Doctor Who Review: ‘The Return of Doctor Mysterio’
By Leah Tedesco
Our review of the 2016 Doctor Who Christmas special, ‘The Return of Doctor Mysterio,’ starring Peter Capaldi, Matt Lucas, Justin Chatwin, and Charity Wakefield.
the Twelfth Doctor, Lucy Fletcher, and Mr Huffle (credit: BBC)
*** This review contains spoilers. ***
This year’s Doctor Who Christmas special, ‘The Return of Doctor Mysterio,’ is jam-packed with action and adventure, with a side of references to the history of the show. As an example of the latter, we posted an article earlier today discussing a reference to Osgood, leading to speculation on her possible return to the television program. She seems to be an increasingly significant figure in UNIT, as she is specifically consulted about the brain-swapping aliens in the special.
Before the episode aired, we were told that we had seen these aliens before… and so we had in last year’s Christmas special, ‘The Husbands of River Song.’ This time, the Shoal of the Winter Harmony have brought their multi planetary conquest scheme to Earth, attempting to take over our planet by means of Harmony Shoal, a multinational corporation. Their intent is to replace the brains of all of our world leaders.
Another carryover from the last adventure is the memory of River Song. It is implied that the Doctor first meets eight-year-old Grant Gordon right before the Time Lord has his final twenty-four-year-long night with River before she goes to The Library to die. When he returns to New York City, he is still grieving for her, but does not like to discuss the matter.
The Doctor and Nardole have a conversation which reveals to the audience that the former has reassembled the latter to be his companion. Nardole was previously sharing a mechanised body with another head, River’s former husband, Ramone. Over the years, Nardole has gained much intelligence, wisdom, shrewdness, and sarcasm. He event spent some time as a ruler in 12th century Constantinople. When we catch up with the pair, he and the Doctor are shown to banter and bicker like old friends. With Nardole sticking around for more of Series Ten, it will be interesting to see the intercharacter dynamics when Bill Potts comes along.
Nardole, Grant Gordon, and Jennifer Fletcher in ‘The Return of Doctor Mysterio’ (credit: BBC)
‘The Return of Doctor Mysterio’ is one of the most cinematic episodes in the history of Doctor Who. As has been widely discussed for months, the inspiration for this adventure was classic superhero movies, particularly those featuring Superman. The concept of Grant’s superhero persona, The Ghost, is basically Superman, slightly skewed, with a dash of Batman. Instead of The Ghost being from another world, he derives his powers from an alien, star-powered gemstone, which he swallows as a child, and remains in his system. It grants (no pun intended) his deepest wish — to be a superhero.
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Like Clark Kent, Grant wears thick-rimmed glasses and has a day job. Like Superman, The Ghost has x-ray vision and super strength, can fly (powers which it takes him years to learn to control), and has a high moral code. Like Batman, The Ghost wears a dark costume, including a mask, and speaks in a deep, raspy voice. Both Grant and The Ghost have the same unsuspecting, potential love interest — a reporter named Lucy Fletcher, a relationship reminiscent of Clark/Superman and Lois Lane. What is quite unique to Grant’s situation, however, is that — rather than being her coworker — he is nanny to her infant daughter, Jennifer. And, instead of responding to a Batsignal in the sky, he carries a baby monitor. Lucy possesses very high intelligence — so much so that the Doctor makes a point of mentioning that he uncharacteristically pays close attention to her when she speaks.
As we mentioned in our analysis of the preview clip, this adventure also has the added charm of harkening back to classic episodes of Doctor Who, complete with shady scientists, sleuthing, and a synth music score.
There is a lot of witty humor in this episode, one of the most amusing (yet annoying) scenes involving a little fellow named Mr. Huffle. If these are manufactured for the mass market, I will be sure to never buy any for my kids.
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