Ranking the Doctor Who Christmas Specials
By Lacy Baugher
Matt Smith and Jenna Coleman in “The Snowmen”. (Photo: BBC)
7. The Snowmen
This episode features Jenna Coleman’s second appearance as a completely different companion. Before she became Doctor Who’s “primary” Clara, she played two other versions of the character, who both died while helping the Doctor. Oswin Oswald appeared in Season 7’s “Asylum of the Daleks.” This Christmas special features a Victorian version named Clara Oswin Oswald, who lives a double life as a barmaid and governess in 1892.
Depressed due to the loss of Amy and Rory, the Doctor stops traveling at all. He spends his days in Victorian London, basically becoming a human myth. Meanwhile, the world is threatened by the schemes of the villainous Dr. Simeon, who wants to replace humanity with monstrous icemen. There’s also telepathic snow and a disembodied being that lives in a snowglobe controlling everything behind-the-scenes. Yeah, this is a bizarre episode.
To be fair, “The Snowmen” is a patchwork of good and bad moments. Some of it works, and some of it doesn’t. The mystery of Clara’s identity pervades everything as we’re all left wondering who she is and how she connects to the version we met previously. As an episode, it’s fairly engaging and really beautiful to look at. The return of Madame Vastra, Jenny and Strax the Sontaran is a delight, but the episode’s central story is not particularly compelling. Richard E. Grant guest stars as Simeon, and they even get Sir Ian McKellen to voice the Great Intelligence. But these two great actors seem a bit wasted here.
Coleman, though, gets to have a blast. This version of Clara is quite fun: smart, brave, pushy and unafraid of the unknown. She so clearly wants a bigger, more expansive life than she’s been given. It’s easy to imagine her taking to life on the TARDIS immediately, if she’d ever gotten the chance.