REVIEW: Doctor Who: Joy To The World

This review contains spoilers. Read at your own risk.

Joy To The World was a total joy to watch.

I've been eagerly awaiting Steven Moffat's return to the Whoniverse since his Series Fourteen episode Boom, which aired earlier this year. I think it's safe to say that his return was not a disappointing one at all.

We follow the Doctor, newly departed from his latest companion Ruby Sunday, as he scouts the famed Time Hotel to investigate a mysterious briefcase that handcuffs itself from person to person until it finally attaches itself to human Joy Almondo. Once the Doctor, very eventfully, releases Joy from the suitcase and her death, he's stuck on Earth without his TARDIS, working in a hotel for an entire year. This is what I loved most about this special.

This segment alone brought back so much nostalgia from the Moffat era of Doctor Who, and it felt like Fifteen was taking a page out of Eleven's book. Living on Earth with other humans (The Power of Three), taking on human jobs (Closing Time, among others), being very, very human. Showing that "human" side of the Doctor is something that Moffat specializes in, and other writer's attempts simply can't compare.

I think I speak for all Whovians when I say that the Doctor's "companion" during his human year, Anita Benn, was the true star of the show. Watching her friendship with the Doctor bloom was so beautiful, and their separation was entirely heartbreaking. She felt similar to Catherine Tate's Donna Noble and Karen Gillan's Amy Pond, and I honestly loved her much more than Joy. I hope her character makes a return, hopefully as a full-time companion, especially since she was offered a new position at the Time Hotel in the end.

The ending of this episode had me so confused but so happy. It took me looking on Twitter to connect all of the dots, and I can fully say that I am satisfied. The answer to the mysterious phrase stated throughout the show, "the star seed will bloom and the flesh will rise" revealed itself at such perfect timing. The star seed, being the Star of Bethlehem, containing the lives of all the others it had touched, and Joy being the flesh that rose above Bethlehem that fateful night was so gorgeously bittersweet. All I can say is that I love a Moffat Christmas.

And can we talk about that Series Fifteen trailer?! Our new companion, Belinda Chandra, appears to be a Martha Jones or Donna Noble type- an initially reluctant and level-headed companion. Ruby is returning, but this time as a member of UNIT it seems. The villains look a bit more sci-fi, and it seems that Russell has dropped the fantasy elements that were plentiful in the previous series. It looks like we're in for a treat in the coming year!

In the end, Joy To The World was such a whirlwind of a Christmas special. It was refreshing after the disappointing ending of Series Fourteen, and I hope it's giving the coming series a good head start. I give Joy To The World 4.5 out of 5 stars.

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