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Doctor Who - The Return of Doctor Mysterio, on BBC One (UK) / BBC America (USA)
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streaming sites: Amazon; iTunes; Vudu

Caution: spoilers.

This is the twelfth Christmas special of the revived Doctor Who series. It aired on Christmas in 2016, but I didn't see it until December 2018. It follows the 2015 Christmas special, The Husbands of River Song, as there was no new season of the regular series between then and now (though the Doctor did briefly appear in the pilot episode of Class).

It begins with a man lying in bed... and there seems to be another man hanging upside down, swinging back and forth outside his window. But... actually that was happening when the man in bed was a young boy. When the boy, Grant Gordon, notices the man swinging outside his window, it turns out to be, of course, the Doctor. And after he lets the Doctor in, it turns out to be Christmas, so... I guess Grant thought it was Santa Claus. And that's pretty much the last we hear of Christmas, in this particular special. Anyway, they go up to the roof, where the Doctor has built a contraption for... some purpose that isn't entirely clear, but it's not really important. The Doctor tries to explain, but it's all fairly incomprehensible. And... I should say Grant is a fan of comic books, and decides to call his new friend "Doctor Mysterio." And... there's a series of events I don't want to spoil, but it leads to Grant developing super powers (due to a mistake he made that I think was 100% predictable, and I dare say it was the Doctor's fault). The Doctor then admonishes him never to use his powers.

Twenty-four years later, there's a company in New York called Harmony Shoals (the building of which looks very much like the Daily Planet building from Superman comics). I want to say I assumed that when Grant was a young boy, it was the present (2016), and the rest of the story is set in the future, just because the building looked decidedly futuristic. But Wikipedia tells me the first part was set in 1992 and the rest of the story in 2016. Well, okay. Anyway, um... without going into too much detail, I'll say that the company, which has offices in all the world's capital cities, in addition to New York, is actually a front for an alien invasion. And there's a reporter named Lucy Fletcher, who discovers this fact. And in the course of discovering it, she meets the Doctor. And... then a superhero called the Ghost shows up and saves them from the evil aliens, and flies Lucy home.

And... Lucy turns out to be the mother of a baby, whose nanny is Grant. And in a flashback, we learn that Grant has liked her ever since they were kids, but never acted on his feelings for her. I mean, other than taking a job as her nanny after her husband left her. And of course she has no idea that Grant is the Ghost, because the whole situation is just so totally Superman and Lois Lane. Which is fun. Anyway... I must also mention that the Doctor's current companion is Nardole, who was first seen in "The Husbands of River Song." He's really funny and seems to know a great deal about the Doctor and Time Lords and everything, and seems to have a very familiar relationship with the Doctor, which makes me wonder how long they've been traveling together, and also makes me wish I could see some of those travels. I feel like there must be some awesome stories, there. But whatever. For now... the Doctor and the Ghost/Grant have to stop the alien invasion plan, all while Lucy tries to interview the Ghost and Grant struggles with whether or not to reveal his identity to her.

Of course everything turns out for the best in the end. And I thought there was a good balance between a standard Whovian invasion story and the lighthearted comic book-style fantasy. Grant and Lucy were both pretty great characters, and the whole story was quite funny. And... that's all I have to say.


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