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| The Doctor prepares a Christmas surprise... one which goes a little bit wrong. |
1 episode. Approx. 60 minutes. Written by: Steven Moffat. Directed by: Farren Blackburn. Produced by: Marcus Wilson.
THE PLOT
Christmas Eve, 1941. Madge Arwell (Claire Skinner) has received a telegram informing her of the death of her husband. She does not tell her children, teenage Lily (Holly Earl) and young Cyril (Maurice Cole). She just bundles them off to a relative's home in Dorset, deciding to wait until after the holidays to give them the bad news.
A new caretaker has come to the house, however, one who has specially prepared it for them. The Doctor owes Madge for helping him on a bad day in the past, and he has decided to repay the favor. He has transformed the dull house into a Willy Wonka-ish wonderland for the children. He has also wrapped up one enormous, blinking box by the Christmas tree - a special surprise, from him to the family.
Like any little boy, Cyril cannot resist the temptation of an enormous Christmas package. He sneaks downstairs to peek inside. He finds another world inside the box - a winter planet covered by living Christmas trees. But he has unwittingly walked into danger, and when his sister finds him missing, she and the Doctor pursue - with Madge not far behind!
CHARACTERS
The Doctor: "Can you please stop talking? Can you please just stop!" By the time Madge snaps at the Doctor, I'm right with her. His grand tour of the house is so frenetic that it crosses the line into the genuinely irritating. But right then, the Doctor grows quiet and understanding. It is clear that, even before Madge tells him about her husband's death, he knows. If there's one thing he understands, it's grief. The Doctor's going overboard with the kids to try to create the perfect Christmas, not because he's an overgrown kid but because he's very old - and he understands how devastating the near future will be for them and Madge alike. As he tells the new widow:
"Every time you see them happy, you remember how sad they're going to be and it breaks your heart... Because what's the point in them being happy now if they're going to be sad later? The answer is, of course, because they're going to be sad later."
Madge: Claire Skinner is very good at Madge, taking a role that's honestly written fairly unevenly and managing to create something human. She gets a couple of understated scenes with Matt Smith that are the best part of the episode, and both script and performance create a nice contrast between the carefree Madge we glimpse in 1938 and the Madge who has just received horrible news in 1941.
Amy/Rory: We are treated to a nice cameo appearance by them at episode's end. Amy is suitably stern at the length of time the Doctor allowed before making it known he was alive, but she doesn't make him squirm too long before letting him know that River already told them. They've obviously expected him to eventually make an appearance, and they present him with something that at least temporarily approximates "home" and "family."
THOUGHTS
The Doctor, the Widow, and the Wardrobe is Doctor Who as Children's Show. It is immediately obvious that this episode is extremely child-friendly, portions of it feeling more kid-oriented than did several of the Sarah Jane Adventures. For some adult viewers, myself included, this can be a bit off-putting, particularly since this is not the series' normal tone.
As the title indicates, this episode borrows heavily from C. S. Lewis' The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, with a wartime family visiting a relative's house and discovering a door to another world. This planet of Christmas trees is beautifully visualized in these early moments, and we can feel the sense of wonder when Cyril first crosses over. The tree people inside the "honey trap" are well-realized, and the Tree King's first head movement, while easy to anticipate, is effectively creepy.
The story is briskly-paced and is entertaining, with the emotional undercurrents not allowed to devolve into the gooey sap that marred some of Series Six's weaker offerings. For a Steven Moffat script, it's a bit surprising how few of his signature narrative flourishes are present - but I think it's as well that he keeps this Christmas special fairly simple and small-scale.
What keeps me from fully engaging is just how very obvious it is that children are the target audience. If I were to place this episode in a Classic Who season, I would place it in Season 24. Save for the higher level of production and acting, it would fit right in among stories such as Delta and the Bannermen, nor is it hard to mentally replace Matt Smith with Sylvester McCoy for this particular story.
The ending to Madge's story is one I particularly don't like. As soon as the episode's action moved to 1941, I expected the ending we got, but I hoped I'd be wrong. "Child-friendly" shouldn't mean dismissing realities such as grief and loss, and the wrap-up just feels a bit too perfectly happy for all.
Neither the best nor worst of the Doctor Who Christmas specials, I'm glad enough to have watched The Doctor, the Widow, and the Wardrobe - but I doubt very much that I'll choose to re-watch it any time soon.
Overall Rating: 5/10.
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