Happy Christmas TARDIS fam! (Yes, yes, I know the fam thing went out with Jodie Whittaker and Thirteen but I love it too much to give up.) Waiting for you underneath your Christmas tree (or beside your menorah) are two wonderful gifts: a bright shiny new Doctor and an equally bright and shiny new companion. It’s officially the Disney+ era of Doctor Who, and to kick it off, we’re taking a trip to “The Church on Ruby Road” to get to know Ncuti Gatwa and Millie Gibson.
It may be a new Doctor with a new face, but one thing stays the same: Spoilers!
1. Christmas Foundling
While this tale starts out with a baby born on Christmas Eve, we’re not talking about that one in the manger with the little drummer boy. This baby is a foundling little girl, left on the steps of a church by an unseen mother on that night, clearly not in any position to take care of her. The vicar takes the child in to give it warmth and eventually a proper home.
That little foundling grows up to be Ruby Sunday, a young woman who, as an adult, is in search of her own family while trying to live her own life. She’s reached out to BBC presenter Davina McCall (presumably as a part of the show Long Lost Family) to trace her roots. But neither Davina nor Millie seem to be having a run of good luck lately. What starts as small little inconveniences escalates for both of them, but with more dire consequences for Millie: just as she finds out there is absolutely no genetic trace for her family, something – rather, the somethings that have been teasing her in the first act of this episode – make their presence known by snatching up little Baby Lulubelle, the latest young child Ruby’s adoptive mother Carla Sunday is fostering.
Oh and by the way, who is this man that keeps popping up to get Ruby out of trouble at just the right time? Whether it’s catching a glass of water that’s fallen off of the bar or preventing a big inflatable snowman from dropping on the rideshare hauling Ruby and her friends home, he just seems to pop up at the right time. What Ruby doesn’t know (and that we know) is that this is the Doctor. And that habit comes in handy with little Lulubelle kidnapped.
2. Gremlins, Goblins, and . . . Jabba the Hut?
With a little help from some intelligent gloves that work mavity (yes we’re still calling it that and no I don’t like it either) to the wearer’s advantage, The Doctor and Ruby end up on a goblin ship with young Lulubelle ready to be the main course. The two are able to escape their own capture and save the young child, but these goblins aren’t done with Ruby and the Doctor yet.
Now I wasn’t impressed with our goblins and goblin king. The look of our goblin minions is straight Gremlins, the plot of snatching a baby is straight Labyrinth . . . and why does the Goblin King look suspiciously like Jabba the Hut? (Okay, that last one may have been the Christmas spirits of the liquid nature talking.) As much as it makes my GenX heart feel more old, I love that the show chooses to homage some classic 80s films – – but this mishmash is too much.
I’ve spoken chapter and verse about how the Disney money really has been heralding a new, flashier, slicker, Who, but did the budget run out after the Tennant specials? This is nothing new when it comes to TV production; there’s always a few episodes of any TV season where it’s clear where the majority of production dollars went. But with Disney involved, I fear that disparity will be even more pronounced.
Anyway, back to this goblin/gremlin/Jabba the Hut mess….
If the goblins can’t have a baby girlchild in the present, they’ll just go back to the past to get one. And who is the perfect foundling child without parents to make for a Christmas feast? None other than Ms. Ruby Sunday. It’s now a race back in time for the Doctor to prevent Ruby’s fate because – as we see in the present – Ruby’s adoption by Carla Sunday is what opens up the woman’s heart to becoming foster mother to over 30 children, not out of money, but out of love. It’s not just Ruby’s life that needs savings – – many many others need to be saved from the Goblin King too.
Continued below3. A Wink and a Smile
If you’re not in love with Ncuti Gatwa after this special, check your pulse. You might be dead.
My friend/favorite bartender at my Arsenal pub Cristiano has this expression I love: “the emotion is real.” I don’t know if this is something translated directly from his native Italian tongue, but I love the sentiment behind it: the purest, most authentic expression of feelings. It’s what I thought of every time Gatwa appeared on screen. He has a bounce, a charm, a levity in his step that this show’s been missing the past few years. And even a little sexiness . . . well as much as the House of Mouse allows.
Now there is nothing wrong with Doctor Who going a little Dark and Disturbed. Indeed, some wonderful science fiction (ex. The Twilight Zone) explores corners of darkness to provide some of the greatest statements on the nature of humanity. But after so many years of anxiety and fear from our pandemic times to the current state of the world that seems to sit on a tinderbox of tension waiting to explode, we need light and bright on our TV screens to leave that tinderbox behind if only for a little while. And Ncuti Gatwa brings that in spades. I also do like that he’s a bit of an inventor, giving us a new look sonic screwdriver and the aforementioned intelligent gloves (although it does read just a little too much like Tony Stark, now get your Avengers out of my Doctor Who).
On another note: can we talk about the fashion?! Again, no disrespect meant to past Doctors, but this is a man whose sartorial splendor leans into sexy mod looks, at least based on pre-production photos. Expect a lot of bright, warm palettes that evoke the 1960s and 1970s, and plenty of clean lines.
If our previous Doctors leaned a bit into their introverted side, Ncuti Gatwa is going to give us one very extroverted Doctor. And I’m so ready for it.
And one last final note (I promise): full and proper musical episode. NOW. As the kids say, IYKYK.
4. Ready for Anything
You couldn’t have found a better companion for our new Doctor than Ruby Sunday and Millie Gibson. Many reviewers point out the similarities between Ruby and Rose, which are certainly apt comparisons. But Ruby has more of a thirst for adventure than her predecessors. She thinks nothing of hopping on to the roof to chase the goblins who have Lulubelle, nor does she question just who this man is that’s been following her, especially when he shows up while they’re oh, dangling on a rope ladder in mid-air.
There’s something that has her drawn to a less than quiet life, and you see that in the final scene when she considers the TARDIS, looks inside, then walks around it, and – without a word or hesitation – walks inside. That lust for adventure is going to allow both she and the Doctor to be their truest selves.
It also cannot be ignored that both she and the Doctor are adopted, something they can bond over in their travels.
5. New Who, Same Old Questions
Now this is a holiday special, which means it has to wrap up nicely with a bow and give everyone their happily ever after. Lulubelle is back with Carla, Carla’s mom Cherry finally gets the cup of tea she’s been waiting for all episode, and – most significant of all – the timeline restores Ruby, ensuring a bright future for everyone.
And as she’s heading off to explore space and time in the TARDIS, we are still left with some questions. Who is Ruby’s mother? Why does elderly neighbor Mrs. Flood know about TARDISes (TARDII? Can that be a thing instead of mavity)? Could the two be connected?
We’ll start getting answers to these and more come May 2024 when the new season kicks off. Until then, a Happy and Healthy New Year to you all.
