The Doctor Doesn't Recognise River Song | Silence In The Library | Doctor Who

[jdunn]

We had no idea when this episode first premiered how absolutely heartbreaking this scene really was.

[trainknut]

Only Doctor Who could introduce a character and give her a heartbreaking scene in the same episode that wraps up her entire character arc before we’ve even learned who she is, and then spend years working backwards until we know her entire life from birth to death.

[StevenJQuinlan]

This hits so differently after the Capaldi era

[Mote.]

"Your eyes, you're younger than I've ever seen you" The fact River can see right through the Doctor

[seanmansfield]

The Doctor completely haplessly asking, wholey genuinely, "who are you?" to River Song is probably one of the most hurtful things he could have said to her without having possibly known.

[justyourlocalcommeterd]

I like that River tells Ten he's young and he says he's not, considering he's around 900 years old. But by the time he's Twelve, he's already 4 billion years old. Ten in this case, is really young and he has no idea.

[rnadomj]

Man after seeing everything after this, River saying "You're young" feels so true now. Back in 2008 it didn't but now the 10th Doctor seems like a teenager next to Capaldi and such.

[soundgal_sine_qua_non]

This hits differently after Capaldi's run, but also after the Big Finish audios. River knows there are, as she says, "Certain Doctors I can't play with." She has to make sure they don't remember meeting her to keep the timeline in tact. Ten was supposed to be a safe option. She's worked with Ten before, and he knew her. This is the moment she realizes one of the few faces she thought was safe to be herself with doesn't know her. It's heartbreaking.

[The_Kind_idiot]

The little shudder Alex (River) preformed after the "who are you?" line.. like the earth just vanished beneath her feet. the look of wonder turn into first shock then dread and then the loss of hope.
she was given an impossible task to preform "the heartbreak of a beloved character" long before the audience gonna fall inlove with River and she did it! flawlessly !

[OddNess]

Considering that this is right after she left 12, this scene is heartbreaking. The last time she saw the Doctor he was well over 2000 years old. And now she is seeing a version WAY younger than she EVER has seen. A version she thought was safe to interact with, to talk to. To BE River Song with. So that 'Who Are You?' from 10 must be devastating.

[wairong]

The Doctor: "If you all understand me; look very, very scared."

River: Ear to ear smile

[ZachsMind]

There were folk who didn't like River Song when her story began and some held on to that as her tale unfolded. I fell for her the instant she showed up and pulled out that diary. Finally someone who knows more about what's going on than The Doctor does. Alex Kingston's performance here is a wild combination of tongue in cheek snarky and in the instant she realizes just how far back this Doctor is, her face reveals a heart that breaks like a crystalline figurine of a ballerina that has just fallen from a great height. Such a small delicate thing. Cuz it meant not only was this is first time seeing her, it would be her last time seeing him. Spoilers.

[chriswillett]

The saddest part is that she knew there must be a reason the doctor never mentioned the first time they met; so she had warning this was going to go badly.

[craigbryant]

The unspeakable tragedy of this story. The unbearable sorrow of it.

[rachelnoble]

3:41 -4:56 I loved how River Song thinks that the Doctor is joking when he looks at her like she’s lost her mind when she asked him if he still remembers all of the adventures they had together in the past until he says you’ve seen me before, then and who are you?, Finally she realizes that the doctor was being serious when he was acting like he doesn’t know her is because all the adventures she had with him was with the eleventh Doctor his future self The current doctor has no memories of her at all until now.

[tomassoejakto]

We didn't even get a completely satisfying answer about who she is to the Doctor by the end of this 2-parter, but we're actually watching the end of their long adventure together.

[robertjackson]

The day’s coming when I’ll look into that man’s eyes—my Doctor—and he won’t have the faintest idea who I am. And I think it’s going to kill me.

[joevictor]

Even though I don't really like what Moffat did with Doctor Who, I have to admit the whole River Song thing is amazing

[vegtaprince]

God I have rewatched this two parter so many times after the full story of River wrapped up and I have to give props to Alex's phenomenal performance. If you watch her carefully in the ensemble scenes, her eyes are fixed on the Doctor and she has that look of admiration seeing him work. It's like watching an old video of your partner but you actually get to interact with this version of them and physically see how they used to be before the time they met you. It's the sheer brilliance of Moffat's writing and Alex's portrayal of River that makes this so iconic.

[MitchellTF]

Moffat is NOT afraid to play the long game.