So it’s finally happened. After what feels like a million years, Doctor Who has finally returned. My boyfriend and I sat down to watch series 5 and 6, baked some Doctor Who cupcakes (where I failed miserably at spelling ‘doctor’) and enjoyed the first episode of series 7.

I’m going to warn you right now. If you haven’t watched the first episode, Asylum of the Daleks, yet and you’d really like to enjoy the awesomeness of it without any spoilers, stop now. Seriously. Stop. The next few paragraphs are going to be waaaaaaaaay spoiler filled.

All right, you’ve been warned. Turn back now.

Asylum of the Daleks was FANTASTIC. It was such a great way to bring back this series. It starts with the Doctor meeting up with someone mysterious, someone who needs to the Doctor to fetch someone from the Daleks, then he is kidnapped. Then we meet up with the ever so gorgeous Amy Pond, signing her divorce papers with the adorable Rory Williams. Cue massive disappointment on my part. The Ponds are quickly kidnapped as well. They end up in the Parliament of the Daleks, where obviously things are going to go down. This is the Daleks we’re talking about, the Doctor’s oldest and longest enemies. In a completely surprising move, the Daleks need the Doctor’s help to help destroy the place called, you guessed it, the Aslyum of the Daleks, where the worst of the Daleks (what could possibly be worse than normal Daleks) are sent.

Now when I first started watching, I was pretty bummed about Amy and Rory. I love them both dearly. I have a crush on both Karen Gillan and Arthur Darvill (Darvill will be at the Gallifrey convention in February in Los Angeles, can’t wait!) and they’re awesome companions. I’m stoked that they got back together at the end of the episode, even though it was extremely cheesy and super obvious way.

I liked the Daleks. Some people don’t like the Daleks. Some people wish the Daleks would go away. Some think that they’re an overplayed villian. And the fact is, they are definitely the most used and the most common enemy in Doctor Who. But you gotta love them. To me, it doesn’t get old. Even though the Daleks look like little salt and pepper shakers, they’re badass and evil and they just want to kill things. And I was surprised that in this episode, the Daleks are asking the Doctor for help. What a turn of events! The Doctor is practically knocked off his feet in surprise.

But one of the best parts of the episode, easily, is the surprise appearance by one Miss Jenna-Louise Coleman, who will be replacing Amy and Rory as the next new companion to the Doctor. As far as I know, and as far as most people know, Jenna’s character will be named Clara. The character she plays in this episode? Not Clara. She is known as Oswin Oswald (what the hell kind of name is that?!) and she assists the Doctor, Amy and Rory in taking down the force field around the asylum and escaping the seemingly unescapble wrath of the Daleks.

In the end, the aslyum is blown up, Oswin along with it. Oswin, it turns out, has become a Dalek, without even realizing it. And the best part? She erases all memory of the Doctor from the Daleks…all of them. It was fantastic to hear all the Daleks freaking out asking over and over “Doctor Who? Doctor who?” and even better to watch the Doctor spinning around his Tardis, gleefully saying “Doctor who?” Brilliant.

Now, so far, I really like Jenna. She’s cute and quick and super funny. Her banter with the Doctor, and even Rory, is super hilarious. She has a wit and a charm and that sort of silly, quirkiness that the Doctor has. Her jokes about calling Rory “Nina” after the first person she had a crush on (“I was going through a phase”) is hilarious. While most people around the Doctor and his insane world seem to be confused and running around (there’s a lot of running in Doctor Who), Oswin seems to be holding her own, laughing, baking horrible souffles and having an amount of calmness and silliness while helping them. It almost seems like she has found her equal, someone who can play the same games.

The thing that is kind of confusing is…her name is Oswin. I know that Karen Gillan (Amy Pond) and Freema Agyeman (Martha Jones) both made appearances in Doctor Who before they became actual companions. However, their characters were small and unnoticeable and in no way linked to the companions that they would become. Oswin was a pretty big character, a huge one, in fact, so its going to be interesting to see how they sort of work that angle. She died in the blast that obliterates the asylum, and she is supposed to appear as the new companion, Clara, in episode six, after the Ponds take their leaves in episode five, ‘The Angels take Manhattan’.

Either way, this was a great opening to series 7 and a fantastic way to get the ball rolling. The appearance of Jenna-Louise and her character Oswin was enough to get any Whovian thinking. The presses, the messages boards, Facebook and Twitter have been all aflutter about it, wondering how she’s going to come back and what this season has in store for us.

I, for one, can’t wait. I’m already looking forward to next Saturday, in which our favorites come back in “Dinosaurs on a Spaceship”. Some familiar faces will be appearing in this episode, or they will be familiar if you’re a fangirl/nerd like me. Mark Williams, a.k.a. Mr. Arthur Weasley from the Harry Potter films, will be appearing as Rory’s father. Rupert Graves, from Sherlock, will be in the episode as an explorer and David Bradley, more famously known for playing Filch in Harry Potter but also other roles in Game of Thrones and Captain America, will be starring as Solomon. And did I mention there are going to be dinosaurs on a spaceship? DINOSAURS! ON A SPACESHIP!

This is going to be epic.

So stayed tuned in, tomorrow I’ll have my Tuesday Three and next week I’ll be happy to share my thoughts on the next episode of Doctor Who.

For those of you who watched, what did you think? As always, leave it the comments.

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