Doctor Who EP 7.08: Cold War

WoAH no wAY! An episode review on a M0nDaY?? This can’t be tRUE! I only just got around to watching the episode a few hours ago and amazingly I am now writing a review. It may or may not be because I have a lot of work for uni to complete this week, as well as, it being more ideal to write an episode review for something that is still in the forefront of people’s minds. Spoilers ahead folks, so if you haven’t watched then don’t read.

note: all screencaps are from grande-caps and here is clara legitimately looking terrified

Episode Summary: The Doctor messes up his co-ordinates (as he so often does) and he and Clara end up on a sinking Russian submarine in 1983 during the Cold War. The professor on board believes that they have obtained a frozen mammoth on their travels. The professor is wrong.

In comparison to the last two episodes, the pacing for ‘Cold War’ felt right. It didn’t need to be any longer to fully develop the storyline and characters, and there didn’t appear to be any major plot holes either. It was definitely visually impressive (as usual) in a perfect kind of way, the blue, pink, yellow and red colour palette for the episode was just gorgeous. I wouldn’t say it’s one of the best episodes I’ve ever seen and I’m a bit undecided on how to feel because it felt like there was something missing, but it was still a good episode overall. There were definitely some great one-liners though. But if there’s one thing to note, I would have expected the characters to be a bit more scared considering the TARDIS just, you know, DISAPPEARED and they were all AT THE BOTTOM OF THE OCEAN but I guess they were kind of preoccupied by Skaldak the Ice Warrior.

noooooooow KISS

Let’s talk about the Doctor/Clara relationship because it’s so precious. Clara is supposed to be the impossible girl, the girl who can’t exist, and yet she does and she’s just so normal it’s hard to believe. It’s becoming clear that the Doctor is quite protective of her, which is entirely reasonable considering she has died twice in two separate time streams. Last week on the pyramid when she asked to help, he told her to leave and that “when we hold something precious, we run, until we are out from under the shadow.” This may not just be referring to the child, but also to Clara. If this is the case, does this mean there will be an episode in which they simply run? And this week when she wanted to face Slakdak, the Doctor outright refused ("You?! No. No, no way! You’re not going in there alone, Clara. Absolutely not. No, no, never.") but she went ahead and did it anyway. I think I’ll wait for more to be revealed throughout the series.

Observation fun time:

• The Ice Warriors first appeared in 1967 with the Second Doctor.
• There are currently a few theories circulating that Clara is Rose, or the daughter of Rose, or she’s the daughter of River and the Doctor. This may be surprising, but I think it’s entirely possible that Clara is not related to a past companion, and is in fact, her own character.
• The Doctor mock laughing at the end was the greatest thing.
• The Doctor was also carrying a Barbie doll on him at the time. For what reason? We will probably never know.
• I wonder how long it took for Clara and the Doctor to reach the South Pole and find the TARDIS...

Let me know your thoughts on the episode by commenting below or tweeting me @faultystairs!