Last Christmas Review (Part 1)

Clint Hassell gives his verdict on this year’s special.

Though several real world films, especially Alien, are referenced within the narrative, “Last Christmas” seems more a tapestry of plot points woven together from previous episodes. The basic plot – the Doctor and his companions must differentiate between induced dream states, in order to escape death in reality – is pulled directly from “Amy’s Choice,” right down to the revelation that the TARDIS crew are trapped in a dream-within-a-dream. The oft-used under-siege-by-monsters-in-a-remotely-located-science-station set up (most recently seen in “Kill the Moon,” but also in “Cold War,” “The Waters of Mars,” “The Impossible Planet”/“The Satan Pit,” etc.) is again utilized. The thrilling sleigh ride from “A Christmas Carol” is revisited, this time with actual reindeer, before the episode mirrors the epilogue from last Christmas’ “The Time of the Doctor.” Imagery from “The Idiot’s Lantern” and “Listen,” themes from “Robot of Sherwood,” and landmarks from “Rose,” “Aliens of London,” and “Dark Water” feature prominently. Even the Kantrofarri are barely differentiated from Doctor Who’s ever-growing stable of “don’t blink/breath/move” monsters; while the Weeping Angels are dangerous when you don’t look at them, the Dream Crabs become active when you do, making them the anti-Weeping Angels, in a sense, and requiring characters to repeat actions from “Flesh and Stone.”

While it would be easy to criticize showrunner Steven Moffat’s utilization of previous motifs as hackneyed pastiche, here, it actually enhances the episode’s dream-like qualities. To his credit, Moffat is careful to weave several clues – some more blatant than others – throughout the episode, foretelling the narrative’s biggest twists. The script’s first act includes many recurring jokes (“beardy-weardy,” “It’s bigger on the inside”) and familiar bits of the Santa Claus mythology as a way to distract viewers from realizing the dream-within-a-dream twist; however, having seen the episode once, it becomes easy to spot some of the more prescient lines:

• Clara asks the Doctor if she is “really back” in the TARDIS. “This is real . . . yeah?”
• Shona remarks, “This is ridiculous. Am I . . . am I dreaming?” when first rescued by Santa Claus. She then states “This is mental. This is totally not happening.”
• Ashley asks, “Is it possible I’m about to work with someone who might be a dream?” The Doctor responds, “If it helps, so am I.”

In fact, the teaser itself provides evidence of the episode’s lucid dream structure. Clara’s new townhome is way too big for her to afford on a beginning teacher’s salary; it is, literally, a “dream home.” Follow this with Shona’s lack of purpose for entering the artic base’s infirmary – the base crew has already deduced the mechanics of the Dream Crabs’ third-party perception, so, with no stated goal of retrieving some important object, it seems senseless to not just blockade the door and wait for rescue – and it becomes clear to clever viewers that everything is not what it seems.

Because of this, Moffat must continue the episode’s dream-within-a-dream set-up until the very end, beyond anyone’s expectations, in order to provide a satisfactory twist for the more astute members of the audience. Even here, however, he mines the dream sequences for character development. For the Doctor to visit an older Clara, at the end of her life, is a brilliant bookend to her rejoining an aged Eleven in “The Time of the Doctor.” Further, it’s interesting to see the Doctor’s “dream” version of Clara’s life: she continued to travel and she never got married, because, like Sarah Jane Smith before her, she never quite got over the Doctor. Despite his protest in “Deep Breath,” it is obvious that the Doctor still does fancy himself as Clara’s boyfriend, in a sense. The final dream sequence is also critical because it forces the Doctor to face his subconscious desires. He wants to be with Clara, and is uncharacteristically unabashed in asking her to rejoin him.

While the episode’s handling of its dream motif and many twists is excellent, as a coda to “Death in Heaven,” the episode merely checks of the required boxes, and feels rushed. This is to be expected – there’s no way to resolve the deep-seated issues of Danny’s tragic death in one 60-minute episode, and the topic seems ill-fitting for a family-friendly, festive holiday special. Thus, Clara and the Doctor’s mutual O. Henry-esque lie is dispatched early on, and the details of Danny’s demise are left vague, with neither Missy nor the Cybermen mentioned by name. Also, the narrative importance of Clara’s remark, “I’ve always believed in Santa Claus, but he looks a little different to me” (a saccharine revisiting of the Doctor-as-legendary-hero-motif from “Robot of Sherwood”) and ensuing hug (itself momentous considering the Doctor’s opinion, revealed at the end of “Death in Heaven”) is remarkably unmentioned.

However, even here, Moffat finds a way to include novel bits of character development in an otherwise rushed B story. Clara’s dream Christmas with Danny paints him in a positive light unseen since “The Caretaker,” reminding the audience of Danny’s charm, and providing a better exit for the character from the series’ narrative than “Death in Heaven.” His line, “I didn’t die saving the world. I died saving Clara. The rest of you just got lucky.” is incredibly poignant not only in how it reflects his character, but also in how it defines his true point of “death” as when he sacrificed himself, post-cyberconversion, and not when he was hit by a car. This makes sense, considering that, at this point, it is Clara’s mind creating the dream reality; she had stated, in “Dark Water,” that Danny’s death needed to be something bigger than his actual, “boring . . . ordinary” demise.

Finally, it’s a clever twist that, in a Christmas adventure, when the willful belief in Santa should be at a high, the key to defeating the Kantrofarri is to admit that Santa isn’t real, and thus his appearance in the narrative is indication that a dream is occurring. Clara’s idealized Christmas with Danny also provides a chilling counterpoint to the warmth of the holiday season. On Christmas Day, you can sleep late, you have no responsibilities, and there’s lots of food, presents, and loved ones – who wouldn’t want it to be Christmas every day? However, like Clara’s dream world, Christmas doesn’t last. Moffat subtly points that out, again undermining the Christmas spirit. “Every Christmas is last Christmas,” characters exclaim, arguably the most depressing tagline for any holiday special. By embracing the darker side of the holiday, Moffat is able to better mirror Series 8’s deeper emotional themes, and “Last Christmas” is richer for it.