The Best Part of Doctor Who‘s Christmas Special Is a Bittersweet Paradox

Doctor Who fans are getting an other peculiar dainty nether the Christmas histrion contiguous with the accomplishment of “Joy to the World,” this year’s special vacation episode. But they’re getting an adjacent amended contiguous wrapped within it: due to the fact that beyond the wide festive wrappings of the episode, this bigger-on-the-inside escapade has a broadside communicative that could basal unsocial arsenic a fantastic occurrence of Who successful its ain rights.

About a 3rd of the mode into its tally clip “Joy to the World” takes a sideways step. After mounting up the Time Hotel the Doctor is staying at—a concern of myriad gateways presently acceptable to nonstop guests to each Christmas successful history—we’re rapidly whisked done a clump of those doorways arsenic helium follows a unusual suitcase hopping betwixt handcuffed, seemingly vacant hosts. The Doctor and the briefcase’s existent host, a Silurian manager astatine the hotel, find themselves going done a doorway into Christmas 2024 successful London, wherever they some conscionable a young pistillate named Joy successful her run-down edifice room. Some chaos later, the Doctor discovers the suitcase is someway disintegrating hosts aft it hops to a caller one: the Silurian dies and Joy is latched onto arsenic the briefcase’s latest carrier, making her chant ominous warnings astir a prima effect blooming. Before the Doctor tin get a existent grasp of what’s going connected with the suitcase… the Doctor walks done the door.

This Doctor, from immoderate constituent successful the future, brushes disconnected his predecessor’s annoyance astatine him not providing immoderate accusation astir however to lick the enigma of the briefcase, arsenic helium begins to whisk Joy retired of the country and permission “our” Doctor, forced to fig things retired the agelong mode around. The doorway slams shut, and we enactment connected the position of “our” Doctor, who realizes that he’s present stuck successful 2024 with nary TARDIS and nary mode backmost for a full year.

What follows is an extended series that is brimming with the imaginable to beryllium a slayer occurrence of Doctor Who successful its ain right. With nary wealth oregon spot to stay, the Doctor has to connection his services to the manager of the hotel, Anita (Steph de Whalley, successful a genuinely fantastic supporting turn), doing unusual jobs, renting retired what was Joy’s room. The Doctor is moving connected trying to fig retired the suitcase successful his downtime, sure, but he’s inactive forced to beryllium infinitesimal to moment, successful 1 place, and really unrecorded retired a beingness helium usually doesn’t person to experience.

This is not an idea Doctor Who is wholly unfamiliar with, of course. The archetypal fractional of overmuch of the Third Doctor’s full beingness was built connected the premise that the Doctor was exiled connected modern Earth and forced to marque bash for himself, but helium was inactive regularly going connected adventures successful his capacities arsenic UNIT’s technological adviser. The Fourteenth Doctor’s arc concludes with him being granted the grace to beryllium and unrecorded retired a beingness with Donna and her family, freed from the request to beryllium the Doctor. Steven Moffat successful particular, who wrote “Joy to the World,” was fascinated with the thought passim his tenure arsenic showrunner; episodes similar “The Lodger,” “The Power of Three,” and adjacent a anterior vacation special, “The Husbands of River Song,” each tackle the thought of the Doctor, either done prime oregon circumstance, momentarily giving up his beingness arsenic a wanderer successful the 4th magnitude to unrecorded “normally.”

But successful opposition to this series successful “Joy to the World,” those past episodes lone truly analyse them successful abstract, the information that the Doctor is spending a disproportionate magnitude of clip successful 1 place, successful 1 moment, mostly successful the inheritance against the existent crushed for it. And that is, honestly, due to the fact that Doctor Who is simply a amusement we each ticker to spot the Doctor traveling done clip and space, warring monsters, and redeeming worlds from calamitous destruction. Making him unrecorded a mean quality beingness is simply a rarity because, arsenic the Doctor initially bristles himself here, it’s conscionable benignant of a spot boring for a sci-fi enactment escapade show.

And yet, for a bully 3rd of the episode—and arguably the occurrence astatine its best—we are asked to beryllium with the Doctor arsenic helium lives retired this year, getting to cognize Anita better, getting to cognize what it’s similar to unrecorded like this, better, to the constituent that erstwhile the clip comes that his twelvemonth is up and helium has to accidental bully bye to his caller friend, it’s astir arsenic heartbreaking arsenic losing a companion. There is nary expansive menace oregon mystery, the Doctor isn’t adjacent peculiarly counting down the clock, adjacent if helium knows helium has Joy’s country astatine the edifice booked for conscionable a year, alternatively the full series becomes astir exploring the imaginable of this antithetic lens into the Doctor’s beingness and consciousness of being.

Crucially too, it’s a indispensable play of healing for this peculiar Doctor, to marque a person and past portion ways with them successful this way. Not simply due to the fact that the past play of Doctor Who truly struggled with its home element to marque the Doctor and Ruby consciousness similar the friends the bid perpetually told america they were, but due to the fact that it’s not with Joy, the de facto “companion” of the peculiar that the Fifteenth Doctor processes his loneliness aft parting ways with Ruby. It’s lone with Anita, and it’s her transportation and inspiration that pushes him to determination guardant successful the aftermath of losing his archetypal friend, 1 of the archetypal radical helium imprinted connected successful this incarnation. Again, this is thing past vacation specials person touched connected too—”The Runaway Bride” and the Tenth Doctor’s feelings implicit Rose, and “Voyage of the Damned” and the, uh, Tenth Doctor’s feelings implicit Martha—but their eventual decision are reminders that the Doctor needs idiosyncratic to stock adventures with.

For a moment, and astatine is brightest, “Joy to the World” asks america and the Doctor alike if beingness itself is the escapade helium needs to stock with someone, alternatively than Time and Space.

You tin present ticker Doctor Who‘s “Joy to the World” connected Disney+ astir the world, and connected the BBC successful the UK and Ireland.

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