Doctor Who: Joy to the World

It’s been several months since Doctor Who last came to our screens, so this year’s Christmas special is most welcome in that regard. Also welcome is the fact that it was written by former showrunner Steven Moffat, who created some of the strongest episodes of the series. To be honest, as should be no surprise to those who followed my regular responses to each week’s episode, the most recent season was something of a disappointment to me. The plotting felt shoddy, the emotional beats not quite landing as they should. So accordingly, my expectations for this episode were tempered. But I’m happy to report that it was terrific and back on form. A great addition to the canon of Christmas Doctor Who adventures.

First off, biggest props go to Ncuti Gatwa (and by extension Steven Moffat.) While I liked him in the previous season, somehow Gatwa never quite had a moment throughout that series that cemented him for me as the Doctor. He did all of the right things mostly, but something just didn’t click. But here, right from his first appearance, Ncuti Gatwa is the Doctor, both his own incarnation and the successor to the fourteen-plus who have preceded him. As Gatwa virtually carries the episode himself, this is a definite step in the right direction. And in fact, just about every moment of screen time is centered upon him.

My wife was happy to see Nicola Coughlin as the second lead, Joy, but sadly her role felt a bit undercooked. In part this is due to the narrative taking a couple of ten-minute detours away from her, and while there was a decent amount of info dumping about her backstory, she never quite jelled together as a fully-formed character for me. Better served were Joel Fry as Trev, who was broadly drawn but felt genuine, and Stephanie de Whalley as Anita, who largely stole the show in an extended sequence in which the Doctor must spend a year living through events sequentially in order to complete a time loop. That entire sequence was like a mini-episode unto itself and was perhaps the best bit in this adventure. It was certainly illuminating towards the Doctor’s character in a way we haven’t quite seen before (though it does contain echoes of “The Lodger”

As is typical in these holiday specials, the menace is almost an afterthought, something to get the sequence of events rolling. Here, Villengard’s efforts to home-grow their own bespoke star as an energy source are really a non-issue, and the threat is dispensed with virtually off-handedly in the closing minutes. But that isn’t really what Doctor Who is for during the holidays. Rather, these stories tend to be more broad, more universal, and striped through with the sentiment of the season. On those points, this episode succeeds. It’s fun and clever and fast-moving and engaging—but most of all heartfelt. (Even if the shamelessly obvious final punch line is both almost impossible not to see coming practically from the moment the plot is first described, and is completely schmaltz of the highest order.)

If, as he’s been threatening only semi-seriously, this does wind up being Moffat’s final Doctor Who effort (not that I truly believe that for an instant) it’s a good effort to go out on. Even more so than Russell, I’d have to say that it’s been Moffat who has most shaped the modern impression of the show, the person who’s delivered the greatest number of memorable lines and top-quality episodes. It’s impossible for anyone to deliver noting but triumphs, but Moffat’s Who batting average remains strikingly high overall. He gets this show and what makes it connect in a way that few others have.