If the credits listed Peter Capaldi as 'Doctor Mysterio', easy 12/10. Such a shame.

New Who Review #131

The Return of Doctor Mysterio ❄️

This story was pure fun. This came at a funny time for doctor who. We just had a our first gap year with no series at all and then suddenly out of nowhere we got this episode. I really like this episode and how it does superheroes. It is a perfect episode to watch at Christmas and kind of works as a sequel to the harmony Shoal story in Husbands of River Song. I like how we see all the powers that Grant / The Ghost has and how he is the person who saves the day this time. Having Harmony Shoal back felt a bit random but it's nice. The Mention of River at the end was sad and we finally see that her story is over. Lucy was a cool character sort of working as the Loius Lane to this story. Mr Huffle was my biggest problem with this episode as he is so annoying. The end shot with the tardis flying towards our screen was so cool and we need more endings like that. Overall a great story about superheroes and technically a sequel to the previous story. 9/10

Decent enough! A year since the last momentous emotional Christmas special and no regular season in between makes this kind of like a bonus treat for making us wait. I know I've said it in a lot of other reviews but my goodness Capaldi is so charming. Makes up for the lackluster plot.

Also just now picked up on why he says 24 years. That's so good.

With the exception of a few moments that I find very cliched and/or cringey, I think that this is a funny and entertaining story with some great use of dramatic irony, something that I tend to enjoy quite a lot.

The story might not be anything special, but it's fun, and that's all a Christmas special needs to be, in my opinion. At no point was I bored or confused.

I love the Twelfth Doctor in this. He mellowed out a little compared to his earlier seasons. He's got a bit of that quiet melancholy Capaldi does really well, but he also had really fun high energy moments, like figuring out the villains' plan. When he got excited to press buttons I got a little giddy, too.

Nardole is likewise fantastic in this, very funny and a great companion introduction for him. I like him a lot better in this story than in The Husbands of River Song.

The side characters are also quite good; Lucy is a lot of fun, especially when she's interrogating the Doctor with Mr. Huffles. That toy sure can scream. Grant is also great, he's just a very sweet guy. I enjoyed having him on my screen.

The plot wasn't super deep or complex (though there was, of course, the usual anti-capitalist speech at the climax), but it didn't need to be. Just a fun, straightforward story for the whole family.