A “Last Christmas” Review

This post was written for a Facebook group doing a look back at s8:

“Last Christmas”

Written by Steven Moffat
Directed by Paul Wilmshurst

A review by Rob Brayer
----------------------

As the credits began to roll on “Death in Heaven”, a strange mixture of satisfaction and melancholy came over me. The ending was much like the series preceding it: strange, tortured, and beautiful. Both the Doctor and Clara find themselves lying to each other in hopes that these lies will lead their counterpart to live happily without the other. The Doctor hasn’t found Gallifrey. Danny Pink is still dead. But at least, each thinks, a lie will lead the other to go on with their life.

And then there is collapse. The credits collapse. The narrative collapses. A loud knock forces its way through both the credits and the Doctor’s weary rest. It can’t end like this. Santa Claus won’t allow it! He’s been meaning to check in on the Doctor for a while. Christmas means happy endings, so it is Christmas that will save the Doctor.

From a character perspective, “Last Christmas” is really the third part of the finale, though it stands on its own as the finest Christmas special since “A Christmas Carol” and possibly of the new series. The special is a tour de force. It unabashedly combines the puzzle box structure Moffat loves with the genre collision he has so uniquely perfected, going so far as to actually name its own influences. Equally though, as with the best Moffat scripts, these elements are window dressing for the real emphasis of the story: its emotional core.

Because although the story is ostensibly about dreaming, it is, at a thematic level, about the need to escape delusion and accept reality. Early in the episode, the Doctor and Clara find themselves in a literal base under siege at the North Pole under attack from a classic Moffat monster: a telepathic creature attracted only to mental images of itself. The only way to escape seems to be to shut out all such thoughts. With Clara struggling, the Doctor tries to force her attention onto the suggested image of Danny Pink cheating on her. The Doctor, of course, believes Danny to be alive, and does not realize how gut-wrenching his words really are. Instead of saving Clara, he enrages her. They come clean to each other. No Danny, no Gallifrey. The truth is revealed.

Later, Clara awakes in a dream on Christmas morning to find Danny at her bed urging her downstairs to celebrate the holiday. Everything about the domestic scene is perfect. It is Christmas. They are together. They are happy. But when Clara steps outside of her room she faces a chalkboard warning her that she is dying. Clara tries to ignore this message. Every time she erases the warning it comes back immediately. More chalkboards spring up, but Clara is not moved. She has Danny back and that is all that matters. Only when the Doctor puts his own life at risk and steps into the dream does he persuade her to accept reality. Even then, it takes imaginary-Danny’s confession that he is not real to move Clara to action. Danny’s final message to Clara is the perfect thesis for this episode:

The reason loved ones gather at Christmas is to appreciate what they have in the moment, to live in the present, because the future is uncertain, and any Christmas could be the last that people spend together. Thus, Clara receives a rare and priceless Christmas gift: a final Christmas with Danny. She gets closure. Most important, though, is Danny’s exhortation that Clara must move on, live in the present, and literally let go of Danny in order to live her life. She does. She lives. She moves forward (the only real form of time travel, even in dreams).
Escaping delusion drives not only the themes of the story but also the action, as the characters are caught in a series of dreams within dreams that threaten their lives. What ultimately saves all but one poor soul is the will to pierce their shared delusion and return to their normal lives.

This is not to say that the story condemns fantasy. In fact, it embraces it, giving the dreamers a unique guardian angel: Santa Claus himself. Santa plays a key part in assisting the dreamers in discovering the nature of their predicament. His inexplicable rescue of the dreamers early in the story ultimately triggers the Doctor’s realization that the occupants of the base are trapped in a dream. Similarly, Clara’s observation that Santa had appeared to the Doctor and Clara before they arrived at the base prompts the Doctor to realize that the dreamers remain stuck in yet another dream.

But this is not the only role that Santa plays. Instead, he takes on the role of the Doctor, saving the day. Even the Doctor must turn to Santa twice in the end. First, when ghostly versions of all the dreamers converge on them, and yet again when the Doctor’s relationship with Clara seems to be at a close.

Perhaps this is not as surprising as it might seem. As two of our greatest stories, Santa and the Doctor have much in common. Santa and the Doctor both seem to move effortlessly in and out of the story world as needed, but always save the day in the end. And, when broken down, the core characteristics of Santa and the Doctor are equally, mystically absurd. Santa captains a sleigh propelled by flying reindeer to deliver presents to millions of children in a single night. The Doctor is a traveler in a small blue box which is bigger on the inside that regularly changes his face and interlopes through time and space and lives and genres. Both figures pervade our fondest dreams; it is no accident that Clara explicitly equates them.

Thus, the underlying message of “Last Christmas” is not only that we must face reality, but that we need not do so alone. We are armed with our dreams, our myths, our symbols, and our stories. And, while they are not physically real, their meaning is imbued with the power to summon our higher selves and to defeat our deadliest monsters.

But the story is not yet complete. First, we get a lovely “farewell” scene between the Doctor and Clara. The Doctor races to Clara only to find that he is 60 years too late. Clara’s whole life has gone by in the space of a few seconds. The Doctor has, as he did with Amy, come far later than he had planned. The scene is an elegant echo of Clara’s final scenes with 11. Like 11, Clara is aged but at peace. It is now Clara that lacks the strength to open a Christmas cracker. It is now the Doctor that returns the favor and opens the cracker. And, like 11, just when it appears the story is over, Clara “regenerates” back into herself, as she and the Doctor awake from the final layer of their shared dream and, renewed, charge forward into the future. Where will they go?

It’s a long story.

Random thoughts that don’t fit anywhere else

• Nick Frost was born to play this part. He absolutely kills it, more than justifying his opening credit status. By my count, he’s the 3rd “Spaced” alum to grace Who.

• Shona was awesome. Her dance scene was delightful. I still hold out hope she might become a companion one day.

• Shona’s itinerary clearly helps to shape the dream, including Miracle on 34th Street, Alien, and The Thing from Another World. It’s too bad she didn’t get around to that Thrones Marathon.

• Even though he ate it, it’s great that Michael Troughton finally got to appear on the program.

• It’s also nice to see Dan Starkey out of costume. Also, comedy elves.

• The Doctor thinks age-appropriate women are sexy. Great detail.

• Santa‘s sled is bigger on the inside, because of course it is.

• The elation on Capaldi’s face when he flies the sleigh is contagious. What a pleasure to finally see 12 beam so joyously.

• The very end of the story was a last-minute rewrite resulting from Jenna Coleman’s 11th-hour decision to stay on the show. I have mixed feelings about this. On the one hand, it would have been a great ending for Clara. On the other, I really like the parallel it draws to 11’s regeneration.

• The very end of the story also raises some tough questions. Clara and the Doctor awoke a dream level further than the rest. Does this mean that all of the other dreamers weren’t real?

• Relatedly, that the Doctor wakes up in what appears to be the set from Clara’s volcano tantrum further confuses things, particularly as the volcano was, itself, a dream. What was he doing there? Is there another level to all of this? Is the entire 3-part finale a dream? I’m guessing the production team was just saving money on a set, but as this is Moffat, you can never rule out the possibility that this apparent loose end may become important at a later date.

So many quotes

• “Oh, sorry about this … girl? We, we are just three passing … perfectly ordinary … roof people, doing some emergency roof things.” – Santa

• Ian: Your mum and dad, one day a year, for no particular reason, just out of the blue, suddenly decide to give you a great, big pile of presents.
Wolf: No, no, no. Because they love you so much! It’s a lovely story, dear.
Ian: Yeah, but it’s time to start living in the real world, yeah?

• The Doctor: Happy Easter.
Wolf: Ooh, brutal!
Ian: Cool exit line, though.

• Ian: Shut your mouth, wise guy, or you get yours!
Wolf: It’s a balloon animal.
Ian: That’s a toy gun.
Wolf: Yeah, well, at least it’s unsuitable for children under four! Parts small enough to swallow, so watch out.

• Santa: I got three words, Shona. Don’t make me use ‘em.
Shona: What three words?
Santa: My. Little. Pony.
Shona: Shut up, you!
Santa: Yeah? I’ve got lots more, babe.
Shona: I will mark you, Santa!

• Shona: The North Pole isn’t an actual pole.
Ian: Of course it is. Look.
Shona: If it was an actual pole, it would not be stripy.
Wolf: It’s got to be stripy!
Ian: Otherwise, you couldn’t see it moving around.
Wolf: It’s actually basic physics.

• The Doctor: You know what the big problem is in telling fantasy and reality apart?
Ashley: What?
The Doctor: They're both ridiculous.

• “There's a horror movie named Alien? That's really offensive. No wonder everybody keeps invading you.” – The Doctor

• “I didn’t die saving the world, Doctor, I died saving Clara. The rest of you just got lucky.” – Danny

• Shona: You’re a dream who’s trying to save us?
Santa: Shona, sweetheart, I’m Santa Claus. I think you just defined me!

• “All right. As the Doctor might say, ‘Aw, it’s all a bit dreamy-weamy!’” – Santa

• “No need for chatting, you’ll only get attached. This isn’t Facebook.” – The Doctor

• The Doctor: No one ever matched up to Danny, eh?
Clara: There was one other man, but that would never have worked out.
The Doctor: Why not?
Clara: He was impossible.

• Clara: Well, look at you, all happy. That’s rare.
The Doctor: Do you know what’s rarer? Second chances. I never get a second chance, so what happened this time? Don’t even know who to thank.

Overall, the story was even better on re-watch. With the details of the plot no longer as surprising, I was free to focus on the nuances of the story. This one really benefits from repeated viewing.

10/10. What do you guys think?