Galadriel says:

*sighs with happiness*  I’m so glad I nudged this topic. Been waiting for a new discussion post for a while. Right, so.
Bells of St John:  Not bad, but not the best either.  On a class scale, I’d give it a C because we don’t really get to see Clara in action that much.
Rings of Akhaten: I’m gonna be controversial here and say it was my favorite of 7b so far.  For one, it’s been ages since we’ve seen a proper alien planet with non-antagonists aliens, so  I was thrilled with the marketplace scene. Clara’s interaction with the Queen of Years was wonderful too–I still think it’s the best development of her character we’ve seen thus far.  There were some great quotes from the Doctor, especially his speeches to Merry and the Old God.

All the elements in your body were forged many, many millions of years ago in the heart of a far away star that exploded and died. That explosion scattered those elements across the desolations of deep space after so, so many millions of years, these elements came together to form new stars and new planets, and on and on it went. The elements came together, and burst apart, forming shoes, and ships, and sealing wax, and cabbages, and kings, until, eventually, they came together to make you. You are unique in the universe.

It reminded me of Beast Below, in several ways, without being as blatant as Gridlock was for Martha. And the music! I had the lullaby in my head for several days, and didn’t mind a bit. It’s such a powerful, outstanding song…
Cold War has been the worst so far. My favorite part was the professor, but it didn’t seem to do much for character development.
Hide had a good pretense, but it wasn’t that impressive. Maybe a B, then.
So, my rating top to bottom would be

Rings of Akhaten
Hide
Bells of St. John
Cold War

But what’s really interesting about Akhaten is the setup. The “Old God” is really a mummy; the real enemy is a sentient planet (or star, there’s been some debate). Which leads to lines like

 All these people who’ve lived in terror of you and your judgement. All these people whose ancestors devoted themselves, sacrificed themselves, to you. 

And

 You like to think you’re a god, but you’re not a god. You’re just a parasite eaten out with jealous and envy and longing for the lives of others. You feed on them.

When the Tenth Doctor faced a similar situation, (though the entity in that case claimed to be the Devil), he said

I’ve seen fake gods and bad gods and demigods and would-be gods; out of all that, out of that whole pantheon, if I believe in one thing…just one thing…I believe in her*

*Rose Tyler
Ten’s statement is essentially one-upmanship, “my guns beat your guns” sort of thing. He also refers to some of the Beast’s statements as echoing  a good psychologist.
Eleven’s approach is far more interesting, because there’s some self-criticism in it. After Manhattan, he’s definitely aware of himself as a parasite, living vicariously through his companions–which caused him so much pain when they left. So he takes his pain and tries to use it as a weapon:

 I have seen things you wouldn’t believe. I have lost things you will never understand. And I know things. Secrets that must never be told, knowledge that must never be spoken, knowledge that will make parasite gods blaze! 

It’s almost as if he’s the fruit of the tree of knowledge–even his title “doctor” refers to knowing things–and he’s tempting the sun to devour it because that will bring mortality. But what kills the Old God is Clara’s leaf

this leaf isn’t just the past, it’s a whole future that never happened(…) Because there’s quite a difference isn’t there? Between what was and what should have been. There’s an awful lot of one but there’s an infinity of the other. And infinity is too much. Even for your appetite.

Which ties back to the Speculative Death series we had a while back, and how long life isn’t always better….
*looks at length of post* I’d better stop now.

Galadriel says:

Part the 3rd”: The new title sequence is the most beautiful one I’ve ever seen–and I’ve seen ALL the classic title sequences. It’s like you’re actually out there in space, flying through all these wonderful things–and the face is subtle, not creepy grinning like Six’s.