The Bells of Saint John
Story 232, Episode 791, Series 7 Episode 6
Doctor: The Eleventh Doctor
Companions: Clara Oswald
We finally officially meet the real Clara, who charms in a pretty by the book plot line.
The Review
At last, she’s here, the real Clara Oswald has stood up. This is the best spot to watch The Inforarium with the red intro and the Doctor’s tweed, an amusing clip of a man repeatedly forgetting the Doctor. The Doctor meeting Clara as a child is maybe a bridge too implausible, but the dramatic irony is delicious. I’m not sure the Doctor would get so obsessed he’d paint Clara as he does in a monastery, but it works. By this point Matt Smith’s mannerisms are getting a bit old, but I do like the new purple look he goes with. Every time Clara flirts with him, I love how flustered he gets. The real winner here is Jenna Coleman whose talents will become quite clear throughout her tenure. There’s not too much on the page for Clara, but Coleman paints a picture of a precocious but still a bit naive woman.
The plot of the story is very early 2010s, wi-fi is evil and it’s taking over the world. It hasn’t aged that great, and doesn’t really make wi-fi that scary if a ‘spoonhead’ has to walk behind you to hoover you up. Miss Kizlet played perfectly by Celia Imrie is the sharp cold businesswoman behind the whole operation, and is always a treat when she is on screen. The final reveal is that she is working for the Great Intelligence, who has now gone through the Second Doctor stories. The Doctor (well a duplicate of him) rides a motorcycle up the side of the Shard, which would be cool if the effects were better. There’s not a huge sense of danger, but the performances by Smith and Coleman are interesting enough to keep us moving along.
The Bells of Saint John has the un-enviable task of introducing Jenna Coleman for the *third* time, but she’s precocious enough to make us like her.
8/10 Never clicks into being a great story, but it’s a good one
Reviewing Doctor Who from Start to Finish 