The Snowmen

"You poured your darkest dreams into a snowman."

Writer: Steven Moffat

Format: TV

Broadcast: 25th December 2012

Series: 2012 Christmas Special

Featuring: Eleventh Doctor, Clara

Synopsis 

After losing Amy and Rory, the Doctor has retired to Victorian England, where Madame Vastra, Jenny and Strax assist him. The Doctor eventually meets Clara and takes a liking to the young barmaid who leads a double life as a governess. At the same time, a sinister plot is unfolding; snowmen at randomly appearing around London, growing in size and power. All they need to take over the world is some human DNA in ice crystal form, and the frozen body of a drowned governess can give them just that. 

Verdict 

The Snowmen is just an absolutely beautiful episode and for me, by far the best Christmas special yet! We have the return of the magnificent Paternoster Gang (Vastra, Jenny and Strax) who lit the world alight in A Good Man Goes to War. And they were all equally magnificent in this episode, and the prequels leading upto broadcast. I loved Vastra so very much in this with her sensuous and deceiving investigating. Is it weird that I was somewhat attracted by a Silurian? Neve McIntosh just dazzles under all that makeup and prosthetics! And then there's her wife, Jenny, who is so very lovely and sweet. I like how with Jenny she can seem very kind then turn nasty quickly. A good attribute to have! Now that just leaves me to Strax who was absolutely brilliant! His humour is unrivalled by any character prior and although I've previously mentioned about the Ice Warriors being good as being terrible, having one Sontaran on the Doctor's side is more than feasible just for the comic factor alone. The scene with the memory worm was staggeringly funny! Matt Smith's Doctor shines with him. The Doctor here was still mourning the events of The Angels Take Manhattan, and in a big way. He'd lost a companion very close to him in Amy, and he'd also lost Rory who'd been fantastic for him to. I liked how the Doctor kept the former's reading glasses as a momento if you will. The idea of the Doctor going into retirement was a shocking one and because Vastra believed that the Doctor's saving days were over, it meant you as the viewer were actually asking the impossible. Is the Doctor done? No more saving the world? But thanks to the highlight of the episode, by an absolute landslide, he would soon be coming out of retirement. With the departures of Amy and Rory, two long standing companions, would the audience warm to someone new for the Eleventh Doctor? After this episode, the answer is a resounding yes. Clara stole the show, not just with her beautiful looks, stunning dress and cockney lingo, but for her wonderfulness. She really was absolutely divine. As I've mentioned, she looked absolutely spectacular in Victorian dress and her hair being perfectly brunette. The companion changeover was never a big deal in the classic era really, except for the first half of the First Doctor era perhaps, but now it's a massive thing. We saw Oswin in Asylum of the Daleks played by the magnificent Jenna and thanks to her perfect performance we knew the series would be in good hands once the Ponds had gone, but for me they're going to be in better hands. Anyway, the plot of the episode itself was magnificent and I loved how this story brought back, and showed the origins, of the Great Intelligence! The fact that we saw the plans being put in place for The Web of Fear was incredibly clever! I was surprised though that the Doctor only seemed to vaguely recall meeting the intelligence. How can you not remember the puppeteer of the Yetis?! The plan of the Great Intelligence, flanked by Dr Simeon, was fantastic. Your basic take over the planet job, but the way they wanted to achieve it was quite unique! Swap humanity for ice people, literally. The story behind the Ice Governess was extremely intriguing and once she burst into being she looked different to say the least. The fact that the snow was slightly telepathic was a frightening concept but I loved the way it mirrored everything. That was its only capability, and I loved it. The relationship between the Doctor and Clara was incredible throughout. Immediately his presence and aura dazzled Clara into being curious about who this stranger in the top hat was. The scene where Clara discovered the TARDIS atop the cloud was lovely. The second time she went up, with the Doctor's blessing, was even more wonderful. The new TARDIS interior looks spectacular and I absolutely adored the pride the Doctor had when he proclaimed with glee that the TARDIS was his. Retirement was a distant memory. He knew he'd be taking Clara away with him, it was obvious. She was perfect. Not just at the kiss. He wasn't sure why of course, he only knew who. Clara would be the next companion and that meant he'd be able to get a soufflé would it not? The heartbreak for the Doctor when she died though was hard to watch. After all he'd gone through over recent times, with Rose and Donna and now Amy and Rory, so much loss, he'd now found the perfect girl to go away with. She'd accepted the TARDIS key, but was murdered by the Ice Governess. The Doctor was angry and gutted, taking the blame. But as Clara spoke those infamous dying words, he knew she was still alive. Somehow, with something impossible going on, he knew she was still alive... just as someone else. And he was right. Clara's tears had defeated the Great Intelligence, in a beautiful resolution, but now he'd known that soufflé girl in the Dalek Asylum was the same Victorian nanny/barmaid. And he could go find her, and travel with her. His perfectly impossible girl. A quite stunning episode in which we get the official debut of Clara. And for me, it's the best companion debut ever.

Rating: 10/10