I rather enjoyed the Doctor Who Christmas special. Although I’m a bit behind on the latest season, I’m a big fan, and I knew I could watch the special without having seen the previous season. For me, the best part of the Christmas special is the episode within the special.

In the middle of the special, the Doctor is stuck in 2024 in a hotel room for a year and has to offer his services to Anita, the hotel manager. He’s working out a problem, but he’s also doing odd jobs and hanging out with Anita. It’s a lovely sequence where we see him sitting in one place and living out a life one day at a time. It’s been done before, but we don’t always see the “time.” It’s mostly presented abstractly when the Doctor has to live “normally.”

Surprisingly, we see the year unfold as he gets to know Anita better, learns what it’s like to live day to day, and enjoys his new friendship. When the year is up, he leaves Anita, which feels like the departure of a traditional Who companion. It was wonderful.

I would have loved just an episode of that chunk of the special. It could have really been fun as an expanded piece of timey-wimey-ness.