DOCTOR WHO – Mr. Harvey Hears THE BELLS OF SAINT JOHN

Season 7, Episode 7 “The Bells of Saint John”

“I’m The Doctor, I’m an alien from outer space, I’m a thousand years old, I’ve got two hearts and I can’t fly a plane! Can you?”

“No!”

“Oh. Fine. Let’s do it together.”

Doctor Who returns to our screens with “The Bells Of Saint John”, and brings with it Matt Smith’s 11th Doctor, and the seemingly proper version of new Companion Clara Oswald, played by Jenna-Louise Coleman. I say “seemingly”, because we’ve met Clara twice before, and both times she’s died… first as a Dalek, and second as an 19th Century governess/barmaid. Clearly, setting up the mystery of what exactly is going on with this young lady is the story arc of this second half of Series 7, and, one suspects, something that will tie into the 50th Anniversary Special airing this November.

Speaking of which, if you haven’t caught the news yet, it’s been confirmed that David Tennant is returning at the 10th Doctor for the special, and as someone who was hoping for a new Multi-Doctor story, I couldn’t be more pleased. Billie Piper is returning as well, something I can’t get all that thrilled about. Ms. Piper is a quite talented actress, but I’m really not a fan of Rose Tyler, so… eh. John Hurt has also joined the cast, and that, well, that is fantastic. Most pleased. Now, if they can just get the 8th and 9th Doctors on board, and maybe have Omega as the bad guy, done proper scary… oooohhhhhh… John Hurt as Omega? I’d like that. A lot. But I digress.

So! “The Bells Of Saint John”.  SPOILERS follow. Lots of them. ‘Cause it’s a recap and review, and that’s the point, isn’t it?

We open with a young man speaking into a webcam, warning of mysterious wi-fi connection that is trapping the minds and souls of those unlucky enough to connect to it, and leaving a empty dead body behind. He then reveals that he too has been trapped in this way, and doesn’t know where he is, before we pull back to see he is one of hundreds, if not thousands of people, all crying out that they don’t know where they are.

We then get our new credits sequence, first revealed in the Christmas Special “The Snowmen”, and you know what? Still liking it. From the callback to the Original Series musical arrangement and the appearance of Matt Smith’s face, it’s clear that it’s meant to evoke the earlier run’s style, and that’s perfectly fine with me, especially in this Anniversary year.

We then find that the Doctor has taken young Clara’s advice from the Prelude Webisode to heart, and has found a nice quiet place too think on his quest to find Clara again, by spending time in a Cumbrian monastery in 1207 A.D. When a monk arrives and tells the Abbot that “the bells of Saint John are ringing”, they descend deep into the monastery, to find our hero, and a painting of “the Woman Twice Dead”, inscribed with “Run you clever boy, and remember.”

In modern-day London, Clara Oswald is having a hell of a time getting her computer to connect to the internet, to the bemusement of young Angie, the daughter of a friend that Clara is staying with. There’s some tension there, as Angie makes a point of telling Clara that she isn’t her mother, and Clara responds that she’s not trying to be. Angie’s father, George, and her younger brother Artie are on the way out, and we learn that Clara is staying with them for a specific reason, and, in a nod to our departed Ponds, that Artie is reading a book by Amelia Williams. Throughout all of this, Clara is trying to get a call through to someone about her computer problems.

In the past, the Doctor arrives at the source of the ringing, and we see that “The Bells Of Saint John” are, in fact, the ringing of the TARDIS’ external phone, you know, the one on the door opposite the one with the “St. Johns Ambulance” sticker. Aside from being a nice bit of misdirection and a quite clever sight gag, it’s also something that isn’t supposed to happen, so the Doctor is a little surprised. Answering it, he finds a young woman on the other end; a young woman who is seeking help to get her internet to work…

So go ahead, if you haven’t watched the rest of the episode, go on, do it. I’ll wait. We’ve got the time.

Yes? Everyone in? OK, let’s point out the problems first, while making it clear that I really did enjoy this episode, much more than most of the first half of the season. First of all, well, um, we’ve kind of seen this before. “The Idiot’s Lantern” comes to mind, and I’m not the only reviewer to see the plot similarities. But that’s a quibble really, as, by its nature and its lovely long runs, there is a fair amount of that in Doctor Who, if one really wants to be honest. And yes, the whole “Doctor Who?” bit is getting old already, even if we bear in mind that the Doctor’s true name seems to be an integral part of the season.

Worse though, is the frankly unbelievable idea that Clara, a 24-year-old in today’s London, could be so clueless about the Internet, and the Doctor’s deduction that since she made a Twitter joke, she brought something back from her brief time in the Data Cloud. Really? Knowing about Twitter is sort of a given in this modern world of ours, and as someone who rarely uses his own account, and is damn near twice her age.. yeah. That’s just silly.

Steven Moffat has called this episode sort of a “James Bond/Jason Bourne” type of story, and while the wonderful Celia Imrie channels Judy Dench perfectly, and we do get a lovely little motorbike trip across London, I’m really not seeing it. Sure, there are action bits, but there always are. Yes, we have the plane sequence, etc. etc., but aside from such things, there’s really not anything to compare it the Bourne films at all, and the Bond references are more production design than story style. So, if that’s what they were going for… not so much. That’s more of an aside, I suppose, as if Moffat hadn’t said anything about it, it wouldn’t be an issue.

And of course, let’s face it, pun intended, the “Spoonheads” aren’t really scary once you see that they are just another robot. In fairness, however, it’s what they do that is scary, and realistically, what we see of their true form is all function not form, which does make sense. And the whole “reveal” is… slooooowww. I think someone who wasn’t staring at them would have quite a decent chance of just running away. Yes, it’s dramatic and creepy, but still. I, personally, would have liked them to be more of a physical threat, but again, I’m quibbling.

No, what really bothers me here is that we’re all so used to the interconnectedness of the world these days that the idea of this mysterious internet connection would have unusual symbols that stand out so much, well, that’s just daft. With the millions of voices calling out across the world through the Web, you have to know that this would have stuck out like a sore thumb… there would be blogs and articles in Wired, and our bad guys couldn’t begin to keep up with the way that obvious oddity would travel across the datasphere. Why not just hide it in plain sight, by giving it a completely innocent appearance? Doesn’t Moffat realize that finding a signal, any signal, that doesn’t require a password is a wi-fi win?

Now if that sounds like a lot of things to not like, worry not, because there is much more that is here to enjoy. First and foremost is the, well, can’t really call it a “return” so much as a re-introduction of a third different version of Clara Oswald. This Clara is, like the others, funny and flirty and very much a self-possessed young lady, and aside from our initial computer nonsense, a fully formed character. There are some quite nice little character bits, from the aforementioned exchange with Angie, to the quiet, serious discussion of why she’s staying with her family in the first place. For an introduction to the character, it’s actually a much stronger one than in “The Snowmen”. Just like her first two appearances, her chemistry with Matt Smith is really fun to watch, and while I’ve seen several reviewers wonder about Amy Pond similarities, well, aside from being strong-willed, independent women who have mysteries at the core of their lives, they actually are quite different. Leaving aside Amy’s almost lifelong obsession with her “Raggedy Doctor”, yes, both women are restless in the lives they are leading, with Clara setting aside her plans for her life to deal with first the death of her mother, and then the death of Angie’s mother, but here, at least for now, the mystery is not what’s wrong with the basic nature of Amy’s life, but how and why Clara has appeared twice before in the Doctor’s life.

I must say though, I’m not sure how I feel about the reveal that “Run you clever boy, and remember” is a mnemonic trick to remember a wi-fi password… in fact, I’m suspecting that it’s going to continue to be a lot more than that, and we’ve just been red-herring’ed. But right now, I’m loving Jenna-Louise Coleman’s performance, and am looking forward to seeing how the mystery unfolds, especially how tragically her other experiences with the Doctor have ended. I’ve even developed a theory as to what it’s all about, fully aware that Moffat & Co. are sure to throw a curve ball or two before it’s all over.

Celia Imrie, why don’t we see you in more genre stories? She really does give us a delightfully dark riff on Dench’s M, and when she gets her comeuppance, her final appearance onscreen is played beautifully for all its disturbing implications. Before that, her casual discussion about killing her employees and her speech about tending one’s food supply are just wonderfully matter of fact. What has been done to her, to all of the “employees” there, is almost as bad as what they are doing to their victims, and seems a logical extension of our true villain’s appearance at Christmas… because yes, The Great Intelligence is back, as is, in an all too brief cameo, Richard E. Grant. One wonders how this will all play out, and if we will get a new riff on the Yeti. C’mon folks… we’ve got Ice Warriors and redesigned Cybermen, surely we can have the Yeti back?

And then there’s Matt Smith, fresh from his confirmation that he’s going to continue in the role through at least 2014. Ah, I’m old enough to have watched the Original Series when it first aired in the States on PBS, and while I loved all the Doctors (OK, not so much Colin Baker’s. Not his fault, good Lord the writing that season…), MY Doctor was Tom Baker.  Since the show returned, I’ve liked them all, and like several people I know, each new Doctor quickly becomes a favorite, but Smith really did quickly become my second favorite to play the part. Honestly, it’s the sheer alien-ness of the character in his hands, and his ability to make the Doctor’s age so clearly apparent, both of which are on display here quite nicely. (And of our three New Series Doctors, he’s the one who most has been crying out for a frock coat, which he gets here, finally. Future episodes show the addition of a vest, pulling his look back into Original Series territory, and frankly, I couldn’t be more pleased.) From his absent-minded IT help, to the list of what he’s accomplished while Clara slept, his comic timing and clear joy in playing the clown are evident as usual. But as always, for me, it is the alien old man in a young man’s body and the moments that he’s angry that I love about Smith’s portrayal. His almost fatherly tenderness with Clara, his confusion and almost shock at her flirting, and his cold anger at  what’s being done to Clara and the other victims… those are the things that make me really like this 11th Doctor, and hope he’s going to be with us for quite a while longer.

Other things to like include the whole plane sequence, even if it is a surprisingly sparsely peopled plane, and the visual that proceeds it, as the Doctor sets up a little workspace to guard Clara as she sleeps. The casual callousness of the Great Intelligence’s “staff”, and the foolish, yet perfectly understandable social media “oops” that Clara uses to track them down. The appearance of UNIT, and the Anti-Grav motorbike. The moment at the end, where the Doctor wishes he was more like Clara… someone who doesn’t run out on the people she cares about. Followed immediately by his Pied Piper call to come with him….

Of course there are mysteries raised that are left to solve. First, who was the woman who gave Clara the TARDIS phone number? The obvious answer, especially since we know she’s returning in the season finale, is River Song, but with the larger mystery of just what is going on with the multiple versions of Clara, one does wonder. And what is the larger plan of the Great Intelligence because, clearly, there’s going to be a larger plan. And how will the Doctor deal with a Companion that he has already watched die, twice before? His concern and heartbreak for and about the Ponds drove him into isolation, so how will he deal with it if Clara dies again? What if we haven’t seen the true Clara yet?

Yeaaaaaahhhh… this half of the season is starting off a lot better than the first half. Yes, the Doctor isn’t doing all that well at keeping a low profile, but did we really think he would? It’s a good second start… let’s hope it continues!

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