"First legitimately scary episode of Doctor Who I've seen. I know its been creepy in the past, but I was actually frightened . . ."

One thing about being a fan of something is understanding its flaws, not knowing it's perfect, and the ability to mock whatever you are a fan of, even though—week in, week out—you still watch. I feel like I should point this out to show that I'm not just going to rave about Doctor Who. I know its flaws, but I still love it to death.

Saying that, though, there wasn't much point in me putting that disclaimer for the review of this episode, because I can assure you, "The Impossible Astronaut" is one of the finest episodes of Doctor Who I have ever seen.

OK, it could all fall flat in "Day of the Moon", but at least "The Impossible Astronaut" was a tightly written, heartfelt, hilarious, and absolutely terrifying episode. And, yes, I actually mean hiding-behind-a-cushion scary. Not just 'Doctor Who scary', but legitimately, bone-chillingly terrifying. This fear comes in the form of . . . well . . . they aren't Doctor Who's typically quirky looking monsters. They're hideous creatures doing hideous things. It's electrifying to watch, frankly.

Steven Moffat has somehow managed to reinvent a reinvention. I remember a year ago watching "The Eleventh Hour" and being completely taken aback by it; it felt like a massive leap for the show. Don't get me wrong, though. I did enjoy the RTD era, but I never felt the show reached its potential: it felt too grounded. But this episode has truly proven that Moffat is somehow still managing to take the show in even more daring, dark directions, joyfully playing around with time travel, actually showing new planets, unique aliens, all with a dark, sinister fairytale-like twist.

It would be too easy to make the show completely dark, losing its charm; it's an incredibly fine line for a family show, but Moffat is walking that fine line with confidence, perfectly keeping the show's humour, charm, and wit at its centre, even in the midst of such a dark and sinister tale—with a lot more darkness to come.

Hell, it's even explicitly mentioned in the episode that 'darker days' are coming for one particular character. If anything for a first episode, it is too large and too sinister, even though it's very character-driven with little action. It drives the story forward in ways we never saw coming.

The cast are terrific! One surprise for me was Arthur Darvill playing Rory. I'm the first to admit that I didn't find Rory an interesting addition to the cast last year; I didn't find his portrayal particularly engaging, and it felt like the only reason he was brought in was to be killed off, and even then there weren't any direct implications on any of the characters due that darn Crack in time! Thankfully that all changed with him this year, particularly in a heartfelt and—believe it or not—tense conversation with River, showing even now how insecure he is with Amy having both him and the Doctor in her life again. (Yes, 'again'. But Shh. Spoilers!)

As always, Matt and Karen are superb, Matt having his typical childlike enthusiasm, playing a somewhat more aged Doctor, showing how much fun he can have playing around with space and time, even if some people wouldn't believe some of his fun is completely wholesome. He has also shown—with the aid of Moffat's incredible writing, of course—how paranoid the Doctor can get with the people he holds closest to him. Even if he might be rightly so. 

I apologize here if my review seems vague and all over the place. It's hard to write this without revealing many spoilers. I can't just go blurting out something like "The Doctor dies!" or "Rory is the Rani!" or something evil like that. I'm not that much of a bad person. I want everyone to enjoy this episode in its pure, spoiler-free form.

". . . 'Darker days' are coming for one particular character . . ."

And this is where I leave you and say "The Impossible Astronaut" is one of the finest episodes of Doctor Who in its long history. I know that sounds like gushing fanboy reaction; but if it were terrible, I would tell you that. If I were to point out something bad, I don't think they used the Monument Valley setting enough or to its full effect. Hopefully in Part 2 it'll all work out well. But that's just nitpicking, as I genuinely believe it is a twisted, timey-wimey, epically-scaled classic. 

I'm having plenty of people asking me to spoil the episode for them. For those people, and for all fans of the show, the fans who love everything about it, and the fans who bizarrely hate everything about it—I can guarantee that, even if you think you know what's happening in this episode, you really, really don't. You are all in for an incredible treat when Easter hits. And you'll be thankful that, unlike me, you don't have to wait three weeks for new episodes!

Thanks again to David Thorp, whom you can follow on Twitter.