Series 8, Christmas special episode – Last Christmas

Come on, it’s Christmas, the North Pole, who you gonna call?

The ones who have watched special Christmas episode preview know that the Doctor and Clara arrive to a research base i North Pole and there are some problems involving everyone’s survival. And Santa Clause, with his reindeers and elves, appear. Actually they not only appear, they storm in the scenery. Twice, every time with very good reasons.

This year Christmas special episode is one of the most… confusing episodes of Doctor Who I’ve ever watched, 60 minutes as elaborated as it can be – and it’s on purpose. But, in the same time, it’s one of the best episodes, having a dream inside of dream inside of dream. And it continues like this for 5 level of dreams – everything but the last scene of the episode is not real, it never happened. Or maybe not even that is real, it remains to be seen. This episode succeeds in surprising you several times during the crazy race in waking yourselves up and beat the creature putting your lives at stake – some telepathic monsters called Dream Crab that feed with human minds and looks a lot like the creatures from the Alien series. So let’s start from the beginning.

It’s the North Pole, it’s Christmas Day. You’re dying. Who you gonna call? Just one last time, huh? One last Christmas, as if your lives depended on it. Please! Ho-ho-ho!

The answer is quite simple: you call the man that everybody knows. No, not the Doctor, although he would not say “no” to such thing. Or almost sure he would not refuse. But sometimes even the Doctor need help from father Christmas / Santa Claus. If you still believe in Santa Claus or father Christmas you don’t need more explication. If you don’t believe, well, you may not get your most desired gift next year. Don’t tell me you are all grown up or too mature to expect such gifts or to refuse them because I don’t believe it. And if Santa Claus would surprise you with such gifts, your inner child would be so happy, just like the times he was expecting impatient the arrival of the man dressed in red that comes down the chimney or gets inside through the cracked window if the fireplace is unavailable.

Don’t ask me to tell you the story of this episode – it’s too complex and I should start from the end to the beginning to make sense, and doing that I will spoil the surprises (especially the big on in the end) and I don’t want to. I’ll tell you only some short conclusions about the reasons this is the last Christmas.

it’s the las chance Clara and Danny Pink can say goodbye. Because Danny appears again in the show, even if he’s only a part of a dream.
it could have been the last episode for Clara and the Doctor traveling together, The episode is also about they, not only about Clara and Danny – they get over the lies said in the last episode, Death in Heaven.
it could have been Clara’s last episode – she could have dies because of Dream Crabs or because of old age, but (at least this time) she survives.
every Christmas is the last Christmas.

Yes, Clara Oswald will accompany the Doctor in the ninth series – the name of the first adventure is The magician’s apprentice. You can never say what other people are thinking and that could get some surprise and twists in the season 9 – if Clara will stay until the end of the season she will outrun Amy Pond as the number of episodes (36 to 33) as Doctor’s companion.

Inspiring sources for this episode: Alien series, the movies The Thing from Another World and Miracle on 34th Street. They can be found on Shona’s Christmas list 😀 (but for this you have to watch the episode to its end).

Directed by Paul Wilmshurst, based on a story by Steven Moffat, the producer is Paul Frift, the executive producers are Steven Moffat and Brian Minchin. Cast: Peter Capaldi (The Doctor), Jenna Coleman (Clara Oswald), Nick Frost (Santa Claus), Samuel Anderson (Danny Pink), Dan Starkey (Ian), Nathan McMullen (Wolf), Faye Marsay (Shona), Natalie Gumede (Ashley), Maureen Beattie (Bellows), Michael Troughton (Professor Albert).