Who Review: The Rings of Akhaten

For her first TARDIS trip, the Doctor takes Clara to see the Rings of Akhaten. At Clara’s request, they then go down to a marketplace, where she meets the young Queen of Years and helps her overcome her fear of singing at an important religious festival that day. The people believe the singing keeps their god at rest, but when the god suddenly wakes up, the Doctor finds it’s not the Queen’s song he wants–it’s her.

SPOILER ALERT!! My comments may (and likely will) contain spoilers for those that haven’t seen the episode. If you want to stay spoiler-free, please watch the story before you continue reading!

The episode opens with a pre-title sequence introducing us not only to Clara’s parents, but also to a leaf–“the most important leaf in human history.” It was the chain of events starting with the leaf falling from a tree that led to Clara’s parents meeting. This same leaf was in Clara’s book, 101 PLACES TO SEE, in the previous episode. And it was that leaf that ended up saving an entire planet in this episode. The idea of things being imbued with value because of what they mean to their owner, or the future consequences–and lives cut short (as with Clara’s mum)–held by those things, is at the heart of this story. Is this a clue to Clara? Why was the Doctor so interested in being there when Clara’s parents met? That may be significant… or it may not be. The general idea of actions creating ripple effects is important to Doctor Who. I don’t know that the idea of ripples stopped in mid ripple, leaving “stories not told” that could have been told, has ever been explored before. Again, this is key to this story. And maybe Clara’s…?

I liked the fact that this story gave us a chance to see Clara in an alien environment. As we know, the Doctor likes people who are prepared to get stuck in, “eat the food, use the wrong verbs, get charged double and end up kissing complete strangers,” and Clara doesn’t seem to be at all shy around aliens. Her first question about all the varous life forms isn’t “what’s that?” but “where are they from?” She may be a little unnerved, but she’s not frightened. And she’s more than willing to leave the Doctor to help a young girl in distress. Once more she shows herself to be an excellent companion for the Doctor: ready and willing to get stuck into the action, and not afraid to help without being asked.

I didn’t like the resolution to the story. The idea of a planet-like monster feeding off of stories is a bit too “out-there” for me. Would something really ever get so “full” of stories and memories (even the infinite possible “untold stories”) that it ends up imploding? I have shelves full of stories to be read, and I’d read them all without burping if I had the time. And there are plenty I could read but never will, so it makes no sense to me. The only reason I might give this a pass is if it’s a clue to the Clara mystery. Perhaps.

So I think it’s a good episode–but not really for the story, more for the characters. Emma Jones, who played the young queen, gave a stellar performance.  A more satisfying resolution might have made this a better story, at least in my opinion.

Oh, and for the first time in the re-boot, the Doctor makes explicit mention of his granddaughter, though not by name.

If you saw this episode, please share your thoughts: the comments are open for as-spoilery-as-you-want discussion (though I encourage you to restrict your comments to this particular episode–I’ll be reviewing the others over the coming days)!