Doctor Who 2016 Christmas Special - The Return Of Doctor Mysterio - Review

Starring: Peter Capaldi, Matt Lucas, Justin Chatwin & Charity Wakefield

Written By: Steven Moffat

Directed By: Ed Bazalgette

 

I'm not going to lie, I've been dreading The Return Of Doctor Mysterio … and given that Doctor Who has been off our screens for a whole year, that's something I shouldn't be saying. After nearly breaking the series beyond repair in Hell Bent and leaving scars that may never fully heal, and following it up with last year's mediocre Christmas special, The Husbands Of River Song, my faith in both Steven Moffat and the show is at an all time low. 2016 hasn't been the best of years by a long shot, and not even Doctor Who was safe, enduring a poorly-handled new companion reveal and the BBC showing no faith in the show, or its new spin-off Class, which had barely any promotion or viewership whatsoever, despite being a solid series. The end of Series 9 is something that has to be made up for, and it seems our first step to doing this is The Return Of Doctor Mysterio – an episode I have not been looking forward to after so many poor-looking trailers and possibly one of the poorest decisions ever made to bring Nardole back as a full-time companion. Seriously, who that was a good idea!? But hey, it's Christmas! Always trying to look for the bright side, I love this time of year and this is our first proper Doctor Who episode in twelve months! So, can The Return Of Doctor Mysterio defy my low expectations and bring the series back to a standard where it should be?

 

In the city of New York, the Doctor meets an eight year-old boy called Grant, whilst assembling a trap. Grant accidentally ends up swallowing a wish-granting gemstone, the last required component for the trap, that gives him superpowers. Though the Doctor makes him promise never to use his powers, he returns to New York in 2016 to find it under the protection of a superhero known as the Ghost. However, when the world comes under threat from brain-swapping aliens, the Doctor and Grant have to work together to save Earth.

 

As you'll probably gather throughout this review, The Return Of Doctor Mysterio is in a frustrating position as far as quality is concerned. For everything that I liked about this special, there was something bad to counteract it. But let's start off with something positive, and that's the clear comic-book influence running throughout this special. I don't think it's possible to miss the fact that this is Doctor Who's spin on Superman, in fact it may as well be open plagiarism. There are a couple of brief moments where this episode was edited and shot exactly like a comic book, complete with comic-style artwork and white borders. These sections looked brilliant and I wish it was something that was done more as the episode went on. The comic-book influence further meant that the episode didn't get bogged down trying to be too Christmassy, and it only got one Christmas-related scene overall. However, not all is well with this approach, as Steven Moffat also made the mistake of taking some of the less positive aspects of comic books as well. This is best seen with Lucy and Grant's relationship. While it may work in the Superman comics for Lois Lane being unable to tell the difference between Superman and Clark Kent, here it just felt too unbelievable and frankly got on my nerves. Even so, I still found the relationship to contain plenty of sweet moments, such as when Lucy returns Grant's glasses and calls them his superhero costume – this scene being probably the best of the episode.

 

The Ghost's real identity, Grant Gordon further made for a likeable and engaging character. Though I don't quite understand his almost sense of inconvenient obligation to zip off every five minutes to save someone, I did enjoy the way he tried to balance his life as a superhero and a nanny. I also really liked Steven Moffat's decision to try and bring these two lives together, explaining that they aren't really so different. However, Grant's love interest, Lucy, didn't fare anywhere near as well. I can tell that effort was put into her character, given that we have scenes such as the one where she interviews the Doctor, but that's about it. The rest of the time, she leaves little impression and is very unmemorable.

 

As was announced back in June, Nardole, from last year's Christmas special, The Husbands Of River Song, is back in a recurring role. Like many, I reacted to this news with confusion and anger as to why such a minor and unimportant character could be brought back as a companion in the TARDIS. It honestly baffles me! It also seems that I was right to react in such a way, as Nardole has not made the best of starts here. Though toned down a little from his previous appearance, The Return Of Doctor Mysterio is proof that this character is in no way companion material. Don't get me wrong, I still love Matt Lucas as a comedic actor, but his character just isn't companion material in any way. I was glad that there was at least a reason why Nardole is back and has a body again, but it's incredibly contrived and you can just tell that Steven Moffat was looking for ANYTHING to justify this character's return. This wouldn't be so bad if Nardole was just back for Christmas again, but as a regular companion in Series 10? This really bugs me, and above all, Nardole didn't even need to be in this episode. He contributes literally nothing and just happens to be there!

 

Something else that's clear from watching this episode is that it takes a lot of inspiration from The Husbands Of River Song... but not always in a good way. In fact, Steven Moffat has taken a lot of inspiration from his previous work, because he's repeating his same tired and familiar tropes yet AGAIN. Once again, the Doctor ends up influencing someone's life as a child and then encounters them as an adult, in the same way he did with Amy, River Song, Clara, Danny etc. etc. I'm honestly sick of this overused and worn-out trope, and if it happens again with Bill in Series 10, I may just give up until the show gets some new blood. We also have the return of the Harmony Shoals from literally one episode ago. They are still a great idea and concept for a villain, but having them back so soon... it just feels lazy. (Spoiler Warning!) What's worse is that they feature as part of a cliffhanger, and while this could be more inspiration from comic books, it also means there's a chance they'll be back AGAIN. While the two main Shoals, Dr Sim and Mr Brock make little impact as villains, in this case I can forgive the episode as this wasn't really needed for a Christmas special, and I don't think that it was ever intended for them to be all that memorable.

 

When it comes to how this episode looked, the production values are again something of a mixed bag. Something I really loved about this episode was its depiction of New York – filled with skyscrapers, yellow taxis, sirens in the distance and nearly every scene set at night. It's here where the comic book influence works at its best, and as I've already said, things like the Harmony Shoals continue to be a great-looking design. The only moments where the production values become a bit questionable are when Grant / The Ghost is flying above New York. It's here where the effects are just a little too close to those used in the 1970s Superman films and there is the occasional time when the city's skyline just looks like a cardboard cut-out.

 

Easily the biggest and most welcome surprise this Christmas were the hilarious comedic moments throughout. Though you may expect attempts at comedy to come from characters such as Nardole, it instead comes from other characters and is surprisingly edgy for the time of year. From the Doctor, some of my favourite laughs included his spying on Mr Brock and Dr Sim while eating sushi and his jokes with a young Grant about Spiderman. Some of the more unexpected yet hilarious laughs came from seeing the Ghost have to deal with having X-Ray vision during adolescence, and when asked by Lucy about speculation he had a boyfriend, he is told “You do fly around New York dressed in rubber with a big 'G' on your chest”. Another unexpected addition to the script were attempts at political commentary, especially given that there are lines like: “Brains with minds of their own. Nobody will believe that, this is America”. (Spoiler Warning!) It is eventually revealed that the Harmony Shoals plan to swap the brains of all Earth's leaders with that of their own and to dominate. This could have been quite a satirical and interesting idea if explored further, but like most things in this episode, it's sadly done half-heartedly and dropped before it can take off (Pun intended).

 

So how did The Return Of Doctor Mysterio fare overall? Well it's not quite the atrocity it could have been, but at the same time, it certainly isn't anything to rave about. This special is definitely a double-edged sword – for everything that goes well, something goes wrong. While Grant is an interesting character, Lucy isn't. While the comedy works, the political commentary doesn't. While some aspects of the production look great, others don't. Frustratingly, The Return Of Doctor Mysterio sits right in the middle between good and bad, rather like the show itself in its current state. Doctor Who hasn't deteriorated to the point that it's bad, but it has fallen away from the times where it could be called good and is in desperate need of new blood and fresh ideas. Oh, and as for the Series 10 trailer... it isn't bad, and my hopes about Bill are improving after seeing it, but it's still got to do a lot more if it wants to get me hyped.

 

 

The Return Of Doctor Mysterio



5/10