Is it just me, or are these Christmas episodes getting more and more only tangentially related to Christmas? Seriously, if not for the presence of Santa Claus as an actual freakin’ character this could have been any other episode. Do we even know for sure that it actually takes place at Christmas? The nature of it as a dream world episode makes this kind of vague, doesn’t it? I mean, yeah, we see Clara discover Santa Claus on the roof, but this was a dream, too, right? But we know that Santa wasn’t a dream all of the time because he showed up in the TARDIS, right? RIGHT!? Seriously, this is so confusing and thought provoking, and I love it because it feels like a regular old Series 5 or 6 Moffet episode again. I love it.
Before we go on much further, though, let me ask a very important question which is very rhetorical because I’m sure it will be answered soon, but seriously, is Jenna Coleman leaving the show or not? I mean, geeze, I know I have purposefully detached myself from the fandom this Series to avoid spoilers in an attempt to be as faithful as possible with these reviews, but some of the news surrounding the show seeped in, and I know there was talk of her leaving. Has this changes? I dunno. The end of the Series 8 proper felt like such a final moment between Clara and the Doctor that I was satisfied with her leaving there, and I was sure she would.
Then we got this, and now I legitimately don’t want Clara to go. The misdirect in the closing of this episode was just so darn emotional, and it about tore me apart when we think that the Doctor has made himself a part of the end of Clara’s timeline, and that, much like Amy and Rory, he can’t come back for her again. I’ll admit, I teared up a little (if “little” means “a lot”). Then she wakes up and they run together into the TARDIS to continue their adventures, and I’m reminded of some of the best scenes between Jenna and Matt Smith, and some of the better moments between Jenna and Peter Capaldi, and I recall the really great chemistry that she had with both men so many times during her run, and I genuinely want them to have more time together. In a way Santa, real or not, kept his promise: he helped them reconcile, which helped the Doctor.
Now, just FYI, I will not be talking much about the story of this episode, because doing so would necessitate that I discus the Inception-level dream layering here, and I don’t need a migraine today. Instead, let’s talk about some themes, and the really, really cool juxtaposition of really terrifying monster imagery, and of Santa Claus rescuing the cast of characters more than once in this episode. It was rad, helped by the fact that the dream crab monsters were just freakin’ crazy scary. They resembled the really fantastic-looking, if totally FREAKING STUPID spider bacteria in Kill the Moon when they were on their own, and they took on a whole new level of unsettling a creepy while attached to a host. Those mouths, guys, those freakin’ mouths. I don’t get scared by horror, and those things gave me chills, partially because I knew that the reveal of the human faces beneath them would be a big deal, since the framing was designed to prevent up from seeing those faces.
Then Santa shows up, and he’s amazing. It’s Christmas time (in dreamland, at least), and the setting is snowy, so the cast dreams up Santa Claus, and because the dream layers of the dream crabs is as realistic as possible to prevent the victim from realizing the farce and waking, Santa was actually realistic as an ally, capable of acting independently of the intentions of the dream crabs and helping the cast out. This is such a cool concept, and it even makes a strange kind of sense!
Also, how great is it that this same concept is used to give Clara a scene of closure with the “real” Danny without actually bringing him back to life? I loved this scene so much, and I was so happy for Clara for getting this scene, because she needed it.
I also want to point out that, even though he is still a jerk here, the Doctor showed more concern for the minor characters, offering them help for as long as he felt that he could. It was rude and borderline uncaring to leave them alone with the dream-crab-infested humans, but he knew that they could survive on their own, that they didn't actually need him. Then, when he realized that there was more to the threat, he went back to help them when he could have been selfish and focused on saving only Clara and himself. This is the grumpier, more alien Doctor that I wanted to see last Series, who we only saw glimpses of. More of this please!
In the end, this episode was fun, and sometimes funny, scary, emotional, well shot, well-acted, and overall just a really good episode about seizing the moment, and two friends realizing how much they still cared for and needed each other, and I think that, after the recent finale, this is currently my favorite episode of Peter Capaldi’s run so far on the show. The character of Santa Claus (I can’t believe I can actually type this!) was very cleverly integrated into the mythology of Doctor Who in a way which is vague enough that it can be taken in any context depending on the preferences of the particular viewer. This episode is classic Moffet at its best, and I look forward to more of this to come in future episodes. If I were to complain about anything, it would be that it was a little too layered in terms of the various “dream levels”, making it a bit confusing, but, really, we don’t need to know what dream levels involve which events to enjoy the story. I give it an 8.5 out of 10 overall and highly recommend it, especially to people who haven’t been enjoying the Capaldi era much up to this point.
Also, on a quick side note, when the nature of this as a dream-centric story was realized, was anyone else hoping for a return of the Dream Lord? Just me? Okay then.
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