Every Doctor Who Christmas Special Ranked From Worst To Best

It was only a matter of time before Doctor Who did superheroes, and 2016's Christmas special was the show's first attempt. The Return Of Doctor Mysterio took a bunch of familiar superhero tropes (mainly from the Superman mythos) and gave them a Doctor Who spin, resulting in a playful, but surface-level pastiche of masked vigilantes, and the conflict between a normal everyday life, and a superpowered, heroic one.

By surface-level, we mean that the story is entirely predictable, and none of those tropes are subverted in a surprising way. Of course Grant is going to end up with Lucy. Of course she's going to learn his secret identity. There are no real surprises to be had. Also disappointing is the fact that the Doctor feels superfluous. Besides inadvertently gifting Grant his powers, Twelve could be more-or-less plucked from the story with little consequence. Maybe it would've been more interesting to see the Doctor be the one sporting the cape and cowl, protecting the city streets at night?

Still, the actual execution of what is here is top-notch, and Doctor Who rarely looks or sounds this good: the Gotham-esque city skyline; the score, infused with some Danny Elfman gothic touches; and even the green-screen shots of Ghost flying look surprisingly good. It's all lovingly-produced and dripping with style, which makes you wish the narrative would have taken a few more risks of its own.

But the real point of this story was to wrench the Doctor from his "mourning period" over River, and in that respect, it works, with a moving final scene that's both bittersweet and buoyant. The episode isn't Christmassy in the slightest, but it's still got that same hopeful spirit, and is sweet and immensely entertaining to boot.