Last Christmas

[Craig @craig Emperor]

The 2014 Christmas Special and Capaldi’s first. When you’re marooned at a base at the North Pole, fighting for your life against terrifying creatures, who ya gonna call? The Doctor and Santa, along with Clara, are thrown together in a very scary, hide-behind-the-sofa style adventure.

It’s an excellent episode that could stand alone, but also weaves some previous plot strands into the mix. Fusing horror and comedy it is both frightening and a lot of fun.

Nick Frost is brilliant as Santa and really holds the whole thing together. Also features Dan Starkey as one of the elves, Ian.

[Bluesqueakpip @bluesqueakpip]

And that, Ladies and Gentlemen, is how to do ‘and then they woke up and it was all a dream’.
😀

The broadband held up, apart from some very brief freezes. I’m glad it did, because I really, really enjoyed that one. Probably Moffat’s best since A Christmas Carol, but in a totally different way.

Merry Christmas, one and all!

[PhaseShift @phaseshift Time Lord]

@bluesqueakpip

And Merry Christmas to you!

I fully agree. I think that may inch ahead of The Snowmen to become my second favourite Doctor Who Chrimble special. (Yes, I do maintain an internal list, and I honestly think A Christmas Carol will take some beating for me – truly just about the most Christmassy thing I’ve ever seen).

Great and intriguing from the off – lots of nice support performances and twists as various levels of reality/dream were peeled away. Capaldi and Coleman on great form, and I though Nick Frost was a great foil. Lots of nice scares. I bet the hand through the TV screen scared a fair few of the younger audience feeling brave about being in front of their own TV screens at the time. Back behind the Sofa with you!

The faux (and could it once have been a real possibility?) end for Clara was a nice diversion, but I’m glad her story isn’t over, and we’re to continue. I bet some people will hate that, and hate the appearance of Danny even more, but I do think this was what was needed after that ending for the series. We have acceptance about Danny, and perhaps the opportunity for Clara and the Doctor to move on. The ending resounds with new possibilities. I do think @danmartinuk is right (link to Guardian) in that that it has successfully drawn a boundary on that relationship – it definitely seems more paternal. As an entry clue to the new series, does “The Magician’s apprentice” indicate that the teacher is going to become the pupil once again? Hmmm.

[demafromua @demafromua]

A-freaking-mazing! That was not what I excpected, but Moffat is a real master of plot twists. At first you don’t even know what is real, then you THINK that you know what is real, then nothing is real at all and then Clara is old, Doctor is sad, life has been lived in waiting AND THEN Santa comes in! Holy shit, what an emotional rollercoaster this one was!

Though, Clara is staying. Not good – Moffat will have to push the limits with her character in the next season, since her personality is already very well-known to us. Well, I hope he’ll make it so. I really hope. Otherwise it would be a waste of potential.

Nick Frost was hilarious, as were the elves (sorry, couldn’t get their names or actors, playing them). The striped North Pole, the Rudolf with a car alarm and of course both of Santa’s intro scenes – it was amazing. SANTA IS A BADASS!

I wish we could get more of the girl, who was looking at her Christmas list at the end, the one who was dancing in the infirmary. Yeah, I suck with names, I know. Anyway, she was amazing, fresh and really enjoyable. Next companion, maybe? Now, since Osgood is dead, she looks like the best choice. Unless, of course, Moffat bends over backwards and introduces us to the whole new person.

Also, I have a complaint. With hearing “when we will wake up”, I honestly thought, that all of them were really in different time periods, but it looks like all of them were on XXI century Earth. It would be majestic, if at the end we saw, that all of them were scattered in time and space and the dream was the only thing that would unite them. And investigating that event would bring Doctor and Clara to already established characters, which would give us much more time for actual plot is season 9. By the way… anyone knows a release date?

[macphisto96 @macphisto96]

Really unexpected, from start to finish – and all in a good way.  I think that Danny truly found a way to reach out to her so she could begin healing – and we saw the Doctor finally grow back into himself.

A Christmas Carol still remains my favorite, but this is a great one.  Overall, I think Moffatt has done an exemplary job with Christmas specials, but this one raised the game again.

So glad to see that Clara is returning.

[Juniperfish @juniperfish]

Hmmn – well, there were some jarring notes for me – why have the bit at the start where dancing girl tells us and her companions the Professor put his hand on her knee unwanted – unpleasant and unnecessary. And did we really need it spelled out for us in words that the dream crabs were face-hugger tributes?

However, some rough edges to the script notwithstanding, the way the Doctor and Clara found their way back to each other, from the lies they told at their parting, through endless false realities, to finally not lying any longer and admitting they wanted to be together – that was charming.

I enjoyed the bluffing too – that Clara might choose to stay dead, that the Doctor hadn’t found his way back to her for sixty years, that in his dream (i.e. his wish fulfilment) she told him he was her romantic fantasy (“he was impossible”).

Overall a Santa and Rudolph cross-0ver with Alien was a fun idea.

BUT I’m still disappointed Clara hasn’t been revealed to be the Doctor’s grand-daughter/ great great grand-daughter…. yet.

 

[Miapatrick @miapatrick]

Yay! At last. Started streaming it like, half and hour and ten minutes in to it, my boyfriend carefully gauged the level on the litre bottle of Smirnoff we were given for Christmas and suggested I wait till it’s over and download it. So we streamed a little more Mila live, then I finally got to watch it.

Slinkies! And I seriously think Nick frost, like cordon, is an underrated actor.

Bit scary for a Christmas special for a moment. I know it’s supposed to be scary, but Ring? We’re also scared to go into the bathroom. I know they’re dream crabs not dream spiders, but the spiders we have here are approximately the size of crabs.

When the doctor got to her bedroom the first time, I was expecting pregnant Clara. When he got there the second time, her body seemed blocked most of the time and he made the point he wouldn’t see if she was 60+ or not…

Just, very nice. Inconsistencies, of course, because dreams. This was a really good device for Moffat to play to his strength, in my opinion, emotional, character logic.

[IAmNotAFishIAmAFreeMan @pedant]

If the only thing had been the way the Doctor really couldn’t tell Clara’s age it would have been worth it. Recognising early that we were in multiple dream layers (Christopher Priest fans have a distinct advantage here!) Made not a jot of difference, because the joy was in the execution.

And not copping out on who they all were (just ordinary people – plus a time lord) was masterful.

[Whisht @whisht]

loved it – an episode that I kept saying “you’re having your cake and eating it!” and enjoying it all the same!

And really glad Jenna’s been convinced by the writing to stay for another series (oh I’m sure there are other factors involved and others making decisions, but if she’d still been limited by “impossible girl” I think she’d have left).

the most chrissmassy-wissmassy thing I’ve ever seen – no. But then do I care? no! I enjoyed it and will probably enjoy it more the next time I see it!

;¬)

[Bluesqueakpip @bluesqueakpip]

@macphisto96

I think that Danny truly found a way to reach out to her

I think that may have been a similar thing to AutonRory truly being Rory; Clara remembered Danny so perfectly that the Dream Danny she brought into being was Danny.

[Miapatrick @miapatrick]

@pedant- so many people reacting negatively to the doctors comments on her age, make up etc, it’s nice to have it made clear what I always thought, the doctor can’t really see her, because he always sees ‘her’, his Clara.

[Bluesqueakpip @bluesqueakpip]

@miapatrick and @pedant

It explains why the Doctor didn’t recognise that Orson looked exactly like an older Danny. Orson had a different personality to Danny, so he ‘looked’ nothing like him. It also makes perfect sense from the point of view of the long backstory. Gallifreyans are semi-telepathic, and periodically change their physical appearance.

They don’t really ‘see’ what people look like, they ‘see’ who they are.

[demafromua @demafromua]

@bluesqueakpip

Man, that was deep thinking. I won’t be able to see these episodes like before any longer. Very, very good one!

 

[Miapatrick @miapatrick]

@bluesqueakpip, I’m thinking about his frustration in his first episode: ‘you can’t see me’

Timelords do also somewhat change personality, but the core, I think, is consistent. (Like the Dalai llama concept) people change personality over their lives, their bodies change, the concept of the soul, I’ve always felt, is related to an internal consistency.

[PhaseShift @phaseshift Time Lord]

I thought there was an interesting thing with the “myth” element here – certainly the meeting the myth that turned out to be something of his own cliche (like Robin) and I think it was carefully done in terms that Santa may have been a dream creation here and there, but maybe not. The tangerine shot at the end.

Clara mirroring the Doctor, last year she went to rescue him on Trenzilore and found and old Doctor, this year he goes back to her rescue and finds an old Clara. You wonder who was leading that particular strand of dream.

[LadyNessa @timelordnessa]

Really enjoyed this Christmas special. So many dreams within dreams and Santa is real. So real he gives 12 his wish even though 12 never acknowledges that “Santa” is real. So who is Santa really?  And what clues did the episode give to the theme of next season?

[Juniperfish @juniperfish]

Face reality or have your brains sucked out like ice-cream seems a bit harsh for a Christmas message, but I suppose “figure out who you want to be with and don’t let your pride stand in the way” is the heart-warming under-belly.

I did enjoy the Doctor looking both squeamish and terribly pleased when Clara hugged him tightly in Santa’s sleigh 🙂

[xernon @xernon]

I was dreaming that Clara had been written out of the series, than I woke up…

Jokes aside, Capaldi is the best doctor in the new series, but he’s got the worst stories, they are linear, calculable, boring and overall lame.

[IAmNotAFishIAmAFreeMan @pedant]

@xernon

All of your credibility points have been deducted owing to use of the word ‘lame’.

[Bluesqueakpip @bluesqueakpip]

@juniperfish

Face reality or have your brains sucked out like ice-cream seems a bit harsh for a Christmas message

Not quite the message, I think.

Yes, it was certainly ‘you can’t live in a dream-world, you’ll die.’ But it wasn’t the Mr Gradgrind version; what saves them from living in a dream-world is Santa Claus. An possibly-imaginary friend who is trying to be helpful. Well, that’s what friends do – even possibly-imaginary ones. 🙂

Probably also a message to all those zealots who talk about the ‘Santa Claus Lie’; Series 8 has been talking about lying quite a lot. Lying can hurt people, lying can lead to people making entirely the wrong decision – and lying is an essential survival skill.

More, lying is an essential part of being human. If you cannot lie, you cannot imagine the world to be anything other than what it is. If you can’t lie, you can’t wake up from the nightmare that can be real life – because you can never imagine that it might be different.

To lie is to say that the world is something other than it is. It’s the first step towards making it different. And, hopefully, better.

Merry Christmas!

[macphisto96 @macphisto96]

@bluesqueakpip The other thing was the Doctor’s comment about how quickly he deletes someone’s face from his memory.  It sounds cold to a degree, but there’s more to it than that.  There are layers for the Doctor’s own protection but also a focus on the things he finds important.

I really loved the scenes with Danny.  When he spoke and clearly understood the situation, it was an eye opener.  I loved how he said that he didn’t save the world, he saved Clara and the world got lucky.  He had a sense of duty that was honor bound in relation to Clara – and that even extended to him telling her to remember him, but to be sure she didn’t dwell on him.

The realization by Clara and the Doctor that they had lied to each other with the other’s best interests at heart, but that that honesty had backfired.  Why did the Doctor end up going to what looked like the volcano from Clara’s dream in Dark Water?  I’m pretty sure it was that place.  I wonder if the Doctor had despaired in some way?

@phaseshift Right down to the Christmas crackers, the Doctor and Clara were reversed.  It was touching to see him help her pull the cracker just as she had done for him a year ago.  That finale was beautiful.  I wonder if that was the original ending if indeed Clara was originally set to depart.  We would have found out that she had had a life, though I think the ending as is is better.  The Doctor once more knows who he is and Clara has found a way to not dwell on her grief, but to remember Danny always while still moving on.

 

[nerys @nerys]

Well, well, well. That was not at all what I was expecting. I guess the “three months” Post-It note was a classic case of misdirection. Now I’m not sure what it meant. But we saw Clara neither pregnant nor dying … leastways not in the way that we were guessing. So still we are left wondering how we met one of Danny’s descendants. Maybe that question will be left unanswered.

I was certain we would see a resolution, or at least a partial one, to the missing Gallifrey, but it never came up. So I guess we will have to wait till next season to see how that story is pursued.

Many of the episodes we’ve seen this season would have terrified me as a child … and this bit with the dreams is no exception. Never knowing for sure when you’re awake? That will keep the kiddies lying awake at night. It certainly would have me.

One thing I really enjoyed about this episode was seeing how Peter Capaldi and Jenna Coleman’s characters finally connected. They now have a warmth and camaraderie that had been hit or miss throughout much of Clara’s tenure. I hope they are able to develop that even further in the coming season, especially now that they know they can be completely open and honest with one another.

I really, really want to see this episode uninterrupted by commercial breaks, which completely took me out of the flow of the episode. They are a necessary evil, I know, but I’m sure everything will come together for me far better when I can watch it the way it was meant to be presented.

[lisa @lisa]

This was full of twists ! The biggest odd thing for me was where the Doctor kept waking up because
it looked like the volcano place where Clara wore the dream patch and this whole episode was about dream ‘crabs’. It just felt like an strange coincidence or that SM did that on purpose
because in the dream patch situation Clara couldn’t reconcile herself with the Doctor and in
this dream crab situation it was totally opposite. Or was it a Pompeii reference? Of course the myth
of Santa so we are still doing myths and will probably do more of that in the next series too.
The scenes with Danny and Old Clara were very touchy feel-y and I really liked them alot. But my big
question is how did Clara get targeted by a dream crab? I need to watch again cause totally missing
that. Oh and the Doctor’s yippee in the sleigh was sort of like watching him do a happy dance-
really great bit!

[alvy42 @alvy42]

Enjoyed the episode!

And is it just me or did anyone else get the feeling that we haven’t seen the last of Shona (Faye Marsay)?  She seems to have a fairly introverted life, according to her Christmas ‘To Do’ list, mostly watching films by herself… possible future companion material…?

[Anonymous @]

@lisa

But my big question is how did Clara get targeted by a dream crab?

Remember, Santa made his first appearance in the TARDIS at the end of Death In Heaven which, to me, implies The Doctor had already been attacked by a Dream Crab. For Clara to have been attacked as well would mean it happened prior to or actually at the café where the met up to say their goodbyes.

Whilst I believe that the ‘North Pole’ crew have escaped from the Dream Crabs, I’m doubtful that The Doctor and Clara have. The main reason is down to Clara’s house. The last time we saw her at home, she was living in a block of flats that looked suspiciously like the Powell Estate (where Rose lived). Now she’s living in a rather grand looking 3 storey Georgian (Victorian?) town house that’s beautifully decorated & furnished.

I know it may seem a dodgy reason to believe they’re still dreaming but I find it hard to believe that a single, relatively new teacher in London could afford such a place.

 

[Twholt @twholt]

My big question, and I wish they had alluded to it a little bit more, is:

what planet does the doctor keep waking up on!?!?

It reminded me a lot of the Galifrey we were shown in the three doctors saga, even though I know that timeline was erased because of that.

not sure what this means for the missy arc, but I imagine the dream crabs are another plot invention, just like the silence.

[geoffers @geoffers]

@juniperfish – why have the bit at the start where dancing girl tells us and her companions the Professor put his hand on her knee unwanted – unpleasant and unnecessary. And did we really need it spelled out for us in words that the dream crabs were face-hugger tributes?

i think that the inappropriate hand on the knee was to set up that it’s ok not to like this guy (and later he’s munching the turkey leg so very disgustingly). then the payoff, that he’s the only one who doesn’t make it out alive. they establish that he’s not so nice, so that when he dies, it’s not an emotional moment…

i was wondering, when shona is going over her christmas day list at the end, is the guy she’s forgiving (“dave”) the same as creepy professor dude? did she know him in real life, unlike the others? or was she broken up, and alone on christmas day, from her boyfriend (“dave?”), whom she needs to forgive? i really hope she comes back, and that we learn more to her story in the coming season (like oswin from ‘dalek asylum’), because she was the most real of all the “dream characters,” for me…

as for the obvious ‘alien’ shout out, i think that was more for the younger audiences, either to make it obvious that it was an homage (and not just “stealing a plot”), or to point them in the right direction for a movie they should check out in the future, if they really want to be scared silly!

i really, really enjoyed this episode. the mixture of christmas and doctor who fantasy was perfect, unlike last year’s “a town named christmas,” which was totally buried by the super serious regeneration story. not enough whimsy in that one for it to feel like a true christmas episode, but this one had whimsy all through it (just like the robin hood ep, in fact)…

and the happy resolution was needed, after the slight downer that was the season finale. i do wonder, though- along with @fatmaninabox -whether clara and the doctor are really out of the dream crabs clutches, just yet? i can even see how a few of the past season’s episodes could be explained as dream crab induced, especially ‘listen,’ with its obvious blackboard parallel…

ugh! it’s going to be such a looooong wait till ‘the magician’s apprentice!’

happy wholidays, everybody! 🙂

[geoffers @geoffers]

@timelordnessa – So many dreams within dreams and Santa is real. So real he gives 12 his wish even though 12 never acknowledges that “Santa” is real.

i don’t know that i would read it that way. i think it’s ambiguous, at best. perhaps the doctor’s mind was working through the dream crab problem, at breakneck speed, and merely used an “ideal santa” as the means to clue him in that something big and deadly was happening? in the same way that hallucinogenic pollen created the doctor an alter ego (the dream lord), santa might also be an alter ego? we never actually see “santa” in the “real” world, only the tangerine on clara’s windowsill… which anyone could have put there.

and the doctor did say something to the effect that the dream crab that attacked him probably got clara from his mind, and that’s how one was able to get her (and the others were just collateral damage). perhaps the whole thing sprang from his mind, after he was attacked…

but it would be really trippy if next season started out with a story that brings these same characters together, and at the end they are attacked (individually) by the dream crabs!

also, the setup for this story reminds me of ‘time heist,’ where the memory worms were used to bring together the bank robbing crew, and reality wasn’t necessarily what it seemed…

[geoffers @geoffers]

@fatmaninabox – I know it may seem a dodgy reason to believe they’re still dreaming but I find it hard to believe that a single, relatively new teacher in London could afford such a place.

there’s that, but wasn’t it also a point that there should be a wound on everyone’s right temple, after they had survived an attack by a dream crab? none of the survivors seemed to have a single scratch on them, from what i could see!

it could be an oversight of the production crew, or…

to be continued?

🙂

[geoffers @geoffers]

@nerys – I guess the “three months” Post-It note was a classic case of misdirection. Now I’m not sure what it meant. But we saw Clara neither pregnant nor dying

misdirection, or…

it could still simply be the amount of time that passed in danny’s and clara’s relationship, in which he believed she had quit travelling with the doctor, and she had really been lying to him, instead? that’s how i look at it, now… 🙂

[janetteB @janetteb]

Wow. Have just finished watching and the big question being asked here is, when did the dream state begin? The youngest pointed out that the fiery planet looked very like the place where Clara threw the keys in “Dark Water” hinting that everything since might have been a dream. I doubt  that will be the case but interesting idea. SO is curious as to just when the Doctor does go into the dream state given that Santa first appears after he and Clara part. I really don’t think MOffat would erase the events of the previous two episodes like that but it would mean that “scarf girl” is still alive which would please many fans, our Blenkinsop amongst them. 🙂

Nice to see Danny again but I was caught unprepared, no tissues. I wondered if old Clara was referring to Orson as the one who was impossible but guess that was just the Doctor’s ego shaping the dream.

In terms of scoring, if I was to, which I don’t, I think I would be hovering between  a nine or a ten. It really was a super Christmas Special. Now only how many months to the next series? Urgh it has to be a nightmare, I must have a face hugger. I need to wake up!!

Cheers

Janette

[janetteB @janetteb]

@geoffers

it could still simply be the amount of time that passed in danny’s and clara’s relationship, in which he believed she had quit travelling with the doctor, and she had really been lying to him, instead? that’s how i look at it, now…

I think you are right.

Good spot @fatmaninabox re’ Clara’s flat. I assumed that the house was her imaginary “dream house” and she is still living in the cramped little flat but I wasn’t entirely sure though if the final scene was back in her flat or in the dream house. Will have to watch again to be certain. Thus far attention has been given to keeping the flat sets consistent. This was potentially a very open ended story as dreams exist within dreams and we are left wondering as to when it both began and ended. Excellent stuff and classic Moffat.

Cheers

Janette

 

[Anonymous @]

@janetteb  I loved it. Cried within minutes -it’s emotional.

“Sweet Papa Chrim” that was good.

“Oh just guess, push the boat out”.  Loved the lines, loved the delivery and adored the timey whimey dream state of a monster that ‘wakes’ if and when you think about it.

Tomorrow I’ll end up unravelling it -or myself.

isn’t Capaldi marvellous -but there’s less of the Scot in him?

Kindest, puro.

[Miapatrick @miapatrick]

@Twholt- that is interesting, since he first saw Santa just after discovering the the coordinates missy gave him lead to nothing. I agree with @janetteb that dark water and death in heaven are unlikely to have been dreams. But could he have found Gallifray and then been attacked by the dream crab?

@FatManInABox- I thought the big, Powell like estate was where her dad lives? She could just have a small flat in the lovely, large Georgian house, and only had the whole place in her dream, but even so, did seem  suspiciously luxurious and expensive…

[Juniperfish @juniperfish]

Thinking about it – what made all the people taken particularly susceptible to the dream crabs? Were they all people struggling with grief of one kind or another and who were therefore less likely to fight the dream worlds on offer?

We see “sexy” sigh at the end when she returns to her real life and her wheelchair, and we see “dancing girl” upset on the sofa over a break-up (Dave). Clara of course was susceptible because of her grief over Danny and the Doctor, just as the Doctor was re his grief over Gallifrey and Clara.

So Santa helped people through their grief – which I like given that actually Christmas is a very, very hard time of year for many people – those who are alone, or ill or bereaved…

[netscape22 @netscape22]

Great episode – I watched at the start and rolled an eye, Santa is now real canon?! Sure there had been thrown away lines but there was Santa, real in Doctor Who?

Liked the dream within a dream and thought we’d really seen the end of Clara.

All through the episode I’d thought Shona was the new companion.  Then the end showed Clara was to stay.  Though what if Shona was back too next season?

After all – in the base she calls the Doctor a ‘Magician’ and the next episode is the Magicians Apprentice.  Also it was Shona’s list that powered the nightmares.  Does she have powers that pulled everyone together? Also who is Dave? Maybe we will find that out too!

Right back to boxing day, but had to join a forum to air my thoughts on Shona as A companion!

[Anonymous @]

@juniperfish I’m with you on the ‘Dirty Old Guy’ -to a point. There was a ‘eeuw’ moment in the Ilion house but then I can understand how the motivation existed for his eventual demise as @geoffers suggested

@pedant

who could possibly think this episode be “lame”? To refer to Buffy for a sec, schlubs perhaps? Raise your hand if you feel their pain.

No takers?

@janetteb the volcano yes -I thought this too, and so did Boy Ilion

@fatmaninabox  -indeed yes, on the Victorian home with glorious Christmas tree and velvet covered furniture- even the fireplace was very ‘filmic’ and rather old. Had there been indoor shrubs you would have picked it even sooner -except you did already. 🙂

So many little clues -“they’ve weaponised our dreams against us”. Brilliant. Crabs which hint at Moon Eggs? So, was Robin Hood real? 😉 Was it calculated and engineered to ruin our hearts or to make them blossom?

@bluesqueakpip

Spot on: there’s a certain Socratic indifference to matters of life and death which is similar to the necessary use of fibs! It’s funny how we ‘see’ people and how perhaps the Doctor sees them. To us, people are enigmatic; appearing on a desolate road just as we need them to. Here (in Clara), we wanted our dreams to come true -because they bewitch us, but in the process we have to accept that dreams are parts of our lives we see only on a selective basis.

To truly ‘see’, we need to wed our dreams to something other than what is beautiful and for what we hope.

Beauty on its own, and therefore a dream, unless connected to something more meaningful, and therefore real, is superficial.

That is both good and sad. Hmm. I need another scotch -then I can stop lecturing (myself).

Kindest all, puro.

 

[Anonymous @]

@juniperfish I missed your latter comment and pressed submit too soon;  a lovely pick-up about Christmas as a difficult truth

[Charlie Cook @charlie-cook]

Couple of thoughts to throw in the the pot:

I wondered if the Doctor was waking up in Pompeii.

I was expecting all of last season to be a ‘Bobby in the shower’ moment. Good call about her flat/house.

[IAmNotAFishIAmAFreeMan @pedant]

@juniperfish

and even well-off perfume rep dreams of more from life

[Serahni @serahni]

First of all, Merry Christmas everyone!  It’s been a while since I had time to post so it’s good to be back.

As for the episode, I just finished watching it and would like to watch it again before I say much.  I am overjoyed, however, that Clara is remaining, mostly because there has clearly been so much laid down about her that is yet to be explored/explained, I’m glad to be able to look forward to finding out where all this is going.  I also love her and Capaldi’s Doctor and now that they seem to have finally stopped lying to each other maybe, next season should be worth anticipating!  I do hope for more than what this recent series turned into, much as I found a way to enjoy the episodes anyway.  I would dearly love for the focus to be back on their relationship so hopefully that is what we will see.

A great way to wrap up the year nevertheless.  Here’s wishing you and yours all the very best for a safe and happy journey into 2015.

[Bluesqueakpip @bluesqueakpip]

@all – I thought that the big house was her Dad’s. Remember, he lives in Cumbria, not London.

It would make sense that her family would insist that she couldn’t possibly spend Christmas alone, in London, in a flat that would remind her of Danny every waking second.

[nerys @nerys]

@twholt I thought the Doctor kept waking up at the volcano where Clara betrayed him. Which is a bit confounding, since that in itself was a dream state. And is that volcano Pompeii? Hmmmm . . . .

@geoffers Good point about the “three months” Post-It note. It makes sense that it would be the length of time she’d been traveling with the Doctor and lying to Danny about it.

[IAmNotAFishIAmAFreeMan @pedant]

BTW, just how used do you think the Daily Mirror is feeling this morning?

[nerys @nerys]

OK, I have missed out on what happened with the Daily Mirror. A synopsis, please?

[macphisto96 @macphisto96]

@nerys I’m pretty sure the Daily Mirror were the ones reporting Jenna Coleman was leaving.  I’m not sure if that was ever the case.  Maybe the ending was changed, or maybe it was leaked out to create a tension going into the special.  Someone at the Mirror wanted a scoop and got taken in the process.

[nerys @nerys]

Ah, OK, I knew that Jenna was rumored to be leaving. Interesting that perhaps that was just a red herring, too? Or maybe Jenna changed her mind?

[janetteB @janetteb]

Given that the scene with aging Clara is shot in the same house as the other dream scenes with the signatory open fire I suspect that it was always part of the dream sequence. I would not put it past Moffat to seed a few red herrings just to tease us poor gullible fans.

Cheers

Janette

[The Krynoid Man @thekrynoidman]

That was, not as bad as I thought it would be. Still not great but better than most of the other Christmas specials.

[Bluesqueakpip @bluesqueakpip]

@macphisto96

I’m not sure if that was ever the case.

I think we were deliberately teased to try and inject some real suspense into the ending. And I suspect that there were some scripts that only had the ‘dream’ ending, as if it were the real ending – possibly the Mirror got hold of one of those, or possibly their source was someone who could only see that script and didn’t know there was another scene.

Or possibly there were several other scenes, all filmed in that same bedroom set. The one story I do find exceptionally unlikely is the tale that Jenna Coleman ‘changed her mind at the last moment’. I’m sure the production team like her, and she and Capaldi obviously like and are good at working together, but Companions really aren’t that hard to replace.

It did make it much more fun; because I was genuinely not sure whether or not Jenna Coleman was leaving, I genuinely didn’t know how the story was going to end. I enjoyed that; it’s nice to be a bit uncertain in this age of advance announcements and front page spoilers.

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