Doctor Who, 7×06 The Bells of St. John, just finished airing in the U.K. The show will air in the U.S. at 8:00pm est tonight on BBC America. *SPOILERS*

After what seemed like the longest hiatus ever, Doctor Who came roaring back to our screens tonight. We got our first look at version number three of Clara Oswald, played by Jenna-Lousie Coleman, who this time, surprisingly, or perhaps unsurprisingly, didn’t die, at least not permanently.

The episode featured a new alien, the Spoonheads, who attack earth via the free WiFi networks that abound everywhere. By clicking on a mysterious free WiFi symbol, the aliens enter your network and then capture and kill you with part of your consciousness or soul being uploaded to the network and present there as a sort of echo. Initially, the only person to figure it out was Nabile, who issued an video warning with the social media hashtag #nabileswarning

Flash-forward to a medieval monastery in the year 1207, where the Doctor has been staying and painting pictures of Clara, also called “The Woman Twice Dead.” The monks inform him that, “The Bells of St, John are ringing,” and the Doctor rushes to his TARDIS where the phone on the outside is in fact ringing. On the other end is a modern Clara who has questionable computer skills and has called the TARDIS looking for help with the WIFi. Apparently she got the number from a woman in a shop.

The headquarters of the Spoonheads is run by their minion Miss Kiset, played by Celcia Imerie. We discover TV screens that indicate millions have been uploaded, and apparently their minds can be read and hacked.

The Doctor shows up at Clara’s door in full monk attire, and needless to say things don’t go that well. As the Doctor goes to change, Clara connects to the WiFi and a Spoonhead disguised as a book character in a novel entitled Summer Falls written by Amelia Williams (cue loud blaring trumpets “Amy Pond Lives”) that Clara referenced earlier to the young girl in the house springs to life and comes downstairs. When she earlier mentioned the novel it is notable that the young girl was on chapter 10, but Clara states, “that 11 will make you cry.” The Spoonhead manages to upload Clara, but the Doctor reenters the house and saves her, tucking her into bed and exploring her room and books while she sleeps. He realizes Clara is 24 by reading a memory book and licks a leaf tucked inside it.

We come to learn that Clara is sort of a governess/housekeeper to the young girls that live in the house where she is living. She’s been taking care of them ever since their mom died roughly one year earlier. Up until she was reawakened by the Doctor, Clara had no computer skills. Now she seems to have an abundant knowledge from her upload and download by the Doctor. The pair start to notice more Spoonheads forming, and their London neighborhood is disappearing. The Doctor and Clara, as they start to figure out the mystery, realize that planes have WiFi, and things are more dire than thought. They stop a crashing jet whose occupants the WiFi has rendered unconscious.

As they land in London along the Thames, the Doctor and Clara board a motorbike and travel the city where they are observed on the CCTV, which is of course linked to the WiFi. As they sit and talk, Clara seems to have a ton of computer skills and takes the laptop away from the Doctor, working oddly faster than he can. As the Doctor goes for coffee, he is threatened by humans who have been taken over. They tell him that he can’t save Clara. Clara, meanwhile, is hacking away, and we learn she loves making anagrams to remember things such as Oswin (Clara Oswald for the win). Previously she made the familiar anagram, “Run you clever boy and remember” to memorize a WiFi password. She’s also found a way to fight the Spoonheads by hacking back via webcams and social media.

Unfortunately for Clara, the Spoonheads made a replica Doctor and managed to take Clara over again. This time she is supposedly unable to be saved. Armed with the knowledge that the headquarters of the Spoonheads is the iconic Shard building in central London, the Doctor heads there on his anti-gravity motorbike (AKA it flies). Once there, the Doctor demands Clara be downloaded, as well as any other human whose body is available. We discover that it’s actually a double-cross, and the real Doctor is back with the body of Clara. He then uploads Kiset.

As Miss Kiset screams in vain for help, her associates initially leave her to rot as they didn’t much care for her unforgiving ways to begin with. They then change their mind and comply. UNIT shows up, and in short order takes over the building. Miss Kiset is able to communicate with the mastermind of this all, The Great Intelligence (voice and image Richard E. Grant from the Christmas episode). Kiset resets all technology under the orders of The Great Intelligence and now no one can remember a thing. Kiset seems to return to a child-like state indicating that The Great Intelligence has been whispering in her ear since she was a young girl. Heartbreakingly, she asks where her mummy and daddy are.

Back at the house where he picked Clara up, the Doctor continues to unravel Clara’s past and invites her to travel with him. He realizes she stayed with these family friends because she feels she owes them. She came to stay for a week, but the family’s mother died. She’s been with them ever since, helping out. The Doctor says that she can still be a governess and time travel because she’ll be back by teatime. Rather than jumping immediately at the chance, Clara tells the Doctor to come back tomorrow and ask again because she has to think about it, and tomorrow she just might say yes.

Other notable items in the episode include a pair of red gloves that Clara wears while on the motorbike, as every incarnation of Clara seems to have the same shade of dark red as a signature color. She previously wore a red dress and rose as Oswin, a red dress as barmaid Clara, and red hair clips in the prequel.

What did you think? How does this episode rate?