Steven Moffat's back on excellent form in the sixth episode of Series 33 of Doctor Who. Beware: this review contains spoilers, don't read if you haven't watched the episode!

I must admit that my faith in Steven Moffat has been falling in recent years. His most recent episodes (The Snowmen, The Angels Take Manhatten) haven't been...quality Doctor Who stories. However, I'm very glad to say that with The Bells of Saint John, the Moff proves that he can still write amazing stories for our soon-to-be-50 year old science fiction television programme.

The Bells of Saint Johns sees the Doctor (Matt Smith) encounter a modern day version of Clara Oswald (Jenna-Louise Coleman), after previously encountering two other versions of her (see Asylum of the Daleks and The Snowmen). Together, they both have to solve the mystery of a mysterious entity living in the wi-fi, consuming human souls.

Considering that we have already been introduced to Coleman's character twice, Steven Moffat had a big task of making her third introduction leave an impact. Fortunately, he did, and this version of Clara is quite distinct from her other selves. For one, she doesn't deal out those quick retorts as much like her Victorian self did, and she's not as smug as the Oswin version. One could say that she's the mellowed version of both personalities. This works, as it makes her character appealing and likeable, something that did not strike me with her other versions. Also, a trend is starting to form with respect to all three Oswald's major character points. For example, Victorian Clara was a nanny; this trait is also shown in modern Clara. Modern Clara, after being rescued from the 'data cloud', retains advanced computer skills courtesy of a 'splice' put in place by her uploaders; the computer skills are extremely evident in the Oswin version, who uses them to hack the daleks' path web. I can't wait to see more links between Claras as the series progresses.

One flaw I often find with Moffat's stories of late is that the villains are generally rubbish in execution (see my review of The Snowmen). Thankfully,  this isn't a problem with The Bells of Saint John, as the villains are very well realised...except for the fact that their general plan is rubbish. Instead of drawing attention to themselves by uploading hundreds of people at once, why not restrict the operation to a few per day? This would have the benefit of a) satisfying the Great Intelligence's appetite, b) reducing memory storage on the data cloud, and c) as mentioned previously, minimising the possibility of being noticed. I'm pretty sure people are going to start investigation if members of the public just collapse with no evident cause. Also, the whole set up of people being uploaded in the wi-fi, with their faces showing up on screens reminds me a lot of the 2006 episode The Idiot's Lantern...

The Great Intelligence's reappearence was a pleasant surprise, and it was good that some mention of him and his relationship with UNIT was mentioned for those viewers without knowledge of the Classic Series (The Great Intelligence's attempt to take over London via the London Underground was the event that started UNIT in the first place). I'm sure that we'll be seeing the GI sometime later in the series, perhaps he's even a member of The Silence! Previously, the GI has operated using both humans and monsters. Originally, the monsters were robotic yeti, then last year we progressed (or moved back) to snowmen. This time around, we are given robotic 'base stations' with spoons for heads, spoonheads. For starters, I like the fact that they actually did something, even if they're not scary. I do have a question though: how did the villains get them into their targets' house? Teleport? Also, the production team needs to pay more attention to the angle of the camera shots; for example, when the spoonhead-Doctor is confronting Miss Kislet (Celia Imrie) towards the end of the episode, the back of Matt Smith's head is clearly visible in some shots, when there's only meant to be a spoon-shaped indent. Oh well.

Matt Smith's portrayl of the Doctor was absolutely fantastic in this episode, one of his best performances. Smith now completely owns the role, and the subtle gestures and facial expressions he makes are the icing on a very delicious cake. Matt Smith is the Doctor, no doubt about it. My favourite scene from the episode would have to be when the Doctor is informing Clara that something is in the wi-fi, his facial expression as he delivers the line, and as Clara responds, was spot on. We also get to see some of the Doctor's often unrealised computer skills; he manages to reverse Clara's upload and he hacks into a spoonhead (robotic base station). I have to admit I really like this demonstration of his hands-on technological skills, it's much better than the 'wave sonic screwdriver at computer and all will be solved' solution that has plagued the revived series. One minor niggle though, it upset me to see the Doctor's computer skills superceded by Clara, but I'll get over it (plot contrivence!)

The pacing of the episode was perfect, we'd go from a frantic action scene to a quiet, character driven moment. The episode was also full of iconic moments, such as when the Doctor lands the TARDIS on the plane, and the anti-grav motorbike. While the latter was a admittedly silly, it provided a great laugh, and I can see it becoming a classic Doctor Who scene.

The resolution of this episode was well done, but it could have been better. For once, all of the elements required to end the threat were mentioned before hand (the ability to download everyone off the data cloud, the Doctor-spoonhead, the Doctor's computer skills, Miss Kislet's  people-hacking tablet), making a very satisfying conclusion. My problem with the ending was that, after all the setting up, it still felt too easy; all that was required to download the data cloud was a millisecond of typing. At least make an effort to make the downloading seem hard! Also, the 'restore to factory settings' was generally pointless, all it did was show how long the Great Intelligence had been talking to Miss Kislet.

In conclusion, The Bells of Saint John was a fantastic episode that has marvellous characters, a great plot, a few production errors and some good villains with a rather silly plan.

8/10

What did you think of the episode? Leave your comments below!