Doctor Who "Joy to the World" Christmas Special Review

[@nighttimevideo]

Important UK context on the "rules" aspect: Moffat isn't being "fuck the rules". This was directed at how the Tory government during the pandemic telling the public to isolate/not to mix etc, but it was leaked the politicians during this time were having big parties behind closed doors and video recordings and photos of these parties surfaced online. Joy explicitly references these parties in the episode. She's not angry she had to follow the rules, she's rightfully angry at the hypocrisy of the politicians telling people to isolate while they were partying while people were dying alone in hospitals.

[@Dracattack]

This seemed universal to me because politicians all over the US did the exact same thing. Gavin Newsome being the most notable example beside President Super spreader of course

[@nighttimevideo]

@@Dracattack For sure, but Jessie didn't bring this up in her review and was an important bit of info for why Joy was angry and was explictly said in the scene.

[@dylanmaxey2531]

Liked the nod towards Covid deaths, we lost over a million souls in the USA thanks to politicians caring more about power, politics and greed then people. EDIT: As a society we need to address the real small t trauma for all those each of us personally knew that died from Covid and others who died from the overwhelm of medical systems. In the USA we have yet to really address the 1 million lost over just 3 years, that is ignored and never spoken about in the public sphere due the stupidity of politics.

[@FistOfFiori]

Yep. My area/county/region was in the top tier of lockdown restrictions, tier 4 I believe. We had the harshest rules and I know a couple of people who lost loved ones but couldn't see them in hospital and had to say goodbye to them over phones/ipads, and their funerals were limited to 30 people at the very most, with people split/socially distanced and wearing masks. Restrictions were still in place in April 2021 when Prince Philip died, and the Queen and family themselves stuck to those harsh funeral restrictions, yet that day or the night before there was a massive party at Downing Street. It was utterly f*cked up and while Labour are sh*t too TBH, the Tories were rightfully slaughtered in the vote in this year's General Election. F*ck them.

[@lexihopes]

Oh thanks. I was confused by that to the point I wasn't sure it was about covid rules anymore until the end. It was like the parties and wine etc (whatever she said) of... who? The doctors? Are doctors well known for having lavish parties with wine? Is what I was thinking. (I mean I'm sure there were hypocritical doctors too, but it was a weird way to put it without having the cultural context.)

[@NekolatheDruid]

I feel like Joy's frustration is getting lost on American audiences because it was very targeted at British politics. "And those awful people and their wine fridges and their dancing and their parties and I listened to them and I let my mother die alone" is a reference and in my opinion, a spectacular jab at the government. For those unaware, it was revealed in early 2021 that on Christmas 2020, despite the lockdown that was implemented, the Prime Minister and high ranking politicians hosted a non-compliant party on the government's dime. There was a lot of understandable frustration around that and I think that Moffat captured it perfectly.

[@lasseehrenreich5502]

that sounds terrible that it happened

[@Netherfly]

I mean, maybe. But that was pretty big news, and we heard about it over here in the U.S., too.

[@FemaleMishap]

My mom died during, but not of, COVID, and I couldn't see her. She lived in America and I in the UK. I was pissed.

[@Faction.Paradox]

It may have been called Joy to the World but Anita absolutely stole the show for me! Also this was Ncuti's best performance of The Doctor so far.

[@tonysladky8925]

"Anita to the World" would've been far less effective wordplay...

[@that_morrigan6184]

Anita to the world!!

[@bjam89]

I hope Anita will be like Donna, shown in a holiday special only to be a companion later

[@lasseehrenreich5502]

unfortunately i think that's kind of unlikely Donna was original meant to be a one off character but come back because Catherine Tate would really like to play the role again and be asked by rtd so unless Anita actress also very much wants to return, unfortunately it probably won't happen

[@QueenMAB666]

Same! I really want her to come back!!!

[@lasseehrenreich5502]

@@QueenMAB666 me too

[@furonguy42]

I'm 100% with you on the sequence of The Doctor living with Anita for a year was the strongest part of the episode. The chemistry between Ncuti Gatwa and Stephanie de Whalley was phenomenal. Between her and Trev, we did have an incredible supporting-cast this episode - I feel a little sorry for Nicola Coughlan as Joy, as she had to compete with some of the strongest character dynamics we've had since Russel T. Davies returned to show-running. I have already seen _tons_ of people (myself included) voicing hope that Anita might get the Donna Noble treatment of returning as a full-time Companion after a Christmas debut. The acting-chemistry was so strong there, I feel it would be a real wasted opportunity if she and Ncuti didn't get more time together on camera.

[@IAmEranthe]

The Star of Bethlehem, brought to you by Valengard Heavy Arms Manufacturing!

[@nicked_fenyx]

Love this take, lol.

[@kivimik]

The role of Anita originally just had about 10 lines, but was greatly expanded once Steph de Whalley came onboard. Anita's arc became the sleeper "b" story of the episode.

[@lasseehrenreich5502]

wow that is great

[@jocelynbaker6718]

Anita is such an interesting character because she feels like the first actual friend The Doctor has had in so long (if ever), drawing a distinction I never really noticed between that kind of casual, human relationship and the much more melodramatic and disparate companion relationships that always define Who. Ncuti played that so well - I hope we get more of that in this next series.

[@jjmfrees]

I was wondering if they were going to stick with the “mavity” gag and they did! When the Doctor was asking Trev to narrow down the location using all these factors and one was “rotational mavity”. I hope this sticks for the rest of Doctor Who

[@literaterose6731]

I remembered Joel Fry from Our Flag Means Death, where he played Frenchie (and I loved him on that). I was genuinely shocked and devastated when Trev died so early in the episode-I’d absolutely fallen for the character in that short time. So glad he was still present, if not living throughout the ep. Overall, I enjoyed this outing very very much, lovely good fun. I kind of wish they’d left the direct in-your-face Bethlehem reference out (the suggestion alone was plenty), but otherwise no complaints. I even loved the dinosaur!

[@stevenmcmullan409]

"Jesus Christ -- a fully owned subsidiary of Villengard." Yeah, that tracks.

[@anvalisok]

Love the Doctor getting mad at his future self and dropping the you don't even have chairs truth bomb.

[@Dergeytruto]

SOMEONE HAD TO SAY IT

[@thebitterfig9903]

Overall loved the episode, particularly the Year with Anita, but The Star wound up being the ~teeniest~ bit heavy-handed.

[@robsquared2]

I remember when I moved last. It was a wild rush and very draining. Please go and do something really fun once you finish moving. Something away from either place and relaxing. Trust me you need it.

[@ThePonderer]

I thought this one was ok. There was the potential for something really great in there, but I think it sacrificed having an effective ending for the sake of having a unique structure. It’s definitely a unique writing choice to basically stop the plot of an episode cold and have a heartwarming little short film in place of a second act, but what that ends up meaning is there’s barely any time to actually get invested in Joy. There’s a lot of Tell, Don’t Show with her character, and relying on Coughlan’s charisma to get us invested in her when she’s just not written strongly enough for me to care too much about the resolution with her. That, and I’m sick of Christmas Specials retreading the same “Oh I’m sad cause a companion left and need to learn to open myself up again” ground for the Doctor. This is like the 4th time we’ve done that exact arc.

[@riddersjc]

Great take. You nailed it with that second paragraph, having a heartwarming short film to replace a second act was an interesting choice - good for a show trying to keep the whole family entertained on Christmas day - but it definitely came at the expense of having an earned wholesome resolution to the overall story.

[@thysens]

I'm glad that you've brought up the "tell, don't show" issue of the episode-- I was feeling the same way. There's an early part of the episode where the Doctor is receiving and conducting a verbal explanation of the time hotel, and it's just a long sequence of shots showing the two characters talking, only briefly interrupted with the (actually beneficial) cuts to various time doors. That entire conversation needed more stimulation to keep the pace and intrigue, not to mention that most of it could've been easily shown in a few shots rather than bending over backwards to create a justification for these two characters to be discussing it in the first place.

[@Frequincy100]

As a theoretical physics nerd I honestly can’t wait for your video about the heat death of the universe

[@clomiancalcifer]

Also...and I know full well this is the biologist in me, and the continuing dinosaur nerd in me...but I felt really bad for that theropod (presumably Tyrannosaurid) because it had two horribly broken wrists....theropods couldn't pronate their wrists like that.... They held they hands like babies grasping balls, not like Mr. Burns.....

[@Donnagata1409]

We do care about you feeling tired and sore, that's no "nonsense". Anyway, best wishes and hopes for your new home, and all happiness for the new year, dear Jessie!

[@MaybeAnnatar]

I had mixed feelings on this one. On one hand Trev and Anita are fantastic. For a relatively small amount of screen time I was genuinely heartbroken by Trev's death and his last words being sadness that he let the Doctor down. I adored the montage with Anita and really bought the bond they shared, and if they gave her official companion status I'd love that. On the other hand Joy really felt like a background character in her own episode.

[@JenniferMcMahonhawaii78]

I loved it, too; I watched it three times back to back, and I thought the most special part of the entire episode was when he lived for one year in the hotel. I really enjoyed that and teared up a few times while watching it. 💕🎄💕

[@stevenmcmullan409]

"Is this armed?"

[@nancyjay790]

Spoilers: I really enjoyed when the two Ncuti Doctors faced each other. When you first see it, you feel his anger and distress with himself, and feel he's thinking about Ruby, but after his year with Anita ("It doesn't take me where I want to go", "But it takes you where you need to go", among others), he accepts the criticism by his slightly younger self but with an empathy for what is happening. His older self is providing a gift to himself, especially given the clear loneliness. I fear I didn't understand who the woman was who came to Anita near the end and said Anita came "very highly recommended". Sorry if I'm being dense. This is also, maybe, the first time Ncuti's Doctor cried in joy. It was beautiful. But hey, Ncuti is beautiful. I think Nicola Coughlan did a beautiful job portraying her emotions and even lecture the Doctor a bit. One last thing. I wonder if they didn't choose to say Covid because, while 2020 and having to say goodbye via an iPad does make us think Covid, there were others in hospital at the time who died alone because nobody was allowed in due to protocol. Happy Christmas!

[@cfsfilms5091]

In full agreement about the shifting perspective on that moment with the two Doctors, it's great nonlinear storytelling. I feel like they used the concept of the Time Hotel very effectively, and it allows for some interesting stuff, and a lot of small setups that prove more important, like the hotel's kitchen being 30 minutes in the future so you don't have to wait for your order? That's basically what Villengard's plan is but on a macro scale. Just to explain the bit with Anita at the end, the woman who came in was a staff member of the Time Hotel and the Doctor recommended Anita for a job there as a final parting gift. After all, he heard from the Silurian manager that the hotel is good to its employees no matter who they are or where they come from, and he knows she's lonely too. I don't think you're supposed to recognize that woman in particular, but maybe I missed something.

[@philopharynx7910]

The end was that Anita was recruited into the Time Hotel staff.

[@kadosho02]

This special has so many qualities. Love the Time Hotel (hope we get to visit it again soon). Anita & Joy, and Ruby. Everyone was amazing throughout this magical adventure. Ncuti brings his best to every scene, especially the past and future versions having a discussion on "the long way round". Which adds another layer to this story. Merry WhoMas everyone 🎄🎁

[@Endergamer-hc4ly]

the rules is references to how the British government created the covid restrictions and broke them by having multiple party's an how the British public mostly flowed the rules while the torys (the conservative party) was braking there own rules to have a party while people couldn't be with there loved ones while they died

[@nastropc]

For me the ending gives big Raiders energy: Joy dies/becomes a star anyway and the Doctor’s contribution to this plot proves inconsequential.

[@R.senals_Arsenal]

I wonder how you'll feel when you've written and been a part of so much TV that people reviewing you start to say, "I feel weird about Jessie not stepping aside and letting new writers have a chance." This was a great episode, glad we agree on so much of this, except that whole thing of putting older writers out to pasture.

[@jessiegenderafterdark5287]

I mean, its one thing to be showrunner, that I have conflicted feelings about considering RTD already showran doctor who and cleary can make his own shows. But I think overall its fine. I want him to write and to work. What does bother me more is the fact that out of the 13 episodes we've gotten in this era, we've only had I believe 1 episode not written by a former showrunner RTD or Moffat.

[@philopharynx7910]

@@jessiegenderafterdark5287 I expect that some of this is management not wanting to take risks this season. After the hit it took during the last era and the new possibilities of partnering with Disney, somebody wants to keep with known writers.

[@R.senals_Arsenal]

@@jessiegenderafterdark5287 Yeah, I get it, I'm just teasing you a bit. RTD was good 1st time around for letting others play in his toybox, I guess we'll see how S2/15 turns out, AFAIK there are no writers announced yet. In 2005 there were only 3 stories not one of those 2, but the 2006 series had 5 non-RTD/Moffat, so maybe will be a similar ratio.

[@Drekal684]

@@philopharynx7910 Paradoxically, I think the 'not taking risks' strategy is actively hurting the bigger studios more than it's helping them. I think that general audiences are smelling the stench of 'safety' and it's putting them off.

[@philopharynx7910]

@@Drekal684 I agree. We should have some scripts from known writers, but mix in new blood and develop new writers as well.

[@scpatl4now]

The star thing looked to me like some kind of editing problem. Like a piece got cut out.

[@Donnagata1409]

Makes sense.

[@dylanmaxey2531]

IMO, I still think Disney's insistence for shows to clock around 45 (55 for this special) minutes max hinders the storytelling.

[@JustChrisWillDoTa]

I really enjoyed the episode. I think it's both Ncuti's best episode and best performance. All the laat season, he never felt like the Doctor to me, but in this one he realky did. Loved it.

[@BritishAdam]

If we never see Anita again, I will be a little sad. I really was thinking they were setting her up to have at least one adventure with the Doctor, if not the next seasons full companion. The chemistry between the two of them would have worked well for a little short spell of being the companion too i think.

[@nancyjay790]

Okay, second comment. I didn't think just Joy became the star. I thought Joy somehow connected with the star seed, and with all the people who had been assimilated by the Villengard AI. Then Joy and the others worked together to direct the seed to a safe distance so it didn't destroy Earth and everyone connected to the Time Hotel, and she was also able to be with her mother as well (Mum also dissipated into the glowing energy that we saw with Trev and the Silurian manager etc). But that's just me.

[@lasseehrenreich5502]

The way I understood it, all those absorbed by the artificial intelligence were merged into the star but now I think about it I like you interpretation of it more

[@Donnagata1409]

Quite agree, but there's more than that. Villengard probably won't be able to profit from the star if it's distant enough. If they could take any old star that's already there to tap energy from, why should they build a new one? Not cost-effective, and big companies always take that into account.

[@lexihopes]

That's how I took it as well, but I guess "safe distance" also included "back in time" and I'm a little confused about how that worked.

[@nancyjay790]

@lexihopes Given they're still sort of linked to the Time Hotel, I thought that was doable.

[@generalilbis]

​@lexihopes The Starseed is like a fertilized embryo cryogenically frozen, in that the case contains a star in the earliest stages of its initial nuclear fusion reaction. Whomever Villengard was trying to market tech to wanted a star to order but the issue is that the star needs to take 65 million years to go from the first collision of atoms to full ignition (like a baby going from an embryo to a fully developed baby in 9 months) and no civilization or intergalactic conglomerate wants to wait that long. So Villengard came up with a plan to "microwave" the star (i.e. get the star ready in a desirable time-frame) by using the Time Hotel to access Mesozoic Era Earth and allow the baby star to gestate until it was ready to ignite as a tech demonstration. The issue, for me at least, is the Starseed blooming shortly before Jesus was born. Did Villengard choose that point intentionally because the customers were human and Christian, or was the ignition point meant to be a later date closer to modern day or a future point...and Villengard miscalculated things. Because it wasn't like Fifteen & Joy randomly picked the Bethlehem 1 CE hotel room to ditch the Starsteed when it was about to ignite...the case was lost 65,000,000 years ago and apparently was treated as a relic that eventually ended up in an underground temple or tomb near Bethlehem.

[@sjzara]

It was a truly wonderful episode - such great companions! Also, I hope you had a wonderful Christmas and very best wishes for the new year.

[@lasseehrenreich5502]

We thought Moffat couldn't get even more insane but he proved us wrong again and I wouldn't have it any other way - sure the logic behind the Time Hotel makes no sense if you think about it for more than a minute but I really don't care All the supporting cast was very well characterized and really felt for them when they died. I wasn't there for my dad when he died but it was after Covid so I had the chance but I was just too afraid, so I really sympathizes with Joy - something I thought about the 15th saying she will burn and she will die but Joy saying she is just changing can be seen as a commentary about different Doctor's views on regeneration. I'm so exited for more Doctor Who and wish you all happy holidays

[@darlhiatt8136]

This episode made me cry. I just visited my Grandma in her retirement home this week along with the rest of the family, but I don't do it enough. I don't want her to die alone. I already didn't get to say bye to Grandpa. I haven't felt like this from an episode of TV in a long time... I need to be better for her. One of the recurring messages of Doctor Who is that everyone is important enough to remember. This episode burned blue to the soul.

[@AceOThorns]

Trev got more characterisation than Joy, and he was -REDACTED- for more than half the episode! The Bethlehem moment was pure cheese, and didn't the conclusion of Joy's arc feel likje a rehash of Astrid's in Voyage of The Damned (Space Titanic, 10th Doc)_? Apart from those issues, it was in general a really good Christmas special that packed quite a bit into one hour, and the slow parts never felt slow enough to derail anything. Now, THAT'S good Ncuti.

[@lorcannagle]

Jessie if you're reading a lot about the end of the universe from a physics perspective, you might enjoy some of Stephen Baxter's novels. He loves doing big cosmological stuff, his Xelee Sequence, especially the novels Ring and Timelike Infinity, and his Manifold Trilogy might appeal right now.

[@nicked_fenyx]

I liked the special for the most part. Just not the ending. The time hotel was really cool, but like you said, the end of the episode felt like a too-convenient way to quickly wrap things up. I'm also not a huge fan of nodding to the whole Bethlehem story as if it were a historical event similar to other timelines/events shown throughout the episode, when there is no evidence that it actually happened (and quite a bit of evidence it didn't). We have enough of that stuff around Christmas time. I was hoping Doctor Who would be different and unique, as it so often is. Oh well. I can't see myself ever wanting to rewatch this episode, despite frequently revisitng the rest of Doctor Who. I suppose that's just how it goes. They can't all be winners.

[@electrochipvoidsoul1219]

1. There is evidence (such as calculations) of an astronomical alignment taking place around 0 AD that would resemble the fabled "Star of Bethlehem". 2. The Doctor Who universe is quite clearly NOT our own universe. (E.g. when was the last time you or anyone else were blipped by a statue?) So, it doesn't matter what's confirmed/denied to be true in said universe.

[@nicked_fenyx]

@electrochipvoidsoul1219 1. The only thing close to what you're describing that I have seen mentioned is a conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn, which took place in 7 BC, not 1 AD as the Doctor Who episode showed. This prediction is thought to be fairly accurate (using, as you said, certain calculations), so it doesn't fit within the show's timeline at all. 2. Doctor Who is clearly fiction that is meant to take place either in our universe or one with an identical timeline. Part of the fun of the show is seeing the Doctor travel back to events we recognize as real and change or cause them in some fantastical way. This frequently seen pattern would fit the ending of the latest special perfectly (ie showing a new, fantastical cause for the Star of Bethlehem)... IF the shown event actually took place. Which, as my original comment said, gives a nod to the claim that this event did actually happen, which is only problematic because millions of people worldwide believe it did without evidence (and I would argue, in spite of strong evidence that it didn't). Fwiw, I generally have no issue with people believing whatever they want, but the religion that particular belief is part of has done a lot of harm throughout history, including harming plenty of people in my own life in quite significant ways. I was simply saying that, since we are constantly bombarded with messages about that religion this time of year, and since Doctor Who frequently does its own thing, I had hoped for something a bit deeper / more original than an overly quick/convenient ending with implicit support for a known falsehood that's part of a dangerous religion. In the end, it's not a huge deal... unless, as other media has begun to do lately, the show begins bending the knee to that religion and its demands more often in the future. As long as this episode is not a sign of the direction the series is heading, I'm fine ignoring it. But as a fan, I just wanted to voice my opinion that the ending of this particular episode is not the Doctor Who I expect or would enjoy moving forward.

[@johnsmith8906]

I found it whimsical fun.

[@lasseehrenreich5502]

me too

[@literaterose6731]

me three!

[@Donnagata1409]

Me four.

[@tonysladky8925]

I'm watching these reviews in the order I watched the shows, so thanks for the spoiler for the Skeleton Crew review... The Doctor giving Trev a mug that's bigger on the inside was a killer joke that definitely kept a grin on my face the whole episode. Calling back to it later on with the microwave wasn't lightning striking twice for me though. I could've done without the bootstrap paradox that wasn't technically a paradox due to technobabble. The Doctor said he needed time to work out the possible combinations, and then he got time. Having that resolve with "I can just make up a combination" was an unsatisfying resolution. The Doctor claiming Villengard was one of his oldest enemies really threw me. I couldn't remember them being a major element prior to the landmine episode last season. I literally had to go to the wiki and see if they were some major Classic Who villain I didn't know about from not watching much Classic Who, and they weren't. They were apparently first mentioned in "The Doctor Dances" and popped up as basically trivia here and there in New Who. IIRC, Twelve was the first Doctor to deal with them on screen in any way. Feels weird to call them one of his oldest enemies when they're such a relatively recent introduction to the show. Like, I get it. It's a time travel show; the Doctor can actually have been dealing with Villengard for ages, and maybe we'll eventually see them as a bad guy for the First Doctor due to timey-wimey stuff, but from an audience perspective, it feels off. They don't need to be a multiversal threat to rival the Daleks or something; being arms dealers who profit off mass death of innocents and prolonging wars and who place that profit above all decent and rational concerns is villainous enough. The Bethlehem twist was... well it wasn't as poorly executed as it could've been. I saw it coming a couple minutes early, not waaaaay early (despite the foreshadowing with the joke about the Time Hotel being why there was no room at the inn), so that's pretty good, but it also felt a bit forced and drew way too much attention to itself for my liking. Also, I'm not an expert on dates, especially with all the recalculations the calendar has been through and questions about the veracity of accounts of the event (given that they were recorded decades later), but I'm pretty sure Bethlehem in 0001 AD would have been a year late for the main event. I'm sure the Time Hotel is capable of getting it right, but the text that was shown to the audience? I feel like my comments on reviews of things tend to be mostly nitpicks. Blame art school for instilling a pathological need to critique. Time hotel? Great concept, great sets, great little details like the kitchen being 30-minutes in the future from the rest of the hotel. All great. The Doctor trapped in 2024-2025 was great.

[@literaterose6731]

Yeah, the date thing at the end over Bethlehem (which I saw coming a mile away & really wished had been left as implication or suggestion rather than text) was a bit of an irritant. Also not an expert, so standard disclaimer of ‘I could be wrong,’ but I’m pretty sure that date would have been roughly 33 BCE. The calendar we all now use was (more or less) meant to date from the death of Jesus, not the birth. Of course, that doesn’t have quite the same punchline sensibility, so I get why they did it-but the whole thing could have been left out altogether, and I wish it had been.

[@tonysladky8925]

​@@literaterose6731I'm pretty sure it's supposed to be from His birth, not His death. BC is "Before Christ" after all, and dating the second portion of the calendar from His death would introduce a 33-year gap to the calendar. There's just not great record-keeping regarding a working class child allegedly born in the midst of several events whose historicity themselves are highly questionable (the census by Augustus, Herod's slaughter of the infants of Judea). And then, of course there's the frequent recalculations of the calendar due to that ever-so-slightly-more-than-365-day orbital period of Earth screwing up western calendar makers for millennia.

[@JenniferMcMahonhawaii78]

Jessie, it was just a very, ‼️A MERRY “WHO” CHRISTMAS‼️ 🌹✨🎁🎄🎁✨🌹 ---- Fah who foraze! Dah who doraze! Welcome Christmas, come this way! Fah who foraze! Dah who doraze! Welcome Christmas, Christmas Day!

[@guslovesglue]

Something happened while the Doctor was out of the room, and ended up solving the main plot without him. If there was just one line from Joy that said “I fixed it while you were off” I would happily accept not knowing the details. As it is, I can still accept it and loved enough other parts of the episode. Joy solved it, somehow. Presumably because the Doctor broke her from the trance, and she had more control over the star.

[@Stephen-Fox]

This was definitely one of the closest episodes to capturing the tone I'm looking for from a Christmas special that's focusing around Christmas - i.e. trying to be a Christmas story - rather than being "Well it releases at Christmas" (e.g. the Wallace & Gromit films, and something Doctor Who hasn't done as of yet) or "Well it happens to be set at Christmas" (e.g. Die Hard - Return of Doctor Mysterio especially feels like it was trying to do that to me) - Along with Voyage of the Damned, and Last Christmas (which... I think would have hit it had it been Clara's leaving story like it was going to be at one point in production). It's the "dead but not really dead" of the character who gets the most development that causes them to miss the mark for me. If you want to hit that tone of a Christmas story, I need the same emotion as the ending of 1982's The Snowman rather than pulling the punch - Christmas stories aren't the place for Well That's Alright Then get out clauses. The Doctor Who Christmas thing that actually hits one of the things I'm looking for is the audio drama The Chimes of Midnight, which is a Christmas ghost story with a sci-fi twist. Because if you don't want to navigate that knife edge, a proper ghost story - Not a 'someone is faking a ghost story to enact change' but something that feels more like actual ghosts as far as the viewer is aware - are the other thing you could do that makes something feel truly Christmassy. "The door that's always locked in a hotel room" is a lot less effective if most of the hotels you stay at don't have connecting rooms and as such don't have the door that's always locked - I predominantly stay in B&Bs Not AirB&Bs, actual B&Bs, which leads to not having a clue what the hotel room's going to look like (the weirdest was the room with a skylight), small independent hotels, or budget chain hotels, none of which typically have adjoining rooms even as an option. The focus on the rules _really_ worked well for me, due to the UK context of that scene - Partygate. She read as being angry at the hypocrisy, people like her were robbed of goodbyes because of following the rules, while the people who set the rules broke them for frivolities - not the rules themselves. Saying all that, the Anita stuff was absolutely the best part about the special for me, and I particularly enjoyed how disconnected from the rest of the story it was. It's not needed. You can cut it down a ton. It's a gloriously inefficient moment of stillness within the story I hadn't really noticed I was missing in... Entertainment generally... until watching Anthony Gramuglia's video essay on Polar Express and which isn't something Doctor Who usually provides, ever. I... Actually kind of wish that was the entire story. Just an hour of that.

[@dylanmaxey2531]

I'm old enough now that even the idea moving makes me ponder if I even need to move and why can't I be rich to pay people to tend the deed. Hate the act of moving, so my thoughts are with you. Here's a bottle of Advil. 😃

[@citrinedragonfly]

Didn't get to watch until today because I was out of town for Christmas, but It was so fun! I agree with what you said about Joy, and about this being an incredible episode for the Doctor. I'd have loved more of a connection with Joy, like we got with Anita and with the hotel worker, but sadly, we didn't get the chance. I did catch the continuing "mavity" reference, though. It hasn't gone away yet.

[@WhitneyAllisonGG]

My both Uncles died during COVID. My 2nd Uncle died alone and my first one died in series of events at home being rejected by ba hospital. I do hope Anita is going show up. I been obsessed by serial killer Jack the Ripper. I can totally relate by the world being scared

[@benmcnally9935]

The rules part is likely to be a bit lost on international audiences since it was very pointedly directed to the parties that were held by high ranking cabinet members of the Tory government at christmas in 2020

[@joeybruer3885]

I was kind of worried for Anita for a bit. Usually when someone gets that close to the Doctor things don't end well.

[@clomiancalcifer]

Eh, for me the Bethlehem stuff was...tacky. It was tacky when the show tried to do similar with Easter, it was tacky when Tennant's Doctor claims to have taken the last room at the inn, and yes I rolled my eyes when Ncuti said 'So that's why there's never room at the inn'. I'm not even a Christian, and I still found it tacky. I feel that the episode over all was just average. It does the same thing a lot of Modern Who does, which is fail to focus on one thing and do that one thing exemplary. The two story beats in this episode I feel work against each other, as the Anita stuff sucks the life out of the Joy stuff, and the Joy stuff feels like it's robbing us of more time with the far more entertaining Anita stuff. There just this feeling that this was two plot ideas around the same concept slammed together...and they live as this uncomfortable fused being. Also...there's a certain level of classist snobbism about the hotel stuff (both the Doctor's rant on how sad it was) and just the concept. I've been in a lot of hotels that don't have adjoining rooms (I'd say the vast majority of the audience have maybe never experienced a random locked hotel room), and whilst the idea of the time hotel is great the 'motivating mystery' of it is sorta...half-hearted in its attempt. None the less the episode does, at times, succeed at being emotionally affecting. It's just interesting that the strongest 'feels' I have are from literally all the other characters that aren't Joy, which makes her part of the story just ring a little hollow (the only part that got me was when she was railing against how the Tories partied while telling everyone to stay at home to watch their families die on tablets). But as you noted the tone of it is so uneven with it being far too light and childish in places and far too maudlin in others without good bridging either way....that it does give a sort of manufactured feeling to it, you can see where the script says 'and the audience cries here' or 'the audience chuckles here' or 'the audience goes oh it's this here'.

[@tlewis171]

An excellent holiday special, and like many others, I preferred Anita's scenes to most of Joy's

[@mathieuleader8601]

Anita is better than Ruby Sunday as a companion

[@NicoleM_radiantbaby]

Agree! (And definitely way more chemistry, imo)

[@docweidner]

Agree about Anita. Would love to see her again. I almost feel bad for the Joy actress. I thought she was great for what she was and did a great job with it. But, and this is more on the writing, I wanted to find out more about Anita. I would love a limited Time Hotel series with her. Disagree with you about Joy and Covid. That did hit for me. That anger and frustration felt very real to me. I think the rules thing applies to the Doctor as well. Yes, they often bend if not break the rules as well, but they have also followed the rules, and it cost them.

[@Seal0626]

I expect five things from Steven Moffat: • Hints that build up to timed reveals where the audience gets it five seconds before the characters do • Cleverer-than-thou witty quips • Tacit misogyny • A twist ending where, thanks to skillful misdirection, a third option is presented that both makes perfect sense and was not anticipated by anyone watching • A monster that isn’t monstrous at all, just incompatible with the wellbeing of the protagonists (and sometimes infuriating non sequiters that genuinely do mean nothing and are only there to be something the audience couldn’t predict, because being unpredictable is the most important thing… but that’s more the case when he’s trying to do a whole season arc, not a oneshot) And I got most of them.

[@NameOMike]

After such a delightfully queer season, Moffat's gendered "men be like, women be like" binary humor stuck out worse than usual for me. For example, I don't see this Doctor assuming someone is straight, so his usual go to "you mean, SHE...!" is just a lame excuse to make that tired joke again. That said, loved the rest of the episode. I agree that I would like to have more new writers involved, especially since Rogue has been the only episode not written by either RTD (who I still love) and Moffat (exhausted by)

[@Thundergoddess]

I only watched these Doctor who "seasons" because of your reviews!

[@meander112]

Paint for the paint god!

[@superkid801]

I enjoyed it as well. That hotel was so cool, now if I get a room with a door I will be curious if someone comes out. I understand your criticisms with Joy, did enjoy Anita too. It was nice to watch on Christmas Day. Good thoughts and again good luck on the move

[@robert_bbiii]

Anita stole it for me. I loved her more than Joy. Ncuti and Steph de Whalley had great chemistry. It oddly had a reverse Doctor/Companion dynamic. She had the Doctor role being in charge and telling him it was ok for him to leave. So now the Doctor gets how it feels when they need to leave. I saw what they were going with the ending but I too wish they did more. Go into more that everyone the start connected with changed it so it hade their hopes. So when it got to Joy it understood more and didn't want to end a world. Still adds to Boom with their AI's basically turning on the corporations because they learn from people.

[@philopharynx7910]

How many people immediately went to Bethlehem when they mentioned a star?

[@A._is_for]

Jingle bell jingle bell jongle balrog!

[@Rutanachan]

When I read at the start of the episode that it was written by Moffat I was already on edge, because I really don't get along with his, yeah let's call it "writing style", and his years as a showrunner were very hard for me to go through. And sadly all the things I don't like about his stories was repeated here, and it only kinda worked because of Christmas. Moffat can't let a character die. Instead, there's always something so it's not really death. Here the same, all the characters that "died" in the episode, including Joy's mom, live on in the star. Which makes no sense and is just another "I can't have a character die" thing of his. Moffat can't write women. Joy's only character trait was "sorry she wasn't there when her mom died", Anita clearly crushed hard on the Doctor (like 90% of the female characters he writes are focused on love, mostly the Doctor), and the woman in the Orient Express was focused on her girlfriend, so much that she never considered walking out and investigating the time hotel, when the door was open for how many minutes? And then there was the Star of Bethlehem thing at the end, which purely annoyed me. Because we know that the source of this is Halley’s Comet, both as artistic inspiration as well as the possible candidate for the real event as the comet visited earth at 12 BC, and time is quite iffy around the whole Jesus was born thing. So no, Joy is not that star. The end made no sense (like you stated), the Doctor did break his promise of coming back to Anita to say goodbye (surprise) and then there's the "the doctor is an alien" thing. Like seriously, you can't tell me the Doctor doesn't know that microwaves aren't bigger on the inside. And now his breakfast mug is bigger on the inside too... And honestly, that he never got to the bottom of the code was quite annoying, too, because that would've been a nice investigative story :) Ah, maybe I'm just too salty. In itself, the episode wasn't bad. It's just that once you realize that Moffat more or less writes the same tropes and characters over and over, it gets annoying... ^^;

[@HotDogTimeMachine385]

It's out? Fun!

[@Thief555WWJD]

The bootstrap code part felt lazy to me. And Moffat does so many bootstraps so i was just like 🙄🙄

[@---maez---]

You listen to big finish??? I'd totally listen to you doing Big Finish reviews!

[@RafaelHanussek]

I really liked the Anita arc. The rest wasn't too good to me tbh. I didn't connect with Trev in that short time, like you did, although it was a nice character. Plus the time hotel didn't make too much sense to me ... And Joy doesn't really seem to have a motivation to help the doctor, at least I don't remember them talking about it... Still it was good enough. Although I still don't really get what the "new" Ncuti Doctor's personality is. Little bit humoristic, that's all I could say to describe it. It did seem to heavily switch around in the series, let's see if this is going to be clearer soon

[@DonDonP1]

Decent special for me, to be honest.

[@Dracattack]

I am certain they did cut something to make a specific runtime for broadcast and thats why Joy felr like an afterthought. Its annoying because 90 percent of the audience is watching it on streaming and they should include that content

[@Aneurin_Hunt]

Yeah but it still broadcasted on bbc1 so they still have to be held to a tv schedule. One with a lot more freedom in length since it doesn't have ads.

[@peterjohnson1091]

Better special than last year but the ending was expected and naff.

[@DJTheTrainmanWalker]

Frankly I liked the episode... Except for the slightly sickening christian overtone of the ending.

[@panickedlizard9829]

Owo first

[@peterjohnson1091]

Do you know what OWO means as an English acronym?

[@electrochipvoidsoul1219]

@peterjohnson1091 I'm pretty sure "OwO" is an anime thing, especially in KZbin comment sections.