2nd Opinion: Last Christmas
David Selby and John Hussey give their verdicts on this year’s Xmas special.
David’s Verdict
Dreaming, as a concept, is frequently employed as a tool and, perhaps, weapon, within film, television and literature. As an ambiguous field of psychology, the nature of dreaming is more open to interpretation than other objective psychological areas which the series may choose to focus on. As a result, Last Christmas – an episode about dreaming – possesses that aura of ambiguity, and the finer details of the plot depend on one’s own idea about what it means to dream.
Director Paul Wilmshurst kept the motif of dreaming and the heart of his directorial techniques, blurring the background of conversational shots to depict the switch in mental focus. I found the early scenes of Clara’s idyllic ‘Christmas’ dream to be some of the most unnerving moments of Moffat’s era, as Clara subconsciously chose to ignore the Doctor’s warnings and embrace her faux-reality. The false sense of warmth and safety, and the gingerbread-house-type trap which Clara was lured into, was the kind of thing I felt the series finale was lacking. It’s certainly promising that Moffat is experimenting with different ways of presenting terror, danger and security. I was, however, disappointed to see this section of the episode over so quickly and dealt with so predictably. There’ve already been three goodbye scenes between Clara and Danny in the finale: why not try something different? Why not prolong Clara’s fate in the dream world? I thought such a powerful sequence could easily have been developed further.
One thing that did astonish me was Steven Moffat’s mature, sophisticated and wholly-lifelike understanding of how dreaming is a warped mirror of reality; ranging from the bizarre situation which was just accepted without question, to the ‘waking up’ scene where reality struck potently, awakening some positive and negative truths which had been forgotten.
With this setup of two contrasting worlds came a chance to juxtapose two characteristic methods of Doctor Who storytelling, merging effortlessly together the deceiving surrealism of Capaldi’s era thus far and the Troughton-esque ‘base-under-siege’ format. The end product was something vaguely resembling ‘The Mind Robber meets The Seeds of Death’. Strangely, it worked – though whilst I compliment Moffat on his ingenuity here, I must express frustration at the nature of the main antagonist, a mere extension of the show-runner’s ‘don’t blink/look/breathe/move/speak/think’ monsters who have become too predictable to instil any kind of tangible narrative threat. The supporting characters, on the other hand, were surprisingly enjoyable. I especially took to Ashley – credit to Gumede’s natural charm as an actress – and Faye, who unexpectedly resembled a synthesis of Davies-era companions.
Clara’s fate as a frail elderly woman was an intriguing call-back to last year’s Christmas Special, The Time of the Doctor, and further evidence pointing towards Clara being a human reflection of the Doctor. So, from that point of view, I can understand the necessity for Clara to return: she’s now up to her Deep Breath, a momentous shift in character development beckoning a new era. Yet from an admittedly superficial point of view, I can’t help but feel disgruntled by the resolution. Again we’ve had a terrific exit undermined by a poor ret-con. Doctor Who these days has become about whether Clara will or won’t leave, and that needs to stop. It’s damaging, it squanders innovative ideas for character departures and moves the focus of the show away from what it should be. Either keep the character or let her go. I’d be thrilled to see Coleman return for another series if her previous episodes hadn’t been a plethora of exit ideas.
To conclude, Last Christmas falls short of becoming a classic but does provide, as per usual with festive specials, a highly enjoyable and often poignant bit of television that is, at the very least, memorable.
John’s Verdict
‘Last Christmas’ was, for me, the redeeming feature for Moffat’s recent radical changes to the timeline. With any great writer when they write well they deliver a masterpiece, but obviously when they’re not thinking straight or let their imagination get ahead of them they produce the world’s biggest disappointment. This Christmas, for me, Moffat got back on track and delivered the Christmas goods.
The inclusion of Nick Frost as Santa Claus was a great addition to the show’s mythology. Frost gave a great performance as the magical man through his strong interpretation. He brought a funny side to the character, as well as a serious side that sometimes dominated the screen through his sharp intelligence. I really enjoyed Peter Capaldi’s chemistry with Frost. Together they rivalled one another to see who could be the cleverer man, adding a similar vibe that was displayed in ‘Robot of Sherwood’, which brought a real enjoyment to the tale. Adding to the mix was the lovely idea of whether or not Santa was real, or just a figment of the imagination conjured up by the characters. In the end Moffat stayed true to his word and gave the nice little hint of him being real the entire time through the tangerine left on Clara’s window-sill at the end.
The Doctor and Clara’s chemistry together was another great aspect to the story. We saw them depart in a rather depressing manner at the end of ‘Death of Heaven’ through them both lying to one another. This was quickly brought out through the pair of them admitting the truth to one another, but this conversation quickly went sour and they changed the subject. It must have been sad for the both of them knowing they sent each other away when they needed each other the most. Especially for the Doctor who thought Clara was going to be happy with Danny but in reality she was alone and heart – broken once again by his passing. His efforts to save Danny ended with further sadness.
Clara’s dream was a truly emotional piece which continued the themes I spoke about above. Danny’s absence in Clara’s life made her dream him up, bringing him back to her on a happy Christmas Day. It was sad to watch especially once the Doctor arrived to bring her back to reality. You could see Clara trying to plead in staying with Danny as her dream was better than reality. She no longer wanted to live without him and suffer any more pain. As always Danny proved to be a heroic character, even within a dream, and a true partner to Clara by giving her the strength to move on with her life. Needless to say Samuel Anderson’s return was a great Christmas present and this brought about a final closure to his story and his relationship with Clara without spoiling what had already happened.
The Kantrofarri proved to be another fantastic creation by Moffat as he once again drew from something we experience within our everyday lives and turned it on its head to frighten us. Children might not ever want to sleep again in fear of a Dream Crab eating their brains when they’re most vulnerable. Their design and presence was just sinister and creepy. It was different seeing such dark creatures and deep tones used on Christmas Day. ‘Last Christmas’ stood out because of this and tried to be divisive within its approach, continuing the darkened style developed throughout Series Eight. The whole idea that the Kantrofarri actually ate the brains of their victims whilst they unaware within a dream-state is certainly a bleak idea for a Christmas show but it worked brilliantly and I really applaud Moffat’s genius for coming up with this idea.
What I loved about ‘Last Christmas’ was the whole ‘dream within a dream’ idea which left me guessing throughout the entire story. I thought after the first two attempts this idea would lose its welcome if done again because it would’ve been overused, but honestly I felt it still worked just as successfully. The old Clara scene was another emotional piece within the tale and proved saddening because of its remnants from last year’s Christmas Special ‘The Time of the Doctor’. The cracker part of the scene in particular made me believe the Doctor would have to suffer the same fate from a different perspective, this time him watching Clara grow old and die. The scene in question was the last part of the nightmare and gave the Doctor that extra nudge to return to Clara and bring her back onboard. The two of them are ridiculous and complicated, a perfect match-up in a sense, and I felt it was only fitting that Clara came back for some more adventures.
Although ‘Last Christmas’ proved predictable at times, I still loved it to bits and felt it was a triumph on Moffat’s part. It had a magical feel to it, a Christmas spirit, Dan Starkey as an Elf (which he played brilliantly as with all his energy and comedy), dilemmas, a dark story and of course an eventual happy reunion. It was a rollercoaster Christmas Special through its different approaches and tones but ultimately was a great topping to the festive season. See you next year when the Doctor and Clara return in ‘The Magician’s Apprentice’.
