June 22: "The Battle of Demons Run: Two Days Later" / "The Great Detective" / "Vastra Investigates - A Christmas Prequel" / "The Snowmen"

So I'm cheating a bit: strictly speaking, "The Battle of Demons Run: Two Days Later" didn't air until shortly before "The Bells of Saint John", three months after "The Snowmen" -- but as it makes more sense to view it here, that's what I'm doing.  It's not even that exciting a scene, to be honest; it shows Vastra and Jenny talking to the revived Strax and offering him a choice to go with them (back to 1888, so four years before "The Snowmen"), so that he won't be alone.  It's probably not a scene that needed to be explicitly stated, but I suppose it's nice to have the bases covered.

The next couple mini-episodes, "Vastra Investigates" and "The Great Detective", explicitly precede "The Snowmen".  "The Great Detective" aired during 2012's Children in Need telethon, and features the Paternoster Gang (as Vastra, Jenny, and Strax are referred to here) in Victorian London, trying to interest the Doctor in investigating weird happenings around the town, but he'll have none of it: "Why do you keep doing this?  What is the point?  I have told you.  I keep telling you, I don't do this any more.  I've retired."  This sets the stage for the Doctor's attitude in "The Snowmen".  The other prequel, "Vastra Investigates", simply shows that the Paternoster Gang helps Scotland Yard with their more unusual investigations (almost like a proto-UNIT), and that the Doctor still is unwilling to help out.

All this sets the stage for the 2012 Christmas episode, "The Snowmen", which is the first Steven Moffat Christmas special to not explicitly be about Christmas.  It's set at Christmas in 1892, but this is simply a backdrop for a more typical Doctor Who tale (as opposed to the previous couple, which really have been all about Christmas).  Steven Moffat appears to be taking an old rejected Douglas Adams idea -- that of the Doctor retiring but people keep bothering him for help -- as his starting point.  This is a much more somber Doctor than we're used to, one who appears to still be grieving over the loss of Amy and Rory and who has largely isolated himself from society (although it's worth nothing that he nevertheless chose a place with friends nearby, rather than complete hermitage).  His costume also reflects the change, as he's wearing a long purple coat with fur lapels, a necktie instead of his trademark bow tie (at least, until he finally comes down from his cloud and starts helping again, realizing along the way that he'd unconsciously put the bow tie on again), and a rather crumpled top hat.  He's also still wearing the round Lennon-esque glasses that Amy had in "The Angels Take Manhattan".  This is a Doctor who seems older and less inclined to stick out.

In contrast, we have a "new" character, Clara.  I say "new", but it's Jenna-Louise Coleman again, playing a similar character to Oswin in "Asylum of the Daleks".  Here she's shown as just as clever as Oswin was, albeit in a different way -- she's a lower-class barmaid who's also an upper-class governess, and thus highly adept at fitting into her surroundings and being the best at whatever she puts her mind to.  This includes tracking down the strange man who's just suggested that perhaps a suddenly appearing snowman happened because "it remembers how to make snowmen" -- a facetious answer, although we learn that's actually the truth.  Clara is unwilling to simply let this person slip away, so he chases him and learns he's called the Doctor.  And from there it's straight into the opening credits.

Dr. Simeon and his snowmen. ("The Snowmen") ©BBC

There's definitely a sense of change in the air in this episode.  A new title sequence (which is both contemporary and oddly retro, with what looks like bright orange lava lamp patterns mixed with magenta starfields -- and there's a deep-seated thrill at seeing Matt Smith's face in the titles, marking the first time the Doctor's face has appeared since 1989), subtly new logo (this one looks like snow -- the last time they'll do this), new theme arrangement (this one is much more percussive-feeling, with the bass line given greater prominence than the last time), an utterly gorgeous new console room (making it look less "whimsical" than the previous version and far more like a proper ship), and other changes dotted throughout the episode give this one a feeling of importance, of something waiting on the horizon.  This is a theme that's reflected throughout the episode, as we constantly get the impression of a hush before the storm, instead of running through the middle of it.  Part of that might be because the main villain, Dr. Walter Simeon (as played by former almost-Doctor Richard E. Grant (Scream of the Shalka)), spends much of the episode waiting for the right moment, for the Ice Governess to emerge from the frozen pond, rather than hatching elaborate plans for the Doctor to thwart.  It's also likely because the Doctor and Clara spend a lot of the episode not-quite-meeting after their initial encounter (which includes a humorous sequence involving Strax and something called a memory worm), which means the plot dances around the two, with Clara trying to enlist the Doctor's help and encountering Madame Vastra instead.

This isn't an explosive, action-packed Christmas special; instead, like most of the stories this series, it's a more intimate affair, concerned with characters and their relationships.  Clara is presented as an ideal companion for the Doctor, one to pull him out of his "sulk", and while this might be almost unbearable in the wrong hands, in Jenna Coleman's it becomes charming and somehow right -- of course she should travel with the Doctor.  Which is why (given her chemistry with Matt Smith and the fact that she'd been announced as the new companion) it's something of a shock to see her die in this.  "Asylum of the Daleks" was a one-off, a teaser, but this was supposed to be the proper debut of the new companion, so it's a genuine surprise to learn that it's not, that it's another mystery -- albeit one connected to the last, as the Doctor finally realizes that Clara and Oswin ("Soufflé Girl") were the same person (thanks to them both saying the same thing as they died: "Run, you clever boy, and remember").  It's an interesting way to make the audience intrigued and curious about the upcoming second half of series 7, and it works.

None of this, mind, marginalizes the main enemy of this story, Dr. Simeon and his mimicking snow.  It's a conceptual threat that ends up being something of a prequel to two Troughton stories (those with sharp eyes and HD televisions might have made out the words "Great Intelligence" on Simeon's business card early in the episode, but for everyone else it's made explicit at the end ("The Great Intelligence.  Rings a bell..." the Doctor remarks thoughtfully afterwards).  Richard E. Grant is suitably sinister as Simeon, even if he does seem a bit underutilized (he's largely there to repeatedly ask for the Ice Governess and to talk to the telepathic snow), and it's a joy to have Sir Ian McKellen as part of the show, voicing the Great Intelligence.  The scene with the Doctor confronting the two of them at the end is nice (even if the "snow turns to tears" resolution doesn't quite feel right), and it's cheeky to have that reference to The Web of Fear in there (the London Underground stuff).²⁴⁴

It's a strong story, with some fabulous characters and a lot of great direction (including our first-ever pass from outside the TARDIS to straight inside the doors into that new console room in one shot) that contributes to a very satisfying atmosphere.  The mystery of Clara is set up well, and the use of the Great Intelligence is quite lovely.  This is definitely the best Christmas special of Matt Smith's era, and possibly the best one of them all.







²⁴⁴ It does kind of look like the production team knew about the discovery of four of the five missing episodes of The Web of Fear, but if so, it would mean they knew about it well in advance -- the readthrough for "The Snowmen" was in August 2012, while the announcement of the recovery wasn't until October 2013.  It's perhaps more likely that they'd heard some of the rumors flying around (combined with Neil Gaiman's original idea that "House" in "The Doctor's Wife" was actually the Great Intelligence, which would have put the thought in Moffat's head) and decided to bring the Intelligence back.