Liam Trim reviews the return of Doctor Who…Warning: Spoilers!
Doctor Who is back and this time the big attraction, at the start of Part Two of Series Seven, was the proper introduction of new companion Clara Oswald, played by Jenna-Louise Coleman. Yes we’ve seen her twice before already, in different incarnations, but it’s in The Bells of Saint John that the Doctor finally locates a 21st century version, and he’s determined that the “woman twice dead” isn’t going to die on him a third time.
Indeed, despite beginning the episode in the serious (ish) robes of a monk, it’s clear that Matt Smith’s Doctor has been reinvigorated by the recurring mystery of Clara’s unique personality and unexplainable resurrections. I recently re-watched The Angels Take Manhattan, the farewell episode of Amy Pond and husband Rory, and it’s a magnificent send-off, wonderfully written by Steven Moffat. It felt right that the Doctor should mourn the loss of Amy and Moffat, more than any other writer or show runner, has made use of time travel to show the Doctor and his companions living at different paces, spending time apart, the Doctor often wandering restless or lonely through space. The Christmas episode (The Snowmen), which I personally felt was too silly, despite having some sublime moments, did a good job of condensing a convincing grieving process. Whilst also again showing how fascinating, intriguing, inexplicable Clara could reignite our Timelord’s curiosity.
Moffat may have handled the transition from Amy to Clara well so far, and he may be adept at keeping secrets, such as those surrounding the fiftieth anniversary special, which we now know will feature David Tennant (Broadchurch), Billie Piper (Secret Diary of a Call Girl) and Joanna Page (Gavin and Stacey), but his hype for The Bells of Saint John was misleading in my book. He promised an “urban thriller” that would be a bit like Doctor Who mixed with James Bond. Such bold claims led to expectations of adrenalin throughout. Whereas at times, The Bells of Saint John is quite a slow paced episode, dependent on dialogue.
There is nothing wrong with this. But the way the episode was sold in the publicity beforehand meant that I was rather disappointed. As so often happens with these reviews, I was pleasantly surprised after a second viewing. The important thing to remember is that this episode is about the Doctor and Clara finally getting enough room to take a look at one another, finally getting the time to indulge their fascination. This is nothing like James Bond, besides two very brief action sequences with a plane and a motorbike, and the iconic London scenery. This is also not what many people would call an “urban thriller”. The title is also irrelevant (at least it seems that way for now), as it merely refers to the telephone of the TARDIS. I was expecting a big reveal about the title, but I guess that’s just my own naivety.
That said, this episode does have its weaknesses. It’s essentially a generic curtain raiser, based around one big but fairly familiar idea, garnished with some disturbing flourishes. We’ve seen people trapped in televisions before in The Idiot’s Lantern, we’ve seen powerful female villains ruling unseen from London skyscrapers before in Doomsday at the end of Series Two, and as Dan Martin points out in The Guardian’s series blog, The Spoonheads seem a lot like the Nodes from Moffat’s Series Four story, Silence in the Library. There’s nothing wrong with a bit of creative recycling now and again but Moffat has made great play of keeping things original, so he’ll have to take care to avoid charges of hypocrisy.
My main gripe about this episode is that the whole “Wi-fi soup” premise, whilst topical and a little unnerving in a successful sort of way, ultimately leads to a lot of frantic keyboard bashing and typing, and intent staring at the screen of a laptop. I have tried to seem and feel important with nothing but my laptop for company, and it never works. Even the Doctor, aided by lots of jazzy on-screen graphics and technical looking code, can only look heroic to a certain degree, sitting at the foot of the stairs, saving Clara via a computer. This is what Skyfall would have been like if they’d let Ben Whishaw’s new Q defeat Silva electronically, before his first cup of Earl Grey. There is a distinct lack of jeopardy we can relate to. Controlling the lights on the street and the plane speeding towards said lights, was a nice touch. Perhaps Moffat could have done more to show such dramatic dangers, easily manipulated by someone controlling the Wi-fi? The poor guy only had 45 minutes to play with though, and in fairness the technological angle did allow for the lovely reveal of the Doctor sitting with his coffee, bringing down the whole operation with his feet up, and the shot of the motorbike mounting the Shard was brief enough to avoid being ludicrous. Very much in character, genius in action.
The saving grace of The Bells of Saint John really is the chemistry between the new companion and the Doctor. From the moment the Doctor troubleshoots Clara’s connectivity with a blokey accent from the Middle Ages, there is a mixture of brother-sister banter and flirtatious behaviour. At times it’s difficult to decide which side of the line things fall; is the Doctor’s guard routine the act of an elderly brother or an old fashioned romancer? Of course, Moffat’s answer would probably be that it’s the act of a unique alien. And the way our unique Timelord interacts with his incredibly unique new companion throughout the rest of this series will be a joy to follow. Things are sure to improve.
Next time…
Liam Trim
Check back next week for Liam’s thoughts on The Rings of Akhaten…
Originally published April 3, 2013. Updated December 13, 2019.
