Doctor Who 7x06: The Snowmen

[kerravonsen]

Intriguing. Lots of cool bits. Some slightly annoying bits.

Slightly annoying bits: (doing this first so as to end on a happy note)

• is it a requirement that the New Who Doctor kiss ALL his female companions?
• Lady Vastra and Jenny are married? Under whose laws? Though I'm sure that many fans rejoice at this.
• The fact that there are two characters in New Who called "Jenny" and neither of them have surnames, and thus there is no way of distinguishing between them. I might have to start calling this Jenny "Jenny Vastra" - well, since they are apparently married.
• "The Great Detective is... a woman." What? No remarks about the scaly face?
• What was all that about "this is not wine"? Was it supposed to be blood? What do Silurians eat, anyway? Has it ever been mentioned?

Cool bits:

• webcast Doctor plays Villain
• Clara - persistent, observant, clever, spunky, cheeky. (Don't think she will be a favourite companion of mine, too much cheeky smartass, but I still like her)
  • it's interesting; I think I will have to revise my initial conclusion that Dalek-Oswin-Oswald wasn't already brilliant before she was Dalekized, because I had assumed that her profession indicated her cleverness, but here we have an example of a Clara who defies the stereotypes of "position", and who's to say that hadn't also been the case with the Dalekized-Oswin-Oswald, the-former-entertainer? My bad.
• The idea of one-word answers to Lady Vastra's questions.
  • And the "touché" moment when Clara answered Vastra with "words".
  • The inadvertent resonance of the answer "pond". (I wonder how long the Doctor had been sulking on a cloud? Why isn't River Song there?)
• silly Sontaran comic relief (though I personally think it might not have been a bad idea to blow up the pond at the start... except perhaps the grenade in question would have blown up the house, too)
  • "Do not attempt to escape! May I take your coat?"
• The way the Doctor looked at his hand as if it had betrayed him, when he agreed to go up to see Clara.
• I liked how the Doctor was clever with the "I will give you this box" thing; even though we'd been introduced to the Memory Worm at the start, I didn't see it coming.
  • double-cowabanga because the clever thing didn't work, and indeed backfired, and I didn't see that coming either.
• tears fall like rain - a case of love and sorrow winning the day, in a way that wasn't sentimental twaddle. Yes.
• the Mystery of Clara Oswin Oswald (ah, good point, he didn't see her face) - but I hope this doesn't mean that he's going to keep on finding her and she's going to keep on dying; that would suck. Twice is bad enough. However, the preview gives me hope, since there's a reference to "the woman who died twice", so it sounds like it isn't going to be more than twice. Unless she dies when she leaves, which is not at all improbable, but not going to happen that soon. I expect that this Mystery will be the arc of the second half of season 7.
• the origins of the Great Intelligence! (recurring enemy of the 2nd Doctor)
• new TARDIS console room - spiffing!

Now to go and read other people's reactions!

Comments

[kalypso]

Agreed. No more Doctor-kissing!

Madame Vastra and Jenny could have married elsewhere, eg in the 52nd century, where we last saw them (we saw a married male Anglican couple earlier in that episode, and River could have helped to organise a ceremony before taking them home as instructed). Or they could be married under Silurian law, of which we know nothing, so may guess anything; it may not require the presence of a licensed minister or other Silurian official.

I suppose the other Jenny could adopt "Smith" as a surname. [ETA: it appears that Vastra's Jenny has previously been credited as Jenny Flint.)

I think it was a joke that a woman detective was more shocking than a lizard one.

Madame Vastra did imply that she'd eaten Jack the Ripper last time.


I didn't buy the tears thing - well, I bought the idea that salt tears would melt snow, but I needed some attempt at scientific handwaving about how one family crying could generate a storm. Given that Christmas is a notoriously stressful time for families already in difficulty, I would have gone for the fact that there were probably a good many families in tears that night (especially in the poorer parts of London), so there were plenty of them to draw on, rather than it being a unique event as the Doctor appeared to believe.

I was pleased that I was right about the fact that the Doctor would begin to suspect Clara's identity when she made a random mention of souffles (though he was immediately distracted by her fall to earth), as it had been carefully set up so that he had no idea what she looked like, and though he could recognise her voice he wouldn't until his memory was jogged that way.

[kerravonsen]

Madame Vastra did imply that she'd eaten Jack the Ripper last time.

I'd forgotten that.

but I needed some attempt at scientific handwaving about how one family crying could generate a storm

The Doctor mentioned that there was a high concentration of the memory-mimicking snow at their house, which is why the strong emotions and action of crying had influenced the snow to turn into tears.
Also, consider that the snow-stuff was already attuned to the girl in the family, since they were using her dreams to create the ice-woman.

("using her dreams to create the ice-woman" Put like that, it really does sound odd, doesn't it? Oh, Doctor Who, making ridiculous things sound perfectly normal for fifty years!)

[tptigger]

I'm glad I'm not the only one who was annoyed by that kiss!

[tree_and_leaf]

Lady Vastra and Jenny are married? Under whose laws?

According to the customs of the Silurians? It's not like we know all that much about their social structures...

[jhall1.livejournal.com]

Lady Vastra and Jenny are married? Under whose laws? Though I'm sure that many fans rejoice at this.

Under Silurian laws, perhaps? Vastra doesn't strike me as the type to feel that she's bound by human laws.

[kerravonsen]

Hmmm, but would Silurian laws allow one to marry an ape-creature? They seemed rather contemptuous of non-Silurians.

[jhall1.livejournal.com]

Who knows? And who knows what the details of English marriage laws were in the 19th century? It's possible that they forbade the marriage of two women, but since Vastra isn't human you could argue that (though female) she therefore isn't a woman. We also can't even be 100% certain that she's female, even though it looks as though she is.

OK, I confess that I'm arguing because it's fun, rather than out of conviction. :)

Just thought of a more likely possibility: that they went forward to a time when the marriage of two women was legal, got married, and then returned to Victorian times.

[kerravonsen]

Just thought of a more likely possibility: that they went forward to a time when the marriage of two women was legal, got married, and then returned to Victorian times.

Perhaps the Doctor helped them?

[jhall1.livejournal.com]

Yes, that seems plausible. Maybe when they were in our own time for "A Good Man Goes to War", they found time to slip off somewhere for a wedding?

[kalypso-v.livejournal.com]

A Good Man Goes to War was (mostly) set in the 52nd century, and featured a married male Anglican couple. The Doctor skipped off at the end, instructing River to get everyone home, so it would have been possible for them to fit in a wedding then, assuming that they couldn't do it any time they liked under Silurian rite, which I don't think we can assume.

[jhall1.livejournal.com]

I only wish that my memory was still capable of retaining that much detail.

[kalypso-v.livejournal.com]

I look it up.

[jhall1.livejournal.com]

Then I commend your industry. I'm afraid that most of the time I'm too idle to do that.

[jaxomsride.livejournal.com]

I liked the line "I'm a lizard woman from the dawn of time and this is my wife." A definite dig at all those vicars who believe in Creationism and that same sex marriages are anathema!

Don't know if it is a requirement to kiss, but I loved the way she did it and then left him floundering.

Evidently being a woman is more shocking than a lizard, score one for Victorian Values! :¬D

The more I see of Vastra and Jenny, the more I want them to have their own series.

[hawkeye7.livejournal.com]

Let's not forget that Captain Jack also got to kiss the Doctor.

The one word answer became a family meme throughout the 27th until we started to drive each other crazy.

It's almost depressing how far the Sontarans have fallen. Something reminded me of their first appearance, when Lynx looks at Sarah Jane and asks if Earth has two intelligent species.

[elisi]

he fact that there are two characters in New Who called "Jenny" and neither of them have surnames
I know someone's already answered, but Jenny officially Jenny Flint.

* is it a requirement that the New Who Doctor kiss ALL his female companions?
Yes. And the male.

(Here via who_daily. *waves*)