The Return of Doctor Mysterio

"You're a superhero!"

Writer: Steven Moffat
Format: TV
Broadcast: 25th December 2016
Series: 2016 Christmas Special

Featuring: Twelfth Doctor, Nardole

Synopsis

Faster than a streak of lightning! More powerful than the pounding surf! Mightier than a roaring hurricane! The Ghost is real. Something is threatening New York City and every capital city across the planet and Lucy, a reporter, goes to extreme measures to find out. However, she finds herself caught between the Doctor and the Ghost and together, they try to save the world. How could a Time Lord and superhero fail?

Verdict

The Return of Doctor Mysterio was an excellent Christmas Special episode of Doctor Who and it was just great to be watching a new story for the first time in exactly one year! Although the show hasn't aired a full series during 2016, I must admit that time has still flown since the last episode one year ago but having rewatched Series 9 in anticipation of this story, it was nice to be watching something I hadn't seen before. I've been reading comic strips from both DWM and DWC as well as listening to a few audios in the year to get my Twelfth Doctor fix but now he was back on our screens and it was like he had never left. I thought the setting of New York was good as you can't really go far wrong with it and I really liked the heavy references to The Husbands of River Song. Despite there having been a year between that and this episode broadcasting, the Doctor's final night with River Song seems to still be playing quite heavily on his heart. The explanation of how Nardole was back and travelling with the Doctor was briefer than I thought but I guess that we didn't really need to see it. The Doctor was feeling lonely and he needed a familiar face around him to ensure he wouldn't be lonely. I must admit I am very surprised that Nardole has been brought back but I thought he was brilliant in this episode. He's obviously learned quite a lot about the Doctor already but I do question how he is able to fly the TARDIS. He didn't seem the most intelligent of people in his previous appearance and there were no real indications of that having changed in this story until he was seen flying the Doctor's spaceship! He had even made some pit stops along the way. I think it's a shame that there have already been some negative comments towards Matt Lucas on Twitter as he still hasn't really been given a chance to prove his worth as the companion. Once we see him in regular weekly episodes that will be the time to judge. I liked how Steven Moffat once again managed a first with a Doctor Who episode as we got the show's take on a superhero character. I thought the Ghost looked very good and the idea of doing a story based on the superhero theme was wonderful. Now, judging from the preview in this month's Doctor Who Magazine, the episode was full of references and throwbacks to the original Superman films. Now, I'm not a big superhero fan so I haven't seen that film but I liked the inclusion of the comic strips and the comic scene at the very start of the episode was a fantastic lead in. Grant was a great character and I liked how the Doctor was responsible for his superpowers in a brilliant scene pre-titles where we saw Grant as a child. Lucy was also a wonderful character but her failure to see that Grant and the Ghost were the same person was quite baffling. The moment that was revealed to her was excellent though as at the instructions of the Doctor, we had the superhero save the day. He ended up with the girl he had been chasing for twenty-four years so that was something but I do reckon he wished he'd revealed his identity a lot earlier now! His struggle with x-ray vision during his elementary school years was quite comical and despite not being Christmassy, which I'm fine with, I liked that there was a lot of humour to give the story a light-hearted feel that usually goes with the Christmas Specials. Harmony Shoal was an intriguing enemy and I definitely get the feeling that we haven't seen the last of them. I'm surprised the disturbing species returned so quickly but I am looking forward to what the future holds for them! Overall though, a fantastic Christmas Special!

Rating: 9/10