First of all, hello new TARDIS console room, and opening credits and theme-tune! I know I should address the new companion immediately, or even the Doctor’s state, but I want to talk TARDIS for a second. Unlike many other fans, I avoided seeing pictures of the new TARDIS console room floating about for I wanted it to be a surprise and what a pleasant one it was. Reminiscent of Classic Who consoles and less gimmicky than the last, for some reason it felt much more… spaceshiplike. Very slick, sleek and space-sheek. Lookin’ fine, Sexy. (Even if your outside needs a wash.)

However back to the episode and everything in it that isn’t the pretty new TARDIS console room. Right, so while people all over the (Western) World waited patiently for Christmas presents I waited for the Doctor Who Christmas special and now that it’s been watched (a few times) what do I feel? I suppose first and foremost there was flailing and multiple gasps and wide eyed staring but those are symptoms of my feels. What were the feels, however?

There is no pinning them down, especially when it comes to an episode like The Snowmen. Sure there was some terror, trust me when I say I won’t be seeking out snow for the next few winters, and some pangs of sadness and anticipation along with nostalgia and the beginnings of awe and the utmost curiosity and eventual frustration at the need to know more than we’ve been given. *Whoa breathe* So perhaps the feels were much more identifiable than I had originally led you on to believe.

I’m going to take a stab in the dark and say I felt the entire episode was a bit of a metaphor for Clara’s storyline, spawned by the simple idea put forward that the snow that could remember. If you can remember back to the first episode of the seventh series Oswin’s last words were ‘And Remember’ (conveniently recalled and shown in the last moments of the episode). The idea of remembering, bringing to mind an awareness of someone or something that had been seen, known, or experienced in the past, is evoked pretty early in the episode. When the Doctor suggests that the snow remembers when it was last a snowman he’d pulled out Amy’s glasses and put them on, forcing the audience to remember the last owner of those glasses whilst also remembering that Clara had been seen before. And so questions that popped up as a result of the premiere were once again recalled and half answered before new questions were placed over them. Who is Clara Oswin Oswald? How is she both in the past, in the future and in the present having died twice already, and more importantly is she to follow in Rory’s famous footsteps and wind up in the Hall of Death?

Thoughts on Clara? I like her, she’s clever, independent and funny. And well her storyline is already intriguing. I mean, how would she have known that the word ‘Pond’ would have roused the Doctor from his sulky-slumber? She’s the same Oswin Oswald.. but how? Well, she’s going to be novel fun I know that for sure because seriously:

Message from Jess: As much as I loved it, all I was thinking was Doctor you are married.

Yowsah, to be fair that thought did cross my mind when Clara full on pashed the Doctor in the hallway. Err maybe theirs is an open relationship? I don’t know that River would take too kindly to this. We didn’t see her in the trailer at the end did we?

Can we get to the state of our dear Doctor? He’s wearing Amy’s glasses, no bowtie in sight and the only thing that rouses him enough to help is the word ‘Pond’. He so desperately needed an Intervention. Which Vastra, Jenny and Strax tried to give him in the minisode. Did anyone else feel a lump in their throat when he realised he’d put on a bowtie? It’s easy to imagine how lonely he is without the Ponds and the punishment he’s putting himself through with his self-imposed isolation. But in the end the Doctor’s the Doctor and despite his pot(ato)shots at Strax, and adamant protests to helping, he does help and remembers that this is what he’s made for. When he finally puts two and two together, souffle girl and Clara are the same person, the glee on his face is palpable. The hunt for Clara and answers is on.

Observations

Commander Strax- Sontaren wet-nurse resurrected? Well, do not be alarmed because he was the best comic relief of the episode. hands down number one scene stealer- even from the Doctor and Clara themselves because ‘Sir, permission to express my current opposition to your current apathy! (Permission granted.) Sir, I am opposed to your current apathy!’

“Silence, boy!” I was in stitches during the memory worm scene.

Vastra and Jenny - married and quite possibly who Doyle based Sherlock Holmes on? Brilliant trollin’ brilliant. Especially on the fact that fans wouldn’t like the idea of Sherlock being a woman- sexism first and foremost. I’m glad Victorian readers could overlook Vastra being a completely different species to humans. Can I just say Vastra and Jenny happen to be my OTP? Because do not suggest any impropriety, they’re married. Boom marriage equality.

Special mention: The Doctor cosplaying as Sherlock with his horrid deductions, but brilliant pipe and wardrobe. Unfortunately until April…