Wonderful Movie

Good concept, poorly executed.

Absolutely the worst movie.

It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

Not only is the Husbands of River Song a great Christmas Special, it's an all around great hour of Doctor Who. I don't think we've had such a genuinely heartfelt and funny episode of Doctor Who since the Pond era a few years back. While Jenna Coleman's performance as Clara Oswald was consistently great, the relationship between her and the Doctor, while still good, became too intense towards the end of series 9. It felt like her character took precedence over everything else in the show and the Doctor had to take the back seat. It's refreshing to have an episode that's laid back, noticeably lighter in tone than the rest of series 8 and 9, and that puts the Doctor in the spotlight again.Alex Kingston was awesome, as always, and Peter Capaldi gave another fantastic performance. "Comedy" episodes seem to always try too hard to be funny and end up being too childish, but the Husbands of River song is one of those rare episodes that nails a perfect balance of actual humor and more serious moments. Everything flowed naturally and built up to a phenomenal ending that closed off River Song's story exactly how it was imagined 5 seasons ago in Silence in the Library and Forest of the Dead. Even the music from the Library two parter was used near the end of the episode. Murray Gold's score, especially in the last 10 minutes, is beautiful. The special effects, directing and cinematography were all good, and Steven Moffat's script is commendable as well.Overall, the Husbands of River Song is a great episode of Doctor Who and a great Christmas special: it's easily one of my favorite Capaldi episodes, it gives closure to River Song's story, and it rounds off one of Doctor Who's most acclaimed series perfectly.

The first 35 minutes of this episode are so so. As the episode goes, it improves until about the 36-37 minute mark where things begin to really look up in terms of quality. This all builds to a marvelous, brilliant, and tear-jerking finale. Hearing music from Silence in the Library, the doctor gifting River the screwdriver from the aforementioned episode, and the implied sentiments at the conclusion, create an amazing end to what would have otherwise been a mediocre episode. It leaves me wishing that the rest of the episode had been as brilliant..... If it had, it would have been one for the ages. The episode was well scored, filmed, and the dialog was, for the most part, great. All in all, one of the better Christmas specials.

As this Christmas special opens Matt Lucas asks The Doctor if he is 'the surgeon'; he replies 'close enough' not realising that the man is actually looking for a surgeon. He is taken to a flying saucer and is somewhat surprised to be met by River Song… and equally surprised that she has no idea who he is. She take him to her husband; Hydroflax; a tyrant whose head is attached to a robotic body. She wants The Doctor to remove a diamond from her husband's brain… and would be happy if the procedure killed him… she claims to have married the diamond not the man. They remove his head but that doesn't kill him. Soon they are running with the head in a bag and the robotic body in pursuit. They escape to an intergalactic liner where the universe's least pleasant characters have assembled to bid for the diamond. Will The Doctor and River survive; will River realise that the man she is with is The Doctor and will they get to have dinner together?!The trailers for this seasonal outing didn't fill me with optimism; fortunately the episode proved to be much better than the trailer suggested. It was amusing to see The Doctor dropping hints as to his identity and River constantly failing to realise… this is of course explained by the fact that she hasn't seen his current faced and believed that he had used all his regenerations. More laughs were provided by Hydroflax's head screaming threats from inside a bag. It isn't all laughs; the potential buyer of the diamond is one of the series most disturbing looking characters; I can imagine that the scene where he literally opened his head would have had some viewers looking away. The ending is bittersweet as it looks as if it will be the last time we see River Song. Peter Capaldi and Alex Kingston put in fine performances as The Doctor and River and Matt Lucas provides an amusing cameo. Overall a solid episode that was much better than I'd expected.

OK so after last year's Christmas offering I will admit my expectations for this year's were rather high, coupled with the return of Professor River Song I had high hopes. The serious tone of Series 9 was scrapped in favour of a more upbeat, comical outing for Capaldi. Whilst the story itself isn't one that will make you want to put it on frequently, it did have the festive spirit. Commedians Matt Lucas and Greg Davies delivered their lines with good humour, but it was the scenes between Capaldi and Kingston that shone, the last 5-10 minutes or so I thought were fantastically well done, truly moving and beautifully acted, the pair combined beautifully together. The biggest disappointment for me was that there was no mention of the next series, that omission left me a little flat. Overall a great way to enjoy the mice pies and a glass of brandy. 7/10