2010 brought one of the most imaginative and visually impressive films of the century. The brainchild of Christopher Nolan, Inception became a highly-praised critic darling. But with every great films comes rehashes and cash-ins to take a grasp on its popularity. Some have done well with the material and made it their own whilst making it clear where it came from ("if it’s confusing and stupid then so is everyone’s favourite movie"), others have lessened in quality because of it. This is one of those occasions, as Doctor Who's belated version is good to an extent in that area, but in other areas not so much.
That said, Doctor Who has fallen for the "it was all a dream" dynamic multiple times, particularly in recent years with the idea of CAL (Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead), psychic pollen (Amy's Choice) and now Dream Crabs. But this one feels more contrived than the others, as it attempts to pull the rug away from anyone who hadn't seen Inception. Add a voice of reason which mixes forced emotion (a staple for this episode), exposition and a reason for the episode classing as a Christmas special, and it forgets where the dream aspect was meant to go. It's explained early on that the dreams are made to be so good that you won't want to leave - hence the segment featuring a living Danny Pink (Samuel Anderson in a fleeting and uninteresting reprise) - except that in all other dreams featured they all have nightmarish imagery which makes them want to wake up. These Dream Crabs aren't exactly smart for a being that can ensnare its victims if they think about it - an idea that would be impressive if we haven't approached the "Don't ______!" several times in the last few years.
Aside from these dreams are characters plucked from across the UK (no room in the budget for anywhere else), the first of which is Shona (Faye Marsay) - an absent-minded scientist who has little to add aside from some mild comic relief but a surprisingly likable character. Her entrance was a forgettable one doomed to fall to introduce the comedy, but other elements were good enough thanks to Marsay's presence. She does fall for the plausible companion role as mentioned in various of my Series 8 reviews, but she's deemed as the most likable of the bunch. Other crew members are less fortunate in character, as Ashley Carter (Natalie Gumede) repeats the role of Journey Blue in Into the Dalek whereas Professor Albert Smithe (Michael Troughton) is a sapless fool who gets killed off before making an impact larger than the importance of Troughton being in the episode and Maureen Beattie for a small twist at the end. As for the Sleigh team, elves Nathan McMullen and Dan Starkey (previously the Sontaran Strax - I hope he gets a proper role like Skorr soon) are limited comic relief, and Santa (Nick Frost) will be discussed later).
One of the big talking points for the episode was whether Clara (Jenna Coleman) would be leaving, and came across as such throughout the publicity and the episode. Whilst the staged goodbye was a mix of being an overdone technique (has been since its first use in Blink) and a cop-out finale, the way Moffat attempted to tie up lose ends from Death in Heaven became a combination of badly done and not touched upon at all, with the TARDIS crew discussing their lies within 30 seconds and Santa's TARDIS appearance not referenced at all. Also, Clara is perhaps the worst person in the situation as she has the most Dream Crabs on her - one more than the Doctor is she wasn't moved out the way at the last minute - which would make sense if she was an older woman (who is surprisingly spry and youthful for a 90 year old). Peter Capaldi, meanwhile, is at his best, even if there is something off about his approach towards the sleigh driving. Returning to Santa, he isn't a bad character nor a good character. Frost is relishing in the role, but his use as a form of expositional macguffin does come out of nowhere and not go far with it. The tangerine joke doesn't reach the length of the joke wants it to, and the ending is more cryptic than it expects itself to be. How so? It's left to give off the idea that Santa does in fact exist, but instead makes it seem like they're still dreaming. It may come across as a future cop-out if Series 9 fails to repeat Series 8's 'success', just as I imagined the Doctor waking up in a volcano was to be a way to reverse the Missy agenda (if only!).
Last Christmas is Inception meets a convention sci-fi story with a dash of The Santa Clause. The emotion is forced, the story lacks consistency and the Clara twist is unneeded aside from publicity. Characters were as likable as they could be, and there was potential with its mild enjoyability, but it needed more to be as good as it could. 5/10
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