Doctor Who - Joy To The World - HONESTLY not that TERRIBLE

Greetings everyone,

The Doctor Who Christmas special, "Joy to the World," was a bearable watch.

However, I must admit, there is a caveat. Ncuti's performance as the doctor leaves much to be desired. His acting seems to weigh down each scene he appears in. He is not a convincing actor and seems mismatched for this role. And, of course, his crying scenes, which are becoming a staple, are a significant issue, given its prominence in the series.

Some spoilers may be unavoidable in this review, but I will do my best to avoid them. Any necessary spoilers will be clearly indicated beforehand. Steven Moffat, the writer for this Christmas special, falls back on some of his usual tricks. He recycles a Pandorica moment, and in a surprising turn, anticipates the reaction to it and tries to deflect criticism within the dialogue itself. He also brings back a specific McGuffin from "Boom."

Although the storyline may not hold up well under intense scrutiny, the main premise is iffy, the doctor seems content with a hotel sending people throughout all human history. Joy's room being linked to the time hotel in the first place, the Silurian entering the room in the first place, or is able to walk in at all, are all plot contrivances that don't quite add up.

Most stories have their fair share of contrivances, and they didn't really pose a problem while watching. It's only upon reflection that these issues become more apparent. The episode is also cluttered with more elements than necessary, similar to "Boom," causing some emotional beats to fall flat.

There is a nice plot thread, yet it doesn't really lead to any substantial character growth, making it feel redundant. There are also traces of ideology, with mentions of the patriarchy, mansplaining, and a token gay character who proclaims their sexuality, reminiscent of Chibbers’ run.

Nicola Coughlan delivers a solid performance once you look past the first few minutes and the feminist rebuttal that seems out of character. She possesses a natural charm and there's one very emotional character scene which is unfortunately overshadowed by the injection of party politics which references a specific event and will undoubtedly date the episode.

Having said that, her character feels underdeveloped and mostly present as a plot point. The episode ends on an emotional note (until you realise what actually happened) and an unexpected reveal which was somewhat predictable and contrived, but still enjoyable.

A few spoilers now: Ruby makes a brief, pointless appearance for all of 30 seconds.

The doctor makes a supposedly profound statement about how the hotel rooms we choose reflect who we are. However, given that most hotel rooms are virtually the same, and Joy didn't even book at this hotel; she merely showed up and was assigned the room that profundity is false and empty.

In keeping with the tradition of this regeneration, the doctor fails to save anyone.

Despite these flaws, the episode was generally fine, provided you don't delve too deep into the plot contrivances.

So, were you able to suspend your critical thinking and enjoy it for what it was? Or did the plot contrivances prove to be too much?
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