C+Q - Last Christmas (2014)
Last Christmas marks the tenth consecutive Doctor Who Christmas special, which is a pretty incredible feat for any show, especially one that was cancelled over 20 years ago. I'm part of a generation of kids for whom watching a festive Doctor Who episode is a fundamental part of the Christmas Day routine. At the very start of this tradition, stories like The Christmas Invasion, The Runaway Bride, Voyage of the Damned, and The Next Doctor provided jumping-on points for casual fans who exclusively watched on Christmas Day, providing light-hearted, fluffy, fun-for-all-the-family adventures that anyone could get on board with and therefore didn't impact the overall plot of the show. Recently however, the BBC has started taking more risks and instead of trying to produce specials which are inclusive to people who only watch once every year, they've started making Christmas episodes that change the status quo. The Snowmen, The Time of the Doctor, and now Last Christmas are all continuations of the on-going story of the Doctor's life; introducing new companions, new Doctors, and new plot threads without fear of alienating the casual audience. As a result, these Christmas specials are getting less and less to do with Christmas every year, and more to do with the show in general. Last year, the fact that the town on Trenzalore was called 'Christmas' was clearly tacked-on, and in Last Christmas, the appearance of Santa Claus at the North Pole feels almost coincidental. At its heart, Last Christmas has very little to do with Christmas. The main villain isn't an army of robot Santas, or killer Christmas trees, or Heavenly Host, or an old miser, or evil snowmen. This year, the primary threat is the Kantrofarri, also known as the Dream Crabs, who latch onto their victim's faces and put them into a dream state to distract them from the fact their brains are being eaten. Fa la la la laaaaah, la la la la!
These new monsters are fantastic, both in concept and execution. The idea of third-party perception is genius although some of the dialogue did make them seem like just another form of Weeping Angel or Silent that could be defeated by not doing something that your body does naturally ("Don't think! Don't even think! Think and you're dead!"). Overall though, they're pretty original villains that make me wish we could go a full year without any Daleks or Cybermen. I could imagine the Kantrofarri easily being a new recurring enemy.
I loved the dreams-within-dreams concept and the way the manuals and the 'ice cream pains' were used to deduce what was real and what wasn't. Despite the dreams-within-dreams structure, by the end of the episode there wasn't a single part that confused me or appeared to not make sense, and the complex plot holds up on a second and third viewing. I know that some people were frustrated when it first aired that the 'old Clara' segment turned out to be a dream as well, and obviously you're allowed to be frustrated. Personally I loved it given that the whole premise of the episode is that you never know when you're in a dream. I felt it was in-keeping with the previous 50 minutes of build-up. Oh, and for those who say that Last Christmas is 'pointless' because everything apart from the last scene isn't real, that doesn't mean that the emotions and the drama aren't real. The characters clearly remember their dreams (When Clara wakes up at the very end, she asks the Doctor if she's still old) so their dreams did happen to them. Maybe not physically, but mentally.
The dream sequence with Clara and Danny is brilliant and the words on the blackboard changing when Clara tries to rub them out is utterly chilling. Paul Wilmshurst's direction throughout the hour-long special reaches a high point during these scenes, especially when Clara appears to be floating down the corridor past all the blackboards. It's great to see Samuel Anderson back for a short cameo and to see the repercussions of Death in Heaven forming the emotional core of the episode rather than being brushed aside like so many monumental events have been in the past (I haven't heard any mention of Lake Silencio or Trenzalore since The Wedding of River Song and The Time of the Doctor respectively). The fact that Last Christmas deals with the fallout from the finale makes it important and impactful instead of being just a big over-blown set piece with no real substance. Death in Heaven is the only real disappointment from Series 8 for me, but it's made a lot easier to swallow by the fact it's now sandwiched between Dark Water, a great build-up, and Last Christmas, a great aftermath. 2014 has really been a return to form for Doctor Who.
The four characters we meet on the polar base, unlike the Arwells from The Doctor, the Widow, and the Wardrobe, the family from The Snowmen, and Tasha Lem from The Time of the Doctor, are given a surprising amount of depth in the amount of time they're on-screen. Shona is for me the best of the group and is definitely future companion material. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if she found a way back to the Doctor in the same way Donna came back after her one-off appearance in The Runaway Bride. She's a lot of fun but there's also something tragic about the fact she's spending Christmas on her own in the real world, hinting at a possible backstory that could be expanded upon in the future. Also, the dream world of the polar base seems to be inspired by the movies on her 'to-do' list, specially The Thing from Another World. That could be significant in Series 9, or it could just be a sign of how strong her desire for escapism is from the miserable life she appears to have. Either way, I really want to see more of her. The way she interrogated Santa shows her character is smart and inquisitive and it would be great to have an ordinary companion who just happens to be clever like Rose, Martha, or Donna, instead of another Impossible Girl with some hidden special power or secret that has to be revealed. That being said, I do also love a good mystery and I'm glad Clara is staying for 2015. The Twelfth Doctor, Clara, and Shona would make a great TARDIS team.
The big guest cast member for this special is of course Nick Frost, who brings his impeccable sense of comic timing and dry wit to the role of Santa Claus. It's rare to have a character in Doctor Who who immediately has the gravity of the Doctor himself, but Nick Frost at several points in the special commanded the screen with the same casual confidence as Peter Capaldi. Santa's two elves can be slightly obnoxious at times, especially with their constant running commentary on everything being said ("Cool exit line." "He's giving me the feels!"), but they're generally pretty harmless and are only on-screen for about 5 minutes.
Last Christmas is one of my favourite Doctor Who Christmas specials; quite possibly my favourite overall. It's fun, smart, explores the consequences of Series 8 and sets up Series 9, has a fantastic new villain, and a supporting cast that I wish I could see more of, which is in my opinion the highest compliment you can give. Despite the big sci-fi ideas and dreams-within-dreams, there were no moments in the episode that felt like an in-your-face empty set piece twist for the sake of a twist. Instead, everything that happened seemed to be the logical next step from what had come before, in the same way that this special as a whole felt like the logical next step from Death in Heaven. This has been a wonderful conclusion to one of the best years of Doctor Who in a while, and coming immediately after the 50th anniversary year, that's really saying something. Onwards to Series 9!