The Name of the Doctor Cliffhanger

I strongly recommend not watching this YouTube clip if you have not seen the actual episode. I'm only posting this because it is the most important scene in 'Who' I can think of as it is the very first time that the almost 50 year old question 'Doctor who?' becomes really teased... So, enjoy and pay attention, as that minute is all Moffat offers us to survive the next 6 'Who'-less months.

Run You Clever Boy and Remember Me.

When you are a time traveller, 
 there is one place you must never go...

Ever since the Mighty Moff started his reign I have been waiting for a plausible, non-timey-wimey finale written by him, one which did not involve rewriting all of history, the end of civilisation, or that of the Doctor, or all three of these. And what do we get? "The Name of the Doctor" in which Moffat rewrites the Doctor's past. Twice. He kills him. Several times. And whole stellar constellations come to their end. Nevertheless, I have to say that this was the least timey-wimey, most plausible and, most importantly, best finale I've seen for ages. Because it made sense.

Sort of. Moffat made an effort to come up with brilliant explanations for several things. E.g. how the Paternoster Gang, post-library River and Clara could have a conference meeting regardless the obvious restrictions set by time and space. Even though, let's not really start to go into that matter, because I don't know why it was easier for them to get an actually dead River to attend that meeting, than a still living version of her...

Besides, there may be fans who'd love to have an explanation how post-library River can be the Doctor's  imaginary friend (is the TARDIS linked to the Library's data core, and if yes why is the Doctor (and Clara) the only one who's able to see her?) But I'm willing to accept that anyway, because him not wanting to say goodbye to her was heartbreaking. If there's one scene perfectly summarising their relationship, or the Doctor's life, then it's that one. Because he does hate goodbyes and endings. 

And I'm not sure if it was really necessary to use the *recent* TARDIS interior design for the Doctor's tomb. Or more importantly, how did the Paternoster Gang end up at Trenzalore? How did they time travel? Can the Great Intelligence and his Whispermen time travel as well, or have they been simply waiting for the Doctor to turn up at Trenzalore one day? Or what was the Great Intelligence's actual motivation behind destroying the Doctor's life? Why does it mean 'peace at last' for him? I hope Moffat will come back to these snippets. Maybe, and this is a very bold guess, he's the one responsible for the exploding TARDIS in "The Big Bang", something which is still waiting to be tackled.

At least, thank you for not revealing the Doctor's actual name. When they were trying to open the tomb I was worried for a split second... For a moment I thought the code word was 'please'. Now that would have been very didactic.

But luckily, "The Name of the Doctor" also gives us some answers. We find out how Clara can be the impossible girl: she sacrifices her life, scatters herself over time and space to be there and save the Doctor whenever it is needed. BTW, the flashbacks actually made me shiver. They were brilliantly done.  Clara's conversation with the Doctor who's just about to steal, sorry, borrow, the TARDIS was a masterpiece. I've no idea how they did that. But it was top notch.

However, with the Mighty Moff, each answer comes with several questions. Because, if Clara rewrites the Doctor's history, it's a bit strange that he hasn't noticed her sooner. Sure, Clara says he can't always see or hear her, but this statement does not *really* explain why it took him so long to actually notice her being there. Well, then again, I guess this is the best possible explanation Moffat can offer us, and we'll have to take what we get. And let's not start to think about how the Doctor could save Clara by entering his own timestream. It worked, somehow; that's another thing we'll have to put up with, I guess.

But there is yet another point. Clara enters the timeline of a future Doctor, one who will die at Trenzalore. Therefore, it's logical that she claims that she's seen all of him. The only thing which is not logical is why "all of him" should only include "11 faces" as she puts it. Time Lords can regenerate 12 times, which equals 13 different bodies, so, even with the "dark pre-Doctor" form the cliffhanger there should be one regeneration left. But there is not, according to Calra, which means it has to be the 11th Doctor who dies at Trenzalore... I know, time can be rewritten, and we have more exciting things to worry about at the moment, but all of a sudden, the last, final, ultimo episode of 'Who' seems to have come a lot closer.

All in all, this was certainly the best finale I've ever seen. If somebody has ever doubted the Big Moff's abilities in the past, "The Name of the Doctor" proves that he deserves his place. As much as I hate the fact that he's messing with the Doctor's past, I'm glad that it's him who's carving his ideas about it into stone, and not someone else.

Now, all I need is to borrow a TARDIS myself, because the Mighty Moff can't expect us to wait 6 months till the next episode. That would be torture...

An Impossible Game of Chess

You remember how I mentioned that Gaiman got our expectations up impossibly high? I was wrong, he did meet them, somehow. It wasn't quite full marks, but it wasn't an actual nightmare in silver as some people expected.

So, the Cybermen are scary again, the kids weren't annoying, well, not unintentionally, even though at times they did feel a bit pointless, Clara turned down a wedding proposal, and Matt Smith said 'Allons-y!', although I'll have to re-watch the whole thing to make sure which version of the Doctor actually said the tenth Doctor's catch-phrase. But I have to say that his... 'version' of the former Doctors (that should have been 9 and 10 I guess) weren't that authentic. To say it with 11th words: Let's never do that again. And all this was set between the ruins of an old amusement park. Which was rather spooky, even though IMHO they did not make proper use of it... Oh, and I LOVE the final shot: a cybermite floating through space.

One thing to nag about, except the lost opportunity of not really involving the CGI-ed amusement park, is that  again, an episode failed to add anything to the *big* who-is-Clara story. That is fine for 'causal' viewers, I guess. But isn't giving hints and teasers throughout the series the way Moffat has been writing 'Who' these days? Or are we just too stupid to see those supposedly red herrings this time? Or is that just me?

Anyway, Nightmare in Silver' is still rather good. I love the fact that the crucial plot device was the Doctor bluffing in a game of chess he was playing against himself, or rather the Cybermen's hive-mind. Oh, and chess was invented by the mighty Time Lords now? Didn't know that bit. But we'll make sure to add it to the big chunk of fun-facts of the Whoniverse*.

And it's episodes like this which make it even worse that Neil Gaiman does not feel like becoming the new showrunner of 'Who'. I just wanted to make that point clear.

Next week is the last time we get 'Who' on screen before the big 5oth anniversary.  So better make it a good one then.

___

* ... and to Wikipedia.  After all, you could quote Neil Gaiman as reasonable source.

Business As Usual...

"The Crimson Horror" is a picture book example what it takes to write a good episode of 'Who': a brilliant story, a mad, old woman, a creepy pre-historic monster and the Paternoster Gang. Come on, just give them their own spin-off. IMHO they have more potential than 'Torchwood' ever did. So what is the BBC waiting for... Oh, right, someone who'd take over that time- and budget-intensive project. What is Russel T Davies up to these days anyway?

But back to the episode. Basically, it's what you'd get if you combined Poe, sci-fi and Sherlock. It is a nice romp, there are a few excellent nods to the past, and the future (TomTom), plus some scenes looked as if they'd belonged originally to a proper horror film. And somehow Gatiss managed to get North England in 1893 just right. It felt as if they'd been there. This is actually the first non-Moffat episodes of season 7b which holds the balance between an interesting story, witty dialogues while not shunning to add some seriousness to it (Ada calling the Doctor her 'monster' was intentionally ambiguous, I guess). Plus, we got an additional moral lecture: you don't need to be perfect to sparkle. Oh, and did anyone else think it to be odd that the Doctor was not 'chosen' to live in Sweetville. Apparently he's not among the "best and the brightest" according to Mrs. Gillyflower...

So, next week, it's Neil Gaiman's turn, and looking at his "The Doctor's Wife" it has the potential of being something rather awesome. My dear, I really hope it's going to be good, because after "Journey" 7b needs something to improve statistics.

A Mad Man's Mad Box

Now that's what I call an easy escape. Just re-write history, make the things which kept people's hearts racing never happen and allow a big friendly button to save the day. The worst thing is that I wouldn't have minded if this had been the plot of any other episode of this season, after all, this is pretty much the basic idea of Moffat's finales, only that this time it was done in a really un-crafty way. But this was "The Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS" (or "Journey"  for the sweet shortness of it). Which was maybe the  most anticipated episode of this season because it is one of those few times that we get to see the inside of the TARDIS. It's almost as if you'd have an episode featuring the Doctor's diary. And as in my humble opinion he isn't keeping one (or not ATM anyway), the TARDIS' interior comes pretty close to a diary's function. She's the one and only companion who manages to stick around. Which means if there is a place in the universe which can tell us something about the Doctor's past then it's inside that magical blue box. Therefore, it's only natural that the title of this week's episode got Whovians exited.

So just imagine the disappointment when we find out that the inside of the most iconic thing of this series seems to exist mostly of corridors. Or that's what Thompson decided to show us anyway. I get the idea. If you have many rooms you need many corridors connecting them. But the sheer number of corridors is simply ridiculous. Besides, when you get the chance to write a story set within the mighty walls of the TARDIS there are a number of items and rooms (from the classic series) which could have had a re-appearance on screen.

And this ties in with the second point which could have used improving. The rooms. Sure, we got to see a few glimpses of the Doctor's past (the cot, Amy's model of the TARDIS, and maybe other stuff which will be the only reason for fans to re-watch this episode a few times). But most of us were expecting more than seeing the swimming pool, the TARDIS architectural reconfiguration system and the famous library, which is giant but does not feature the aforementioned swimming pool... come on, how difficult would it have been to change that via CGI? You really could have given us that small pleasure. This way the most interesting part of the library is that the Encyclopedia Gallifreyica is kept in bottles. Whispering bottles. I love the idea. BTW, shouldn't the label translate rather to Encyclopaedia Galilifreyica? But given the fact that the TARDIS just crashlanded it's not difficult to accept that its translation mechanism appears to be somewhat faulty.

Even though I know that the TARDIS has changed its interior twice since the series' revival, I still imagined that some parts of it stayed the same and were still in there, like  the really impressing staircase-y bit  which we got a glimpse at "The Christmas Invasion". Somehow back then the TARDIS looked warm and more alive, something which got more and more CGI-ed away during the last seasons. Being familiar with Moffat's soft spot for fairy-tale-y motives things could have been much more impressive and less mechanic. After all, the TARDIS is not a machine, something which wasn't *really*pointed out this time.

And then there is the pointless and plotholes-ridden plot of "Journey", about which I do not really have the patience to complain. Still, just to mention a few things: after the TARDIS ends up in that salvage space-ship why is the Doctor outside the blue box, while Clara is still inside? And what are the odds of the TARDIS being attacked the very second the Doctor puts the shields down? The only thing which gets explained is those creepy, zombie-like creatures.And they make sense.

Of course, there were a few moments which managed to live up to expectations. The most touching TARDIS-Doctor moment was when he and Clara enter the heart of the TARDIS just to see her engine/heart being torn apart and frozen in time.  His "she's just always been there for me, taken care of me. And now it's my turn and I don't know what to do" was pretty touching. Additionally, "Journey" was the first episode in which the Doctor admits to have secrets and that it's important to him to keep them. Giving the nature of the series, this is only logical, but I can't remember having seen this issue addressed on screen this obviously. Plus, we learn that the Doctor does have an actual name. And it's not the Doctor. Otherwise, Clara  wouldn't have brought it up like this. Although, I think it's strange that the Doctor keeps a book about the history of the Time War ready to hand in the Library which contains his real name. And this brings me to the only good point of the wibbely-wobbely-timey-wimey storyline, namely, that rewriting these event made Clara forgetting about everything, including the Doctor's name.

So all in all, this could have been worse, but at the same time it could have been so much better... Let's hope that Gaiman's Cyberman-two-parter will manage to save this season from becoming the worst of 'New-Who'. Because that's where things are heading ATM.

The Oldest Story in the Universe

To you, I haven't been born yet, 
and to you, I've been dead 100 billion years

Maybe my standards are getting low, it's either that, or this was an unnecessarily rushed, bust still rather nice filler. Even though, I have to admit some elements of the plot were a bit strange at times... Like why did they need Emma to open that portal (or whatever that was) to the pocket universe if they had the TARDIS? How did her psychic gift influence it so that it could pick up the Doctor? Who knows if it couldn't have worked without her... Oh, and the Whoniverse has pocket universes now? Aren't parallel universes and bubble universes enough? Do we really need to have pocket universes too? Well, apparently yes, although IMHO this is the most unnecessary complication of the already more than just complex universe-system of 'Who'. But never mind that, 'Hide' was nevertheless rather lovely. 

Do you remember that one of my first objections about Clara was that she's the first companion who does not make the Doctor actually dealing with his past? Well, this time it's the people they meet who take care of that. The Professor mentioning how he feels responsible for the lives he took and how he's trying to live on with that burden felt almost as if the Doctor had been looking into a mirror.  Because the same things haunt him too, in a way.

Additionally, this episode was not only about ghosts, or love, but Clara, and that she is to the Doctor the only mystery worth solving. The scene in the TARDIS right after Clara realises that she just witnessed the birth and death of her home planet may have been the most important one we've seen so far. Not only because of the obvious contrast between the Doctor's and her feelings. He has seen the death of several planets a thousand times, to him it's just another house which gets pulled down. To him that's how time works. To her it's home. This is the first scene in which she actually notices that he sees the world differently than she does and that time is not the same to him as it's to her And finding out if her body does lie out there buried in the ground (and if yes, how often) is a question he'd love to know as well.  If it weren't for Clara (or one version of her, anyway) he would probably still spend his days in Victorian London, inside the TARDIS which he has conveniently parked on a cloud. To him she is just a distraction, or maybe a bit more than that... But I'm not too sure if she's supposed to know. After all, it's not a too flattering remark. 

And then there is still that funny thing about Emma Grayling, which is the reason why the Doctor and Clara end up messing with pocket universes in the first place. He wants to know her opinion on Clara, instead she tells Clara her opinion on the Doctor ('Don't trust him,  there's a sliver of ice in his heart').

Anyway... next week it's the Doctor's adopted home being destroyed, with Clara still inside the TARDIS. In fact, looking at the feedback 'The Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS' has received so far, it might be one of the most anticipated episode of this season. So I for my part am looking very much forward to it.

Resurrecting the Ice Warriors

Is anyone familiar with Alien, the sci-fi horror film? This week's episode felt a lot like that, only without the really creepy chest-bursting alien life-form, and the cat. But everything else was pretty much the same: the ridiculously bigger on the inside submarine, the Ice Warrior killing crew members and you didn't know who's next... Thinking about it, IMHO it felt almost as if it had been something written for 'Torchwood' and not 'Doctor Who'.

Leaving the rather scary side of it behind and looking only at its science-fictional qualities, I have to say, that 'Cold War' is one of the most old school sci-fi episodes I've seen for ages. And this is a compliment. Because back then stories did not rely on CGI but an excellent plot with a lot of (necessary) explanations and almost no plot-holes (which is not exactly true about the old series, but good sci-fi in general). And that is exactly what Mark Gatiss offered us this week. In fact, I can't remember the last 'Who' episode whose plot  did not have a lot in common with with the famous Swiss cheese. Gatiss even took the time to explain why the Doctor could not use the TARDIS as a means of escape. And it's great that he used something form the classic stories (the Hostile Action Displacement System, HADS) to do so.

What I do not get, though, is why the fact that the Professor turns up singing Ultrafox's Vienna stops the Soviets blowing up the world (again). But this is only a minor remark. Everything else is more than just plausible, the Professor finding a creature while drilling for oil on the North pole, the reason why he is there in the first place, the way it comes alive, the Ice Warrior's emotional reaction after spending thousands of years in hibernation. Besides, I love the pun created by using the Cold War as the background for the episode in which the Ice Warriors get some sort of resurrected. This is something only 'Doctor Who' allows you to do.

We Don't Walk Away...

... the Golden Rule(s) of 'Who' revisited.

The first out-of-time/space adventure of the new companion is usually some kind of a bummer*. And this might  have been one of the numerous reasons why many people wasn't expecting much from "The Rings of Akhaten" in the first palce. With stakes this modestly set, it managed to live up to exceptions. Sadly, flawless CGI is simply not enough for a great episode, it takes a good plot too, and one may be tempted to suspect that with an almost 5o year old history of writing sci-fi 'Doctor Who' has already leaned this lesson. 

Of course, not everything about the latest episode is bad. It's great to be shown Clara's background story, and to have all those blank spots filled out, more or less. Ironically, with every detail we learn about her childhood, Clara's other versions (and their deaths') are becoming more and more impossible. And that's exactly the Big Moff's agenda, I suppose. 

At the same time it's some sort of difficult to ignore a giant plot hole of Cross' debut story: Why exactly was the Doctor's knowledge and more than just long-ish life experience not enough for Grandfather? Yes, I know that nice catch about the most important leaf in human history; it's standing for the infinite number of Clara's mum's un-lived adventures, and all the chances and possibilities never taken. But then we have the Doctor who "can see what is, what was, what could be, what must not" (as he explained to Donna in "The Fires of Pompeii") which is infinite too... and which even includes the never taken adventures of Mrs Oswald in a way. So why is that infinite infinity not enough? It's not as if there'd be a mathematical difference, you know.

Apart from that, it's odd how the Doctor manages to get away with not introducing himself to Clara properly again. It's almost as if she had a crash course about the Doctor: him being an alien, Gallifrey, the Time War, ect., ect. She gets the whole package, but she doesn't question it. She may be the first companion who doesn't make him deal with his past. Her emotional involvement wouldn't be less if he were reciting the periodic table. Strangely, this creates the impression as if she already knew, and maybe the impossible girl does. And maybe that's what the TARDIS senses when she refuses to let Clara (and Merry) enter...

Oh, and am I the only one who isn't that sure that *nothing* has changed while Clara was away saving the people of Akhaten?
_____

*No rule without exception. I LOVE "The Shakespeare Code" and Donna's trip to Pompeii was also not too bad. But still, neither "The End of the World" (Rose), nor "The Beast Below" (Amy) belong to many people's personal highlights. In fact, in my humble opinion, "The Beast Below" may be the worst story which sadly wears Moffat's personal markings.

All of Time And Space Outside These Doors....

Oh yes, that's proper 'Who' at its best, and all it takes is a dangerously well organised villain (the Great Intelligence, the one who was also responsible for the deadly Snowmen form last Christmas episode, we remember) and a couple of new mysteries for the Doctor to focus on: who is Clara Oswin, or how is the great Intelligence and she connected with each other? Who was the woman from the shop who knows the TARDIS' phone number? River? Is the Doctor's future self manipulating his past/future and 'making' Clara bump into him, somehow. At least Moffat promises us to find out within this season.

Talking about the new companion... Do you know her most important quality which makes her the perfect companion for the Doctor? He's already seen her dying. Twice. And he suspects that there isn't much he can do about it. So it doesn't matter if she has some fun with him before she ends up in a Dalek and/or a Victorian coffin. Moreover, it's really great to see the Doctor inviting her on board the TARDIS and she turning him down. Well, I guess in *real* life that would be people's natural reaction, it's just that the Doctor and real life aren't really acquainted with each other.Then again, Moffat is the best when it comes to making the least realistic or even logical things appearing real. Where else could you see a girl not being utterly shocked by meeting a *proper* alien. I loved the Doctor's reaction, though 'Yes I am. Are you OK with that?'

Actually, it were the innumerable small moments between the two of them which makes the whole story perfect and adds some real life feeling to it; like the Doctor leaving the jammie-dodgers for her, him hinting at her Victorian past/(future?), well, at least now we sort-of know where her excellent hacking-skills ('Asylumn of the Daleks') come from, or the last minutes in which she asks him to ask her tomorrow again to travel with him, because she'll may say yes then (and we and the Doctor know she will). And when was the last time the Doctor actually received a proper phone-call via the Police Box phone? Or that he heard the 'bells' of 'Saint John' ringing? And we have already a few loose ends which asks to be tied up some time in the future. E.g. what was that leaf thing all about? And why doesn't she want to talk about it?

Sure, there was some sort of a sub-plot going on with those spoonheads which served the Great Intelligence as a tool to 'feed' on healthy, human minds, for whatever reason... And his servants/employees used the wi-fi to do all this, which is some sort of spooky (especially as since a few minutes a new wi-fi spot has kept appearing in my wi-fi list: ALIEN lol) But all this simply demonstrates the Big Moff's magnificence; I guess there aren't many screenwriters who'd use such an elaborately crafted plot  as the background-story to introduce the new companion. The story could have lived up to any standards which poor Russel T Davies set up for 'Who's finales. 

What I don't get is what 'the Doctor saving the plane' scene was about. After all, it didn't really add anything to the story; it simply allowed Moffat to cheat and get done with the the Doctor introducing himself to the new companion, which is part of the actual ritual. And Clara didn't seem too shocked by this new information, either that or she simply couldn't be more shocked as she was in a then still just about to crashing plane. So maybe there wasn't exactly enough time for the information to sink in.

All in all, 'The Bells of Saint John' was a great opener and next week Clara will be on her first alien planet, visiting a place which she certainly won't find in her book. Maybe we'll get an appropriate reaction to the Doctor *really* being an alien then.

Moffat Talks 'Who'

Every year, just before 'Doctor Who' becomes part of our weekends again, the Big Moff gathers his subjects working in the media and gives an interview. Or vice versa. This year's most interesting read comes from Collider. And sadly, it features the general dull 'Jenna-Louise Coleman'-questions (what do you like about her, why did she get the job -  because she's terrific AND a great actress, just in case you wondered ect., ect.) but also some more interesting ones. And no, I'm not referring to Moffat's most favourite episode; seriously, he is the showrunner of 'Who'. He is paid for saying that the next one's the best!

Nevertheless, Moffat is also offered the chance to talk about more interesting stuff, like why he thinks that the Doctor, and the show, needs an excellent companion, or how he manages to come up with the idea for his genuinely creepy monsters, what he thinks of purely historical adventures and his initial idea of bringing back the ice warriors, and so on. Of course he has to say also a few words on 'Doctor Who's 5o-year anniversary, and its function, plus, the cherry on the cake is that tongue-tied Moffat promises to reveal Clara's secret within the next 8 episodes. Which is great news. Somehow I'm starting to tire of far stretched story-archs. River's sub-plot has become complex enough to follow. So, all in all, it's certainly worth reading that somewhat long-ish interview.

I Never Know Why, I Only Know Who....

Take some deadly snowmen, an old-ish very Scrooge-like gentleman, the TARDIS parked on a cloud, a girl who looks just like Clara Oswin, Strax, risen from the dead, and a hint of Christmas. These seems to have been the basic ingredients for this year's Christmas-treat 'The Snowmen'.

And do you know what I loved most about it? That after a few minutes you
forget that it's set at Christmas. Don't get me wrong, I don't think that Christmas specials are bad in general, it's just that 'Doctor Who' is not really famous for delivering great Christmas episodes. Yes, I know, last year's 'Christmas Carol' was not bad either (come on, flying fish!), and I really love 'The Runaway Bride' (Cathrine Tate vs. giant spider), but the episodes we get for Christmas have either nothing or not much to do with the general storyline, or they are so story-driven that without some previous knowledge it's not easy to understand what's or why it's going on.

But this year things were different. Because although  'The Snowmen' may be kind-a important for season 7's second part, the storyline itself was pretty straight forward. And in addition Moffat also offered some highlights for us hardcore-fans: in this episode we didn't only have the chance to meet the new companion for the first (well, second) time (oh, and she's great), but we also have a new TARDIS interior (a bit too retro-stylish if you ask me) and a new opening theme, about which I haven't made up my mind yet... on the one hand it's great that they've made it a bit shorter, but I'm not sure about the new pinkish touch they added to the time vortex. Well, we'll get used to it; it's not as if we had another option.

Still, if I had to chose one thing I love about 'The Snowmen' then it's the clever, clever plot with all those even more clever side-remarks (I just say one word: Pond). Sure, I should give a few minus points for involving Sherlock Holmes in at least 2 possible ways (Strax, the Lizard Lady and her wife mimicking the idea behind Sir Doyle's stories, and the Doctor's personal interpretation of the famous fictional detective, which, however, was almost so bad that it's possible to forgive that second blunder). Plus, I'm not too sure what the Big Moff wanted to achieve when coming up with the idea of 'the worm'. Am I the only one who had to think of it being a Men In Black copycat-action? And these were by far not the only 'genres' of which Moffat borrowed a few elements. The invisible staircase and the TARDIS parked on a cloud would have perfectly fitted into any Tim Burton film; and I can't help but LOVE the fairy-tale-y touch it gives the whole episode.

Another thing which has been going on for a while now, but on which I haven't commented yet, is the way Steven Moffat has been writing the Doctor.  That Matt Smith is great as the Doctor is not a matter of discussion any more. The 11th Doctor is an expert in breaking hearts, his own, and ours. But he does not seem to be the absolute centre of the stories any more; sure, he still his, but only at second glance. At first glance, 'The Snowmen' is the story of Clara whose death helped fighting the snowmen. This time the Doctor isn't able to save her, it isn't even him who saves London/mankind/Earth in the end.

Nevertheless, maybe herein lies the most brilliant element of the episode, namely,  the method with which Moffat tries to seduce the audience to watch the new season. Just as last season, we have again the notion that whatever we saw cannot be true as no-one can die twice* (right, Rory can; but then again he was once a Roman plastic Centurio and the universe seems to have acquired a special set of laws for him). Or do you remember the first time we met River? Moffat does not tire of re-using the same old story-telling trick. Only that  the whole thing seems to be a bit more elaborated#. At least this time the mysterious 'she' becomes his full-time companion so we won't need to wait several months and years to find out more about her. It seems at least Moffat got what he wanted for Christmas: I can't wait to find out more about her.
_________

*'The Impossible Astronaut'

# Or am I the only one who is a bit disappointed what Moffat made of River's story. I'm not saying that I don't admire him for it, I just can't help feeling that it lost its sparkling towards the end, something which cannot be saved by an overly complex storyline.

Remember...

Now, that was what I call an almost 5o minute long teaser for season 7. Even though I'm not too sure about the soon-gonna-be-the-new-comapion's name: Oswin Oswald. Seriously? And, doesn't the whole thing seem to be familiar: the Doctor witnessing the death of a future companion, even though technically this time it does not necessarily need to be the future death of a future companion... besides, the Doctor does not seem to know. Or is it just me who thinks that there is something haunting about Oswin's final words 'Run you clever boy and remember'. Admittedly, there is a tiny possibility that this is the way how she will die after all. Nevertheless, let's not forget the one and only lesson we should have learnt from season 6, namely, not to take anything for granted, especially when it comes to story archs crafted by the Mighty Moff.

Talking about story archs. Is the Doctor fighting the Dalek's masterplan of turning everybody into Dalek-protptypes what this year's season is going to be about? Could be. And I have the feeling that the Dalek's not remembering their archenemy may have also some other additional, yet unexplored consequences than them chanting the two words for which this series has been famous...

However, the episode also operates on a different level. The fact that the Doctor is some sort of responsible for the Ponds almost breaking up gives an interesting touch to the story, just as the constant misinterpretations of eggs-termin-ate (which may be syntactically a perfect Japanese sentence BTW). Not to mention the sad irony of a 'I'm human'-chanting Dalek-human (or human Dalek, after all?) who indirectly becomes the reason why the Doctor manages to escape his future most likely cause of death (i.e. death by Dalek) ones more.

The only slight downside I can think of is the lack of one-liners, something Moffat is famous for. Then again, the primary purpose of 'The Asylum of the Daleks' seems to have been to present a mouthwatering appetiser of season 7's remaining episodes, and it certainly did not fail to accomplish that.