Doctor Who Christmas Special Review (2023 Edition!) – A Weird Show-Tune

Doctor Who and Christmas have always had a special connection, but the NuWho (new Doctor Who) saga made specials of them for some time until Jodie Whittaker’s run when they changed things up for a bit. But with the arrival of Ncuti Gatwa’s version of The Doctor, they returned to the tradition to kick off his newest life! And as my Doctor Who Christmas Special Review will review, much like “The Star Beast,” the characters carry the show instead of the plot.

So, where should we start? Well, the whole premise of “The Church On Ruby Road” is to introduce not just The Doctor and his style of doing things, but his newest companion, Ruby Sunday – foundling, AKA a child who was abandoned at a church (on Ruby Road. Get it?) She’s spent her life wondering about who her parents were and growing up happily (more or less) with her foster family. But suddenly, she’s had a string of bad luck, and that’s led to the arrival of goblins, The Doctor, and a whole lot of madness.

First and foremost, Ncuti Gatwa and Millie Gibson (The Doctor and Ruby) were rather grand in their debut. Ncuti brings a new kind of energy to The Doctor as he feels “free from the burdens of the past” thanks to the events of Bi-Generation (as confusing as that still is, as I noted in my review). He’ll likely remind you of Matt Smith’s early days, where he had a child-like zeal for the world and everything that was in it. As for Millie, you can sympathize with Ruby’s plight, and yet she takes it all in stride, just as we do in our everyday lives when we have a “stroke of bad luck” and yet have plenty of things to be thankful for. A true “Christmas message,” if you will. These two have a great rapport and a different dynamic than many past male Doctors with female companions. I’m curious to see what they’ll do next.

As for the “monster of the week,” that would be goblins. But not just any goblins, ones that kidnap and steal babies (doesn’t that sound familiar?)) and actually “ride the time waves” to cause coincidences and accidents that will “weave a tapestry” to get them their next meal.

Oh, and they also sing songs to welcome their food to the Goblin King. Does any of that make sense? No. No, it doesn’t.

In fact, skipping to the more negative parts of my Doctor Who Christmas Special Review was the biggest downfall of this episode. Much like “The Star Beast,” the monsters are just there to…well, be there. Much of what’s going on isn’t truly explained in a way that will stick with viewers, and that might have been the point. For example, how did they go from “riding the waves of time” to going back to EXACTLY when Ruby was born to eat her and change the timeline? Also, how did the doctor know when she was born when she didn’t even know the exact time? Not to mention, did she tell her “church story” to The Doctor? I don’t think she did.

That’s not to say that this storyline was totally a waste. It wasn’t. I loved the idea of The Doctor making those gloves so as to not worry about hanging onto things perilously. That is EXACTLY what The Doctor would do. Same with him dancing and singing with the goblins to distract the goblins. “The Doctor Dances,” anyone? But, there were too many “weird moments” and “loose threads” that felt like it was building up to something bigger down the line versus focusing on the moment.

For example, our mysterious “Mrs. Flood” knows about the Tardis. How? Second, the “mystery of Ruby’s mother” was FAR too on the nose about how we’ll likely figure that out before Ruby’s tale is done, including how the mother was “still within sight” after The Doctor showed up despite a whole HOST of events happening that would’ve led to her being out of sight by then. Not to mention, why did the Goblin ship disappear when the king died?

Also, The Doctor went from asking if he was “bad luck” to just…waiting for Ruby to show up. That felt very odd. As did Ruby leaving her family when her foster mother was legitimately worrying about what they would do with their flat.

Even still, as I end my Doctor Who Christmas Special Review, I am excited about what will happen when this series returns to Disney+ in 2024. I feel like some bold stories are in our future…let’s hope they stick the landing a bit more, okay?