Last week’s episode was a strong return to form for a show that had been lacking severely for the first half of the seventh series, but does the good streak continue? Lets find out by breaking the show down into the five most prevalent thoughts I had while watching “the Rings of Akhaten.”
1. Matt Smith’s David Tennant Impersonation
Honestly, I haven’t seen this much crying in Doctor Who since 10. All we were missing was frequent apologizing.
Even so, to move away from the humorous side of the analogy, Smith’s Tennant was actually rather spot-on. Smith has made the Doctor a very erratic and crazy person, the madman in the box, and you don’t really see him doing the things that Tennant did as the Doctor which usually involved strange but cleverly impossible solutions from a person who had a lot of rage held quietly under a charming exterior. This episode brought that quality of the Doctor back, most notably in the climactic “battle” with the Elder God with a stirring soliloquy that seemed right out of seasons two through four.
It’s not unlike Smith’s Doctor to give a rousing and emotional speech, but usually there’s a clever bit in the end where he reveals who he’s going to win everything. This was more just a “Ok, come on! Kill me and know my burden!” type speech, and it was all very Ten-esque.
Also, so much crying.
2. Neil Cross’ “Final Crisis”
Neil Cross is a well-known British writer, creator and writer of the Idris Elba show Luther (and associated novel), and while he’s more known for crime fiction there’s never a bad time to stretch his wings. With this being his first of two upcoming Who episodes this season, then, it’s kind of funny to note that he basically wrote the Doctor his own version of “Final Crisis.”
Because, let’s see, what was this episode about? The importance of stories. It featured the limitless possibility of the imagination, an age-old vampire, required the power of sentiment to help save the day from a god-like hero who always has the best for us all in mind, and in the end it all came down to the use of a magic song.
A lot of that seems so spookily familiar, doesn’t it?
Sure, it probably wasn’t on purpose. Great minds think alike and all that. But the similarities are quite uncanny. Although that does bring up,
3. A Great Soundtrack
Doctor Who has always had a pretty good soundtrack as composed by Murray Gold, whose been in charge of the musical direction of the show since 2005. Yet with this episode, given the importance of song, it was nice to see the show really giving its all when delivering a planet-wide lullaby. The music was haunting yet relaxing, and it’s something I’ve been eagerly looking to find and listen to again in high quality (I’ve settled for this). A lot of the music on Who is ultimately forgettable outside of a few nice recurring themes, but this is definitely a stand-out for me for the first time in I don’t even know how long.
And, for what it’s worth, the make-up and costume design was pretty great as well, considering that this episode was also largely comprised of “Hey, look, an alien you’ve never seen before! Like, a LOT of them!”
4. A Smorgasbord of Feels
The one thing Doctor Who has always been pretty good at is combining a mix of genres with a helping of sentiment to create a show that’s not quite like any other. It’s a sci-fi show, but it’s also a comedy. Yet, it’s not really a comedy, because it’s kind of a horror show. Even then, it’s not really a horror show at all, because it’s quite all-ages at the end of it.
That’s the magic of Doctor Who, and when they get it right they get it right. This episode balanced all the elements that make this show work: science-fiction (the base), comedy (Clara and the Doctor in the market), horror (the sleeping vampire and his guards) and topped off with sentiment that comes from a conflicted central character who can never quite seem to just be able to do the right thing.
Continued belowIt’s a nice balance and it’s not always here. Nice to see Cross bring it back.
5. The Benefits of a New Companion
The one thing that you always get right at the beginning of a run where a new companion is introduced is a massive sense of wonderment. New companions basically turn the writers into optimists, where the possibilities are limitless again. It’s a core concept of Who that there is no boundary that can’t be moved beyond, but Moffat’s run of the show has seemed to get stuck in that when he held so tightly onto the Ponds for two and a half seasons. Now that Clara is here, we get to re-experience the show through eyes of someone who isn’t jaded or cynical or worn-down from years of traveling and death-defying acts. You get a girl who is just as anxious to see the universe as we are, and so we get scenes like the market that are full of random aliens and absurd interactions – and that’s by far the best of Who.
And it doesn’t hurt that Clara is pretty great in general. I already like her more than I liked Amy Pond at the end of the first half of the season.
So all around we’re given a pretty good follow-up. Cross is a great writer, even if he does seem to basically be taking from Grant Morrison in this episode, and Jenna-Louise Coleman’s enthusiasm is ultimately infectious. Two episodes in and Who feels “back,” for a lack of better terms. With upcoming epiodes by Mark Gatiss and Neil Gaiman, lets hope that the show doesn’t lose its steam.
