The Snowmen

[purplecat]

Well, I think it's fair to say that I hadn't expected this answer to Clara's identity.

In retrospect it seems obvious that the relationship of Clara to Oswin in Asylum of the Daleks was a question that would remain open after Clara's appearance. But it wasn't the answer I expected and avoids the problems I had with most of the more likely scenarios.

I enjoyed Clara. I am a little worried that she's going to tip over the edge from fun into extremely irritatingly perky and she does appear to be a Manic Pixie Dream Girl. However for the first time ever I did find myself recoiling as the Doctor kissed his companion. Since The Angels Take Manhattan did such a good job of presenting River and the Doctor as a married couple, it felt jarring to see him kissing someone else, even if reluctantly. It made me suddenly wonder where River had been through this apparently decades long sulk of his and then made me worry that now the Ponds have gone, River's story will be treated as done and she'll be conveniently forgotten about. She's never been my favourite character, and I'm not convinced she's always been well-served by the scripts, but she deserves better than being quietly dropped. And yes, it could be (in fact very plausibly is) an open relationship, but I feel that should be stated.

More generally, I feel about this story much as I've felt about a lot of the Christmas Specials (in particular those by Moffat). I really enjoyed it but felt a little too aware of the way my reactions were being manipulated. I'm also getting a little weary of the relentless Victorian Snow backdrop they all have. In fact I had to go back and check whether The Next Doctor was one of Moffat's or not (it wasn't). While The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe wasn't actually in a Victorian setting it was clearly aiming to invoke the same kind of feelings and use the same sort of old-fashioned imagery as the Victorian ones. I'm not sure that the sentimentality of it all really plays well to Moffat's strengths as a writer.

The visuals associated with the staircase through the clouds were stunning though. I'll almost forgive this being fantasy Victorians again because of those images.

All that said, unlike Moffat's previous two specials where he was also trying to deal with some fairly serious themes, this one was much more overtly about having fun, perhaps in order to showcase Clara's character. Madame Vastra and Jenny were, of course, great. I would happily have watched a lot more of them detecting around Victorian London and was oddly disappointed that they were relegated to sidekicks. Like a lot of people I was made somewhat uncomfortable by the extent to which the Doctor teased Strax. It seemed to step over some fine line between friendly ribbing and bullying. Oh and how are the mighty fallen? The Sontarans are clearly now to be consider comedy dwarfs, a fearsome warrior race no longer. I've not yet seen The Hobbit but I understand a similar fate has fallen on about 50% of the dwarves in that.

In summary then, this was a lot of fun but I do hope that next year's Christmas Special has a contemporary or futuristic setting. I'm getting bored of the relentless use of soft-focus history.

Comments

[magister]

Or else it shows how far from himself the Doctor has got. If that's the intention, then it should have been played less for laughs, though.

[purplecat]

I don't know, having observed a couple predominantly male groups at play (not OUDWS, I hasten to add here), there was a level of 'banter' I found deeply uncomfortable but which was considered a sign of camaraderie and which being able to endure was considered some kind of entrance requirement for the group, for being one of the lads (if you were male, if you were a woman you were exempt from that particular test).

Moffat has a track record of being oblivious to the nuances of this kind of thing. The interaction between the Doctor and Strax, with the rider that it's just a joke, seems entirely consistent with the behaviour I have observed. In that case it is intended to be seen as a sign of the Doctor's acceptance of Strax - he's a member of the in-group, but the intention only works within a specific social context which looks horrific to outside observers.

EDIT: And which is, broadly speaking, horrific. But I accept that certain social groups are normalised to it.

[magister]

Yes, that's true - I've seen the same thing. I guess the acid test will come with the episode where Strax reappears - whether the Doctor's tone to him has changed or not.