If they drown under the water, sure, they stay dead because if they regenerate the next body just dies again. If you pull them out of the water prior “at the point of death”, which is where Rory was at, they probably can either be revived or regenerate, with the new body able to survive since it’s not underwater.
I thought Rory was still a plastic blow-up doll from the Roman era? Did they do a quick reset at the end of the last series?
They reset the entire UNIVERSE.
Rory ceased being an Auton when the old one winked out. New Rory has the Auton’s memories (but only sometimes), but he was recreated as a human, not an Auton.
Not necessarily. We saw from The Master that a Time Lord can choose to not regenerate. The Doctor, without Donna, was in a very bad place and quite possibly chose not to regenerate at that time.
-Joe
Last week, BBCamerica showed a program about Doctor Who in America, consisting of “inside Doctor Who” details; surely it’s available somewhere.
I seem to remember one of the actors or other personnel saying that they knew at least one happening early this season would relate to something appearing in episode 12 of next season. So we could be dealing with a very long arc here.
Or maybe somebody just messed up.
My opinion: A somewhat amusing episode allowing us to “rest” after the mental gymnastics of the opening two.
“Jayne. This is something the captain has to do for himself”
“NO IT’S NOT!”
“oh, ok.”
Even if it’s through 12 of this season that’s still a pretty healthy arc.
Do we actually know that it’s even renewed through next season?
-Joe
The second half of this season, that is being delayed by a couple of months, is sometimes being officially referred to as “next season” even though it’s the same season.
I wish they wouldn’t.
Detail spotting:
The alien spacesuit clearly had D.H.I.T. printed on the shoulder (IIRC). At first I wondered why they were English letters but assume it’s the TARDIS translating things again; however, it was rather conspicuous for an irrelevant detail. Wonder what that’s about.
ETA: I agree with the various problems with the presentation of CPR. At the very least you might have thought the sonic screwdriver could do defib in a pinch.
It seems odd to me that he knows a hundred times more than any human about every single science except, it appears, medical science. What’s so special about biology that he’s not an expert at it in the same way he is about physics, chemistry, astrophysics, timey-wimey-ics, etc.?
D.I.H.S.
You’re right, that might be significant in the overall arc. Or something that was edited out of the episode.
Damn. Misremembered. Thanks for the correction.
Speculation begins: D is for “Doctor”…
Dalek Institute for Human Studies
D.I.H.S. or maybe D.1.H.S looks more like a one. Nasty tusks on that brute. 
here is a vidcap I made
It’s a hijack but still -
The official Red Cross guidelines still advise and teach the traditional approach but approve compression only as an acceptable substitute for the usual collapse/presumed cardiac cause subject. It may turn out that compression only is better in those circumstances since moving the blood some is most important and the stops for breaths may get in the way of that more than it gains. But for near drowning the issue is the lungs aren’t working. If the heart has stopped, yes, compressions in addition to rescue breathing but 1) rescue breathing is the key thing and 2) the heart has stopped because of prolonged hypoxia which means the brain has had prolonged hypoxia and the outcome is unlikely to be all that good.
And a significant nitpick. For the traditional collapse/presumed cardiac cause with no heart beat - it is not waiting for medical help, it is waiting for a defibrillator. If you are in public place that has one (called an AED for automatic External Defibrillator) then using it is the current key part of CPR. Many public areas have them on the walls now. They are pretty damn idiot proof to use, hence the automatic part of the name.
Otherwise, yes, the shows almost all do it wrong.
Back to the show - yeah, the eye patch lady is, to the best of my speculations, either telling us that current events are actually in Amy’s head only (memory, dream, whatever) or she exists and does not exist in a quantum way as reality flits between states. And I am not crazy about fitting her into either version so far so I hope they have something better for us.
His weakness in species-specific type stuff is totally understandable. Every week, more or less, he mete and deals with a different species. The required knowledge for medicine changes every place he goes - physics and chemistry should be the same no matter where or when he goes.
That being said, with his dedication to Earth and Earthlings, The Doctor not being a miracle worker when dealing with human medicine is pretty unbelievable. Especially with aasingn untrained Amy half-assing CPR and The Doctor watching helplessly like a man with no experience in crisis situations.
Now, those dead aliens - one-shots or something significant? At first I thought they were Jadoon, but from the cap posted that is obviously not right. Silents? Certainly doesn’t their MO, but the oversized skull fits. Ood, maybe?
-Joe
I don’t think they’re Ood; the Ood was a slave race until Ten freed their master brain, and after that they seemed to stick close to their own planet, huffing campfire fumes and singing. I think this may be a species we haven’t seen before.
I’m waiting for the LOLpic of “Oh my God, they killed Rory! You bastards!” I’d make one myself but I’m lazy and unmotivated.
They have long snouts with rodent-like teeth, and pteranodon-like fins on the back, neither of which either the Silence or the Ood have (the Ood, in fact, don’t seem to have jaws, and it’s questionable what the internal structure of a Silent head is like).
Even assuming the two corpses we saw were of different species (as we don’t get a good look at the back of the head of the skeleton they find first, nor the face of the one whose boogers the Doctor plants his hand in) - neither of those species have either of the noticeable features alone, either.
I definitely noticed the missing pirate, but I just assumed BBCA did a hack job on the episode to make room for commercials and removed a scene or part of a scene explaining what happened to that guy.
I saw the tea-slurping fog-breathing version and no, it wasn’t BBCA doing a hack job this time.
-Joe