Doctor Who: Last Christmas
In which it turns out Moffat and his team managed to troll the spoilerhounds successfully, in a way that's mostly pleasing to me.
Even for someone who really tries hard to remain unspoiled like yours truly, it was unavoidable to notice (thanks, no thanks, British newspapers) that Jenna Coleman was supposedly leaving the show after this season. Considering Clara came really into her own this season and has a dynamic with the Twelfth Doctor which is specifically hers and to me far more interesting than the generic Doctor/Companion dynamic she had with Eleven, I regretted this more with each episode during season 8, and now of course am thrilled to find out Clara will instead stay! Well played, Moff. Well played.
Otoh: I was less pleased that Moffat toyed for the second time - after older Amy in The Girl Who Waited - with the idea of a Companion for whom decades have passed and then pulled it back, though in this case I minded it less - older Clara, as opposed to older Amy, was only around for a minute and besides was physically very fragile. It would have been a good way to write her out - this Clara had had a good life, after all - but if you intend to keep the character, it wouldn't have been practical.
The premise itself, basically Inception meets Alien with bonus Santa Claus, was a very Whovian whackiness and pulled off well as far as Clara and the Doctor were concerned - it exposed their mutual lies early on, Dream!Danny's insistence that Clara should move on made a counterpoint to Amy's unwillingness to live without Rory in a similar situation in Amy's Choice (as Dream!Danny was part of Clara's own subconscious, talking to her), and the Doctor's willlingness to risk death by braindraining parasite to help Clara was very him.
Mind you, the guest stars weren't particularly memorable, Shona's dance sequence aside - the show has done better with one shot characters, especially in season 8 - , but that didn't make or break the episode for me, and Santa was around just enough to not outstay his welcome.
All in all: an enjoyable Christmas special, not among the best, not among the worst, but safely in the middle of Christmas Specials.
This entry was originally posted at http://selenak.dreamwidth.org/1041951.html. Comment there or here, as you wish.
Even for someone who really tries hard to remain unspoiled like yours truly, it was unavoidable to notice (thanks, no thanks, British newspapers) that Jenna Coleman was supposedly leaving the show after this season. Considering Clara came really into her own this season and has a dynamic with the Twelfth Doctor which is specifically hers and to me far more interesting than the generic Doctor/Companion dynamic she had with Eleven, I regretted this more with each episode during season 8, and now of course am thrilled to find out Clara will instead stay! Well played, Moff. Well played.
Otoh: I was less pleased that Moffat toyed for the second time - after older Amy in The Girl Who Waited - with the idea of a Companion for whom decades have passed and then pulled it back, though in this case I minded it less - older Clara, as opposed to older Amy, was only around for a minute and besides was physically very fragile. It would have been a good way to write her out - this Clara had had a good life, after all - but if you intend to keep the character, it wouldn't have been practical.
The premise itself, basically Inception meets Alien with bonus Santa Claus, was a very Whovian whackiness and pulled off well as far as Clara and the Doctor were concerned - it exposed their mutual lies early on, Dream!Danny's insistence that Clara should move on made a counterpoint to Amy's unwillingness to live without Rory in a similar situation in Amy's Choice (as Dream!Danny was part of Clara's own subconscious, talking to her), and the Doctor's willlingness to risk death by braindraining parasite to help Clara was very him.
Mind you, the guest stars weren't particularly memorable, Shona's dance sequence aside - the show has done better with one shot characters, especially in season 8 - , but that didn't make or break the episode for me, and Santa was around just enough to not outstay his welcome.
All in all: an enjoyable Christmas special, not among the best, not among the worst, but safely in the middle of Christmas Specials.
This entry was originally posted at http://selenak.dreamwidth.org/1041951.html. Comment there or here, as you wish.