Last Christmas

"Last Christmas" is an intriguing episode with great performances with a rather dark Christmas theme.

As the final special to wrap up Series 8 starts, it seemed like another mediocre Doctor Who episode. But as it progressed, it gained attention and mystery. The concept for the episode is not the one you would expect compared to the past specials. It has a rather dark atmosphere (which the 12th doctor is known for) and the new monsters were terrifying than ever. The episode's plot revolves around a group of people including Clara and the Doctor stuck in North Polo with a bunch of dream crabs trying to get them. But what they don't know is that they might all be in a dream, within a dream and so on. Nick Frost surprisingly delivers an excellent portrayal of Santa Claus and didn't go all childish and cheesy. Capaldi remains intact as he gives yet another fantastic performance as the dark and rude Doctor in which fans should be able to get used to this by now after one whole series and a special. Clara had some definitive and emotional moments, yet some felt a little bit useless and drawn-out. There are a ton of great and well executed shocking moments in this special which is bound to glue audiences to their seats. Certainly the highlights of this episode were the concept and shocking moments. There were also a ton of references in the episode which will give you a smile or at least make you laugh. Of course, the Christmas theme was present in the episode as well. However, the Christmas Theme did not balance kind of didn't balance with the dark atmosphere of the episode at start. It felt like at the end they remembered that all they did was add Santa so they squeezed right in some Christmas spirit in which it did work for the most part. To put it in one sentence, the Christmas special felt like Inception, but with Santa in it. Nonetheless, it is certainly one of the best Christmas specials Doctor Who has had so far.

-Slow start, +the dark atmosphere and mystery throughout the episode, +the new monsters were terrifying, +nice concept (which seemed to be a little like Inception) +great performances, -some drawn-out scenes -the balance of the Dark atmosphere and Christmas spirit didn't blend well.

Verdict: 8.5/10

No tricky Dream Lord on this occasion, just nightmare Christmas crab crustaceans, who have the stick, to play a trick, ending your days through hallucinations.

Despite the contrived fantasy nature of creating a Christmas special featuring Santa (following on from all the other slightly contrived fantasy Moffatt era Christmas specials - one based on A Christmas Carol, one based on The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and one featuring a snowy town called Christmas) this episode, like A Christmas Carol, manages to rise above its contrivance to be a thoroughly enjoyable story. It has the usual Moffatt obsessions of the 'darkness' of the Doctor, lots of complicated storytelling and over the top bits but it is one of the occasions where he gets it to mostly work.

Moffatt has managed here, as in his other best work, to balance things so that the complications are clever. In a lot of this era the complications end up turning out to be illogical and the showiness is out of control. This episode makes enough sense so that the confusing dreams within dreams and seemingly unrealistic events have some internal logic. The showy stuff like Santa, elves, reindeer etc are made to fit into the context of the episode in a way that makes them work within the world of the show and they are used to great comic and dramatic effect.

Nick Frost is great as Santa, he is funny but also grounded with a more serious side. The comedy works brilliantly and there is smart dialogue throughout. Capaldi is, as always, terrific with both humour and depth. All the guest characters have depth and quality and all the acting is of high standard, including Jenna Coleman. It is lovely to get Michael Troughton, son of 2nd Doctor Patrick Troughton, in the cast.

The darker and more dramatic elements mostly work really well too. The dream crabs are creepy and menacing (their resemblance to creatures from the movie 'Alien' is amusingly referenced) and the serious themes raised work well.

I was not a huge fan of how the dream crabs turn out to be in random people's homes and just disintegrate and we move on. Why and how were they there and isn't there a likelihood they would be elsewhere on Earth rather than just those few random places? Some explanation or resolution would have been nice.

I also was not a fan of bringing Danny Pink into the episode. Moffatt just cannot let characters die! I strongly disliked Danny and was glad to get rid of him so that compounds his unnecessary return. Thankfully he is not a huge issue in this story.

The episode is rather copied in some respects from the great episode from a couple of years earlier, Amy's Choice (as well as its influence from Alien) which is a shame in a way but it is just different enough to still work in its own right.

Overall this was a funny, entertaining and clever episode.

I always saw this as logically being the Series 8 Christmas Special but it is, apparently, officially part of Series 9 so that is what I am counting it as.

My Rating: 8.5/10.

Series 9 Episode Ranking: 8th out of 14.

I like Alien, Inception and DW sci-fi. This episode mixes all these things so I expected it to be one of my personal top Christmas specials... but it isn't. Instead it's just average Christmas special that is not great nor bad. It has its moments, but I truly expected something better. And Santa was rather annoying.

Doctor Who's Christmas special episodes are usually cheesy funny happy episodes. I expected nothing else when I saw the trailer featuring Nick Frost as Santa Claus. This episode, while still funny and in the spirits of Christmas, was more than that. I honestly did not expect this episode to be as good as it was. The episode messes with your mind as you don't quite know what is happening at certain points in the episode. It's a combination of the horror movie Alien and the mind bending thriller Inception. It's full of twists and surprises and will keep you watching until the very end. As usual I love Peter Capaldi's portrayal of the Doctor and Jenna-Louise Coleman's performance as Clara is as astonishing as ever.

Worth a watch! I will definitely be re-watching this episode next Christmas!