Creepster Eleven and Pretty Girls Don't Drink Whiskey

In which Shana and Daniel discuss the first four episodes of Series 7B: The Bells of Saint John, the Rings of Akhaten, Cold War, and Hide. These are four quite good episodes, but the Mystery Girl arc, the increasing sexism, gender essentialism, and heteronormativity, and the overall schmaltziness of "love conquers all" in every episode continue to vex us.  Main Topic: Series 7b, Part One. The Bells of Saint John, The Rings of Akhaten, Cold War, and Hide. Shana Summarizes the Plot of The Bells of Saint John. Briefly. Burger King. The Mystery of Clara arc. Introduced to Clara for the third time. A cat cries on Daniel's end. Jenna Coleman is very cute. A wonderful moment from the actress who plays Ms. Kislet. Super creepy Eleventh Doctor. Fairy tale Doctor. Seeing the world through Clara's story, but not from her perspective. Clara gets her computer knowledge with no cost. A drunk MST3K-style commentary for Bells of Saint John. Daniel has a jokey moment about creepy Eleventh Doctor. A brilliant quote about supernovae and uniqueness that captures whimsy in the right way. That quote is completely undercut. The music in Rings is amazing. Daniel becomes a pedant about the economics of the world. Matt Smith yelling at the sky. Confronting the cosmic Jack O'Lantern. We get verklempt thinking about The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances. The "Star Trekkiness" of the sonic screwdriver. Inconsistency in the writing of the sonic screwdriver. Creepster at the grave. Nice creature design in Rings. Marital banter. Shana has an impressively long quote from Cold War. The Triumph of Intellect and Romance over Brute Force and Cynicism. The return of the Ice Warriors. The Cold War is the exact same story as "Dalek," but not as well done. The possibility of an alliance between the disloyal executive officer and the Ice Warrior. Lascivious Daniel likes Clara's big jacket, skirt, and headphones. Well-written Clara. What if Cold War had been a two-parter? Daniel does a meta-commentary on this very podcast episode. A shorter quote from "Hide." Shana has a forever crush on Dougray Scott. Half ghost story, half time travel story. The power of love story is fairly effective here. They keep giving numbers of minutes in the pocket universe that are not reflected on screen. Shana makes a comic book reference. Mispronouncing "Metebelis." A misplaced love story. A queerbaiting moment. Pretty girls don't drink whiskey apparently. Daniel asks Shana a question women and invasiveness in relationship conversations. The damseling of Clara. Gender Essentialism. No women behind the camera right now. A shout-out to the Verity! podcast. Examining the scale of the universe through science fiction. Next episode: the end of Series 7.  Daniel's Twitter Tumblr Shana's Twitter Tumblr