Doctor Who - "The Rings of Akhaten" - Review

“Is it true?” – Clara “It’s a nice story” – The Doctor

The second episode with a new companion is typically an episode where the Doctor takes them for a test run. "The Rings of Akhaten" is no exception to this rule. Much like in other episodes with this aim, the story is set on some alien planet to put the companion in a completely fish out of water scenario where they show their worth.

Much in this vein the Doctor is able to observe Clara and see what a really great person she is, and how she has many of the qualities a good companion ought to have. She sees a scared child and immediately decides she needs to help her (shades of “The Beast Below”). She questions him when it looks like they’re walking away from a problem (“We don’t walk away,” he quickly assures her). 

This is very much a Clara episode. When she comes across the scared Queen Merry, the episode spends a long stretch of time watching her calm down the child, drawing upon her own experiences with her deceased mother (a character who's influence will presumably be a major part of Clara's identity and story as the series goes forward). The episode begins with the Doctor popping in on significant moments in Clara’s life, trying to suss out what her mysterious deal is. In the process we witness a touching, sweet and sad story about Clara’s mother and father meeting (fate landed a leaf on his face and she saved him from being hit by a car). They have their first date, fall in love, have Clara, and, before her time, Clara’s mother dies. It packs a surprising wallop for such a short little tale and it leads to another teary moment at episode’s end (one of those deeply moving moments that Doctor Who excels at - but more on that later). 

Though it starts out strong featuring Clara's backstory and introducing the alien world nicely (lots and lots of different aliens abound), the episode gets stuck and a little convoluted in the middle for a while once the ceremony takes place and Merry starts singing to please the “god” (Grandfather? The Old God? - there's a reveal upon a reveal upon a reveal to the point that it's over done, but it's all in service of that ending which is, to be fair, a marvelous ending) that the people of this planet worship. It’s all cool in theory but it takes way too long to get its point across. However, once Mary is sucked into the temple by the displeased “god”, the episode kicks into high gear, the action is fun (if not pushed past too quickly), and the story uses the tiny details accrued about this world smartly (“psychometry” where currency is embodied by items with sentimental value is a great idea). 

The supposed "god" is an alarm clock for the real "god" who turns out to be planet sized "god" with a pension for feeding on people's souls/stories (like I said: slightly convoluted). The Doctor provides the lovely little notion that souls are a collection of stories; the Doctor, of course, offers himself and his boundless stories up as a sacrifice, which gives Matt Smith one of those soul-crushing, heartbreaking monologues he constantly nails. But Clara steps in last moment and offers up the leaf that landed on her father’s face: to the days that never were; infinity of lifetimes Clara’s mother will never get to live (Jenna Louise-Coleman sells the hell out of this moment). It’s a story that even the parasite can’t handle, and the day is saved. 

As a whole the episode is mostly a letdown, but it’s filled with lovely little moments that make up for it. Most of them center on us discovering just what it is that makes Clara, well, Clara. I like Louise-Coleman’s performance and she works well with Smith, but that’s not enough to make a character. Clara’s inability to decide where to travel to first is such a nice, telling character detail, and so are other occurrences throughout the episode from Clara’s sitdown with Mary to her initial refusal to abandon and later decision rescue the Doctor.

I wish they'd do more with a new character early on in their presence in the show and not plop them down in a needlessly complex story that has a lot going on (the story of the parents takes away from story taking place on Akhaten later which is partially why it gets messy). But I like this new character and I look forward to what she has to bring to the show. 

Grade: B-