After a far too long wait, Matt Smith is back as Doctor Who! In what certainly feels like the first episode of a new season (but is in fact only the seventh episode of a season that started so long ago it isn't even funny!) we find out the Doctor is finally over moping about Amy and still confused by the mystery of Clara as this episode begins.
The title is amusingly deceptive, right alongside "Let's Kill Hitler" really since the bells of St. John have nothing to do with the events transpiring here the same way Adolf didn't in the last mid-season episode.
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| Hilter... Technically still locked in a cupboard! |
I continue to enjoy Matt Smith as the Doctor. Despite the numerous flaws of the renewed show he impresses in the role, especially given how comfortable he is in the role and how well he deals with the very extreme moods he has to portray. By this point in David Tennant's run I was getting weary of him, so I am very pleased this isn't the case with Smith. I dearly hope he doesn't regenerate at the end of the 50th Anniversary episode.
I think I like Jenna Louise-Coleman more than Clara herself... She's doing a pretty good job with a character (or characters) who is quite frustrating. I really would prefer if every assistant (sorry, companion) didn't have to be tied up in the big, mysterious and meandering plot, but we'll see where this goes. I just hope it is worth it.
The episode itself reminded me of "The Slow Invasion" due to the modern day England setting. Only this episode held up far better and the mysterious mastermind villain was actually good. I thought the concept of the slow invasion was better than aliens in the Internet, but the execution was much better here and the return of Richard E. Grant and the Great Intelligence is very welcome indeed! In fact it adds a bit more retrospective weight to "The Snowmen" Christmas Special.
The whole episode whizzed by in the way the show does these days, but it didn't feel too rushed even if I do think it would have been better as a two-part storyline. Some bits were glossed over but overall I think the episode held up pretty well.
Personally, I prefer alien worlds to contemporary Earth, but for an planet bound episode this was enjoyable. I do imagine it will all look terribly dated in a few years with all the talk of wi-fi, twitter and so on in the same way as the discussion of 'fungus meat alternatives' does in the pre-Quorn "The Green Death."
The teaser for the episode eight "The Rings of Akhaten" left me completely cold though... Here's hoping the episode itself is better.
Oh, and I chuckled at the in-joke of the novel being written by Amy Pond. But chapter 11 is the best... You'll cry your eyes out? Hmmm.