‘Doctor Who’s ‘Joy to the World’ is a Christmas treat, bitter and sweet

‘Tis the season for Doctor Who to return with a holiday special that mixes action, adventure, mirth, mystery, and heartache. Even before you get to the plotline of “Joy to the World,” there are reasons to thrill over this new episode sight unseen. Not only does it see the return of Ncuti Gatwa’s debonair and canonically queer Fifteenth Doctor, not only does it feature Bridgerton star Nicola Coughlan in the title role, but also this particular Christmas special is penned and executive produced by former series showrunner Steven Moffat.

Between Moffat and current EP and showrunner Russell T Davies, this epic series has delivered some of its biggest moments in holiday specials like “The Runaway Bride,“ “Voyage of the Damned,” and “The Husbands of River Song.” So, what could their combined forces bring to this Christmas? A rousing celebration of the holiday, its embrace of love and loss, and a time-wimey mission to save the Earth to boot!

Whether you’re a longtime Whovian or new to the series, you’ll relish the weirdness and wonder of “Joy to the World.”

What’s “Joy to the World” about?

Having returned his last companion, Ruby Sunday, back to her time and place, the Doctor (Gatwa) is once more on his own, but hankering for company. The cold open shows him confoundingly popping in on strangers across time: Manchester 1940, Italy 1962, Everest Base Camp 1953. But his destination is a humble (actually, borderline dingy) hotel in 2024 London. There, he meets Joy (Coughlan), a young woman with a radiant smile, a festive sense of style, and a holiday alone planned for herself.

However, once the Doctor barges in, Joy is swiftly entangled in a mystery involving a bizarre briefcase that won’t let her go, but will make her say, “The star seed will bloom, and the flesh will rise.”

What does it mean? That’s up to the Doctor to find out. To do so, he’ll need to traverse eras through the Time Hotel, a cheeky resort where visitors can stay in hotel rooms across all human existence on Earth — and even earlier. (Look out for dinosaurs!) But that’s not all. The Doctor will also need to take some time to himself, whether he likes it or not!

Doctor Who gives voice to those who feel lonely on Christmas.

Ncuti Gatwa and Ncuti Gatwa in “Joy to the World.”
Credit: Disney+

Loneliness is a major element of “Joy to the World,” revealing that despite two hearts and all of time and space at his fingertips, the Doctor’s just like us. In a moving scene where the Fifteenth Doctor briefly encounters his future self, he is filled with an uncharacteristic fury. “Do you see?” he screams in self-loathing. “This is why nobody likes you! You have to be mysterious all the time. That’s why everyone leaves you. That’s why you are always alone.”

This is categorically untrue. The Doctor has been adored and embraced by a cavalcade of companions, allies, and frenemies (looking at you, Missy) over eons. But this scene reflects how all-too-human anxiety can lie to us, because statements like these can feel true. You see yourself not as you are, but as you fear you may be. And while the Doctor is known for running, he can’t run from this. He can’t run from himself.

Over the “long way ’round” ’til next Christmas, he is forced to go outside his comfort zone, staying put in one place. There’s a special sweetness in his blooming friendship with the desk clerk, Anita Benn (Steph De Whalley). She doesn’t know him as the legendary time-traveler who can sweep her away in his big blue police box. She knows him as an eccentric with wild stories and a love of puzzle games, and she loves him for that. By the time the Doctor is ready to face himself again, he hears those words of damnation from his past self, and he understands they come from a place of fear, not truth. And with that, he is able not only to make a new friend in Joy, but also help her overcome her fear and self-imposed loneliness as well.

Nicola Coughlan and Ncuti Gatwa shine in “Joy to the World.”

Credit: Disney+

Admittedly, the whole ensemble of this Christmas special is as cracking as the party crackers that are a UK tradition. However, few on Doctor Who — or the whole of television really — can keep up with the relentless charisma of Gatwa. Coughlan can and must, as their heroes spend much of the episode at odds. When he “mansplains” to her about time travel’s wobbly rules, she bickers back righteously. When he explodes with panic about impending annihilation, she must be his comically calm foil. “You do like to talk, don’t ya?” she chides with a wilting but smiling reply. And when he cries out against the cruelty of a galaxy that is endlessly ravenous, she is gloriously resigned to an ending that may not be happy by Americans’ standards, but is about as close as a Doctor Who Christmas special will get.

Together, they push and pull each other through this adventure, coming out the other side changed. And yeah, it’s an ending that will probably make you cry. I did. But there’s a reliable comfort in Doctor Who holiday specials, because of how intensely they embrace the pleasure and pain of the holiday season.

Coughlan brings her own radiance to Joy, her beautiful round face and bright blue eyes shimmering with tears, her hair a halo of gold, framed by a bright red beret and matching jacket. Visually and emotionally, she is a shining symbol of the season, its warmth, yearning, and heartache. And in the end, she is the star this episode demanded.

How to watch: Doctor Who is now streaming on Disney+.