The Bells of Saint John

I stopped re-watching new episodes multiple times around 2013 as I got more deeply into the classic series and Doctor Who's extended universe. As a result when watching the second half of series 7 I have the interesting experience of experiencing Doctor Who that I in many ways know the least about - episodes that I have had the longest gap since most recently watching. The last 10 years has meant that I even forgot that Richard E Grant's Great Intelligence was even a recurring character in this series - I thought he was dispensed with in The Snowmen!

​This story is a bit mid. The most interesting idea is the spoon headed baddies, which is a rip off of Silent in the Library. Otherwise this inner city thriller is a bit nondescript (chases, hackers, action!) The show looks good though and Clara and The Doctor's relationship gleams. Its the worst of Clara's three introductions, but it still leaves you feeling warm for her afterwards. A solid series opener.

Still hard to know what to make of this one. The idea wasn't exactly new but it certainly had a different feel to it. Thought it was a pretty low key opening episode in the truth though. There were a couple of very creepy scenes and nice some nice banter between The Doctor and Clara but nothing particularly memorable. It was certainly no Eleventh Hour.

*Insert Chibnall wifi joke here*

Prerequisites: Asylum of the Daleks and The Snowmen give needed context.

Spoilers!
The Bells of Saint John is a fairly fun, if flawed companion "introduction" piece. I say "introduction" because this is kinda Clara's third introduction, and I'd argue it's also her weakest. To start, Clara's character here just isn't that well set up. She lacks the genuinely fun mystery element Oswin had in Asylum, and she also lacks the fun little pieces of characterization she got in The Snowmen. Instead, I imagine that Moffat was using those previous episodes as a crutch when writing her here, because her only character traits I can really make out are 'clever' and 'flirty'. Don't get me wrong, Coleman and Smith have some fun exchanges, but it's nothing I'd call exemplary. What I do quite like, though, is the vibe and setting. While admittedly the whole 'wifi is sucking up people' thing is goofy, I really enjoy just how adventurous this feels. We don't see a lot of the Doctor zipping around a modern metropolis in Who, and it's fun to see it here. I like the motorcycle stuff, and I even like how the Great Intelligence pops up again. Overall, I think this is a fun little episode, although were I to sit down and analyze it further I'm absolutely sure that my rating would lower.

god this sucks /affectionate

i love seeing clara this early on now bc u see how much she LOVES being a manic pixie dream girl. shes like yeah obviously im gonna be whisked away on a space adventure. its about time.

I don't hate The Bells of Saint John.

Thanks to a number of Moffat-related decisions, it has some key weaknesses. Clara essentially has to be introduced for the third time and a lot of it is rushed for what turns out to be the permanent version of her. The whole thing with her and wifi is pretty lame and already quite dated.

Yet there are exciting aspects of this episode. I love the sense of action and frantic pace it manages to achieve and it feels entirely appropriate for the Eleventh Doctor. Out of the dozens of Moffat-era episodes that work as jumping on points, this one is pretty good, even if, again, points are rushed along the way. The stuff with the Great Intelligence also has some neat ideas to it. Both the ideas of being able to edit humans like a video game character, and our villain character being brainwashed from childhood to serve the villain are cool ideas, and I think Moffat does enough service to both of them that there is just enough value to Bells of Saint John it manages to overcome some of its weaknesses.