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Doctor Who Series 15 (2), Episode X Review: Joy to the World

Updated: 4 days ago

What did you think of this episode?

  • Sonic!

  • Good!

  • Bumpy-wumpy!

  • Exterminate!


I hope everyone had an amazing Christmas out there. If you had an empty chair, I hope you found a way to get through the pain and managed to cherish those who were not with you. 

Joy to the World then, what did I think, let's get into the review shall we?


First things first - I watched this late at night as I was in a house full of toddlers. Under no circumstances would my brain have coped with that level of noise pressure, so it’s 10:55 PM on Christmas evening. The wife is watching Gavin and Stacey, and I am sitting here trying to figure out what I thought of this Christmas special, and I am finding it a bit tricky!


This is one of those episodes that definitely requires a rewatch for me. However, my first impression is that it felt like an episode that summed up the whole of Series 14, both its amazing and bad points.


"I bring my own room."


Let’s start with the obvious - Ncuti is fucking awesome. I cannot take my eyes off him as the Doctor. He’s funny, dashing, heroic, brilliant - everything I want my Doctor to be, and more! But, and this is a big but, after my first watch I have a nagging problem with the women and their Mum problems. I don’t mean for this to sound insensitive, the issues Joy and Ruby faced in Doctor Who are huge, they are problems I could never even imagine having. The problem I have is throwing those issues in the show doesn’t automatically make them something that will break our hearts. That’s twice now that I feel like we haven’t gotten the emotional payoff that a mother-daughter happy/sad ending could deliver. Perhaps I’m too cynical, or maybe I just don’t have a heart?


The truth is, I didn’t see enough of Joy to really care deeply about her relationship with her Mum and I had the same issue with parts of Series 14. The concept was solid, and I loved the character of Joy. I even found it moving that they included COVID into the story. But then what? Out of nowhere she seems to have ingested a star? Then she takes her Mum from her death bed along for the ride with her? A ride that seems to be directing Mary and Joseph towards a stable! I always need a rewatch because I feel like I miss a few things with my autistic brain, especially the soppy emotional bits, so I will definitely be interested to see if it hits differently next time.


Back to why I have compared this episode to the whole of series 14. The last series overall was so, so good. Ncuti and Millie shone like stars throughout. I wasn’t a huge fan of a couple of episodes, but most of them were top-tier stuff. The issue was that the finale fell ever so slightly flat. The build-up was epic, the finish was good, but I just hadn’t seen enough of everyone to truly care. And oh, do I care about this show so, so much!


At this moment, my thinking is that I loved most of Joy to the World, but it felt like two episodes in one. Two episodes of Doctor Who I would have loved to see on their own, but not mashed together.


I would have loved to see more of Joy and the Doctor. Some of the scenes between Ncuti and Nicola are outrageously good. I’m looking at you, arsehole Doctor and angry Joy. I also would have loved to see more of the Doctor and Steph. A sweet story was forming there, but it felt like it got side lined after it side lined the story of Joy. Does that make sense? It seemed like both women could have had more fleshed-out stories, but each ended up getting in the way of the other. Anita Benn and Nicola Coughlan were both fantastic alongside Ncuti; I just wanted more of them.


"Everything thing you told me was true, all of it, but Doctor, you stayed in that room for a year."


Now, with all that said, there was plenty to love about the episode. Ncuti, Nicola and Anita were great, it looked bloody amazing, there were some funny as fuck moments and did I say Ncuti was brilliant? 


The COVID scene was both beautiful and heartbreaking all at once. A clear ‘fuck you’ to every prick who made the rules and every prick who broke the rules - and every posh, entitled cunt who did both.


I doubt they would care because they don’t give a fuck, but I hope some of those people watched this and remembered what a monumental fuck-up everything was at their hands. I hope they remembered all the lives ruined because of them - all the lives still being ruined because of them. Even if it was just for a second, I hope they reflected on their profiteering and the suffering it caused. As I said, I doubt it.



What did everyone think of the new trailer as well by the way?


Enjoy your Boxing Day, everyone. And as Joy to the World says in no uncertain terms: Fuck you, Boris. Fuck you, Trump!


RATING: Good!

BEST LINE: "Honey, the Doctor's in the room, this is mansplain central."


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