Wednesday, December 31, 2014

Countdown To Gotham: The Journey Begins

This is the first installment of a special five part series on Gotham. Whether you’re new to the show or simply want to refresh your memory, we’ll recap all ten episodes that have aired so far in time for the midseason premiere of Gotham on Monday, January 5th. In this installment, we’ll be recapping the show’s pilot episode. We would also like to remind readers that Gotham contains some content suited only for older viewers, and viewer discretion is advised.



I've always loved characters that are — shall we say — less than heroes. For me, a character being moral or a good role model isn't half as important as a character being fascinating from a psychological standpoint. Because of this, I’ve always found Snape more interesting than Harry, Zuko more interesting than Aang, and Loki more interesting than Thor or even Captain America. It’s always been the antiheroes and villains who capture my heart. Well, perhaps not the completely morally black villains. The Voldemorts and the Saurons have their place, I suppose. But what I want is complexity. I want to know their motivations, their joy, their pain. Their story must be human. So when I first heard about Gotham, I knew it was just the sort of thing I would like.

You see, Gotham is very different than what you would expect from a show taking place in the Batman universe. When the story takes place, the Batman identity isn't even an idea in Bruce Wayne’s mind yet. (In fact, little Bruce is just a child still, freshly mourning the recent death of his parents.) Instead, the story focuses on a number of curious people living in the city of Gotham. And then the show does the most cruel thing imaginable — it makes you love them. Why is that cruel, you ask? Because, though all of these people differ in their personalities, social positions, and moral standings, they all have one thing in common: each will one day become one of Batman’s greatest foes. That’s right. All the characters you grow to love are really villains in the making who have yet to embrace their evil personas. Gotham is a show poised and ready to break our hearts. And you know how much we fangirls love that.

We meet these characters through the eyes of an idealistic veteran-turned-police detective named Jim (really a young Commissioner Gordon) who has newly arrived in Gotham, and is taken aback by the amount of corruption in the city — not just on the streets, but among his fellow cops and the political figures they serve. It’s his goal to clean up the city, and we see his journey begin when he takes on his first major case — the murder of Thomas and Martha Wayne.

Spoilers from here on out!

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The episode opens on that fateful night when young Bruce Wayne is walking home from the theater with his parents, only for them to be held up at gunpoint by a masked man. The Waynes make a point to cooperate in order to avoid bloodshed, but the masked man shoots Thomas and Martha anyway. He decides to spare Bruce, and flees the scene, leaving the now orphaned little boy alone in the alleyway.

When Jim Gordon arrives on the scene, he bonds with young Bruce immediately. He comforts the boy, who is already blaming himself for his parents’ death, and tells him that he too lost a parent when he was Bruce’s age. As further encouragement, he makes it his personal responsibility to solve this case.

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By this time, another man has arrived at the crime scene. Alfred, Bruce’s butler and now legal guardian. (Doctor Who fans may find Alfred’s face familiar. He’s played by Sean Pertwee, son of Jon Pertwee who played the Third Doctor.) Alfred’s manner towards Bruce serves as quite a contrast next to Jim’s. While Jim Gordon was immediately understanding and compassionate toward Bruce, Alfred is surprisingly stern. And as we see the butler leading the young boy away, we’re given the impression Bruce is walking toward a very cold and strict new life.

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We also meet Jim’s partner, Harvey Bullock, who Jim describes as a “lackadaisical cynic”. Harvey doesn’t seem to take his job too seriously, and is more interested in avoiding trouble or unnecessary work. He doesn’t at all approve of Jim’s idealistic approach to the job and tries to get rid of him as his partner, which doesn’t work at all. He also wants to get rid of the Wayne case. It’s too high profile, he says; especially since the street robber could be anyone, and they don’t have a lead.




We learn that Harvey has something of a rivalry with two detectives from Major Crimes Unit named Montoya and Allen. The two detectives try to convince Harvey to give them the case, but apparently his dislike of Montoya and Allen is stronger than his dislike of the Wayne case, and he refuses.

Once Jim and Harvey head back to the police station, we meet yet another very important character: EDDIE.

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It’s no secret that the GCPD’s forensics guy, Ed Nygma, is to someday become the Riddler, but he hasn‘t gone to the dark side yet. He’s very friendly and energetic, but awkward and seems to be widely disliked by his coworkers — mostly because he has a habit of reporting his findings using guessing games.

Eddie explains to them that the man who shot the Waynes used high end ammo. That, combined with the fact that no one on the streets seems to know who the guy might be, suggests the killer is not just a common street robber, but either a professional contracted killer or someone with a personal grudge against the Waynes. To get more information on possible suspects, Jim and Harvey decide to pay a visit to Fish Mooney, a nightclub owner who also works for the most powerful mobster in Gotham, Carmine Falcone.

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Anyone interested in strong female characters — particularly female villains who are used as more than just sexy, dangerous eye candy — should pay special attention to Fish Mooney. She’s clever. She’s acted superbly. And she’s the sort of person audiences will love to hate, while simultaneously rooting for her in spite of themselves. Just as a villain should be.

Harvey and Fish hint to Jim that they would like to talk in private, so he heads toward the back where a group of men are beating a guy who apparently got on Fish Mooney’s bad side. Among these men is Fish’s right hand man Butch Gilzean. Also among them is the man whose job is to hold Fish’s umbrella.

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This wonderful emo disaster is Oswald Cobblepot. AKA the man who will become the Penguin. In fact, Fish’s men already refer to Oswald as “penguin”, but it seems to be something of a sore spot to Oswald at this point in time. Jim, disturbed by the violence, asks if anyone wants to press charges against anyone else, but they all decline. (“All in fun” in Oswald’s guilty-4-year-old voice is my favorite thing.)

Harvey gets a lead from Fish that a man named Mario Pepper tried to sell Martha Wayne’s necklace to one of Fish’s fences. Pursuing the lead, they are let into Pepper’s apartment by his daughter, Ivy (a young Poison Ivy).



Both Pepper’s wife and daughter seem very frightened of him, and when the detectives question him about his whereabouts on the night of the Wayne murder, they fearfully support his story. When Pepper learns the detectives have the right to search his apartment without a warrant, due to his long history of crime, he bolts. A chase ensues, and Harvey saves Jim’s life by shooting Mario Pepper after Pepper almost kills Jim in an alleyway. They go back and search the apartment, finding Martha Wayne’s necklace in a bag of drugs. Jim and Harvey are hailed as heroes for solving the case of the Wayne murder. At his parents’ funeral, Bruce thanks Jim for keeping his promise.

Meanwhile, Oswald Cobblepot, who has plans to usurp Fish, contacts Harvey’s previously mentioned rivals at the MCU, Montoya and Allen. He tells them that Mario Pepper wasn’t actually the Wayne killer, but was framed by Fish. Oswald saw her with the necklace, who had it placed in Pepper’s possession. The detectives assume that both Falcone and the GCPD must also be involved.

Montoya pays a visit to Jim’s fiancée, Barbara Kean.



She tells her that Jim Gordon was most likely in on framing an innocent man for murder. It’s hinted that Montoya is Barbara’s former girlfriend, and that Montoya doesn’t want someone she loves getting mixed up with someone like Jim, who she believes to be corrupt. When Barbara confronts Jim on Montoya's suspicions, he denies them and wonders why Pepper‘s guilt has been thrown into doubt. He confronts Montoya about it, but she’s unwilling to talk.

Jim visits Pepper’s apartment once more. He finds that, even though they were abused by Pepper while he was alive, Ivy and her mother are now quite bitter against the police over his death. Gordon discovers that Mario Pepper did not own any shoes of the type the Wayne killer was wearing, which confirms Pepper was indeed framed by Fish. Like Montoya and Allen, Jim wonders if Falcone is responsible, and that Fish is trying to protect him. He goes to Harvey with this information, but Harvey is unwilling to reopen the case because he believes it’s too perilous.

Still unwilling to give up, Jim pays a visit to Fish, asking her what it was she and Harvey talked about privately on their first visit. She knocks him out. And when he wakes up, he finds himself being hung up in a butcher’s plant. Harvey tries to come to his rescue. He calls Fish and tells her someone snitched on her, and asks to have Jim let go. Unfortunately, he just ends up getting himself hung up too.



When Fish hears someone snitched on her, she realizes it must have been Oswald. He tries to put the blame on Butch instead, but she doesn’t buy it. “I would open a vein right here and now if you asked me to,” he says.  But Fish hands him a knife and tries to hold him to his statement literally, to prove his loyalty. He refuses, of course. And Fish beats him mercilessly, injuring his leg.

Jim and Harvey are saved from a particularly gruesome death by Don Falcone himself. “If [Fish] wants to kill policemen,” he says, “she has to ask permission. There are rules.”



Falcone claims he was friends with Jim’s father and that’s why he’s sparing them. Jim realizes he must not have killed the Waynes, since there would be too much risk in letting him go otherwise. It turns out the necklace was a not really Martha Wayne’s, but a replica. Falcone tells Jim he loves the city of Gotham, and that he was actually trying to frame Fish so the case would be closed and the people of Gotham would feel safe again. “You can’t have organized crime without law and order,” he says. In fact, Falcone seems to have the entire police force in his hands.

Jim and Harvey’s lives are spared, but there’s a catch. Jim must now prove that, like the rest of the force, he is loyal to Falcone. He’s given a task to show that he’s with the program: take Oswald to the end of a pier and shoot him. If he chooses not to complete this task, Harvey is ordered to shoot both Jim and Oswald. In turn, if Harvey fails to do this, he, Jim, Oswald, and Barbara will be killed. “Sometimes you got to do a bad thing to do good,” Harvey tells Jim.



Oswald bargains for his life, frantically telling Jim that he senses a war is coming and that he’ll be Jim’s spy if he’ll let him live. Jim tries to shut him up as he considers his options. He can’t in good conscience shoot a man in cold blood; but if he doesn’t, he forfeits not only his own life, but most likely also the lives of his partner and fiancée. In the end, he does the only thing a good man can. He tells Oswald never to come back to Gotham and —

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— he fakes Oswald’s death.

Now that his and Barbara’s lives are safe, and Falcone and the GCPD thinks he’s on their side, he can get back to work trying to fix Gotham.

Provided that no one ever finds out Oswald is secretly still alive, of course.

Jim shows just how seriously he takes his promise to Bruce, when he goes and visits the boy to update him on the case. He tells Bruce he was mistaken in labeling Mario Pepper as the man who killed his parents, that the real killer is still out there, and asks the boy for a second chance to find the true murderer. Despite the fact that Bruce is just a child, Jim Gordon seems to highly value the boy’s feelings and personal ties to the case (in fact, Alfred seems a bit jealous over their relationship). Bruce gives him the second chance, and agrees to keep quiet on the matter. Jim also addresses Bruce’s newly formed habit of attempting daredevil stunts in order to conquer fear, and tells him fear is nothing to be ashamed of.

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In this episode, we also get a few teasers on what’s to come in future episodes. We get a glimpse of a young girl who will one day become Catwoman. She appears in several scenes, spying on the actions of other characters (including witnessing the Wayne murder). We haven’t gotten to hear her speak yet, but so far she looks fantastic.

(Source: connorwalhs.tumblr.com)

We also see a stand-up comic perform in front of Fish. Of course, this is meant to be a tease for a future Joker, but most viewers suspect it’s a red herring. The Gotham showrunners have hinted that, since the Joker is Batman’s most infamous nemesis, there will be several red herrings concerning him before they reveal the true character.



In closing, not a whole lot happens in the pilot episode of Gotham, as its purpose is mainly to show the audiences the murder that would later lead to Bruce’s transformation into Batman, as well as introduce the characters. And great characters they are, for the most part. I’m not overly fond of the way Jim or Barbara are portrayed so far; the actors are very dry and don’t bring much life to their roles. Despite that, though, I still admire Jim Gordon as a moral man due to the choices he makes and like him for that, which is testament to the writer’s talent. Usually the goodness or badness of a show depends not on the script but the actors who deliver it. For the script to shine through despite some of the actors, says a lot about the writers on the show. Aside from Jim and Barbara, I think the rest of the characters and cast is fantastic. Bruce, Alfred, Fish, Oswald, Eddie, Harvey and the rest all keep my interest, and I look forward to seeing where the show goes with them. Overall, I’d say Gotham is off to a great start.



Tuesday, December 30, 2014

"Doctor Who" Recap: "Last Christmas" [December 25th]

After weeks of waiting — half in eager anticipation, half in anxious confusion — several million fans of a certain mischievous Time Lord have at last been able to turn on their televisions and return to the wild realms of time and space. In this particular holiday special, we not only got to visit the north pole - but also a certain pudgy gift-giver who lives there!


And so without further ado, allow not just one, but two writers to present to you:

A recap of the episode Last Christmas...   -Rica

...along with our reactions and questions about it.   -Jaime


And of course, allow us to declare the usual:


When last we left Clara and the Doctor, they were sitting in a cafe lying to one another about the empty holes in their hearts. Then they split up — seemingly for good. But now, as is wont to happen to anyone used to traveling time and space… something suspicious happens.


Clara hears a crash on her roof: it turns out to be Santa’s crashed sleigh, complete with Saint Nick himself, two elves, flying reindeer, and… a bunch of tangerines. Apparently Father Christmas loves them, and that's why they end up in the majority of stockings all over Great Britain (certainly not because of all that 'tradition' rot).

At any rate, Clara’s spotted and Santa (a bit more prickly than one would imagine him) tries to bluff his way out of the situation. He even mentions that she was on the naughty list in ’93. (And for anyone who’s keeping up with the fan theory that Clara represents the show’s fan base, that year Doctor Who produced two crossover episodes with the soap opera EastEnders; they were two of the most highly-viewed episodes of Doctor Who to that date, since Doctor Who had been canceled in ’89).

Just when Clara’s insisting (to Santa, ironically) that she’s outgrown fairy tales, the Doctor arrives.


Not only does he seem to dislike Santa (unlike the casual friendship with ‘Jeff’ he quipped about in A Christmas Carol), but he swaps snarky one-liners with him and never lets his angry eyebrows catch a break. The Doctor orders Clara into the Tardis most urgently, then whips her off through a snowy theme song with one single question that the fate of the world depends on: “Do you believe in Santa Claus?”


We then cut to a the North Pole — not Santa’s workshops, mind you, but a base for scientific research. At first, it’s unclear exactly what the four-man crew of this place is investigating…


You know, Moffat... we're getting kind of tired of
not knowing what's going on in the first ten minutes
of the show. My face hurts from making perplexed
faces at the TV screen and whispering, "What?"
every few minutes.

…but they’re sending one terrified young woman into the infirmary by herself, so it doesn’t look good.


Said infirmary houses four ‘sleepers,’ which appear to be human other than strange bulbous reptilian heads. Each lies on its own cot, and they’re dormant for now; but if you look at them or think about them, they will pick up that mental image and lock onto it, turning anyone to notice them into instant prey. “Don’t think about elephants,” anyone?


Don't blink, don't breathe, now, for this season... don't think.
It was only a matter of time, Moffat.

Surprisingly, the girl puts on some Christmas music and manages to dance her way across half the room… until the door opens to emit the Doctor and Clara. They come straight in and notice the Sleepers, which triggers their awakening.

As they hear the panicked girl’s explanation of how to avoid the Sleepers, the Doctor orders Clara to recite math problems in her head. She’s impressive at figures (thanks to all of the computer knowledge downloaded into her in The Bells of Saint John), but the math isn’t enough. So the Doctor asks her about Danny Pink, and tries to distract her by saying that he could be cheating on her at this moment.


Well, distract her it did. Clara gives the Doctor a good smack and drops the news: Danny Pink is dead.

Great job, Doc.


However, that announcement is still only a temporary distraction; the rest of the base’s crew burst in with guns to the rescue. Everybody runs, but massive clawed hands drop down from the ceiling onto them!..


…and Santa blows a hole through the wall to rescue them with tangerines, slinkies, and toy robots! Not to mention he’s riding a reindeer bareback, because… well, because he’s Santa Claus.

In fact, so all-powerful is Saint Nick that all he has to do is order the sleepers to return to bed and they do so.


Remind you of anybody and a few gas-masked sleepers?

"Go to your room!"
From there, everyone returns to safety outside the infirmary. With that done, Santa proves he is Santa with a little blackmail on some of the characters, and then we get on to one of the greatest villainous aliens in Doctor Who yet: the Nolanception Cr— I mean, the Dream Crabs.

It turns out those strange ghoulish hands are actually living creatures, which might be invading the world.


(But, really when isn't something invading the world?)



They were dormant in the north pole until people were sent up to investigate (which explains the origins of the base). But once discovered, the crabs awakened! They attach themselves like ‘face huggers’ to their prey and induce a dream-like state, where the victim is happy and content while their brain is slowly being injected with venom and then digested. The trick is not to trust anything you’re seeing or hearing… but the problem with deciphering fantasy from reality is that they’re both ridiculous (said the time-traveler in a flying blue phone kiosk).


And that’s where everything gets a little unnerving; while one of the base members (Ashley) starts pulling up footage from the base’s inception, she doesn’t explain how she got there. Instead, she just shrugs off the question by saying, “it’s a long story.” And she’s not the only one: nearly every person that the Doctor asks simply admits that it’s a “long story” as to how they got there.


My suspicious senses are tingling...



Anyone who’s watched Inception or Doctor Who for very long probably caught on at this moment: they didn’t escape when the crabs first dropped down on the infirmary; the very moment that Santa rescued them with slinkies was the start of the dream (because really, if that happens to you, you should probably pause to consider reality). So while Clara and the Doctor are admitting that they lied to one another, they (and the other characters) are in fact being eaten alive without knowing it!


Meanwhile, their specimen of dream crab gets loose (because they were talking about it) and manages to latch onto Clara! Then she enters what we’ll call Dream #1. She wakes up at home, on Christmas morning… with Danny Pink.


I knew it! I knew it! I knew it!
I knew they'd find a way to bring him into this!

Everybody may now cry for the obligatory five seconds.


As she dreams, Clara notices a chalkboard echoing whatever words the Doctor is calling to her from afar. He tries to insist that she’s dying, but after a moment she decides to shut him out and stay with Danny instead.


Back where the Doctor is calling to Clara from the North Pole base, the staff explain that the crab can’t be killed without killing Clara. So the Doctor decides that waking her up will kill the crab, but to do so for her, he must enter that dream world.


In the midst of some PG Christmas cuddling, Clara and Danny are disturbed by a knock at the door. It’s the Doctor, stepping in to insist that they’re all in a dream: and he knows it because he himself is dying by dream crab, too — and they have only minutes until the effects are irreversible. The proof? A tiny little “ice cream” headache in the side of their temples.

Despite Clara’s desire to stay, her mental projection of Danny is every bit as wonderful as the real man: he insists that she has to survive and move on. He says everybody cries at Christmas because “every Christmas is their last Christmas” together… but she’s lucky they even had this extra one.


And so, with an emotional audience sobbing in the background, Clara bids him a tearful goodbye and then wakes up with the Doctor back at the North Pole. The crabs dissolve (since they die whenever their feeds go wrong).

However, everyone on the base starts to get a clue about the fact that they’re still in a dream. Clara’s head has no wound from the crab. All of the staff have the same ice-cream headaches that she did. Santa Claus is still milling about nearby… and since it’s Christmas at the North Pole, of course he must be a mental fancy of theirs!

To test the dream world, the Doctor hands out the base manual to the four staff-members; since none of the four have read it, the first word of any page will be different for their every book. Sure enough, each book is different. That makes this place Dream #2.


Despite the fact that he’s only their mental projection, Santa wants to help. The dreams can’t stop personalities once they’ve beens started, and if anyone’s going to help people in need it will be Father Christmas. Of course, he also starts turning the Doctor’s proofs back on him: how bizarre is it that a time traveler flies in a blue phone box? He practically has everyone turn on the Doctor, but in the end it doesn’t matter: all they have to do is focus on that ice cream headache, and…

…they wake up in the infirmary! The Doctor wants to leave at first, but then he realizes something: including the four sleepers there were logically eight staff-members on the base. But then why were there only four manuals?

You know when the Eleventh Doctor focused on Oswinn Oswald's proclivity of milk and eggs when nobody else cared? I cared. And I got that same suspicious feeling... the one that always comes whenever the Doctor asks a simple question with the gravest expression in the world...


When asked how they came to be here, each person — even Clara — initially replies with the same automatic answer: “It’s a long story.”

Dream #3.


The four books still differ from each other. The four sleepers in the infirmary are, in fact, the four staff-members themselves. Even further, the base itself isn’t real! Dreams transcend space and time, so the six people in the room are scattered all over the world, dreaming on Christmas morning. And since this is a dream world, nightmarish things can happen… like the sleepers coming through the television to kill them!


Everyone else (minus one casualty, now dead wherever in the real world he was) flees outside to the Tardis, but it’s occupied by a Sleeper-Doctor and Sleeper-Clara thanks to dream logic! So how can they be rescued from the North Pole on Christmas Day?

Santa Claus!


After the Doctor gets to drive Santa’s sleigh for a while (and he gets quite a kick out of it, too!) they fly home to London. Each person wakes up one by one: one to her life as an older woman in a wheelchair, one to her life selling perfume, and one to a slummy apartment where she decides to forgive someone named Dave.

Just as the Doctor leaves Dream #3, Clara admits to Santa that she’s enjoying herself and she wants to linger just a little longer.


Of course, the Doctor suspected she might do that. He races to her house and zaps the dream crab’s neurocenters with his sonic screwdriver (WHY didn’t he do that before!?) and takes it off of Clara.

But this isn’t just any Clara. It’s sixty-two-year-old Clara.


Though she hasn’t seemed to have changed much where the aged Doctor is concerned, he still appears guilt-ridden as she has him in for tea. She tells stories of how she’s turned down proposals, learned to fly planes… and despite her seeming-contented life, the Doctor still wishes that he had a chance to do right by her again. Then who should show up in the doorway but a portly old man in a red coat with white whiskers: “How badly do you want it, Doctor?”

Dream #4.


The Doctor wakes up and travels to Clara’s house again to zap the dream crab off of her with his sonic screwdriver. She’s young again, thank goodness, though neither of them bothers to look for wounds in their temples or wonder if their headaches are gone.


The Doctor asks Clara if she’ll run off with him again… and she agrees, as happily and brightly as if he were Matt Smith again. As they race to the Tardis, the Doctor admits that he’s not sure why he ever deserved a second chance with her, or who could have granted such a wish… and as the Tardis ‘vorps’ into eternity we see a single tangerine lying in the foreground.


And so we come full circle, finding ourselves bent on that very first question of the episode that holds the fate of the world:

“Do you believe in Santa Claus?”

If so (and we’ve been given the Doctor’s remarks in A Christmas Carol to assume it is indeed so), then consider this episode’s events to be Santa’s gift to the Doctor, in order to bring Clara closer to him again.

But if not (seeing as he has thus far represented the dream world in this episode)…




Then the entire season to come (not to mention every previous season ever?) could very well be Dream #5.


Chris Nolan, eat your heart out.


~


I thought the episode was well-done. It kept me on the edge of my seat
and interested, unlike most of Season 8. This episode restored my faith
in the show; I was on the verge of giving up because I felt it had gone
downhill so fast in the last season. Capaldi and Coleman deserved so
much more. It had the exciting thrill that reminded me of what Doctor
Who is about: helping the ordinary person realize they are extraordinary
(Clara and the members of the team), dealing with awesome and
dangerous alien lifeforms/planets/etc., and saving the day with a small
dose of magic-like moments. 

I agree; it's really restored my faith in the show, and funnily
enough it also restored Clara's faith in the Doctor. The dream
crabs were an instant classic and even though Clara herself is
wearing thin on me, this was still a good episode to watch
(perhaps because I got to spend so much time shouting at her).



Though on an additional note, BBC America needs to hire
new announcers for their Doctor Who merchandise commercials.
Hiring Americans to do it was bad enough, but the imbeciles
can’t even pronounce ‘Dalek’ correctly.



Current Questions:


A. Is this still a dream? Or is Santa Claus real?
WHAT DOES THE TANGERINE MEAN?!
(It's been heavily debated at my house.)

It's currently subjective as to whether this is still a dream or not;
it depends on whether you believe in Santa. The tangerine at the
end represents Santa's presence (the tangerines were likely chosen
to be Santa's 'favorite gifts' because oranges are so often found in
traditional British stockings, along with a few other items like
chocolate coins and sugar mice).


B. Why do the BBC and Moffat and whoever else keep lying to us?
I heard multiple things that didn't come true for this episode.
Namely that Jenna Coleman was leaving and Clara's era as a companion was over.
Did they lie to keep us guessing, or is she really gone and next season will reveal all?

It was never confirmed to Jenna Coleman's last episode,
just rumoured... Perhaps Clara's dead and dreaming the
entire season... or perhaps every previous season up to
this very point was all a dream... our dream. Who knows?


C. ARE WE EVER GOING TO SEE RIVER SONG AGAIN?
BECAUSE I WANT TO SEE HER WITH CAPALDI'S DOCTOR. 

She would certainly fit with him, despite all the care
they took to give her a 'satisfying' goodbye at the Doctor's
grave (and I use quotation marks because it was the exact
opposite of satisfying). I definitely would mind her kissing
him a lot less than I minded Missy's kisses...

D. Why didn’t the Doctor call Santa “Jeff” like
he did in A Christmas Carol? Is it because he’s
no longer his wacky Eleventh self?


Ah. Yes. Blimey. Sorry. Christmas Eve on a rooftop, saw a chimney…”


“Don’t worry, fat fellow will be doing the rounds later..."


"Father Christmas, Santa Claus, or — as I’ve always known him — Jeff.
-The Doctor, A Christmas Carol

E. How are they going to bring back Danny Pink?
They’re obviously too fond of him to let him disappear
forever, as is most of the fan base, I think. Is he just
going to haunt Clara forever like the epic ghost of her
conscience? He deserves to be a companion more than
her at this rate. Just think of all the fights that he and
the Doctor could get into!

F. How are they going to bring Missy back? I mean,
obviously they will since she’s a reoccurring character,
but she was shot by a certain Brigadier Cyberman
instead of by her own person-dissolver. So the logistics
of her return are trickier now.


I don't think Missy is gone either. It's been a while since I watched
the episode where she gets shot (or so we think), but I never
for one second believed she had been shot by the Cyberman.
I think they made it look like she did but she teleported
/used the dissolver at the same moment so she disappeared.
It looked weird and not like the normal Cybermen shots.
Plus, the Master continually finds a way to come back...
he's been doing it for decades of the show! 

G. Will we get to see Santa in future episodes?

H. Will tangerines haunt us for the entire next season,
signifying the potential dream that we're all in? After all,
we do need a new theme to haunt us now that the afterlife
plot has run its course.


Current Theories:
A. Missy’s person-dissolver didn’t kill its victims, but
rather transported them elsewhere. That theory still
doesn’t solve the logistics of how Missy survived being
cyber-zapped, but it might explain why she was so calm
about being ‘killed’ with it. Either way, if it’s true then
we’ll at least get to see Osgood again (since her death
was both traumatic and anti-climactic and undeserved).
     1. Notice the name “Osgood” could very well have a correlation
     to Clara’s many time-gangers, who bore the names Oswinn and
     Oswald and so forth. And remember that theory about Clara’s
     representation of the show’s fan base? Osgood certainly seems to be a
     concentrated version of that… so she’d better not be permanently dead!

B. If we’re lucky, I hope that the Doctor gets another
companion in addition to Clara for the next season. I
wouldn’t go so far as to say I dislike her, but I’m
starting to tire of her… this is why companions have
to switch so frequently.


I'm hoping for a second companion as well.
I like Clara, but I think her storyline has been
woven into a tangle that needs to be cut.
I want something new and exciting, different.
She feels too attached to Eleven still. 

So over-all, despite the difficulties of the past season, this was a Christmas special worthy of Doctor Who, and definitely worth the watching. Let's hope the new season takes after it.