Doctor Who: The Return of Doctor Mysterio (2016 Christmas Special)

2016's Doctor Who Christmas special was... unoffensive and bland. There were a few things that I enjoyed while watching, a few things I didn't enjoy, and when it ended I pretty much forgot it all instantly. Not exactly a masterpiece.

Cons:

Like I said, this whole thing was pretty bland. There was a slight connection to last year's Christmas special, as we learn that the Doctor and River have just had their final "date," lasting many years. Ostensibly, this is the Doctor's first real foray out into the world since River left him to go die in the Library. That's a nice little connection, but the story doesn't really play up on it very much. Same can be said for the Doctor's sort-of companion, Nardole, who was the head of the Hydroflax last we saw him. The Doctor keeps him around because he's afraid he'll be lonely. An interesting conceit, but it's not handled as skillfully as the 11th Doctor's love for his Cyberman head, and we don't get enough time to really parse this out. Nardole's presence ends up feeling like a buildup to whatever his character will be in Series Ten, instead of a proper piece of this episode itself.

Then there's the disconnect between the stuff happening with the Doctor, and the stuff happening with the superhero. Grant was a young boy when he met the Doctor for the first time and inadvertently swallowed a powerful gemstone, giving the superhero-obsessed little boy the superpowers he always wanted. Years later, Grant is posing as a nanny for the child of a woman he's been pining for all his life. This woman, a reporter, is smitten by the mysterious "Ghost," who is of course Grant's alter-ego. You can't get much more cliche. It's the stereotypical superhero story in every way, without even a bit of nuance to change things up. Grant is Superman, complete with a glasses-wearing unassuming alternate personality. And Lucy is Lois Lane, down to the fact that she's a nosy reporter who, despite being portrayed as quite intelligent, is blinded by her smitten feelings for the superhero she's trying to investigate. Ugh. Stop.

Like I said, there's not much to connect the Doctor and the alien plot to take over the brains of the world's most important leaders, with the drama of Grant and Lucy and their secret pining for one another. Sure, the Doctor is continually checking in on Grant throughout his life, and sure, Grant becomes embroiled in the bad guys' evil plan, and ends up helping the Doctor to save the day. But the emotional weight of these two plots existed completely separately from one another, and the attempts to connect them fall a little flat.

Pros:

As I said at the start of this review, this special was unoffensive. It didn't get me all steamed at Moffat like some of his episodes are wont to do. Even the smitten Lucy wasn't like a sexist character or anything... she was just a bit boring. I hate that I have to put it in the "pros" section when Moffat simply avoids pissing me off, but I guess that's where we are.

I also quite liked the actor who played Grant. He was the cliche gruff-voiced comic book hero, but he added a really human touch and I really felt his vulnerability and awkwardness. A less nuanced performance might have made this character completely forgettable, but there really was something there.

Capaldi, as always, gave a great performance: his sincerity, his brilliance mixed with his utter lack of knowledge about some things, the way he takes the weight of the world on his shoulders but still tries to be happy for the sake of others. It's typical Twelfth Doctor, and it worked really well. I might have wished for more with his character, but what I got was quite lovely.

This episode didn't feel very Christmas-y, but that actually worked in its favor. The beginning scene had some fun material with young Grant mistaking the Doctor for Santa Claus, but after that we steered clear of blatantly ooey-gooey Christmas vibes. In the past, Doctor Who has been less than successful at capturing the true spirit of Christmas (with the exception of the "A Christmas Carol" one, which was amazing), so I liked that this episode didn't even really try for that.

I thought I'd have more to say about this, but I guess that's it. This Christmas special lacked the gravitas of ones we've had in the past. It's not a transition episode between companions. We're not saying goodbye to River Song, or to the current version of the Doctor, or anything like that. We're just... checking in with the Doctor on one of his little adventures, and that's pretty much it. That doesn't mean the episode totally sucks, but it's been a year since we've gotten any new material, and this didn't feel entirely worth the wait.

7/10