Keiran McEwen
Keiran McEwenFor some reason, I thought Joel Fry had already been in an episode of Doctor Who. Now I’m right. Directed by Alex Pillai, Pillai is probably best known for that Sabrina everyone was talking about, and I’m not talking about Melissa Joan Hart. He’s also known for a small show that stars someone you might have heard of called Nicola Coughlan, that of course being Netflix’s lady porn, Bridgerton. Written by some kid called Steven Moffat, I think this kid might be onto a decent career with “Joy to the World.”
Starring one of the Barbies as Joy, it turns out Ken landed his TARDIS in a time hotel: a hotel with hundreds of doors that connect throughout time. I guess that explains the doors in the trailer, which is basically just the first 5 minutes. Trying to play into Tennant, Eccleston, and even Smith’s eccentricities, Ncuti’s TARDIS doesn’t seem to have a fridge (yet clearly has at least two swimming pools and a library) so he stops off at the Time Hotel in 4202 to steal some milk. Only to realize that the Star Seed will bloom and the flesh will rise.
Distracted by a bland man with a briefcase handcuffed to him, the Doctor employs one of my favorite gay pirates to help him figure out what the case is about or who the guy is. Eccentricities galore, the two never meet again because the briefcase has magic handcuffs, and all previous “owners” of the case will soon die to allow the Star Seed to bloom and the flesh to rise. Yada, yada, yada, Nicola Coughlan threatens to kill the green fella with a hairdryer, as ya do.
Honestly, I can’t say I’m overly impressed with “Joy to the World.” It is good, but certain things about it feel… not off but certainly lacking in overall quality or tightness. That and maybe that it is several Moffat’s tropes being bundled together as if he was showrunner again. The Doctor is domestic and doesn’t realize the whole mansplaining thing is meant to be bad, and the women in the episode aren’t exactly anything they’re just there. It’s a bit convoluted, the date is stupid-o-clock in the future, and I can’t quite say I love the pacing.
Complaints aside, I love we’re getting a comment on the chairs though, that always annoys me. Based on the basic concept of THAT door in every hotel room, the Doctor stumbles into the room with the Silurian (Moffat era) who has the case strapped to him and Clare decides to be Clare: Shout and take charge. Of course, I was getting in a reference to Derry Girls. The Star Seed will bloom and the flesh will rise. Now that she has the case and the Silurian is about to evaporate, Ncuti gives one of his most Doctor-y performances before nearly killing Joy.
This is where it really became a Moffat episode and where I think the pacing starts to fall off a cliff. The magic case where previous owners commit suicide also has an auto-kill function for the current owner if the case is opened. By the way, the case is mind-controlling the person who does “own” it to not really think about that. It also seems in the two previous owners to Joel Fry’s Trev that it completely takes over the mind of the owner, until he gets it at which point he’s a bit more perceptive and emotional.
Even Joy, when she gets control of the case isn’t really in control of herself or her emotions until the Doctor opens the case. That’s when the human emotion side comes out, self-preservation and a general “I don’t want to die” mentality appear. Speak for yourself, love. I’m not saying sit down and explain it to me like I’m a child, but the way that the case’s mind-possessing powers work, it comes off as plot convenience rather than something actually in the world.
However, from there, you have another thing of Moffat’s Doctor Who that is a bit overplayed at this point, especially after so much of Chibnall’s era. Trapped on Earth, the Doctor spends a year living in a hotel in London while ignoring the fact UNIT is down the road. Smith’s Doctor had ADHD, but this generally slows the pacing and it feels like a weight around the episode (as broadcast) than something to enhance it. I like the friendship with Anita (not Dobson), but it is again pushing eccentricities onto the character rather than letting them happen.
This is the bi-regeneration Doctor, this is the Doctor that is supposed to be quite mature mentally and all of that stuff from “The Giggle.” Whereas “Joy to the World” feels like a Matt Smith or David Tennant episode with another Doctor in place of them (who does make it his own admittedly). It feels like a regression of a Doctor who doesn’t seem to go outside of this cheap, tatty, 2.5 star on Trip Advisor, hole-in-the-wall hotel. For a year. That ten minutes in the second act feels off for some reason or another, making the whole episode feel sluggish to watch.
Generally speaking, I enjoy “Joy to the World,” but if I had to say whether I’d watch it again, I don’t think I would. That’s the problem I’m having. It is good but it is long and slow in places, and it does what it needs to outside of that second act but quickly becomes tiresome as a result of said second act. Cut that ten minutes down to three and arguably it is a much better episode that would have flowed better.
An episode that is nothing more than the anger we all have over the COVID-19 response by “those awful people and their wine fridges, and their dancing, and their parties.” It is a sad episode too, focused around Joy’s mum, who died alone in a hospital with nothing more than her young daughter talking to her through an iPad. Her mum died on Christmas Day during (though not directly said) a global pandemic. Once you get to the proper episode, “Joy to the World” is some of Moffat’s very best Doctor Who Christmas specials; up there with “A Christmas Carol” and “The Husbands of River Song.”
Not the best (top 5 of his at least), but I certainly hold that once we’re outside of this slow, ponderous segment that gives Anita more character than Joy, it becomes exponentially more fun and literally joyous. That said, the ending and how it is handled comes off as very clunky. As I say, Joy herself is very clunky: She’s established as lonely, aggressive towards men, generally abrasive (thus unwilling for relationships), and despite the name, the only joy she gets is the joy she forces herself to put on in front of others. As a character, Joy has nothing to live for or enjoy in life.
So at the end (spoilers of course), when she sacrifices herself because that’s all she is, she and her death are to be treated as this uplifting and happy moment. She just committed suicide for the same reason many others do, she was unhappy with her life. She’s killing herself because her mum died on Christmas because she didn’t get to say goodbye in-person. Also, at the end of the day, Moffat gave Anita and Trev more endearing qualities that make you care more about them and their story. This isn’t just his problems with Clara or Bill, that was genuinely poor writing for a main (Christmas special/big name) companion.
I love Nicola Coughlan and think she gave every bit of herself to the character, but from a writing standpoint, Joy is just an unsatisfying character. That is also putting aside the idea that the star created once the Star Seed has bloomed and the flesh has risen, that we pan up and get the title card in the default font “Bethlehem 0001.” It is a character death that means nothing because, at the end of the day, Joy had nothing that we know of that she has given up or was looking forward to.
To treat that moment, to use the line “It’s basically how you start a religion” to set up that ending, it means nothing overall. That is why the whole Anita thing doesn’t work for me. It takes 10 minutes out of an episode that’s already 55 minutes long (including credits) to build a character that is, for all intense purposes, not part of the final big main character plot. It does something that I think Doctor Who always fails at and is the reason Chibnall’s run died on its hole: It characterizes the Doctor more than it characterizes the companion.
You can characterize the Doctor until you are blue in the face, but he/they/she whatever you want to call all of them or one of them, is a boring character that isn’t interesting. Superman is boring because he is immortal, the Doctor is practically immortal (thanks Chibnall) and has had 60 years of TV, books, audio dramas, and yes even an American film with a Doctor who (stop it) desperately was underserved in terms of his actual time on screen. He was never interesting, but Rose/Martha/Donna always have been.
From a fun episode standpoint, I quite enjoy “Joy to the World” when it isn’t in its own way. The bits with Anita could have worked in a completely different episode, but spending all that time developing the non-special-guest companion who also happens to “sacrifice” herself doesn’t work. The frivolity and emotional moments hit like they are supposed to, that moment where we see Joy’s mum is going to kick your heart to death then feed it to a dog, or you are heartless. I’m not sad about that because Joy gave up on life, I’m sad because I know hospitals are lonely places.
That’s probably where I’m left feeling the episode doesn’t work: The emotional beats are hitting, but not for their intended use. I’m not sad or angry about the lack of chairs in the TARDIS because the Doctor doesn’t invite anyone over, I’m upset because it makes the TARDIS uninteresting to live in. I’m not sad because Anita is lonely and finds companionship in the Doctor, I’m annoyed that Joy didn’t get the chance to. I’m not upset about that thinly veiled COVID restrictions bit because of Joy’s sadness, I’m angry because those who put them in place and ignored them aren’t being held to the fire.
For every beat, there is something that resonates but not for the reasons Moffat, Script Supervisor Richard Pask, and Assistant Script Supervisor Ines Mayorga seemed to really set out to achieve. At least that’s how it feels after watching it back twice.
Ultimately, “Joy to the World” hits certain beats and sometimes does them well. However, due to some of the writing getting in the way of the overall story, large parts of it also fall flat or lack an all-round tightness to the writing you’d expect with the writer of “Blink,” “The Husbands of River Song,” “The Time of the Doctor,” “The Bells of Saint John,” and several other modern Doctor Who classics. If you’re craving more Ncuti and more Moffat, “Joy to the World” is certainly worth watching once, but I’d find a second viewing difficult to recommend.
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32 Doctor Who "Joy to the World"
Pros
- Ncuti once again solidifies himself as the Doctor, proper.
- 10-minutes in the second act aside, it is quite a fun-light-hearted episode.
Cons
- Emotional beats are hitting, but not for their intended reasons.
- That year in the hotel doesn't add to the episode.
