DW Watch: "The Rings of Akhaten"

Series 7 Episode 7




A rather inconsistent episode of DW, and one of the weaker episodes in recent memory. It had a very strong start and a somewhat strong ending, but the whole middle part felt like a lot of filler. The doctor takes Clara to the rings of akhaten, an area in the universe worshipped by many. There, he goes on his own adventures, oddly enough, while Clara befriends the queen, a little girl who has to sing and then sacrifice herself to the fake deity the locals worship. The doctor saves her in time, though, realizing the fake deity is actually a planet parasite, and he lets the parasite feed off of his memories. It's not enough, so Clara gives her the leaf, the leaf that brought her mother and father together, and that destroys it. Clara then recalls seeing the doctor watching her at her mothers gravestone, and he admits she reminds him of someone he knew who died, and she says she'll travel with him as Clara, not as a placeholder for someone else.

 

The beginning was fantastic, with the doctor watching Clara's parents meet. But the rest of the episode was considerably week. And next week seems to be my least favorite type of episode, the people locked on a ship headed for doom with a bunch of throwaway characters. This series thus far has been rather lackluster, and I think it's losing out from not having a central theme, an arc. At least the Clara story is giving a semblance of an arc, but the thing that made the last two series so strong was the heavy arc basis. I hope this series improves.

 

Next week: ice warriors!

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