Doctor Who Series 10, Episode X Review - The Return of Doctor Mysterio
- SimplyWho
- Sep 11
- 7 min read
Updated: Sep 15
What did you think of this episode?
0%Sonic!
0%Good!
0%Bumpy-wumpy!
0%Exterminate!
The Return of Doctor Mysterio is one of those Doctor Who episodes that I can’t bring myself to dislike, largely because Peter Capaldi is in it. He’s just so watchable, and even when the material isn’t the strongest, he elevates it. This Christmas special is a bit of an oddity though - choosing superheroes over tinsel.
2016 seems so long ago now, and maybe I have the rose tinted glasses on, but people still seemed to enjoy things back then. Is it me getting older, or did things get less fun when the orange cunt was elected? Was that the time when it became popular to hate on things and people? Has that always been the case? Has social media just made it more obvious?
I sense a rant that has nothing to do with Doctor Who coming...
My autism doesn't maybe allow me to see things as other people would, so maybe I am wrong. I know things aren't as black and white as I think they are, but come on! I can put it down to a few things:
An orange turd
Billionaires
Social media
Politics
They all merge into one thing as well, like a web of shitness.
Everything I enjoy has been tainted somehow. Let us start with Doctor Who. I still adore this silly show, it is everything to me, but if I go on social media after an episode I am told the show is shit and dead. Walk through a shop and the newspaper stand tells me the show is shit and dead. Oh, and woke of course. Bore fucking off. Leave my silly show alone! It is silly, it is woke, it can be shit, but it is fucking brilliant! So, the billionaires pumping their money into spouting shit in papers, and social media. Trump hasn't got his grubby mits on Doctor Who, but I would say a lack of Disney in the future may be in part due to him wanting to shut America off from the world (apart from countries who have shits in charge).
I love football - ruined by money! FIFA are a disgrace. The clubs run by countries who would stone someone for being gay. The players taking the knee and wearing rainbow armbands, putting themselves out there, then bailing when they play games in the countries that are basically running the thing now. Social media has also ruined football, people taking videos on their phone instead of watching the game. The atmosphere gone. The same happens with live music.
Women's football may be the way forward for me now, but it won't be long until it gets too much money, or the companies throwing money at it now move on to the next thing and leave it up shits creek.
I love to watch films, but before one is released now you are told it is too woke or not woke enough. Fuck off, I just want a couple of hours escaping this shit show of a world. Films, and all art, are great ways to say things about the world we live in, but that doesn't mean you can't switch off for a bit and just enjoy the show.
"Superman and Clark Kent are one and the same person."
I recently watched Superman, and before I went I couldn't help but notice people moaning about it. Or loving it. Depending which way you are inclined. Me? I loved it. I enjoyed the way they portrayed everything, I nodded along agreeing with it, but I still got excited when Superman stopped a tower toppling on a woman in a car.
It really does feel like everything you like has to be judged now.
Recently there was some heat on Michelle Gomez. So now if I say I love Missy does that mean I have to do it quietly? I am not saying I like her because I am on a side, I am saying I like her, because I like her. People can get dragged into political things just by liking something these days. Do I think she was a silly sausage for saying she supports trans rights but then did work for Harry Potter? Of course. But that is Michelle Gomez's problem, it is on her not me. It will not take away my enjoyment of Missy.
Everyone makes mistakes, everyone does things other people won't like. I despise Amazon, but I really want to publish a book, and I bet I will use Amazon to do it. I have brought all manner of shit from it. I have lined that bald pricks pockets. That's the bloke who's wife told us to "protect this planet we're on, this is the only one we've got," and then proceeded to have a wedding that involved 90 odd private jets. Cunts!
Bill Gates flies around in his private jet preaching about climate change. Cunt!
Richard Branson asking for money whilst squireling his wealth away in a tax haven. Cunt!
Vile cunts, the lot of them!
Oh fuck me I am rambling, sorry!
I had a couple of moments the other day, firstly I was chatting with my stepson about how the Universe started, how big it is, how much we don't know. Then I watched two episodes of a BBC documentary show called What Happened at Hiroshima and What Happened at Auschwitz. I was laying in bed that night and I thought what a fuck up we have made! This planet would be so much better off without humans.
Which leads me to politics. If you were put in charge of a country would you choose to do the following:
Bomb innocent people, including children, because you think your country has a right to an imaginary line on a map?
Cut the aid of starving children around the world?
Decide that polluting the planet is the best way forward because it will save a few quid?
Concrete over nature and stick a couple of bat boxes up to pretend you are doing good?
Give a few rich cunts complete power over yourself, so you yourself, can pretend to be in power when the rich cunts are pulling every single string?
Choose to cosy up to people who do all of the above?
Pricks!!!!
Why can't someone stand up to these pricks? America for example? Why does our PM have his tongue lodged up Trump's arse? Why can't we grow a pair and say fuck off? We won't be dealing with America until you've jogged on. Why can't someone ban billionaires from using private jets? Why can't you give landlords a limit to how much they can charge? Why? Why? Why?
Anyway...
Sorry, the point I was trying to make before I got distracted is that this isn't the best episode of Doctor Who, but I enjoyed it for what it was. I didn't decide I hated the show and told everyone who liked it on Twitter that Doctor Who is woke/dead/shit because Grant was a male nanny.
Okay, so, Christmas is on the back burner, we have a mae nanny who is basically Clark Kent, and we have Nardy back in action. This came out the time Marvel was firing on all cylinders and superheroes was very much in. I cannot remember how that came across at the time, but I kind of liked it here. It’s fun, but it doesn’t feel particularly Christmassy, and that might be why it tends to be one of the more forgettable specials.
"It's okay. I'm an intruder too. Yeah, I brought snacks. Mark of a pro. Keep listening."
The side characters are fine but nothing spectacular. Grant as the reluctant superhero is likeable enough, but his romance subplot with Lucy doesn’t really sparkle. It’s cute, but you can pretty much predict how it is all going to pan out. The villains are probably the weakest element. The brain-swapping Harmony Shoal plot isn’t bad in concept, but they never feel all that threatening or memorable. They’re more of a plot device to push the superhero antics along rather than a truly engaging threat.
That being said, the episode still has its charms. Capaldi gets some lovely moments, and of course he knocks all those moments out the park, and Matt Lucas as Nardole continues to grow into his role as the Doctor’s companion. Their chemistry is already developing nicely, with Nardole’s grounded, slightly baffled humour playing well against the Doctor’s eccentricity. It’s also refreshing to see the Doctor being more of a background figure in the main action, letting Grant take centre stage. It fits the superhero homage and gives the story a slightly different shape to the usual Doctor Who template.
But I have had enough of that now! Capaldi is too damn good to be a background character, so bring on series 10!
The superhero elements themselves are played with a nice mix of sincerity and cheek. The flying sequences, the double life jokes, the awkwardness of Grant trying to juggle heroics and babysitting, it’s all light-hearted fun. It might not be the most original or emotionally deep Christmas special, but it’s enjoyable in the moment.
In the end, The Return of Doctor Mysterio is not a classic, but it’s far from a disaster. It’s breezy, it’s different, and it’s anchored by Capaldi’s effortless charisma. Not the most memorable Christmas outing for the Doctor, but still a pleasant enough way to spend an hour, and I did prefer this to The Husbands of River Song.
What did you think of this Christmas special? Let me know in the comments below.
RATING: Bumpy-wumpy!
BEST LINE: He's the Doctor. He's very brave and he's very silly and I think, for a time, he's going to be very sad. But I promise, in the end, he'll be all right. I'll make sure of it. Bye!
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