Posted By Arturo Garcia on April 7, 2013

The Doctor (Matt Smith) opens himself up to danger in “The Rings of Akhaten.”

In her first official outing as a Companion, Clara proves she’s up to snuff — she even manages not to die. This episode? Close, but not so much.

For their first outing, The Doctor takes Clara to the Festival of Offerings, a once-in-a-millenium event on the titular planet. (Fun fact: This is the show’s first episode set on another world since Jenna-Louise Coleman’s surprise debut in “Asylum of the Daleks,” nearly a calendar year ago. My, how these long breaks fly, eh?)

Unfortunately, it’s not long before the plot starts colliding with itself. The Doctor tells Clara that he’s been to Akhaten with his granddaughter, which is a nice easter egg. But when coupled with him seemingly explaining to her the basics of the ritual, it makes no sense for him to be surprised, let alone outraged, by the discovery that it also entails young Merry sacrificing herself to a sentient star through a vampiric conduit that resembles a Sycorax with a bad tan.

And that’s just the first sign of trouble. For a guy who’s spent most of the past few years helming an ace procedural in Luther, Neil Cross’ story ignores some key details. Not only is Eleven’s sudden urge to flout Prime Directive seemingly more capricious than usual, but not even his triumph is clean. It’s good for Clara’s characterization to have her come to the rescue, but his intentions of handing over his memories to the “Old God” ends up undersold: Did the Doctor dumb himself down? Is the creature gone forever? Since when was the Sonic Screwdriver able to project sonic pulses? And not that anybody was rooting for Merry to die (I think), but how do the actual Akhatensians feel about a major part of their tradition being shut down?

What Cross does get right, much like last week’s episode, shines through in large part thanks to the cast’s performances. Matt Smith makes his level best out of the Doctor’s gambit, letting us see him search for the courage within himself, and still be surprised to find it after centuries of self-sacrifice. As Merry, Emilia Jones — you might remember her from the last Pirates of the Carribean movie — shows both an able singing voice and the ability to make her rallying cry emotive without being schmaltzy. The actual song isn’t bad, either; it’s kind of a cross between “Katherine’s Song” from “A Christmas Carol” and, somewhat oddly, the (NSFW) cover of “The Power Of Love” that aired on (the also NSFW) Misfits last year.

Which brings us back to Clara, who gets the benefit this week of some backstory that actually pays off. While the episode’s opening scenes play out like a great forgotten rom-com from ’81, they do lend some poignancy to her decision to save the day by giving up “Page One”of her favorite book — the leaf that helped her mom find his dad, and in turn gave recipients the power to sound like Dr. Manhattan when times are tough. So it’s fair, in return, that neither The Doctor nor the viewer knows why Clara is “impossible.” But the unease is apparent on his face when he drops her off. Even if it’s unlikely he’ll solve this particular puzzle before it turns into a problem, though, it’s good to know that Clara’s worth the trouble in her modern incarnation, too.

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Categories: Reviews, Shows and Shorts
Tags: BBC, Doctor Who, Emilia Jones, Jenna-Louise Coleman, Matt Smith, Neil Cross, Richard E. Grant, Steven Moffat, TARDIS, The Rings of Akhaten