Doctor Who 7x07: The Bells of Saint John

[kerravonsen]

I had the unexpected pleasure of watching this with my family (sister in law and niece, at least); unexpected because I was intending to simply download it on iView and watch it by myself, so I hadn't paid attention to when it was showing. But lo and behold, there I was having Easter Sunday lunch with my brother's family, and he mentioned it was on tonight and would I like to stay and watch it with them. But of course! It's more fun watching stuff in company.

Nicely creepy pre-title teaser. Ah, Doctor Who, making us afraid of everyday things since 1963...

"The bells of Saint John are ringing!"
(Niece: That's the best first line of an episode ever.)

Even more fun - finding out what exactly "the bells of St. John" were! St John Ambulance!

Run you clever boy and remember.
Remember what?
And we have the central mystery of this: who is Clara Oswin Oswald, and why is she echoing through time, and saying these recurring things?

Another interesting thing related to that... the Doctor's remark later in the episode that having a time machine makes it easy to run away.

Who was the woman at the shop who gave Clara the Doctor's number? It's very true, it's "the best help in the universe", but surely not the kind of information one gives to random strangers. I doubt that we will ever find out, though. Not when there are bigger fish to fry.

Creepy "spoonheads"... doing the reflective AI thing (Eliza program) by repeating back a variant of what the person just said.

So annoying that "battle of the keyboards" sequence when the Doctor was fighting the baddies to download Clara before she could be fully uploaded. For goodness' sake, it doesn't work like that! This is 2013, they ought to know better by now. (sigh)

Clever point: "You didn't know anything about computers, now you just made a joke about Twitter."
Kicking myself for not noticing because I was laughing at the joke.

Really creepy sequence where the baddies were taking over people in the restaurant.

I like how Clara figured out where the baddies were; as she said, "It's not the security, it's the people." So very true; most successful security break-ins are done via social engineering, not battling keyboards.

The sequence where Clara exclaims that she's found them... shows how expectations can influence our perceptions. I was expecting the Doctor, so I thought it was him. His responses didn't seem off until the third exchange between them, not because he was repeating what she said, but because he wasn't excited about Clara having found where the baddies were. Whereas I knew that the little-girl spoonhead was a robot as soon as there'd been one round of conversation between her and Clara, because I knew that she didn't belong there.

I loved the bit with "I entered this in the anti-gravity race... and came last."
I knew what was going to happen next: he was either going to fly, or he was going to ride up the side of the building. And he did. Riding up the side of the building was more fun anyway.

What I had not seen coming was that the person on the motorbike wasn't the Doctor after all, but the robot. After all, it/he was wearing a motorcycle helmet, so we wouldn't be seeing the back of its head. And, unlike the original version, this wasn't a reflective robot, but responding exactly as the Doctor would.
He used their own technology against them. Clever. A very Doctorish thing to do.

So... the villain was The Great Intelligence. Perhaps I should have been expecting that, but there are so many alien threats in Doctor Who (the Jagrafess springs to mind) that I was expecting it to be a random alien, not a returning enemy.

"Reset to factory defaults" (shiver). The consequent amnesia didn't surprise me, but it was so creepy-sad, with the villainess having been "reset"... to when she was a little girl.
"You've been whispering in my ear for so long..." That seems to be what the Great Intelligence does: takes a vulnerable, suggestible child, and mould them into what it wants.

Another interesting thing about the Great Intelligence - now that I think of it - is the theme of reflection; in the Christmas Special, the Great Intelligence was born as a reflection of that fearful little boy... and here we have the spoonheads doing the reflective conversation in the same way. Perhaps the reason the Great Intelligence needs to feed on human minds is that it can only exist as a reflection of humanity; it is only "great" because humans have made it great, it is only intelligent because humans have made it intelligent. Perhaps it only has power because humans give it power.

---

I liked how Clara didn't go with the Doctor straight away; that she asked him to come back tomorrow. That's assertive, that is. Very wise in not being steamrollered into coming. But...

...I'm not sure I like her. I can't put my finger on it, but... my sympathies are not engaged. I don't know what makes her tick. She seems too perfect, too self-contained. But I know that it is too soon to judge, and she could grow on me. I'm sure there are people out there who adore her for being self-confident, clever and sassy; probably the same people who adore River Song, for just the same reasons. I'm also sure that there will be a small number of people who will loathe her because, basically, she isn't Rose.

What I haven't yet seen is (this) Clara being courageous in the face of fear, wrestling with doubt and trust, making difficult decisions, having emotional growth. She's been clever, she's been helpless, she's been confident and assertive and mysterious... but she hasn't struggled. Yet.

We shall see what the future brings.

Overall... a good episode. Creepy in a very Moffat way. Doesn't fall down with the fridge logic. Makes me think thinky thoughts.

Comments

[tptigger]

I was watching with a friend who thinks te Gil in te shop was River. I kind f want it to be Donna, but way if it was Rani Chandra from SJA, working her way through Journalism school, who due to wibbly wobbly timey wimey stuff has all ready met Clara?

[kerravonsen]

Ooh, I like the idea of it being Rani!
But I wouldn't be surprised if it were River, she does tend to do stuff like that.

[vilakins]

This is 2013, they ought to know better by now
Quite. [rolls eyes]

Clever point: "You didn't know anything about computers, now you just made a joke about Twitter."
I was pleased with myself as I said to Greg, "But she shouldn't know what Twitter is," before the Doctor picked up on it.

The spoonheads really were creepy. I recognised the first one as being from the cover of Amy's book straight away, probably because I was trying to figure out when I first saw the book if the drawing was of Clara.

I did not pick that it was the Doctor's spoonhead on the bike. :-)

I liked seeing Celia Imrie as a the villain, but wondered how she was taken over as a little girl, well before wifi not to mention the internet.

A fun story despite the plot holes, and I'm looking forward to finding out who or what Clara is. I wouldn't have thought she'd have a boring father who goes on about politics--surely she's adopted? I hope the answer is as good as the mystery; so often it isn't. I'm glad they didn't kill her this time; I couldn't handle that each week.

[kerravonsen]

I liked seeing Celia Imrie as a the villain, but wondered how she was taken over as a little girl, well before wifi not to mention the internet.

The same way all the pre-internet victims of the Great Intelligence were, in the previous episides which featured it: the Great Intelligence is a psychic entity, it "whispered in her ear" and influenced her.

All that the wifi/internet did was multiply and distribute the control, it wasn't the origin of it.

I'm glad they didn't kill her this time; I couldn't handle that each week.

I didn't think they would, because it makes more sense from a writing point of view to have a continuing companion. The mystery has been set up, the hook has been baited, the Doctor has been reeled in. No need to repeat the setup.

I wouldn't have thought she'd have a boring father who goes on about politics--surely she's adopted?

There's two answers to that:
1) there's no need to assume she's adopted; we don't yet know the nature of her scattering-through-time, it appears unlike others we've encountered before, so we don't have sufficient data to deduce that she must have been adopted.
2) even if she were adopted, why would that preclude her having a boring (adoptive) father who goes on about politics? Surely she would refer to her adoptive father as her father? It's not like adopted kids tell everyone they're adopted.

I hope the answer is as good as the mystery; so often it isn't.

Yeah. If RTD was writing it, I'd be certain that the answer would be emotional but illogical. With Moffat behind it, I have more trust that it will hold together, because he's better at playing a long game. Not perfect, mind you - I'm still frustrated that we never found out what blew up the TARDIS in the cracks-in-the-universe arc. But Moffat is quite capable of keeping timey-wimey continuity in his head and giving us the clues (as well as red herrings), so I do have hope.

[vilakins]

I wasn't saying that if she was adopted, she wouldn't have a father. I meant that he must be an adoptive father, but then that doesn't get round her being an Oswald yet again--and she's not a descendant of the Victorian version.

I'll wait and see.

[kalypso]

I didn't think the Twitter joke worked; I don't think lacking "computer skills" (which seemed to mean "not particularly good at using a laptop") would prevent anyone making jokes about Twitter, which is general knowledge. It would have worked better if they had somehow worked out a way to keep Victorian Clara, or another pre-internet version, and then dumped her in the internet age.

And two days before the coalition government's latest reforms were introduced, being angry about the government was simply topical.

[watervole]

My automatic assumption is that it was River who gave her the phone number. Who else would know the number?

[kerravonsen]

Martha would know the number.
But I agree that River is the most likely, for several reasons.

[kalypso]

Lots of people know the TARDIS's number, including Winston Churchill and the Majesty who rang to complain about an Egyptian goddess loose on the Orient Express just after Amy and Rory's wedding. Which is not to suggest that it was Winston Churchill in drag, merely that there are plenty of possibilities, including Martha, though River is currently favourite. I've also seen a suggestion that it was Clara herself in later life.

[kalypso]

I was expecting it to be a random alien, not a returning enemy.

Had to be a returning enemy once we found that it had warned Miss Kizlet to look out for the Doctor.

I agree about Clara; she's not working for me at present. I think the best version so far has been Oswin, who really did have to confront something horrible, and achieved a sort of victory. This one just seems too confident and sure of herself, despite "lack of computer skills" which as I've said didn't really work for me. She's only weak after she's downloaded, when she doesn't do anything interesting or clever to help herself or the Doctor, as Oswin might have done. (It was possible to think coherently and adopt some sort of plan, even if it didn't work, because the boy in the pre-credits seqence did that.)

[kerravonsen]

It was possible to think coherently and adopt some sort of plan, even if it didn't work, because the boy in the pre-credits seqence did that.

Good point. I am full of admiration for him.

[avanti-90.livejournal.com]

I just saw it! And liked it, though I didn't find the restaurant scene particularly scary. The little-girl spoonhead, now that gave me shivers.

I also spent the whole time wondering who could have given Clara the Doctor's number. Not River Song, surely? Or a future version of Clara?

From the trailer, the next episode looks fantastic!

[jhall1.livejournal.com]

River Song was my guess. I suspect that we are going to find out who it was at some point in this story arc. It seems too important a thing not to be addressed.

[feliciakw.livejournal.com]

Don't know when we'll get to watch. (We watch on iTunes, as we don't get BBC America, so must wait for the upload.)

Creepy in a very Moffat way.

This? Makes me very happy. In an extremely intrigued and giddy sort of way.

Are you my mummy?
Don't blink.
Count the shadows.

*gleeful clappy hands*

[eve11]

What I haven't yet seen is (this) Clara being courageous in the face of fear, wrestling with doubt and trust, making difficult decisions, having emotional growth. She's been clever, she's been helpless, she's been confident and assertive and mysterious... but she hasn't struggled. Yet.

Good point. We did see her being smart and self-confident, but nothing yet where she faces her fears and overcomes them. Hopefully we will learn more about Clara as a person (and not just a mystery) as the season goes on.

[kerravonsen]

Hopefully we will learn more about Clara as a person (and not just a mystery) as the season goes on.

I hope so. I fear, however, that the desire to keep her a mystery will mean that the writers won't allow her to show any vulnerability. Not that she's invulnerable, but in this episode she went straight from confident to helpless without any chance showing courage in between.

[jhall1.livejournal.com]

I'm sure there are people out there who adore her for being self-confident, clever and sassy; probably the same people who adore River Song, for just the same reasons.

That would be me. :)

The episode was great fun. I loved it that Steven Moffat put in the scene at the monastery, which could really have been set almost anywhere, just so that he could throw in a "mad monk" reference.

[kerravonsen]

Why, is there something significant about mad monks?
Though I agree it was fun.
(And I didn't know that the Doctor could paint portraits!)

[jhall1.livejournal.com]

He's also known as the Meddling Monk, but I've always thought of him - perhaps erroneously? - as the Mad Monk:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meddling_Monk

[kerravonsen]

Ah, yes, I was aware of the Meddling Monk, but I never thought of him as the Mad Monk, so maybe it's just you...
Of course, that doesn't stop the Doctor from being The Mad Man With The Box...

[jhall1.livejournal.com]

:)

Maybe I somehow have the Meddling Monk confused in my mind with Rasputin! The Meddling Monk certainly seemed insane, so I suppose it's not so surprising that I should have attached the wrong adjective beginning with M to him.

[tardis-stowaway.livejournal.com]

I really liked the explanation for the episode title with the "bells of St. John" referencing the St. John's ambulance sign on the TARDIS. I figured that out just a few moments before they showed it to us.

Who was the woman at the shop who gave Clara the Doctor's number? It's very true, it's "the best help in the universe", but surely not the kind of information one gives to random strangers. I doubt that we will ever find out, though.

Personally, I strongly suspect that we WILL find out who the woman in the shop was. Why mention it otherwise? She could just have easily have misdialed, or found the number written on a random scrap of paper that it turns out a future version of the Doctor left, or any number of reasons other than a mysterious stranger telling her how to reach the Doctor. Leading theories appear to be either River (because in Moffat-land every mystery traces back to River Song) or Rose (because she was once a shopgirl, and it would explain the somewhat peculiar timing of announcing some huge news about past characters returning right when we're supposed to be excited about a new companion).

I don't know what makes her tick. She seems too perfect, too self-contained. But I know that it is too soon to judge, and she could grow on me. I'm sure there are people out there who adore her for being self-confident, clever and sassy; probably the same people who adore River Song, for just the same reasons. I'm also sure that there will be a small number of people who will loathe her because, basically, she isn't Rose.

What I haven't yet seen is (this) Clara being courageous in the face of fear, wrestling with doubt and trust, making difficult decisions, having emotional growth. She's been clever, she's been helpless, she's been confident and assertive and mysterious... but she hasn't struggled. Yet.

I really like your thoughts here! I feel like even though we've now met her three times, Clara is still introduced more as a mystery than a person. I feel like we're being told to like her without actually having much more than witty banter to argue for why. Even her big triumph of figuring out where the enemy was located was only possible because of the tech knowledge that was downloaded into her head, not her own self. (Though she couldn't have done it without also understanding that even minions of evil conspiracies use social networking, which was a pretty great insight.) I am open to liking her, but I'm waiting to see that struggle and growth you discuss. Telling the Doctor to come back the next day was a good start. Rose and Donna both turned him down the first time, so it seems to be a sign of quality companions.

[kerravonsen]

Personally, I strongly suspect that we WILL find out who the woman in the shop was. Why mention it otherwise?

Good point.

Leading theories appear to be either River (because in Moffat-land every mystery traces back to River Song)

(smirk) How true.

Rose (because she was once a shopgirl, and it would explain the somewhat peculiar timing of announcing some huge news about past characters returning right when we're supposed to be excited about a new companion).

I don't think that's likely. There are so many past characters to choose from that insisting that it's Rose sounds more like wishful thinking to me, especially since she's stuck in another universe!

I really like your thoughts here! I feel like even though we've now met her three times, Clara is still introduced more as a mystery than a person. I feel like we're being told to like her without actually having much more than witty banter to argue for why.

(nods)
I initially couldn't put my finger on why Clara bothered me, apart from the feeling that she's a Mary Sue. And I could have stopped there, but I knew that wouldn't be good enough for many people, who would simply turn around and say "You don't like strong women, you sexist!" Particularly since comparisons with River Song would come up. I'm not a huge fan of River Song; sometimes I like her, and sometimes I don't. And I realized that the moments I like River song the best is when she is being vulnerable & courageous rather than sassy & mysterious. Which is when it clicked that we hadn't seen Clara being vulnerable & courageous, just being helpless & clever, which isn't quite the same thing.

As a contrast, Donna works for me as a companion, because she isn't just sassy, she's courageous - I mean, she does things in spite of her fears, not that she's fearless. Plus she has these moments of insight and empathy which just warm my heart so much. That moment in "The Fires of Pompeii" where she put her hands on the plunger with the Doctor, that cemented my love for her. I bring up Donna because she's probably the most sassy "take no bullshit" companion of the modern era, apart from Clara herself.

But as I keep telling myself, it's too soon to judge, I need to give Clara more of a chance than just one episode.
I really liked the very first Clara, the one in the Dalek episode, because she did show courage and vulnerability, there at the end, and I wish she hadn't died. But this 21st-century Clara hasn't shown that yet.

[jhall1.livejournal.com]

I really liked the very first Clara, the one in the Dalek episode, because she did show courage and vulnerability, there at the end

I was about to make that very point. It seems to me that in some way that we don't yet understand all three Claras that we've seen are the same person, and that therefore character traits displayed by one of them apply to them all.

[jhall1.livejournal.com]

Leading theories appear to be either River (because in Moffat-land every mystery traces back to River Song) or Rose (because she was once a shopgirl, and it would explain the somewhat peculiar timing of announcing some huge news about past characters returning right when we're supposed to be excited about a new companion).

Another possibility that's occurred to me is that it might be Clara herself from the future. That would seem to introduce a paradox, but it's the sort of timey-wimey stuff that Moffat loves to play around with. There is a major problem with the idea, in that one would expect Clara to recognise herself!

[brendanpodger.livejournal.com]

Sally Sparrow from Blink is getting a lot of love in my circles as the mysterious store girl.

[kerravonsen]

Oh, now that's a nice theory, since she's more likely to be working in a shop than River, and she's aware of timey-wimey things.

But I still think it's most likely to be River, because with Moffat, it's ALWAYS River.

[jaxomsride.livejournal.com]

I still think Clara is a bit of a Mary Sue. However does this episode mean that when Future!Clara hacks the Daleks it is all down to the Great Intelligence downloading computer geekery into this version of Clara?

I want to know why the incarnations keep coming up with the same phrases, never mind being identical physically!

Anyone else wonder if the author of the book creepy robot girl came from is Amy Williams? Did she turn authoress?

[kerravonsen]

I want to know why the incarnations keep coming up with the same phrases, never mind being identical physically!

So does the Doctor, so I expect we will find out eventually.

Anyone else wonder if the author of the book creepy robot girl came from is Amy Williams? Did she turn authoress?

I admit with shame that I hadn't noticed who the author of the book was until someone else pointed it out. But once pointed out, it's obvious, of course it must be her. 8-)

[avanti-90.livejournal.com]

Anyone else wonder if the author of the book creepy robot girl came from is Amy Williams? Did she turn authoress?

Oh wow. I never spotted that! Of course it's her!

[hawkeye7.livejournal.com]

What you didn't mention is that Clara is drop-dead gorgeous.

[feliciakw.livejournal.com]

We watched it the other night. I don't have any deeply thinky thoughts, only first-blush opinion. We enjoyed it. It was a clever ep, but overall it didn't resonate with me after it was over.

The very creepiest part (because it was so sad), imo, was the fact that villainess was returned to being a little girl. I'm with you there.

I thought the Twitter joke was highly amusing. And yes, the pre-title teaser was a great and creepy set-up.

I can't figure out what it is about Clara, either. I'm not particularly engaged with her (and neither is Geo, btw). But part of my lack of engagement could be that I still feel a twinge for my favorite Doctor-Comapnion duo. "My" Doctor/Companion was 10 and Donna. The chemistry between the characters just crackled for me, quite possibly because the actors seem to be very good friends in RL. I loved that they balanced each other, that they called shenanigans on each other, and that they genuinely, deeply cared for and respected each other as individuals. I don't know what it's been about the characters since, except that they don't resonate with me in the same way. I liked Amy and Rory well enough, and Matt Smith has made the character his own, as, I imagine, every actor who's played the role has done. But . . . *shrug*

(In fact, the first thing that sprung to mind was that the woman at the shop with the phone number was Donna. But that's just silly.)

Generally speaking, it's nice to have Dr. Who back. There aren't a ton of TV shows we keep up with (or have time to keep up with), and it's nice to have fun stuff to look forward to after a work day.