Alright, so after Closing Time last night with River being put into the astronaut suit, it made me wonder if River is actually going to kill OUR doctor.

First of all, River is already present when the Astronaut rises from Lake Silencio so wouldn't there be a paradox with two Rivers in the same place, in different parts of their time line. Could there be another Ganger River?

Secondly, we saw the Doctor die. But.. where is the ganger Doctor? To my knowledge, there is no TARDIS present when the Doctor first meets River, Amy and Rory in Utah before going to the Lake. The Doctor has drove an old 1960s vehicle to that spot.

I believe the Doctor that we see later in the diner is our Doctor but the one at the Lake is the Ganger Doctor. Who does the Doctor trust the most? Himself.

Why couldn't the Doctor just not go to the lake? Because the Doctor's death is a significant fixed point in time and space and plus, whatever it is thats behind all this wants to kill the Doctor so if he's dead, then he's no longer a threat to them.

I was wondering if somehow older River remembers it is her in the spacesuit so does something that will to give her time to get a Ganger Doctor involved so younger River will shoot it. Probably wildly off.

I can't help thinking that the whole is a massive red herring!

i just don't care anymore. Moffat has really put me off Dr Who and i was an avid fan.

Ah well, horses for courses!

Ever since the first episode of this series, I have always thought that the person to shoot the Doctor is the Doctor.

To me it doesnt make any sense for either Rory, Amy or River to do it. It just doesnt fit the characters for me, despite the fact that things have been pointed that way.

Ah well, Im probably wrong.

We don't know if the spacesuit in the lake is the same (or same type) as the one the little girl was wearing. If not, the opening is there for them to substitute River for an empty, remote-controlled one. If the Silent was there in Utah to witness the execution, a walking spacesuit should do the trick nicely.

One point - River under water was not holding a weapon and there was none apparent on the outside of that spacesuit - the same applied to the spacesuit in TIA. That suggests that the "weapon" was a function of the suit or an ability of the occupant - unless it was a complete fake and the green-flash and the bang came from the Doctor - via a sonic, perhaps.

Was it intentional for her being in the spacesuit to be so reminiscent of her first appearance in "Silence in the Library"?.

I completely agree - not least because I am fully expecting that everything that's been set up won't be paid off next week ... as SM's MO is clearly to keep creating new 'mysteries'. :yawn: A pity the same effort hasn't been put into creating characters the audience could care about ...

When is Toby Whithouse taking over?

Do you mean that the spacesuit she was put in is the one she's wearing in Silence in the Library?

Probably not, because by that time she was Professor Song; at the end of Closing Time, she was only a newly-qualified Doctor.

Although I'm starting to wonder if "Silence in the Library" is a purely co-incidental title...