Ranking River Song Episodes

Literally one of my favorite parts of Doctor Who is River Song. She is brilliant and amazing and one of my favorite tv characters of all time. She played really important roles in each of her doctors stories but there are definitely storylines and pairings that are better. So here we go with ranking all of the River Song episodes from less awesome to most awesome.

Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead: Now I will say that even though this is ranked the lowest, it is by no means a bad episode. And actually it gets more heartbreaking and real in retrospect because the more we fall in love with River the more upsetting it gets that The Doctor has no idea who she is in this episode. But it is our first chronological introduction to River Song and so there really isn’t any investment there yet.

The Name of the Doctor: I really didn’t like Clara I am so sorry but her existence really ruined this episode for me. Also River was not in it nearly enough.

Closing Time; A genuinely forgettable episode if I am being honest. Only because it takes place immediately before extremely great episodes. This is also the first two parter that I am breaking up because the second part is just so much better then the first.

The Impossible Astronaut/Day of the Moon: Okay so I personally really love these episodes and I think the Silence are a great story center, however I don’t think they are the strongest episodes River has appeared in. These are a little creepier than most of her other episodes and this group works so well together.

The Byzantium and Flesh and Stone. These two are a set because it is really a two part storyline. I love this episode especially in retrospect because not only does the Doctor know who she is but it's her first (not first) time meeting Amy. The introduction of mother and daughter is the best, they immediately bond and I think that is the best part is that their story was so well set up. I think we start to get to know River a lot more in these episodes but not really enough for me to rank them any higher. That said they are just really solid episodes, it's still really at the beginning of Matt’s run and it really set up what his dynamic was going to be like.

The Pandorica Opens/The Big Bang. This two parter takes place after the Byzantium for the Doctor but before it for River. And this two parter are also just a couple of the best Doctor Who episodes in existence. I wish I could articulate better how much I love these episodes. But there is so much going on, there is a lot of emotional reconciliation for the entire group. These aren’t exactly River focused episodes but they are so good. Also…so many two parters.

The Husbands of River Song: As someone who was not a huge fan of Capaldi’s Doctor I do actually really like this episode. It was really emotional seeing River love another Doctor, but it was just written so so well.

A Good Man Goes to War/Let’s Kill Hitler: Okay…some of the best television to ever exist. A Good Man Goes to War is the most badass episode of television and definitely of Doctor Who. “Demons run when a good man goes to war” is a fantastic line that builds to such a great story. Melody being River, River being part timelord, this team stealing her to be a weapon against The Doctor…it's just all so good.

The Wedding of River Song; The love between River and the Doctor, Amy’s sassiness, Rory just stumbling along, this is truly a great episode. It’s so action packed and there is just nonstop awesome.

The Angels Take Manhattan: Welp…this is one of the most depressing episodes of anything ever. We have to watch The Doctor and River lose Amy and Rory and it is so very upsetting in the best way possible.