Ncuti is so good at being The Doctor and Moffat turns in such a fun script! Love how it subverts the usual Doctor Who tropes without veering too into navel gazing. Each Christmas special for Doctor Who always features a ton of direct dialogue about how The Doctor shouldn't be alone too long (yes yes we get it, new companion next season). It's nice how Moffat managed to show that more than he said it. And judging by the new trailer, next season is gonna be a goddamn delight.

Not sure how I feel about the ending shot? They should have also filmed an alternate ending for me and my Jewish friends where Actually she shows up in the second temple as the Maccabees smacked down their enemies (this is a Hanukkah joke).

A very fun and creative adventure that feels sullied somewhat by its resolution.

The Time Hotel was a lot of fun and I'd love to see it return, and the part of the plot where The Doctor had to stay in the hotel on Earth was heartwarming. It was honestly my favorite part of the episode, moreso than the overarching conflict.

The ending was honestly incredibly baffling, and what actually happened felt like such a jarring disconnect from how the story actually treated it. The Doctor failed at his goal, Joy ended her own life to become the star, but he just kind of smiles about it. I get that her consciousness lives on or something along those lines, but it just feels absurd that that's at all treated as an acceptable endpoint for her character, in the narrative or implied by the show.

I cackled at the reveal that it was the star over Bethlehem. I really liked that bit.

Joy to the World was a satisfying watch on the whole.  I loved the hotel and found it a very creative setting.  Especially in how writer Steven Moffat makes use of the idea.  The Doctor having to "take the long way" back to the hotel was great.  I loved the extended sequence of him hanging out there for a whole year.  Anita was really well done.  I especially like how she just comes across as a minor character at first and winds up becoming one of the best parts of the episode.  It was great character work and shows he still needs some healing even after 14's extended therapy session.

People talk so much about the Star of Bethlehem thing but it is like two minutes of a very long Christmas special.  I truly don't care about this enough to comment.  It's fine.  It's a Christmas special.  I hardly thought twice about the moment because it hardly felt that important, I feel it was just sort of an ending and resolution to Joy's character.  And that emotional pay-off, in my opinion, is very, very good.  This is the first time ever that I've encountered content that deals with the COVID pandemic without it being unnecessarily saccharine or silly.  No Zoom meetings, no masks, just the naked reality that so many people had to endure the death of their relatives without being in the same room as them.  The isolation and loneliness that brings.  This was a beautiful episode, and I really can't view it any other way.  Easily one of my favourites among the Chrismas episodes, and this opinion holds true even months after watching it.

Almost unbearable cringe; it's hard to take any of this seriously when every single line so acutely reminds you that this is a man in his 60s trying so desperately hard to seem "cool" and "hip", it just comes across as so embarrassing and awkward. This is hardly the first time Doctor Who has tried doing this, but it's definitely one of the most egregious and they just need to stop - if anything, it will only work to horrifically date the episode in future.

It doesn't really help that it also all looks so damn cheap, isn't this supposed to have Disney money behind it? They might as well just break off the arrangement if this is the kind of visual quality they're getting from it, there's clearly no purpose for it anymore. The Time Hotel concept is a great one, so it's pretty sad (and predictable) that it only ends up being completely wasted; it's just set dressing whilst we get the same old, played out drama where Dr Who goes "uh uh I am so alone and I am so mysterious" and people tell him "uh uh Dr Who, you need friends". Yep, seen that all before, thanks.

Isn't this new era meant to be bold and new? It's done nothing but retreads!

Oh and I will never find the solution to "oh no I need the code for this" being "aha my future self told me but it is a bootstrap paradox" as anything but lazy. The Doctor working in the hotel for a year is a great idea in theory, but it only ultimately ends up meaning nothing. Nothing happens for the first 40 minutes and the Doctor didn't even learn to open up to new friends (for the 100th time) from it, it's just Joy doing that at the end. Anita was actually pretty cool, so why did we even get Joy?

At this rate, the show is just kinda lying if it wants to keep up the pretence that Gatwa is from Tennant's future and not just a separate entity created at the bigeneration (which is the biggest LOL ever and just so, so bad) - what even was the point of the Doctor "settling down" if the show just later wants to treat it as if it never happened? The Giggle isn't canon, the Doctor has never stayed in one place for that long, so true!

The Star of Bethlehem, oof, what the f**k; who thought was a good idea? Ah yes Christians, that was not God leading people to the recently born Jesus - no no, it was a weapons manufacturer exploding a star for energy, yeah, that's what started your religion now, that; that's canon! Merry Christmas!

Modern Doctor Who is just nothing but supremely tired and the problem is that it's been the same people since the revival started. They need to go and we need a new face to run it. Either that or simply cancel it, but something has to give and something has to change.

It's an alright/okay story, and that's also how I'd sum up ALL of Season 1.

I'm just gonna list two things about the story:

1. I liked that whole sequence when the Doctor gets stuck in the hotel and bonds with Anita (the hotel manager), really wanna see her back as a companion.
2. The ending felt... ehhh. That bit with Joy floating over the Doctor just looked really goofy, but not in the typical Doctor Who camp way, just modern MCU campy.

So... yeah. Just an ok story.