I've liked Doctor Who before and maybe it'll get better this week. With any luck, Simon Nye will get a regular gig writing for the show.

PJW