• So finally, after the surprise teaser in “Asylum of the Daleks” we get the proper introduction to the new companion. Sort of. Jenna Coleman is astonishing in this: she has to differentiate this role from Oswin, and modern Clara after her, while also keeping a sense of continuity between the three characters, the sense that they are linked, and she pitches her performance perfectly. What’s particularly notable is the way Clara Oswin is played straightforwardly as the new companion all the way to the Doctor offering her the TARDIS key, only for everything to go wrong right after the Doctor says “this is the day everything begins”. Clara has an incredibly fleshed out world, with tons of little details about her life as a governess seeming to be set up as strands that one would expect to be explored further in a companion’s arc, such as Mr Latimer’s obvious crush on Clara, or her double life as a barmaid, and tons of little details, such as Clara’s “secret voice” for the children, make her a compelling, fun, and rounded character. “Everything begins” after the Ice Maid snatches Clara from the TARDIS, but not the story we were expecting.
• Where “Asylum of the Daleks” was a sneak preview of Jenna Coleman as the companion, this is the launch of the Clara era proper: fittingly, this is the first time the name “Clara” becomes attached to the companion Jenna Louise Coleman is playing. As a result, there are multiple parallels to her final story, with her era being nicely framed thematically as a result, and the key themes of Clara’s character are woven into the beginnings of her story in a nice piece of Aristotelean unity.
• The first of these parallels comes when the Doctor asks “Clara Who?”, and Clara responds with the question “Doctor Who?” Clara is paralleled to the Doctor from the start of her story, with the idea that she is the protagonist of her own story being woven into her earliest exchanges with the Doctor, foreshadowing for her eventual fate in “Hell Bent” where the question “Clara Who” will be invoked one final time. This is also relevant to Clara’s actions in the plot, where she figures out what the Doctor brought the umbrella for while running from the ice maid, and when she deduces the nature of the pond, its significance to the Villain’s plan, and as a result, chooses “Pond” as the word that draws the Doctor off of his cloud and back into the story. All of these parallels establish Clara as a character who thinks like the Doctor does, and is capable of taking on a similar mythic significance in her own narrative to the Doctor in his.
• The second major plot parallel comes in the form of the Doctor trying to erase Clara’s memory so that she forgets about him. Here, he does this because he thinks it will beneficial to him to stay separated from the world, whereas later, he will try to erase Clara’s memories because he thinks it will be better for her. Both times, he is proven wrong.
• The final key parallel to Hell Bent comes in the form of Clara’s seemingly inevitable death, the Doctor’s desperation to save her, and the unexpected result that comes from the meeting of the Doctor with Clara’s fate. Clara and the Doctor’s exchange of “They all think I’m going to die”/ “I know you’re going to live” could be easily described as Clara’s series nine arc in a nutshell. The Doctor’s rant to Vastra, where says “don’t you think, after all this time and everything I’ve done, I’m owed this one?” highlight a desperation and attempt to bargain with the universe that will come up again in “Hell Bent”. The difference is that here, Clara does die, albeit in a way that isn’t as simple as it seems, while in “Hell Bent”, Clara lives, also not in a simplistic way.
• In the light of the universe and bargains, let’s talk the one-word test: I think it's fascinating to read Clara's use of the word "Pond" in light of Vastra's final comment that "Perhaps the universe makes bargains after all". Throughout, the story is playing with the notion of the universe being capable of some act of providence: the Doctor asks for a bargain to save Clara, seems to get a slightly different one when he stumbles on the “impossible girl” mystery, but here, at the story’s halfway mark, Clara is granted her own act of providence by the universe, in a moment where she gains a toehold in the story by breaking the fourth wall – her narrative powers and mythic position within the Doctor Who universe are already being drawn in parallel to the Doctor.
• Also intriguing is the built in critique of “Victorian Values”, which are mentioned several times throughout the episode. The phrase first crops up when the Doctor comments on ruthless use of the snow for a profit by Doctor Simeon, and the questioning of those values runs throughout the episode. Victorian gender roles are critiqued and questioned. Clara’s use of the word “man” in the one word test, followed by Jenny and Vastra’s keen response, critiques the Doctor’s stereotypical “manpain” reaction to losing Amy. Dr Simeon reveals that Vastra and Jenny are inspiring Sherlock Holmes and John Watson, and the reason Doyle has altered the details of their adventure is not to hide the fact that the Great Detective was inspired by a Lizard from the dawn of time, but a woman. Mr Latimer is unable to break free of the shackles of Victorian gender roles, struggling to connecting to connect with his children, while citing his inexpertise in that area, until Clara ultimately insists that his inexpertise is of secondary importance to his role as his children’s sole parent. There’s also commentary on class, with Clara switching between the class divide, by seeking out a job in a class higher than her own, while still being strongly attached to her working class roots. In her own way, she distorts the values of a class driven society and bending the rigid rules of Victorian society, upending the conventions of her setting like the Doctor frequently does.
• These themes are all bound together by the story’s exploration of memory, a theme that runs throughout the episode. This starts with the Doctor attempting to wipe Clara’s memory, the snow that can remember, and Simeon’s memories being overrun by the Great Intelligence, before culminating in the Doctor connecting his memories of Oswin to Clara, with this connection being the key to drawing the Doctor out of his depression and back into the world, as he realises he has a chance to save the girl who sacrificed herself to save him.
• Previously, I’d liked this episode, but nothing more. On rewatch, I absolutely loved it. It’s gorgeous to look at, has a well balanced ensemble of characters, has great performances from the regulars, who all get their chance to shine, and is thematically layered. It‘s not quite Moffat at his best – the script’s one major flaw of the slightly pat “family crying at Christmas” resolution stops the episode from being a classic. But overall, the dialogue crackles, the characters sparkle, the setting has room to breathe and the script is packed with superbly written set pieces. It’s Moffat’s best episode since “A Good Man Goes to War”, an utter delight.
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